Marshall Academy Chess

2008 Michigan Chess Champ!

2008-03-28T14:16:00.002-04:00

Jack Spitzer, from Marshall Academy Chess, won the novice class of the 2008 Michigan Chess Championship!

Well done and congratulations, Jack!

Checkmate, mate

2008-02-27T10:48:00.004-05:00

A nice acknowledgement by the local press.

The Marshall Academy Chess Program currently has 29 participating students!

Class

2008-02-25T08:18:00.002-05:00

The new boards, pieces, & clocks came in & the students seem to really enjoy playing. It's fun to watch them develop as players, too.

Class on Feb. 28 will still be held despite my absence (out of town work training). Mr. Swan will be there as usual.

Chess Tournament Takes Over

2008-02-13T08:49:00.014-05:00

Here is an article from the State News about a Michigan scholastic team chess tournament.

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Students descend on MSU for annual Michigan Chess Association team championships

By Marilyn King
The State News
Published: February 3, 2008
Photo: Nick Dentamaro, The State News

Philip Litchfield doesn’t let pregame jitters get in the way of his game.

Litchfield, a chess team member of the Memphis Elementary Yellow Jackets in Memphis, already competed in two chess competitions before the Michigan Chess Association 2008 Elementary/Primary Team Championships on Saturday at the Union.

“I’m a little bit nervous,” the fifth-grader said after the second of his five chess matches. “But I like competing.”

Yellow Jackets team coordinator Chris Pare had five teams competing in the tournament.

“These are good kids here,” Pare said. “They’re all doing really well.”

The event is sponsored by the MSU Department of Mathematics.

Bhavini Pateli, 7, of Barnard Elementary in Troy, ponders her next move during the Michigan Chess Association 2008 Elementary/Primary Team Championships on Saturday in the Union. Her match ended in a stalemate.

Photo: Nick Dentamaro, The State News

Milan Miklavcic, an associate mathematics professor, was inspired to help out after his own children competed in chess tournaments as kindergartners.

“I was asked if I could help make it happen here,” Miklavcic said.

“It’s a very nice opportunity for MSU to get acquainted with a wide variety of kids and it’s very nice to have a chess tournament here, so I think it’s win-win for everyone.”

The 25th annual championship included 148 different chess teams competing. The competition filled all three floors of the Union with players, team coordinators and parents, each anxious for the next round.

More than 600 Michigan students played on the different teams.

“This is amazing,” said Jennifer Skidmore, Michigan Chess Association scholastic coordinator and vice president. “It’s larger than the event has ever been.”

The teams were split by age, skill and experience. Matches included three to five players and any team that scored at least 3.5 match points during their rounds was sent home with trophies.

Cindy Curtis, a coordinator for one of the Chippewa Valley elementary school teams in Clinton Township, has children who have been competing in chess champions for several years.

“We’ve been doing this for four years as a team,” Curtis said. “Each year we’ve grown and grown. It’s a wonderful thing.”

The chess championship has been held at the Union for four years and is expected return next year on the first weekend of February, Skidmore said.

The tournament’s turnout is expected to outgrow the Union, she said.

“But I’d like to do another event here, because it’s such a nice location and the people here are really great,” Skidmore said.

Original news article is available here.

Boards, Pieces, & Clocks

2008-02-12T00:15:00.001-05:00

The Marshall Academy Chess program has acquisitioned:

15 boards & pieces
3 tournament clocks

This should suffice for the current number of students. Hopefully these will arrive before the next class because the students are really going to enjoy them!

Basic Elements - 1

2008-02-07T11:09:00.000-05:00

This week we'll be going over some of the basic elements in chess from previous classes. There were quite a few last week & before moving ahead I want to see the students get behind some of the reasons why these are important in chess. Among those things are:

1. Material
2. Development (getting knights & bishops out and into the game as soon as possible)
3. Control of the Center (pieces have more mobility, scope, and influence on more squares from the center 4 squares as opposed to anywhere else on the board)
4. Pawn structure (why doubled pawns are bad)

These 4 main elements above (and castling early for king safety) are primarily the most decisive factors in every chess game.

