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Two College Chess Clubs Share Award

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Miami University Ohio and Utah’s own University of Utah (Wholesale Chess is located in Utah) have been declared co-winners of the 2009 the Chess College of the Year award. This award is handed out by the College Chess Committee and is approved by the Executive Board of the USCF. The nomination for the awards, which will be officially announced at a later date as part of the 2009 Delegates Call report of the College Chess Committee, is worded as follows:

“The University of Utah is being nominated as co-winner of the 2008 Chess College of the Year award. In 2007 at the Pan-American Intercollegiate, they sent two student representatives just to attend the annual College Chess Committee meeting in Miami. No other college did this. They followed up by sending a Utah team to the 2008 Pan-American Intercollegiate in Dallas. In the 2008 Collegiate Chess League Team Tournament, their A-team finished 7th and their B-team finished 16th . The Utah chess club and team are working hard to move forward into the top ranks of college chess.”

“Miami University Ohio is being nominated as co-winner of the 2008 Chess College of the Year award. As evidenced by the December 2008 Chess Life Online article http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9007/500/ by sophomore Chris Dobbs, we see and hear what it takes to start a college chess club. This firsthand account by a Miami University Ohio student can also inspire other beginning college chess clubs across the U.S. This is the state of the vast majority of college chess clubs and teams.”

Tags: chess clubs, college chess clubs, university of utah chess club
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Chess Strong, Army Strong

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

The West Point Black Knights Chess Club

5-Year Reigning Chess Champs of the Armed Forces Chess Open (AFO)

West Point Chess Champs

“The U.S. Army, a key component of the U.S. Armed Forces, is made up of the best-trained, most dedicated, most respected Soldiers in the world — protecting America’s freedoms at home and abroad, securing our homeland, and defending democracy worldwide.

A Soldier in the U.S. Army is the embodiment of physical strength, emotional strength and strength of purpose. As a Soldier, you will be prepared to serve our country whenever and wherever you are needed, combat-ready at all times, trained to counter any threat, anywhere.” The US Army Website

Not only do these cadets train to secure our freedoms and defend democracy – they also play a mean game of chess! West Point has a long standing tradition of chess. Formed in 1924 when there were only six extracurricular clubs, the Cadet Chess Club is one of the oldest cadet activities at West Point. Through 1945, the cadets competed in a fierce annual intramural tournament to win the Corps championship and have their names engraved on a sterling silver trophy as a permanent record of victory. Winning the tournament and silver cup entitled a cadet to one of the most treasured biographical entries of the time in the annual Howitzer (a military publication).

In 2004, tournament promoters began inviting the service academies to send teams to compete in a Commander in Chief trophy competition in conjunction with the Armed Forces Chess Tournament. In addition to service academy teams, the tournament includes a military service competition and an individual player championship.

This year, the cadets from West Point extended their winning streak at the chess tournament to 5 years.
Congratulations to the cadets of West Point’s Black Knights Chess Club – Chess Strong and Army Strong.

Tags: west point chess club
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2009 U.S. Chess Championship – Nation’s Best

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

NATION’S BEST PLAYERS TO COMPETE IN MAY AT 2009 U.S. CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP IN ST. LOUIS
Two dozen contestants will vie for $130,000 in prizes at new venue

Two dozen of the nation’s best chess players have been invited to participate in the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship, which will be held at the new Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The tournament, which dates back to 1845, will take place from May 7 through 17, 2009 and will offer a purse of more than $130,000 in prize money.

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, which Steve Goldberg of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) Online calls “certainly one of the most impressive chess centers” in the country, opened in July 2008. Founded by retired investment fund manager Rex Sinquefield, it already has nearly 500 members, surpassing its original goal of 300 for its first year of operation by 67 percent.

The 24 invited players include:
• the top 12 American players by rating, using the April rating supplement;
• the top two female players by rating, using the April rating supplement;
• the 2008 U.S. Junior Closed Champion;
• the 2008 U.S. Open Champion;
• the 2009 U.S. State Champion of Champions;
• a total of seven wild card spots, to be determined later.

The winner will receive $35,000, with additional cash prizes awarded to all participants, including $2,000 to the last-place entrant. Cash prizes will be divided equally among tied competitors. Additionally, top youths from throughout America will be invited to compete. Spectators will be welcome at the event.

