New Technology!

Yesterday I finally got the smart board to work, Now I feel smart.  I put up a game between two grandmasters and challenged the students to find the best moves.  I get these puzzles from Bruce Pandolfini and his solitaire chess article in Chess Life Magazine.  Anyway the more advanced chess players got a mind workout and had fun doing it.

Chess club continues to be popular, and with the large amounts of children playing chess we have many games on the floor. 

It really excites me to see new players learning the game and enjoying the camaraderie

On the Ladder today Nathan Wei took over the top spot from Eric Liu.  Lots of fierce battles going on in the library.

 1 +24  3  0 Nathan Wei                         
  2 +20  6  0 Eric  Liu                          
  3 +18  4  0 Yulong Shao                        
  4  -3  1  0 Barry  Vigil                       
  5  +2  1  0 Eric  Pieper                       
  6 +39  1  0 Vladimir Tivanski                  
  7 +20  5  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                  
  8 +34  3  0 Liam Willett                       
  9 +27  1  0 Jim Su                             
 10 +27  5  0 Joe Su                             
 11  -3  2  0 Justin Pieper                      
 12  +5  3  0 Benjamin Zhang                     
 13  +6  4  0 Luke Fasse                         
 14  +6  6  0 Jack Fasse                         
 15 -13  8  0 Joey Vigil                         
 16  -4  3  0 Andy Luo                           
 17 -12  2  0 Aaron  Smith                       
 18 -15  2  0 Jacob Vigil                        
 19 +22  5  0 Noah Willett                       
 20 -16  2  0 Defne Bayman                       
 21 +11  2  0 Andrey Arshava                     
 22  -7  3  0 Jimin Jung                         
 23 -10  5  0 Sanjeev Sarin                      
 24 -18  5  0 Eddy  Xu                           
 25  -7  2  0 Reece Yang                         
 26 -17  2  0 Alexandra Curtu                    
 27  +8  3  0 Yifan Bu                           
 28 -18  1  0 Akshat Pawar                       
 29 -18  0  0 Anna  Zheng                        
 30 -16  1  0 Miranda Feng                       
 31 -15  0  0 Edward Keen                        
 32  -2  6  0 Thomas Pierce                      
 33 +16  2  0 JJ Brown                           
 34 -11  0  0 Aditya Malgaonkar                  
 35 -11  2  0 Ben Ciliberto                      
 36 -10  1  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                   
 37  -9  0  0 Shanza Sami                        
 38  -9  1  0 Alexander  Pierce                  
 39  -8  0  0 Joshua Park                        
 40  -7  1  0 Sebastian  Cochrane                
 41  -7  0  0 Sachiko Goto                       
 42  -4  1  0 Joy Su                             
 43  -4  1  0 Rani Youness                       
 44  -4  0  0 Dani Youness                       
 45  -2  0  0 Serena Li                          
 46  -2  1  0 Mohana Sunkara                     
 47  -1  0  0 Diana Tivanskaya                   
 48  -1  0  0 Alysa  Skala                       
 49  -1  1  0 Grace  Song                        
 50   0  0  0 Tadamichi Goto                     
 51   0  0  0 Yuning Shao                        

WOW! Lots of Chess! Already 49 members of the chess club!

We have 49 players!  I am so impressed.

Sorry about last week, I was not able to attend, thank you Saif, Charles and Shungang for running chess club.  We have kids playing chess all over the place!  There are not enough tables in the Library!

I think it is great.  I love seeing new players and welcome the old.  Lots of good chess going on!  I can't wait until our first "rated" chess club.  All of these USCF memberships I have been diligently filing with the United States Chess Federation, we will play some rated chess.  Watching the kids has been great, some of the older more experienced kids are teaching the younger ones.  I am getting the skills competency books ready to go and to start some puzzling. 

Eric Liu climbed to the top of the chess ladder.  And Liam Willet is now number 7.  Liam is quite a good chess player.  I felt bad for him as he didn't understand that we set up the chess ladder first signed up were on top, well Liam, you made it up to number 7.  Play Eric and shoot for the top!   And here is the ladder!

