Borlaug Chess Club

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Borlaug Parents Chess Club? A concept worth exploring.....

OK I have been playing chess with some parents of Students at Borlaug and I hear, that Dad plays chess with me at home. I also hear, My parents don't know how to play chess, or a parent tell me the same. Well how about every other week on Wednesday evening 8:00pm to 10:30pm we have a parents chess club over at the Java House on Morman Trek? Casual play, and help beginners tactics and strategies to help their children. No stress just for fun.

It would be fun, we could drink coffee, and pretend we are the kids.

Just be groovy and play chess.

On the ladder last week Eric Pieper took top spot, and held on this week. We have reached 66 members, WOAH! larger than last year. Tournament in Ames and Chicago on Saturday. The Vigil Boys will be going to the Susan Polgar world boys and girls championships, and I think Eddy Xu may be joining us.

1 +11 3 0 Eric Pieper
2   0 6 0 Barry Vigil
3 +2 6 0 Benjamin Zhang
4 -3 1 0 Nathan Wei
5 +8 3 0 Justin Pieper
6 +4 8 0 Akhil Bharanidhar
7   0 6 0 Andy Luo
8 +14 5 0 Eddy Xu
9 +7 6 0 Thomas Pierce
10 +10 6 0 Joey Vigil
11   0 5 0 Aaron Smith
12 +15 1 0 Alexandra Curtu
13 +30 6 0 Joey Bartelme
14 +9 10 0 Aditya Malgaonkar
15 +11 6 0 Jimin Jung
16 +31 3 0 Jaehyun Jae Jung
17 +4 4 0 Ajay Bharanidhar
18 +12 5 0 Alyson Skala
19 +10 4 0 Defne Bayman
20 +11 2 0 Ben Ciliberto
21 +24 5 0 Grace Song
22 +14 1 0 Anna Zheng
23 +38 4 0 Alyssa Skala
24 +13 3 0 Miranda Feng
25 +24 4 0 Jaymeson Harms
26 +33 6 0 Huichan Mark Jung
27 +22 7 0 Alexander Pierce
28 +13 1 0 JJ Brown
29 +9 5 0 Diana Tivanskaya
30 +18 4 0 Maria Arshava
31 +11 0 0 Shanza Sami
32 +12 3 0 Mohana Sunkara
33 +29 7 0 Josie Schwartz
34 +20 0 0 Yuning Shao
35 +20 0 0 Ren Hutchinson
36 +22 2 0 Mahmoud Aly
37 +23 0 0 Brady Thoma
38 +4 2 0 Asif Ali
39 +3 1 0 Aneesh Arvind
40 +4 0 0 Nya Bunyan
41 +4 0 0 Sarah Bunyan
42 +4 2 0 Sophie Castro
43 +4 1 0 Gabriella Ciliberto
44 +10 2 0 Anna Miao
45 +3 3 0 Julieta Fajardo-New
46 +4 0 0 Owen Houtman
47 +8 3 0 Bennett Olson
48 +2 4 0 Thomas Keen
49 +2 2 0 Aiden Liu
50 +2 0 0 Aden Mascher
51 +2 1 0 Cale Mascher
52 +9 4 0 Brady Olson
53 +12 3 0 Gordy Gambrall
54 +2 1 0 Rebecca Ren
55 +2 0 0 Arieanna Singh
56 +4 4 0 Collin Whitters
57 +1 1 0 Isaac Smith
58 +1 2 0 Gregory Van Auken
59 +2 0 0 Flora Zhu
60 +1 1 0 Iesa Lassiter
61 +1 0 0 Nicolas Arteaga
62 +1 0 0 Ricardo Arteaga
63 +1 0 0 Abigail Neumiller
64   0 1 0 Owen Harms
65   0 0 0 Reece Yang
66   0 0 0 Alden Zhang

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Benji upsets Nathan Wei and some announcements

Congratulations to Benji as he ascends to the top of the chess ladder. Benji? did you practice your chess over the Summer? You are doing good. In the battle of the Olson brothers Brady upset Bennett, must have been the sun rising and getting in Bennetts eyes.... and Masha defeated Diana in the battle of the Russian speaking girls. Good work team.

