Last Day of School

Vladimir Tivanski won First Place in the 1st Annual Longfellow Chess Tournament!  Thomas Pierce showed some grit!  and won 6th place overall in a very strong performance.

In the Chess Ladder Aaron Smith took number 1 spot with an upset over Barry Vigil

Thank you for a great year, I had tons of fun, with our games and new bug house games.  Next year I hope to have more tournaments, and we will continue to have more success!

In our first year we accomplished a lot!

2nd place State Team Elementary Championship
1st Place 7th Annual Weber Chess Tournament
2nd Place K-5 Prairie Chess Series
1st place K-2 Prairie Chess Series
3rd Place K-6 Ice Harbor Regional Scholastic Grand Prix
2nd Place K-3 Ice Harbor Regional Scholastic Grand Prix

and Numerous individual honors!

Thank you so much Ms Shoppa, Ann Marie our Librarian, and our parent volunteers

Charles Pierce and Levant Bayman our  puzzle masters
Shungang Wei our chess skills coach

Next year we are going to embark on a new chess league. 

In two weeks there is a tournament at Kirkwood Community College on June 15th!

Chess Wars VI 
http://www.iowachess.org/tournaments.asp

This is a good one for parents to play along with the kids.

and finally..... the last chess ladder

1  +4 22  0 Aaron Smith                            
  2  +4 23  0 Barry vigil                            
  3  -1 21  0 Andy Luo                               
  4 +44 16  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                      
  5  +2 13  0 Vladimir Tivanski                      
  6  +2 26  0 Nathan Wei                             
  7  +2 13  0 Justin Pieper                          
  8 +39  8  0 Eric (Yo Yo) Liu                       
  9  -8 24  0 Yulong Shao                            
 10  -6 24  0 Andrey  Arshava                        
 11  +9 21  0 Eric  Pieper                           
 12  -9 24  0 Liam Willett                           
 13  -1 24  0 Jack Gray                              
 14  -1 14  0 Jacob Vigil                            
 15 +22 13  0 Josh Greene                            
 16  -6 17  0 Benjamin Zhang                         
 17 +10 14  0 Jimin Jung                             
 18  -7 24  0 Joseph  Vigil                          
 19  +2  7  0 Alexandra Curtu                        
 20  -3 12  0 Thomas  Pierce                         
 21 +12  6  0 Reece Yang                             
 22  +9  8  0 Jocelyn Hsieh                          
 23  -4 22  0 Mohana Sunkara                         
 24 +12 10  0 Evan Green                             
 25 +20 18  0 Jim Li                                 
 26  -8  7  0 Karina Li                              
 27 +26  7  0 Sachiko  Goto                          
 28  -2 18  0 Sebastian Cochran                      
 29 +11 15  0 Shalom A. Gugsa                        
 30 +22  7  0 Diana Tivanski                         
 31 -17  7  0 Lily (Hongjin) Li                      
 32 -17  7  0 Miranda Feng                           
 33  -5  9  0 Noah Willett                           
 34 +21  3  0 Serena Li                              
 35  -3  4  0 Richard Yang                           
 36 -20  8  0 Defne Bayman                           
 37 -15  2  0 Yifan Zhai                             
 38 +19  2  0 Yifan Bu                               
 39 -16  6  0 Xinyu Wang                             
 40 -16  7  0 Sanjeev Sarin                          
 41 -16  6  0 Laurel Haverkamp                       
 42 -13  6  0 Jikun, (Bob) Zhang                     
 43 -13  1  0 Sabrina  Du                            
 44 -10  4  0 Emerson Bennett                        
 45 -10  3  0 Connor  Houtman                        
 46  -8  0  3 Amelia Stevens                         
 47  -8  2  0 Tommy Stevens                          
 48  +1  5  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                       
 49  +5  9  0 J.J. Brown                             
 50  -9  5  0 Emma Zheng                             
 51  -9  1  0 Naomi A. Gugsa                         
 52  -9  1  1 Ryan Goodman                           
 53  -9  1  1 Joey  Goodman                          
 54  -8  2  0 David Zhou                             
 55  -5  1  0 Yeon (Jay)  Lim                        
 56  -5  0  0 YoonJi (Beth) Lim                      
 57  -1  0  0 Laura Li                               
 58   0  0  0 Nick Oberbrockling                     
 59   0  0  0 Mackenzie Oberbrockling      

Upcoming Longfellow Chess Tournament

Chess Club was rocking this morning about 40 or so kids playing! 

