OK a calm day in chess, after the last few weeks

I needed a break.

We had a fun and relaxing club this morning.  the number 1 and 2 players Barry Vigil and Nathan Wei are in an epic struggle and did not finish the game.  I took a photo they will continue next week for the battle for first.

Coming up we have the 7th Annual Weber tournament.  It is FREE!  and no USCF membership required.  And it is very close geographically!  To sign up just email me evigil@gmail.com with name, school and grade! 

Diana Tivanski and Sachiko Goto are rising up quickly on the chess ladder, Sachiko told me that her goal of coming to chess club was so she could beat her dad.  Give her a couple of years and Mr Goto better watch out!  I also love the enthusiasm of J.J. Brown!  He hasn't won a game yet, but he is trying his hardest.  I am sure with more practice he will get that first victory, way to be the little red engine that could J.J. you think you can you think you can!

1  +5 15  0 Barry vigil                       
  2  +6 17  0 Nathan Wei                        
  3  -1 15  0 Andy Luo                          
  4 +43  4  0 Eric (Yo Yo) Liu                  
  5  -4 24  0 Yulong Shao                       
  6  -1 17  0 Aaron Smith                       
  7  -3 19  0 Andrey  Arshava                   
  8  +4 21  0 Jack Gray                         
  9  -6 18  0 Liam Willett                      
 10  -3  9  0 Vladimir Tivanski                 
 11  -2  8  0 Justin Pieper                     
 12  -2 16  0 Benjamin Zhang                    
 13   0  8  0 Jacob Vigil                       
 14  -3 17  0 Joseph  Vigil                     
 15 +33  6  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                 
 16  +5  7  0 Alexandra Curtu                   
 17  +2 19  0 Mohana Sunkara                    
 18 +35  5  0 Sachiko  Goto                     
 19 +33  4  0 Diana Tivanski                    
 20  -6  7  0 Lily (Hongjin) Li                 
 21  -3  5  0 Karina Li                         
 22  -5  7  0 Thomas  Pierce                    
 23  -8  7  0 Miranda Feng                      
 24  +7  5  0 Jocelyn Hsieh                     
 25  +1 14  0 Sebastian Cochran                 
 26  +6  2  0 Richard Yang                      
 27 +10  7  0 Josh Greene                       
 28 -12  8  0 Defne Bayman                      
 29  -9  7  0 Eric  Pieper                      
 30  -8  2  0 Yifan Zhai                        
 31  -8  3  0 Xinyu Wang                        
 32  -8  6  0 Sanjeev Sarin                     
 33  -8  6  0 Laurel Haverkamp                  
 34  -7 11  0 Jimin Jung                        
 35  -7  6  0 Noah Willett                      
 36  -7  6  0 Jikun, (Bob) Zhang                
 37  -7  1  0 Sabrina  Du                       
 38  -5  2  0 Reece Yang                        
 39  -5  4  0 Emerson Bennett                   
 40   0  3  0 Shalom A. Gugsa                   
 41  -6  3  0 Connor  Houtman                   
 42  -6  8  0 Evan Green                        
 43  +2 11  0 Jim Li                            
 44  -6  0  3 Amelia Stevens                    
 45  -6  2  0 Tommy Stevens                     
 46  -5  2  0 Emma Zheng                        
 47  -5  0  3 Naomi A. Gugsa                    
 48  -5  1  1 Ryan Goodman                      
 49  -5  1  1 Joey  Goodman                     
 50  -4  2  0 David Zhou                        
 51  -2  3  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                  
 52  -2  1  0 Yeon (Jay)  Lim                   
 53  -2  0  0 YoonJi (Beth) Lim                 
 54   0  4  0 J.J. Brown                   

Great Day, we presented Ms. Shoppa with Borlaug's first competative trophy!  Winning 2nd in the State Elementary Team Chess Tournament on Feb 9th in Cedar Rapids. 

As a team we are going at it again this coming Saturday in Cedar Rapids at the Prairie Chess Series #2!  Lets show up in force and win it! 

I am proud of our team.

2nd Place! State Team Champions!!!!!

I am just so proud!  We won second in state!  we were behind in fifth place after the Fourth Round and in the Fifth  (and final) Round we came up BIG!  With Nathan, Barry and Vladimir winning their last game and Andy getting a tie to give us 3.5 out of 4 points, and catapulted us into 2nd place.  It was a stunning finish! 