I handed out some tactics puzzles. This week is Pins. Thanks to Levant Bayman providing our puzzles. I am stressing this year to take notation. I have been working with individuals and small groups. We can do it!

Here is Sophia learning notation.

And Addy and one of the Pieper boys.

And Alexandra doing her best Susan Polgar impression.

and here is the ladder

1 +4 4 0 Benjamin Zhang
2 -1 1 0 Nathan Wei
3 -1 4 0 Barry Vigil
4 +6 7 0 Akhil Bharanidhar
5 +2 5 0 Andy Luo
6 +16 4 0 Eddy Xu
7 +13 4 0 Joey Vigil
8 +4 2 0 Eric Pieper
9 +2 4 0 Aaron Smith
10 +3 2 0 Justin Pieper
11 +5 5 0 Thomas Pierce
12 +15 1 0 Alexandra Curtu
13 +30 5 0 Joey Bartelme
14 +7 0 0 Ajay Bharanidhar
15 +8 7 0 Aditya Malgaonkar
16 +10 3 0 Jimin Jung
17 +12 2 0 Defne Bayman
18 +12 2 0 Alyson Skala
19 +12 2 0 Ben Ciliberto
20 +25 4 0 Grace Song
21 +15 1 0 Anna Zheng
22 +15 1 0 Miranda Feng
23 +24 2 0 Jaehyun Jae Jung
24 +25 4 0 Alexander Pierce
25 +16 1 0 JJ Brown
26 +22 2 0 Maria Arshava
27 +11 3 0 Diana Tivanskaya
28 +14 0 0 Shanza Sami
29 +15 2 0 Mohana Sunkara
30 +32 5 0 Josie Schwartz
31 +23 0 0 Yuning Shao
32 +23 0 0 Ren Hutchinson
33 +28 2 0 Alyssa Skala
34 +15 3 0 Jaymeson Harms
35 +23 2 0 Mahmoud Aly
36 +23 5 0 Huichan Mark Jung
37 +23 0 0 Brady Thoma
38 +4 2 0 Asif Ali
39 +3 0 0 Aneesh Arvind
40 +4 0 0 Nya Bunyan
41 +4 0 0 Sarah Bunyan
42 +4 2 0 Sophie Castro
43 +4 1 0 Gabriella Ciliberto
44 +10 1 0 Anna Miao
45 +3 2 0 Julieta Fajardo-New
46 +4 0 0 Owen Houtman
47 +3 2 0 Thomas Keen
48 +3 1 0 Aiden Liu
49 +3 0 0 Aden Mascher
50 +3 1 0 Cale Mascher
51 +10 2 0 Brady Olson
52 +3 1 0 Bennett Olson
53 +3 0 0 Rebecca Ren
54 +3 0 0 Arieanna Singh
55 +3 0 0 Isaac Smith
56 +3 2 0 Gregory Van Auken
57 +8 2 0 Gordy Gambrall
58 +2 3 0 Collin Whitters
59 +2 0 0 Flora Zhu
60 +1 1 0 Iesa Lassiter
61 +1 0 0 Nicolas Arteaga
62 +1 0 0 Ricardo Arteaga
63 +1 0 0 Abigail Neumiller
64   0 0 0 Owen Harms

Thursday, October 9, 2014

ICPL Chess Tournament Flyer! and ladder postings.

OK so they got it a little off, over 1000 USCF will be allowed to play but just against others that are above 1000. But we are getting lots of entries, and I have ordered the trophies.

Next week, your children may be coming home with chess puzzle homework. Mr Bayman has gotten me some PDFs of chess puzzles and we will start with simple tasks and move up. Hopefully our students will take these tasks to heart, study them and be better chess players. I also want to put up on the screen the game between Eric Pieper and I at the Coe College Tournament and do a little analysis.

On the ladder not much movement. We had the battle of the Ciliberto's and Benji Z tried to unseat Barry Vigil to no avail. Nathan Wei stays at the top of the ladder fending off all comers.