The three parts of a chess game and some of the characteristics that define them -

1. Opening
2. Middlegame
3. Endgame

I didn't get a chance to divide the class into the 3 separate competitive sections last week but will do so today. The plan:

The Knights - K, 1, 2, 3, 4
The Bishops - 5th grade
The Rooks - 6th grade & up

Imperfect, but this allows for a roughly even amount of students in each section and hopefully will coincide with individual chess skill and should enable for more tailored instruction.

As usual, I encourage you, as parents, to play chess with your student at a level just slightly beyond his or her skill, reinforcing some of the elements discussed, written here, or sent home and remember to keep it fun!

FIRST TWO WEEKS - 2

2008-02-07T11:02:00.000-05:00

Here is the newsletter from last week.

Jan. 31, 2008

Marshall Academy Chess Weekly Update

Thank you for your student’s participation in Marshall Academy Chess! The benefits of regular chess playing & participation include:

Math Skill Development Pattern Recognition
Science Achievement Sportsmanship
English Skills Dealing With Undesirable Situations
Communication Abilities Learning From Mistakes
Creativity Responsibility for Actions
Concentration Discipline
Logical Reasoning Measurable Individual Accomplishments
Critical Thinking Team Spirit
Memory Commitment
Problem Solving Academic Competition for All
Intellectual Maturity Associating in a Good Crowd
Self Esteem Social Enrichment
Analyzing Actions & Consequences Social Skills
Planning Ahead Improved Attendance
Complex Decision Making

Last week was great! We went over the value of each chess piece and the proper way to orient the board to start a game. The documents I’m sending home with each student today cover that info and much of what we’ll cover here in the near future. Please keep them for reference.

Today is dividing the class into three competitive sections, a quick review of last week’s instruction, and introducing a few new things that are essential in winning chess:

The four main elements of chess are: 1. Material 2. Development (bishops, knights out quickly). 3. Control of the center of the board 4. Pawn Structure (why doubled pawns are bad).

Also today is a discussion on thinking “defense first” before every move, a couple of basic checkmates (King & Queen vs. King), sportsmanship, some tactics, and the benefits of losing a game of chess.

If you have time, I encourage you to play chess with your student at a level just slightly beyond his or her skill, reinforcing some of the elements we discuss in class & the material sent home. Remember to keep it fun and you’re welcome to drop an email or call me anytime if you have any questions.

FIRST TWO WEEKS - 1

2008-02-07T10:13:00.001-05:00

What a turnout! I'm impressed with how many students are interested and how many parents realize the value of their children learning chess.

I think a great way to learn is to have fun doing it. With that, I'd like to have students actually playing chess as much as possible while at the class on Thursdays. The difficulty for me lies in determining the actual amount of instruction in this one hour period.

There are many basic elements that are essential to progressing in chess and I will introduce a different element every week while also trying to help them remember the ones previously discussed. I'll have to get a feel for how well students receive these fundamentals and apply them to their own playing before getting too far ahead. In any case, the material we discuss or provide will be available at this internet site.

The first chess class at Marshall Academy covered the value of the individual chess pieces:

Queen = 9
Rook = 5
Knight = 3
Bishop = 3
Pawn = 1

These mathematical values should be remembered and considered when making decisions regarding piece trades or exchanges. It may be helpful to compare the values to money. Certainly, it wouldn't be prudent to voluntarily exchange a queen that is worth $9 for a bishop that is worth $3. The player giving up his/her queen would have a material disadvantage after that. If it were a football game score, the player giving up his/her queen would be losing by 6 points.

We also discussed how to properly orient the chessboard before setting up & playing - making sure there is a white square in the lower right corner.

First Post

2007-12-07T10:27:00.001-05:00

First post for Marshall Academy Chess.