1 +21  5  0 Eric  Liu                          
  2 +23  1  0 Nathan Wei                         
  3 +18  3  0 Yulong Shao                        
  4  -3  1  0 Barry  Vigil                       
  5  +2  1  0 Eric  Pieper                       
  6 +39  1  0 Vladimir Tivanski                  
  7 +35  2  0 Liam Willett                       
  8 +29  3  0 Joe Su                             
  9  -1  1  0 Justin Pieper                      
 10  +7  3  0 Benjamin Zhang                     
 11  +9  5  0 Jack Fasse                         
 12 -10  5  0 Joey Vigil                         
 13  -1  3  0 Andy Luo                           
 14  -9  2  0 Aaron  Smith                       
 15 -12  2  0 Jacob Vigil                        
 16 -12  1  0 Defne Bayman                       
 17 +15  2  0 Andrey Arshava                     
 18  -5  4  0 Sanjeev Sarin                      
 19 +22  4  0 Noah Willett                       
 20 -14  4  0 Eddy  Xu                           
 21  -3  2  0 Reece Yang                         
 22 -13  2  0 Alexandra Curtu                    
 23 -13  0  0 Akshat Pawar                       
 24 -13  0  0 Anna  Zheng                        
 25 -11  1  0 Miranda Feng                       
 26 -11  2  0 Jimin Jung                         
 27 -11  0  0 Edward Keen                        
 28  +2  4  0 Thomas Pierce                      
 29 +20  1  0 JJ Brown                           
 30 -11  2  0 Luke Fasse                         
 31  -8  0  0 Aditya Malgaonkar                  
 32  -8  2  0 Ben Ciliberto                      
 33  -6  3  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                  
 34  -8  1  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                   
 35  -7  0  0 Shanza Sami                        
 36  -7  1  0 Alexander  Pierce                  
 37  -6  0  0 Joshua Park                        
 38  -5  1  0 Sebastian  Cochrane                
 39  -5  0  0 Sachiko Goto                       
 40  -5  2  0 Yifan Bu                           
 41  -5  0  0 Jim Su                             
 42  -4  0  0 Joy Su                             
 43  -4  1  0 Rani Youness                       
 44  -4  0  0 Dani Youness                       
 45  -2  0  0 Serina Li                          
 46  -2  1  0 Mohana Sunkara                     
 47  -1  0  0 Diana Tivanskaya                   
 48  -1  0  0 Alysa  Skala                       
 49  -1  1  0 Grace  Song             

WOW!  43 enrolled students in the first two weeks of Chess Club!

Exciting year. 

First we have the EICL!  Eastern Iowa Chess League!  Our First Match will be against Prairie Elementary in Cedar Rapids, more details to follow.

At the end of this month there is a big Team Tournament on September 28th in Omaha Nebraska.  I have two kids going (my own) to represent Borlaug, however we need four children to make a team.  If you are interested please contact me as we have to register the four children together as a team to participate.

and here is the roster, Yulong Shao defeated Barry Vigil to claim the top spot.  They will be gunning for you Yulong so watch out.  and here is the rest of the results, now is the time of the year when people are added to the ladder at the bottom so soon the abilities will sort themselves out.  So anyone can play anyone this week.

 1 +20  1  0 Yulong Shao                        
  2  -1  1  0 Barry  Vigil                       
  3  +4  1  0 Eric  Pieper                       
  4  -2  1  0 Joey Vigil                         
  5   0  1  0 Aaron  Smith                       
  6  -3  1  0 Jacob Vigil                        
  7  -3  0  0 Dafne Bayman                       
  8  -2  0  0 Eddy  Xu                           
  9  -1  0  0 Justin Pieper                      
 10  +8  1  0 Reece Yang                         
 11  -2  2  0 Alexandra Curtu                    
 12  -2  0  0 Akshat Pawar                       
 13  -2  0  0 Anna  Zheng                        
 14  -2  1  0 Andy Luo                           
 15  -2  0  0 Sanjeev Sarin                      
 16  -2  0  0 Miranda Feng                       
 17  -2  0  0 Jimin Jung                         
 18  -2  0  0 Edward Keen                        
 19  +3  1  0 Eric  Liu                          
 20  -3  1  0 Benjamin Zhang                     
 21  -2  0  0 Luke Fasse                         
 22 +19  1  0 Noah Willett                       
 23  -3  1  0 Jack Fasse                         
 24  -1  0  0 Aditya Malgaonkar                  
 25  -1  0  0 Ben Ciliberto                      
 26  -1  0  0 Nathan Wei                         
 27  -1  0  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                   
 28  -1  1  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                  
 29  -1  0  0 Shanza Sami                        
 30  -1  0  0 Alexander  Pierce                  
 31  -1  0  0 Thomas Pierce                      
 32  -1  0  0 Joshua Park                        
 33  -1  0  0 Andrey Arshava                     
 34  -1  0  0 Sebastian  Cochrane                
 35  -1  0  0 Sachiko Goto                       
 36  -1  1  0 Yifan Bu                           
 37  -1  0  0 Jim Su                             
 38  -1  0  0 Joe Su                             
 39  -1  0  0 Joy Su                             
 40  -1  0  0 Rani Youness                       
 41  -1  0  0 Dani Youness                       
 42   0  0  0 Liam Willett                       
 43   0  0  0 Serina Li               

Final Day of School!

We had a big upset on the chess ladder Aaron Smith beat Barry Vigil to finish the year on top of the Chess Ladder.  Thanks to everyone who came and enjoyed Borlaug Chess Club, especailly our Parent Volunteers

Charles Pierce and Levant Bayman our puzzle masters
Shungang Wei our Chess Skills Coach
Mr Bharanidhar for all your efforts

We had quite the successful first year with our teams winning

2nd Place State Elementary Team Championships K-6
1st Place Weber K-6 tournament
2nd place K-5 Prairie Chess Series
1st Place K-2 Prairie Chess Series
3rd Place K-6 Ice Harbor Scholastic Grand Prix
2nd Place K-2 Ice Harbor Scholastic Grand Prix

And Recently one of our team members won First in the 1st Annual Longfellow Chess Tournament