Bug House has become quite popular, I feel that in the future we need to have a Bug House tournament. 

the Longfellow Chess Club is sponsoring a chess tournament on June 1st!  Free and Unrated. 

It is limited to 100 players, so please sign up ahead of time. 

Unrated K-6 Limited to the first 100 entries. Registration begins at 9AM games set to begin at 10am Where: Longfellow Elementary School Iowa City ,1130 Seymour Ave  Iowa City, IA 52240 Reg: Register by sending e-mail to hawkchess@gmail.com Rounds: 5 rounds SS, G/30 one section! Entry Fee: Free, but Limited to the First 100 entries. Prize Info: Trophies to top 10 overall and top 4 in each grade Send Entry Fee to: Free

and todays chess ladder

  1  +5 22  0 Barry vigil                            
  2   0 21  0 Andy Luo                               
  3 +45 16  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                      
  4  +4 25  0 Nathan Wei                             
  5  +4 13  0 Justin Pieper                          
  6 +41  8  0 Eric (Yo Yo) Liu                       
  7   0 12  0 Vladimir Tivanski                      
  8  -7 24  0 Yulong Shao                            
  9  -4 21  0 Aaron Smith                            
 10  -6 24  0 Andrey  Arshava                        
 11  -8 23  0 Liam Willett                           
 12   0 24  0 Jack Gray                              
 13  +7 19  0 Eric  Pieper                           
 14  -1 14  0 Jacob Vigil                            
 15 +22 13  0 Josh Greene                            
 16  -6 17  0 Benjamin Zhang                         
 17  -6 22  0 Joseph  Vigil                          
 18  +3  7  0 Alexandra Curtu                        
 19  -2 10  0 Thomas  Pierce                         
 20 +13  6  0 Reece Yang                             
 21 +10  8  0 Jocelyn Hsieh                          
 22  -3 22  0 Mohana Sunkara                         
 23 +13 10  0 Evan Green                             
 24 +21 18  0 Jim Li                                 
 25 +28  6  0 Sachiko  Goto                          
 26   0 18  0 Sebastian Cochran                      
 27 +13 14  0 Shalom A. Gugsa                        
 28 +24  7  0 Diana Tivanski                         
 29 -15  7  0 Lily (Hongjin) Li                      
 30 -12  6  0 Karina Li                              
 31 -16  7  0 Miranda Feng                           
 32  -4  9  0 Noah Willett                           
 33 +22  3  0 Serena Li                              
 34  -2  4  0 Richard Yang                           
 35 -19  8  0 Defne Bayman                           
 36 -14  2  0 Yifan Zhai                             
 37 -14  5  0 Xinyu Wang                             
 38 -11 13  0 Jimin Jung                             
 39 -15  7  0 Sanjeev Sarin                          
 40 -15  6  0 Laurel Haverkamp                       
 41 -12  6  0 Jikun, (Bob) Zhang                     
 42 -12  1  0 Sabrina  Du                            
 43  -9  4  0 Emerson Bennett                        
 44  -9  3  0 Connor  Houtman                        
 45  -7  0  3 Amelia Stevens                         
 46  -7  2  0 Tommy Stevens                          
 47  +2  5  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                       
 48  +6  8  0 J.J. Brown                             
 49  -8  5  0 Emma Zheng                             
 50  -8  1  0 Naomi A. Gugsa                         
 51  -8  1  1 Ryan Goodman                           
 52  -8  1  1 Joey  Goodman                          
 53  -7  2  0 David Zhou                             
 54  -4  1  0 Yeon (Jay)  Lim                        
 55  -4  0  0 YoonJi (Beth) Lim                      
 56   0  0  0 Laura Li                               
 57   0  1  0 Yifan Bu                               
 58   0  0  0 Nick Oberbrockling                     
 59   0  0  0 Mackenzie Oberbrockling 

Class E and Under second place finisher!