1   0 0 0 Nathan Wei
2   0 4 0 Barry Vigil
3 +4 4 0 Andy Luo
4 +18 4 0 Eddy Xu
5 +15 4 0 Joey Vigil
6 -1 3 0 Benjamin Zhang
7 +4 3 0 Aaron Smith
8 +5 2 0 Justin Pieper
9 +1 6 0 Akhil Bharanidhar
10 +6 5 0 Thomas Pierce
11 +1 1 0 Eric Pieper
12 +15 1 0 Alexandra Curtu
13 +30 5 0 Joey Bartelme
14 +7 0 0 Ajay Bharanidhar
15 +8 7 0 Aditya Malgaonkar
16 +10 2 0 Jimin Jung
17 +12 2 0 Defne Bayman
18 +12 1 0 Alyson Skala
19 +12 2 0 Ben Ciliberto
20 +25 2 0 Grace Song
21 +15 1 0 Anna Zheng
22 +15 1 0 Miranda Feng
23 +24 2 0 Jaehyun Jae Jung
24 +25 4 0 Alexander Pierce
25 +16 1 0 JJ Brown
26 +12 2 0 Diana Tivanskaya
27 +15 0 0 Shanza Sami
28 +16 2 0 Mohana Sunkara
29 +33 4 0 Josie Schwartz
30 +18 1 0 Maria Arshava
31 +23 0 0 Yuning Shao
32 +23 0 0 Ren Hutchinson
33 +28 2 0 Alyssa Skala
34 +15 3 0 Jaymeson Harms
35 +23 1 0 Mahmoud Aly
36 +23 5 0 Huichan Mark Jung
37 +23 0 0 Brady Thoma
38 +4 2 0 Asif Ali
39 +3 0 0 Aneesh Arvind
40 +4 0 0 Nya Bunyan
41 +4 0 0 Sarah Bunyan
42 +4 2 0 Sophie Castro
43 +4 1 0 Gabriella Ciliberto
44 +4 1 0 Julieta Fajardo-New
45 +5 0 0 Owen Houtman
46 +4 1 0 Thomas Keen
47 +4 1 0 Aiden Liu
48 +4 0 0 Aden Mascher
49 +4 1 0 Cale Mascher
50 +4 0 0 Anna Miao
51 +4 0 0 Bennett Olson
52 +4 0 0 Rebecca Ren
53 +4 0 0 Arieanna Singh
54 +4 0 0 Isaac Smith
55 +4 1 0 Gregory Van Auken
56 +5 1 0 Brady Olson
57 +8 1 0 Gordy Gambrall
58 +2 2 0 Collin Whitters
59 +2 0 0 Flora Zhu
60 +1 1 0 Iesa Lassiter
61 +1 0 0 Nicolas Arteaga
62 +1 0 0 Ricardo Arteaga
63 +1 0 0 Abigail Neumiller

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Tournament at Coe 5 players from Borlaug did good.

At the first annual Coe College Fall Tournament 5 players from Borlaug participated

Barry and Joseph Vigil, Eric and Justin Pieper and Hutchinson Ren. Eric Pieper even got to challenge me in a rated game and put me under a lot of pressure. Keep it up in a year or two you will be better than me.

Sorry I didn't get the ladder updated on Wed evening. I had a score I had to double check, and then after I got the score, other things got added to my schedule.

