Chess — Stephen Dann
Sunday, September 22, 2013
When was the last time you taught someone under the age of 15 how to play chess? Despite claims of past decades, fewer kids now know the moves, and those who do usually give up competition by high school. The Spiegel Cup qualifying events that began last Sunday in Marlboro now only have age 14 and under sections. There will be just one high school singles section during the finals on Feb. 9, 2014, in Marlboro.
Evan Meyer of Newton swept the Age 14 & Under section, 4-0, in Marlboro, Maxwell Zhao of Bolton won a blitz playoff over Michael Yu of Acton in the Age 11 & Under group, and Achyuta Rajaram of Sharon had a perfect score in the Age 8 & Under. Full listing of prize winners at www.masschess.org, with links to all the forthcoming singles and team scholastic events, as well as rules. There is also a listing of all scholastic state champions, singles and teams from 2001 on this new Web page created by Tiffany Wang of Cambridge.
New England crushed Carolina, Miami decimated Boston, and St. Louis defeated Connecticut last week (4 of 10) at www.uschessleague.com. On Wednesday Boston will face Baltimore, and New England takes on Connecticut. Last week there was game commentary by New England and Boston team members Sam Shankland, Mark LaRocca and Charles Riordan. Free viewing of games in progress this year at www.chess.com.
Framingham’s Vortex Chess Club’s Sept. Game/30 went to Anil Marthi, 5-1. Mark Kaprielian directs and hosts these events.
Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis in grand style, with Hikaru Nakamura of the U.S. also in the driver’s seat to move up in rankings for taking second place in this four-player, double round robin.
On Wednesday, Dan Heisman’s September Novice Nook was posted on www.chesscafe.com. Worth a look if you want to learn about combining motifs in intermediate tactics.
Tim Brennan of Colorado Springs has p roduced digital “Tactics Time 2,” another 1,001 tactical positions from amateur games, along with Anthea Carson, available from www.amazon.com for just $5. “Tactics Time 1” is also there, and will be published as a printed book by www.newinchess.com in early November. We present positions from games at the Metrowest Chess Club of Natick, beginning today to illustrate the variety.
Tops this week is tough at www.masschess.com. Ten events next weekend in four New England states make it one of the busiest of the year. In addition, Saturday, the 6th WMCA Memorial will be at the Kittredge Center of Holyoke Community College, with full details at www.westernMassachusettsChessAssociation.org.
Source: http://www.telegram.com
I’ve never taught a kid to play chess from the beginning. But I have taught chess at a community centre – teaching themes, combinations, simple endings, etc., trying to instill an idea of what to look for and a feeling that chess was worthy of study.
Never again. I acquiesced to the first police check because I had already agreed to teach the course. The second time (for the potential course the next year), I just told them to shove their ‘Guilty until proven innocent’ mentality.
There are far more men capable of teaching such a course than there are woman. And in today’s hysterical environment, the only men who would have anything to do with teaching children are either supremely dedicated, oblivious to insults, or fools.