Congratulations to Akhil Bharanidhar!  He won second place in the Iowa Class E and Under Championship!  You should have seen the smile on his face when I handed him the $15 dollar prize!  He defeated Barry Vigil something nobody seems to be able to do at chess club.  Great work, Akhil also has moved up to second on the chess ladder this morning!  Sounds to me like someone has been practicing their chess.

Diana, Serena and Naomi have been practicing chess art.  They have been playing games to get the pieces into certain positions, this morning they played into an X and and H.  I am not sure on how this translates to winning, but is winning everything?  I think having fun in the name of their game.

on the ladder this morning, Barry yet again defended the Number 1 spot.  JJ Brown is credited with his first wins and has moved up the ladder.  Great work JJ!  I can see the chess sets I placed at BASP are getting some good use.

  1  +5 20  0 Barry vigil                       
  2 +46 14  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                 
  3  +5 24  0 Nathan Wei                        
  4 +43  6  0 Eric (Yo Yo) Liu                  
  5  -3 20  0 Andy Luo                          
  6  +1 11  0 Vladimir Tivanski                 
  7  -6 24  0 Yulong Shao                       
  8  -3 21  0 Aaron Smith                       
  9  -6 22  0 Liam Willett                      
 10  -6 22  0 Andrey  Arshava                   
 11  +1 24  0 Jack Gray                         
 12  +8 15  0 Eric  Pieper                      
 13  -4 12  0 Justin Pieper                     
 14  -1 13  0 Jacob Vigil                       
 15 +22 12  0 Josh Greene                       
 16  -6 17  0 Benjamin Zhang                    
 17  -6 21  0 Joseph  Vigil                     
 18  +3  7  0 Alexandra Curtu                   
 19  -2  9  0 Thomas  Pierce                    
 20 +11  7  0 Jocelyn Hsieh                     
 21  -2 22  0 Mohana Sunkara                    
 22 +11  5  0 Reece Yang                        
 23 +22 17  0 Jim Li                            
 24 +29  6  0 Sachiko  Goto                     
 25 +15 12  0 Shalom A. Gugsa                   
 26 +26  7  0 Diana Tivanski                    
 27 -13  7  0 Lily (Hongjin) Li                 
 28 -10  6  0 Karina Li                         
 29 -14  7  0 Miranda Feng                      
 30  -4 16  0 Sebastian Cochran                 
 31  -3  9  0 Noah Willett                      
 32   0  3  0 Richard Yang                      
 33 -17  8  0 Defne Bayman                      
 34 -12  2  0 Yifan Zhai                        
 35 -12  5  0 Xinyu Wang                        
 36  -9 12  0 Jimin Jung                        
 37 -13  7  0 Sanjeev Sarin                     
 38 -13  6  0 Laurel Haverkamp                  
 39 -10  6  0 Jikun, (Bob) Zhang                
 40 -10  1  0 Sabrina  Du                       
 41  -7  4  0 Emerson Bennett                   
 42  -7  3  0 Connor  Houtman                   
 43  -7  9  0 Evan Green                        
 44  -6  0  3 Amelia Stevens                    
 45  -6  2  0 Tommy Stevens                     
 46  +8  7  0 J.J. Brown                        
 47  -6  5  0 Emma Zheng                        
 48  +7  2  0 Serena Li                         
 49  -7  1  0 Naomi A. Gugsa                    
 50  -7  1  1 Ryan Goodman                      
 51  -7  1  1 Joey  Goodman                     
 52  -6  2  0 David Zhou                        
 53  -4  4  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                  
 54  -4  1  0 Yeon (Jay)  Lim                   
 55  -4  0  0 YoonJi (Beth) Lim                 
 56   0  0  0 Laura Li                          
 57   0  1  0 Yifan Bu                

Upcoming Tournaments, and New Players! And lots of Rain!

