14th Class Solution and Email about Parent Teacher Conferences has gone out.

Hello Parents and players!

The email covering our 14th class solution has gone out to just about every one. There are only two people who have yet to get their email addresses to me but I have left them a telephone message covering this and the fact that we do not meet tomorrow because of the Parent and Teacher conferences.

As always if you have any questions then please do feel free to either call or email me and I will be glad to answer any and all questions that you may have about our chess club or chess in general.

Make it a great day - today and every day!
Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

A recent game of COACH SEAN'S - Enjoy!

Enjoy this recent game of mine that was played in the Southern California Open on the 6th of September. A fine game showing how to exchange down into a won King and pawn endgame. - Chess Coach Sean.

Next ASCF event... "THE TWISTER!"

OUR NEXT BIG EVENT!

"THE TWISTER" will be an event that we will really want to get our biggest and best team to. Who is game to let our team play their best game on the 2nd of October?

To enlarge this image feel free to click on it!

For additional practice I can wholeheartedly recommend "THE FALL CLASSIC" being held this Saturday the 25th of September. See you there!

You can register for any ASCF event by going to the Chess Emporium's website at www.chessemporium.com

- Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE SANTAN STORM WHO ATTENDED THE RUMBLE!

Hello Parents and Players!

While we did not have a full strength team at the ASCF's RUMBLE this past SATURDAY we did have several or our players there who had fun playing in this the first ASCF event of the Fall Semester.

To get our players ready for any and all future events that they (and you their Parents) wish to attend we have begun working on some of our basic endgame checkmate techniques for Beginners - today was day one. We will also be working on more advanced tactics and endgame checkmates for the more advanced members of our chess club as well.

Special Congratulations go out to Ethan Merritt in the K-3 U600 section for his outstanding performance at the "RUMBLE" with his score of 3.5 out of 4 points earned. Michael Marx also had an excellent performance at this event where he came in 22nd with 3 wins out of four possible tries. Our lone representative in the K-3 CHAMP took second place after a tough last round game. But Rick will be happy to have both of our Ethans help him out in future ASCF tournaments as a strong K-3 CHAMP team. They will totally have fun playing together in all future events and I am sure that they will also pick up quite a few trophies as well.

Despite a mix up in round one we still have three players competing in the K-6 U700 as well as five players in the K-3 U600 and one player in the K-3 CHAMP. Should we be able to bring together all of our players for the next event being held on the

For a full listing of each section of the "RUMBLE" that was held on Saturday the 18th of 2010 please visit HERE.

Once again congratulations to all of our players who participated in this event - they got in more time at the chess board while having even more fun doing so at a local chess tournament.

- Your Santan Storm Chess Coach
Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

A GAME TO REMEMBER!

Recently one of my students, from a different club, played the following outstanding game. I was so impressed by his control over the squares and with the patience that this student used in constructing this positionally won game that I felt compelled to share this amazing little gem with the entire Santan Elementary Chess Club.

Last week we discussed FORK tactics. So this week was FORKS 2.0! I gave a nice example of a standard forking technique that all of our players should know. Theo really remembered it too - of this I know for sure as he was busy reconstructing the position from memory at the end of our meeting today while I spoke with his mother! But before that fine example I had to give the following game:

YOUNG SCHOLASTIC STAR!

My student was commanding the white pieces! His adult opponent resigned after having lost another piece. In the final position our Scholastic hero was up a Rook, a minor pieces, the Bishop and he was up a pawn. His opponent had had enough and resigned. However we never should resign at Scholastic tournaments and should always play out our games as our opponent may yet make a game altering mistake.

Now you have this game to review with your young scholastic player or if you are a member of the Santan chess club you can play over this game whenever you want to! I was very happy to include this fine game as part of today's lesson. I had even incorporated our review of the previous lessons into the lead up to the final tactical position. When and where was it played? At the Tuesday night Standard Open held at the Chess Emporium - just last night!

The beauty of this game is that:

1.) It was from an Adult tournament - my student defeated an adult player. Actually this was two in a row for him - he beat a chess coach last week during round two of this event!

2.) It was played at the time control of 45 moves in 2 hours and Sudden Death in 1 hour.

3.) It is such an amazing game coming from a nine year old boy as it features logical piece development, excellent control over the lines of play and some fantastic tactical vision.

4.) And the thing that all of my players who are new to chess should be able relate to from the story behind this game is this - that this game was created by a young boy who learned all the moves from square one. Just like me and just like all of our chess club members - including our star players as well. We all start off on square one but when we are ready to we can create our own chess art!

Let's help our players practice at home Parents - so they too can have fun playing the game, while exercising their brains and solidifying their chess understanding! Meeting once a week and only playing once a week at chess club is not enough time for them to build a solid foundation - they should be practicing at home. It is after all like taking up a musical instrument... you need to practice before the recital!

Make it a great day - today, tomorrow and every day you have open to you!
Your Santan Storm Chess Coach,
Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

Week Four Update...

Hello everyone!

Today we covered some tactics at the start of our chess club meeting after which we moved on to our Ladder and practice games. For all members of the Ladder we did a quick and simple checkmate puzzle at the end of our club meeting.

The local tournament, "THE RUMBLE", will be held at JACOBSON ELEMENTARY this Saturday. I would love for us to field our best team - let's give our players the chance to get in even more quality time with the chess board!

Yours in Chess
Chess Coach Sean Tobin.