The championship will be a 9-round event, using the Swiss system with one round per day and a rest day between rounds 5 and 6. Time controls will be the classical 40 moves in two hours, with one hour allowed for all remaining moves. Guest commentary will be provided by two world-class Grand Masters throughout the event.

“We are delighted to host the prestigious U.S. Chess Championship in our first full year of operation,” said Tony Rich, executive director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. “It is exciting and gratifying for us to bring together the nation’s best players at our first-class facility.”

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 organization. The club, which has welcomed nearly 500 members since its July 2008 opening, offers free classes for beginners, discounted tournament entry fees and discounted merchandise for club members. For more information, please visit www.saintlouischessclub.org or call 314-361-CHESS.

The United States Chess Federation is the official, not-for-profit U.S. membership organization for chess players and chess supporters of all ages and strengths, from beginners to grand masters. Founded in 1939 with the merger of the American Chess Federation and the National Chess Federation, USCF has grown to more than 80,000 members and nearly 1,200 affiliated chess clubs and organizations. USCF sanctions 25 national championships award titles to both amateurs and professionals, ranging from elementary school students to senior citizens. For more information, visit www.uschess.org.

You can find this article and others about the 2009 US Chess Championship at the website for the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.

Tags: US Chess Championship
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Playing Tips from Chess Child Prodigies

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Troff Boys with Chess Trophies

Here’s a rare opportunity to learn a little from Utah’s 2009 chess champions, 10 year-old Kayden Troff and his older brother Jeremy Troff. They’ve shared with us a few of their tips and ideas on improving your chess skills.

Study
“You must always have an idea of what you want to do and how you are going to do it. Second, you must practice as much as you can. Even if you lose you can learn a lot of things and the experience of playing will help you a lot.” – Jeremy Troff

“Knowing the basics of chess is only the first. If you really want to be good at chess, you have to study and find someone who can teach you.” – Kayden Troff

Practice, Practice, Practice
“Just like anything else, to get really good you have to practice.” – Kayden Troff

“There are many things involved in chess that even experts are still trying to learn everything. Always practice because if you take a long break from chess, you can actually get worse. It is just like anything else that you want to be good at, if you don’t practice you will not get better.” – Jeremy Troff

“No matter how much chess knowledge you have, it can not replace real experience over the chess board. You have to go to chess tournaments.” – Kayden Troff

Learn From Your Losses
According to Jeremy, it’s important to remember that no matter how good you are, you will occasionally lose. “No one wins all of their chess matches. But if you look at your losses as an opportunity to learn then there is a lot of benefit from that.” As a Grandmaster shared with Jeremy, “You can learn so much more from your losses than you can from your wins.”

Find Good Chess Software
If you’re starting out or even for those more advanced, Jeremy recommends Chess Tactics for Beginners. “The next one up is Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players. This is very hard chess software and one I think would take anyone a long time to do if they wanted to get a good score on it.”

One of the most important lessons for Kayden came from Grandmaster Kaidanov, who taught him the important of openings, and using chess software from Chessbase like Fritz and Deep Rybka 3 to improve his rating.

“My little sister is learning chess from a computer program called Dinosaur Chess. That is a fun way to learn chess.” – Kayden Troff

“The best chess software is the Russian tactics software. The first one is called Chess Tactics for Beginners. They should also get Fritz or another chess analysis program. And they should get an ICC account so they can play people all around the world any time they want.” – Kayden Troff

Find Someone to Teach You
“You have to find someone who can teach you. The first thing is to learn the name of the chess pieces, how they move, and what there value is. It is always good to try and find other people that you can play with either in a school chess club or at a library chess club or you can go to a chess camp like we have. You can also take chess lessons.” – Kayden Troff

Play Both Sides of the Board
“It is not enough to just focus on what you are doing. You have to figure out what your opponent is going to do and always ask what their threat is.” – Kayden Troff

Have Fun With Chess
“Chess takes work and study and is not something you are going to put the time into unless you really like it.” – Kayden Troff

Jeremy and Kayden Troff host a chess camp along with other young chess experts in Utah. For more information about their chess camp, visit the TNT Chess Camp website.

Tags: chess software, jeremy troff, kayden troff
Posted in Chess Club Corner, Chess Learning Center | No Comments »