So much for the drought I guess

Tournaments coming up

1st the Class E and Under State Championship on Saturday the 27th of April at the Kirkwood Hotel in Cedar Rapids.  This one is open to all ages and abilities.  A great one to play along with your kids!  Since it is a state championship event Iowa Chess Association Membership is required 10$ for a year for a Jr. Player. 

The second is on May 11th-12th a two Day event at Ice Harbor in Dubuque, this is crazy as inbetween games you can swim in the waterpark!  We have 5 players from Borlaug already signed up and I think we will be competing in some team competitions.

Flyers for both of these tournaments will be posted at the front desk of the school.

In Club play this morning we almost had a change of the Guard.  Eric Yo Yo Liu had Barry Vigil on the Ropes with a queen and a King Vs a lone Queen.  Eric unfortunately provided Barry with a draw in the following position.  BLACK to move.

Black cannot move, and thus a stalemate.  I would say that Yo Yo needs a rematch next week.

We had three new players join the club this morning Welcome Yifan Bu, and Laura and Serena Li.  I hope you learn lots of chess and have fun.  Results of the Chess Ladder

 1  +5 18  0 Barry vigil                       
  2 +45  5  0 Eric (Yo Yo) Liu                  
  3  -1 20  0 Andy Luo                          
  4  +4 20  0 Nathan Wei                        
  5  +2 11  0 Vladimir Tivanski                 
  6  -5 24  0 Yulong Shao                       
  7  -2 20  0 Aaron Smith                       
  8  -4 20  0 Andrey  Arshava                   
  9  +3 24  0 Jack Gray                         
 10 +10 15  0 Eric  Pieper                      
 11  -8 21  0 Liam Willett                      
 12  -3 11  0 Justin Pieper                     
 13 +35 12  0 Akhil Bharanidhar                 
 14  -1 11  0 Jacob Vigil                       
 15  -5 17  0 Benjamin Zhang                    
 16  -5 21  0 Joseph  Vigil                     
 17  +4  7  0 Alexandra Curtu                   
 18  -1  9  0 Thomas  Pierce                    
 19   0 21  0 Mohana Sunkara                    
 20 +17 10  0 Josh Greene                       
 21 +12  4  0 Reece Yang                        
 22 +23 17  0 Jim Li                            
 23 +30  6  0 Sachiko  Goto                     
 24 +16 11  0 Shalom A. Gugsa                   
 25 +27  7  0 Diana Tivanski                    
 26 -12  7  0 Lily (Hongjin) Li                 
 27  -9  6  0 Karina Li                         
 28 -13  7  0 Miranda Feng                      
 29  +2  6  0 Jocelyn Hsieh                     
 30  -4 16  0 Sebastian Cochran                 
 31  -3  9  0 Noah Willett                      
 32   0  3  0 Richard Yang                      
 33 -17  8  0 Defne Bayman                      
 34 -12  2  0 Yifan Zhai                        
 35 -12  5  0 Xinyu Wang                        
 36  -9 12  0 Jimin Jung                        
 37 -13  7  0 Sanjeev Sarin                     
 38 -13  6  0 Laurel Haverkamp                  
 39 -10  6  0 Jikun, (Bob) Zhang                
 40 -10  1  0 Sabrina  Du                       
 41  -7  4  0 Emerson Bennett                   
 42  -7  3  0 Connor  Houtman                   
 43  -7  9  0 Evan Green                        
 44  -6  0  3 Amelia Stevens                    
 45  -6  2  0 Tommy Stevens                     
 46  -5  4  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  4  0 Ajay Bharanidhar                  
 52  -2  1  0 Yeon (Jay)  Lim                   
 53  -2  0  0 YoonJi (Beth) Lim                 
 54   0  6  0 J.J. Brown                        
 55   0  1  0 Serena Li                         
 56   0  0  0 Laura Li                          
 57   0  1  0 Yifan Bu                          

Great Work Bulldogs!