1   0 0 0 Nathan Wei
2   0 4 0 Barry Vigil
3 +4 4 0 Andy Luo
4 +18 3 0 Eddy Xu
5   0 2 0 Benjamin Zhang
6 +5 2 0 Aaron Smith
7 +3 4 0 Akhil Bharanidhar
8 +8 4 0 Thomas Pierce
9 +3 1 0 Eric Pieper
10 +10 2 0 Joey Vigil
11 +16 1 0 Alexandra Curtu
12 +31 5 0 Joey Bartelme
13   0 1 0 Justin Pieper
14 +7 0 0 Ajay Bharanidhar
15 +8 5 0 Aditya Malgaonkar
16 +9 0 0 Luke Fasse
17 +9 1 0 Jimin Jung
18 +10 0 0 Jack Fasse
19 +10 1 0 Defne Bayman
20 +10 1 0 Alyson Skala
21 +10 0 0 Ben Ciliberto
22 +23 2 0 Grace Song
23 +13 1 0 Anna Zheng
24 +13 1 0 Miranda Feng
25 +13 0 0 Diana Tivanskaya
26 +15 0 0 JJ Brown
27 +15 0 0 Shanza Sami
28 +16 1 0 Mohana Sunkara
29 +33 3 0 Josie Schwartz
30 +17 1 0 Jaehyun Jae Jung
31 +17 1 0 Maria Arshava
32 +17 1 0 Alexander Pierce
33 +21 0 0 Yuning Shao
34 +21 0 0 Ren Hutchinson
35 +14 2 0 Jaymeson Harms
36 +22 1 0 Mahmoud Aly
37 +22 4 0 Huichan Mark Jung
38 +22 0 0 Brady Thoma
39 +3 2 0 Asif Ali
40 +2 0 0 Aneesh Arvind
41 +3 0 0 Nya Bunyan
42 +3 0 0 Sarah Bunyan
43 +3 1 0 Sophie Castro
44 +3 0 0 Gabriella Ciliberto
45 +3 1 0 Julieta Fajardo-New
46 +15 1 0 Alyssa Skala
47 +3 0 0 Owen Houtman
48 +2 0 0 Thomas Keen
49 +2 1 0 Aiden Liu
50 +2 0 0 Aden Mascher
51 +2 1 0 Cale Mascher
52 +2 0 0 Anna Miao
53 +2 0 0 Bennett Olson
54 +2 0 0 Rebecca Ren
55 +2 0 0 Arieanna Singh
56 +2 0 0 Isaac Smith
57 +2 1 0 Gregory Van Auken
58 +3 1 0 Brady Olson
59 +1 1 0 Collin Whitters
60 +1 0 0 Flora Zhu
61   0 1 0 Iesa Lassiter
62   0 0 0 Nicolas Arteaga
63   0 0 0 Ricardo Arteaga

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

I can Capture the King??????

We learned "proper" Bughouse Rules this morning some key points are you can capture the king, it is clock move not touch move, and time management is important.

On the ladder, Joey Bartelme defeated Justin Pieper in an upset. Lots of great play. I really like the group dynamic, kids are really getting in some chess. Nathan stayed on top, Thomas Pierce also was a big mover. Next week I am going to enforce the 10 position/25% rule of the chess club ladder, that is you have to be within 10 positions to challenge another player, those players who are not within 10 positions will have their result not count.

There is a tournament coming up at Coe College. Sunday October 5th. I passed out flyers this morning, it is USCF Rated. Last year we bought USCF memberships for all the players in the club, this year I am not doing that as we didn't use them as much as I had hoped, but if you go to tournaments, you can renew with me for $14 dollars, or do it online at the USCF site, however if you do it with me our club gets some credit and it is the same price.