Most Important Tournament of the year is next week!

Well, with the snow day last week, we did not have chess club, however lots of chess was going on!

Congradulations to Ziwen Zhou who will be our Iowa Representative to the Barber Chess Tournament at the US Open in Madison Wisconsin, Ziwen is in 6th grade and chose to finish his scholastic career at Weber Elementary, best wishes and I know he will do Iowa Proud.

Barry Vigil went to the LeatherJackets tournament in Cedar Rapids and tied for best under 1100 player, but lost on tiebreakers, he walked away with $5 as three other players were tied with him.

Two weeks ago Yulong had dibs on playing Barry for the top spot on the ladder and was defeated.  Who will dethrone Barry on Wednesday?

The two most important tournaments are coming up in the next two Saturdays!  First is the Iowa Elementary Team Champoinship hopefully this will get a link to it.  I will have flyers to send home with kids on Wed, and post one in the school office.  We have a really good chance of winning this. 


https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxjaGVzc2luaW93YXxneDozZTkwNGIzNjEwNTA5YmEy

The other is the following week on Feb 16th Number 2 in the Prairie Chess Series.  Currently we are in second place.  The way the team points are calculated is that every point scored by the team goes to the teams total.  Sooooo the more players we have, the better chances we have in winning.  We did extremely well with the players who came, and just a few points away from gold!

Here is the chess ladder:

 1  +5 13  0 Barry vigil                       
  2  +6 16  0 Nathan Wei                        
  3  -1 14  0 Andy Luo                          
  4 +43  4  0 Eric (Yo Yo) Liu                  
  5  -4 22  0 Yulong Shao                       
  6  -1 16  0 Aaron Smith                       
  7  -3 19  0 Andrey  Arshava                   
  8  +4 20  0 Jack Gray                         
  9  -6 17  0 Liam Willett                      
 10  -3  9  0 Vladimir Tivanski                 
 11  -2  8  0 Justin Pieper                     
 12  -2 15  0 Benjamin Zhang                    
 13   0  7  0 Jacob Vigil                       
 14  -3 16  0 Joseph  Vigil                     
 15  +6  5  0 Alexandra Curtu                   
 16  -2  4  0 Lily (Hongjin) Li                 
 17  +1  5  0 Karina Li                         
 18  -1  7  0 Thomas  Pierce                    
 19  -4  7  0 Miranda Feng                      
 20 +11  5  0 Jocelyn Hsieh                     
 21  +5 13  0 Sebastian Cochran                 
 22 +10  2  0 Richard Yang                      
 23 +14  6  0 Josh Greene                       
 24 +24  3  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                 
 25  -6 14  0 Mohana Sunkara                    
 26 -10  8  0 Defne Bayman                      
 27  -7  6  0 Eric  Pieper                      
 28  -6  2  0 Yifan Zhai                        
 29  -6  2  0 Xinyu Wang                        
 30  -6  6  0 Sanjeev Sarin                     
 31  -6  6  0 Laurel Haverkamp                  
 32 +21  2  0 Sachiko  Goto                     
 33 +19  2  0 Diana Tivanski                    
 34  -7 10  0 Jimin Jung                        
 35  -7  6  0 Noah Willett                      
 36  -7  6  0 Jikun, (Bob) Zhang                
 37  -7  1  0 Sabrina  Du                       
 38  -5  2  0 Reece Yang                        
 39  -5  4  0 Emerson Bennett                   
 40   0  3  0 Shalom A. Gugsa                   
 41  -6  3  0 Connor  Houtman                   
 42  -6  8  0 Evan Green                        
 43  +2 10  0 Jim Li                            
 44  -6  0  3 Amelia Stevens                    
 45  -6  2  0 Tommy Stevens                     
 46  -5  2  0 Emma Zheng                        
 47  -5  0  3 Naomi A. Gugsa                    
 48  -5  1  1 Ryan Goodman                      
 49  -5  1  1 Joey  Goodman                     
 50  -4  2  0 David Zhou                        
 51  -2  2  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                  
 52  -2  1  0 Yeon (Jay)  Lim                   
 53  -2  0  0 YoonJi (Beth) Lim                 
 54   0  1  0 J.J. Brown