Check out the Trophies at the front desk

1st Place 7th Annual Weber Chess Tournament
3rd Place K-5 overall Prairie Chess Series
1st Place K-2 overall Prairie Chess Series

We are now a Chess Force to be reckoned with!  Congratulations team! 

I put two chess sets down in the After School Program for kids to practice with.  And thank you Charles Pierce for volunteering to do lessons at club in the morning, I can see some lights going on.  When Charles was explaining the two rook checkmate he was doing the Micheal Jackson Moonwalk!  It was a sight to see, but I think JJ got the concept. 

Here is the updated ladder.

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

7th Annual Weber tournament Results 2013

Weber Chess Tournament Results

Overall

1.        Gokul Thangaval              5.0

2.       Andrew Kozich                  5.0

3.       Arjun Palaniappan           5.0

4.       Michael Takahashi           4.5

5.       Owen Fiedorowicz          4.0

6.       Kevin Lu                               4.0

7.       Anish Lodh                          4.0

8.       Eric Pieper                           4.0

9.       Andy Luo                             4.0

10.   Austen Mattingly             4.0

Top 5 Female Players

1.        Sarah Ogrin-Cotarlan     4.0

2.       Sanmati Thangaval          3.5

3.       Anushka Saxena               3.0

4.       Shu Shu Chalkley              3.0

5.       Emmeline Kraus               3.0

Kindergarten

1.       Robert Havens                  3.0

2.       Isabel Fiedorowicz           2.5

3.       Khoi Tong                            2.0

4.       Lodh, Anjali                        2.0

1^st Grade

1.        Kian Thompson                 4.0

2.       Sebastian Rutkowski          3.0

3.       Noah Willet                        2.5

4.       Athena Wu                         2.5

2^nd Grade

1.       Andrew Ogrin-Cotarlan 3.0

2.       Justin Pieper                      3.0

3.       Marcus Brintle                   3.0

4.       Nathan Weimer                   3.0

3^rd Grade

1.       Liam Willet                          4.0

2.       Luke Thompson                   3.0

3.       Aaron Smith                       3.0

4.       Frank Lee                            3.0

4^th Grade

1.       Vladimir Tivanski              4.0

2.       Yulong Shao                       4.0

3.       Makundon Kasturirangan 4.0

4.       Barry Vigil                            3.5

5^th Grade

1.       Andrew Arshava              4.0

2.       Dillon Geng                         4.0

3.       Mitchell Wilkes                 4.0

4.       Jacob Nyberg                     4.0

6^th Grade

1.       Jack Dickens                       4.0

2.       Owen Kraus                       3.5

3.       Sourabh Terakanambi    3.5

4.       Nicu Curtu                           3.0

The Team Competition there was some confusion on.  We changed the award categories for sake of time and figuring out the winners as my computer program did not work properly in sorting the data.  I had to hand calculate the scores and there were some ties.  There were also some incorrectly reported scores, Since the Tournament I verified the scores in question and here is how we handed out the top team trophies.  In the way we gave out trophies, more schools got trophies than the previous scoring modalities.  Here is a list of how things broke down.

Team Trophies

1^st Borlaug Elementary with 16 points, tiebreak score 52.0

2^nd Wickham Elementary with 16 points, Tiebreak score 51.0

3^rd Horn Elementary 15.5 points

4^th place Lincoln with 14.0 points

5^th Coralville Central 13.5 points

6^th Weber Elementary 13 points

Advertised was top K-6 Teams and top K-3 Teams

1^st would have been Borlaug K-6

2^nd Wickham K-6

3^rd Horn K-6

!st place K-3 would have been Borlaug K-3 14 points

2^nd Place K-3 would have been Wickham 13 points

3^rd place was tied between Coralville Central and Van Allen each with 12 points, with Coralville Central winning on tiebreaks 52.5 to 51.0