1   0 0 0 Nathan Wei
2 +20 2 0 Eddy Xu
3 +4 2 0 Andy Luo
4 -2 3 0 Barry Vigil
5   0 2 0 Benjamin Zhang
6 +5 2 0 Aaron Smith
7 +3 2 0 Akhil Bharanidhar
8 +8 3 0 Thomas Pierce
9 +3 1 0 Eric Pieper
10 +33 3 0 Joey Bartelme
11 +2 1 0 Justin Pieper
12 +8 1 0 Joey Vigil
13 +8 0 0 Ajay Bharanidhar
14 +9 4 0 Aditya Malgaonkar
15 +10 0 0 Luke Fasse
16 +10 1 0 Jimin Jung
17 +10 0 0 Alexandra Curtu
18 +10 0 0 Jack Fasse
19 +10 1 0 Defne Bayman
20 +10 1 0 Alyson Skala
21 +10 0 0 Ben Ciliberto
22 +23 2 0 Grace Song
23 +13 1 0 Anna Zheng
24 +13 1 0 Miranda Feng
25 +13 0 0 Diana Tivanskaya
26 +15 0 0 JJ Brown
27 +15 0 0 Shanza Sami
28 +16 1 0 Mohana Sunkara
29 +33 3 0 Josie Schwartz
30 +17 1 0 Jaehyun Jae Jung
31 +17 1 0 Maria Arshava
32 +17 0 0 Alexander Pierce
33 +21 0 0 Yuning Shao
34 +21 0 0 Ren Hutchinson
35 +23 0 0 Mahmoud Aly
36 +23 4 0 Huichan Mark Jung
37 +23 0 0 Brady Thoma
38 +4 1 0 Asif Ali
39 +3 0 0 Aneesh Arvind
40 +4 0 0 Nya Bunyan
41 +4 0 0 Sarah Bunyan
42 +4 1 0 Sophie Castro
43 +4 0 0 Gabriella Ciliberto
44 +4 1 0 Julieta Fajardo-New
45 +16 1 0 Alyssa Skala
46 +3 1 0 Jaymeson Harms
47 +3 0 0 Owen Houtman
48 +2 0 0 Thomas Keen
49 +2 1 0 Aiden Liu
50 +2 0 0 Aden Mascher
51 +2 1 0 Cale Mascher
52 +2 0 0 Anna Miao
53 +2 0 0 Bennett Olson
54 +2 0 0 Rebecca Ren
55 +2 0 0 Arieanna Singh
56 +2 0 0 Isaac Smith
57 +2 1 0 Gregory Van Auken
58 +2 0 0 Collin Whitters
59 +2 0 0 Flora Zhu
60 +1 1 0 Iesa Lassiter
61   0 0 0 Brady Olson

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Great Second Week of Chess Club!

Great Day! Again Library was cleaned up and kids well behaved! On the chess side, we did some two rook checkmating, and went over the 50 move rule. Eddy Xu tied Nathan Wei! Moving to the Number 2 position on the Ladder. Great Job Eddy.

Next week we are going to learn the "Proper" way to play Bughouse.

Also students are asking for rated tournaments. I will try to have one on a Thursday afternoon soon.

And here is today's ladder.

1   0 0 0 Nathan Wei
2 +20 2 0 Eddy Xu
3 -1 2 0 Barry Vigil
4 +1 2 0 Benjamin Zhang
5 +6 2 0 Aaron Smith
6 +1 1 0 Andy Luo
7 +3 0 0 Akhil Bharanidhar
8 +4 1 0 Eric Pieper
9 +4 0 0 Justin Pieper
10 +6 0 0 Thomas Pierce
11 +6 0 0 Akshat Pawar
12 +8 1 0 Joey Vigil
13 +8 0 0 Ajay Bharanidhar
14 +9 3 0 Aditya Malgaonkar
15 +10 0 0 Luke Fasse
16 +10 1 0 Jimin Jung
17 +10 0 0 Alexandra Curtu
18 +10 0 0 Jack Fasse
19 +10 1 0 Defne Bayman
20 +10 1 0 Alyson Skala
21 +10 0 0 Ben Ciliberto
22 +14 0 0 Anna Zheng
23 +20 1 0 Joey Bartelme
24 +13 1 0 Miranda Feng
25 +13 0 0 Diana Tivanskaya
26 +15 0 0 JJ Brown
27 +15 0 0 Shanza Sami
28 +16 0 0 Mohana Sunkara
29 +33 2 0 Josie Schwartz
30 +15 1 0 Grace Song
31 +16 0 0 Jaehyun Jae Jung
32 +16 0 0 Maria Arshava
33 +16 0 0 Alexander Pierce
34 +20 0 0 Yuning Shao
35 +20 0 0 Ren Hutchinson
36 +22 0 0 Mahmoud Aly
37 +22 2 0 Huichan Mark Jung
38 +22 0 0 Brady Thoma
39 +3 1 0 Asif Ali
40 +2 0 0 Aneesh Arvind
41 +3 0 0 Nya Bunyan
42 +3 0 0 Sarah Bunyan
43 +3 1 0 Sophie Castro
44 +3 0 0 Gabriella Ciliberto
45 +3 1 0 Julieta Fajardo-New
46 +15 1 0 Alyssa Skala
47 +2 1 0 Jaymeson Harms
48 +2 0 0 Owen Houtman
49 +1 0 0 Thomas Keen
50 +1 1 0 Aiden Liu
51 +1 0 0 Aden Mascher
52 +1 0 0 Cale Mascher
53 +1 0 0 Anna Miao
54 +1 0 0 Bennett Olson
55 +1 0 0 Rebecca Ren
56 +1 0 0 Arieanna Singh
57 +1 0 0 Isaac Smith
58 +1 0 0 Gregory Van Auken
59 +1 0 0 Collin Whitters
60 +1 0 0 Flora Zhu
61   0 0 0 Iesa Lassiter

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Great First Day for 2014-15 School year

In my third year of running chess club, I really liked the later start, as I was much more prepared to sign people up and perhaps the years of experience in running the chess club helped as well. Lots of great chess going on. Lots of new faces, which I really enjoyed seeing as well as many old faces.

One thing, I am a little sad about is the scheduling, as many of our best players are in 6th grade and are now (Go Figure!) in pre-algebra and going to Northwest Jr High in the morning of Chess Club, Sigh... I hope that doesn't deter them from attending chess tournaments and supporting our school.

I updated the chess ladder with everyone who turned in a form this morning, and left last years roster intact. So Nathan Wei ended last year on top so he will start on top this year. Then where ever your ranking was minus students who are not coming back, then I added in alphabetical order new students to chess club. Hence the beginning rating.

We will be playing in the Eastern Iowa Chess League again this year against other schools in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. Schedule to be coming soon. Also there was a first! All the students put away the chess sets and I didn't find one piece on the floor! Our new Librarian was very impressed! Keep up the good work.

1   0 0 0 Nathan Wei
2   0 0 0 Barry Vigil
3   0 0 0 Liam Willett
4 +1 0 0 Benjamin Zhang
5 +2 0 0 Andy Luo
6 +4 0 0 Akhil Bharanidhar
7 +4 0 0 Aaron Smith
8 +4 0 0 Eric Pieper
9 +4 0 0 Justin Pieper
10 +6 0 0 Thomas Pierce
11 +6 0 0 Akshat Pawar
12 +6 0 0 Noah Willett
13 +7 0 0 Joey Vigil
14 +7 0 0 Ajay Bharanidhar
15 +7 0 0 Eddy Xu
16 +7 0 0 Aditya Malgaonkar
17 +8 0 0 Luke Fasse
18 +8 0 0 Jimin Jung
19 +8 0 0 Alexandra Curtu
20 +8 0 0 Jack Fasse
21 +8 0 0 Defne Bayman
22 +8 0 0 Alyson Skala
23 +8 0 0 Ben Ciliberto
24 +12 0 0 Anna Zheng
25 +12 0 0 Miranda Feng
26 +12 0 0 Diana Tivanskaya
27 +14 0 0 JJ Brown
28 +14 0 0 Shanza Sami
29 +15 0 0 Mohana Sunkara
30 +15 0 0 Grace Song
31 +16 0 0 Jaehyun Jung
32 +16 0 0 Maria Arshava
33 +16 0 0 Alexander Pierce
34 +20 0 0 Yuning Shao
35 +20 0 0 Ren Hutchinson
36 +22 0 0 Mahmoud Aly
37 +22 0 0 Huichan Jung
38 +22 0 0 Brady Thoma
39 +3 0 0 Asif Ali
40 +2 0 0 Aneesh Arvind
41 +2 0 0 Joey Bartelme
42 +2 0 0 Nya Bunyan
43 +2 0 0 Sarah Bunyan
44 +2 0 0 Sophie Castro
45 +2 0 0 Gabriella Ciliberto
46 +2 0 0 Julieta Fajardo-New
47 +2 0 0 Jaymeson Harms
48 +2 0 0 Owen Houtman
49 +1 0 0 Thomas Keen
50 +1 0 0 Aiden Liu
51 +1 0 0 Aden Mascher
52 +1 0 0 Cale Mascher
53 +1 0 0 Anna Miao
54 +1 0 0 Bennett Olson
55 +1 0 0 Rebecca Ren
56 +1 0 0 Arieanna Singh
57 +1 0 0 Isaac Smith
58 +1 0 0 Gregory Van Auken
59 +1 0 0 Collin Whitters
60 +1 0 0 Flora Zhu