Chess in the Antelope Valley - sayyestochess.no-ip.org in the AV e-Newslette… · November 30 and...

Chess in the

Antelope Valley Chess e-Newsletter of the Antelope Valley

Vol V No 13 Editor: Daa (day) Mahowald [email protected] http://chess4.us 1 December, 2014

This issue is with chess info including (but not limited to)

Fresh Chess News & Photo Arrays

PAGE TOPIC 4 5 K-8 Chess Makes a Difference – Chess Spectacular (full game) Tournament 10 Chess One Lesson at a Time by AV Press editor Dennis Anderson 17 Chess Activities Outside of the Antelope Valley 18 Chess Equipment as Holiday Gifts and Stocking Stuffers

Chess Columnists

PAGE COLUMNIST TOPIC 7 Chris Torres – renowned San Francisco Bay Area chess coach An Interview with Chess Coach Jay Stallings 9 John Herron – author of the book Total Chess Rook Maneuvers (Beginner Lesson) 9 Chess Corner – chesscorner.com Skewers 12 AV’s National Master Ruben Ondangan An Evening with Top Chess Players & more 18 Chess Lessons for Beginners – chesslessons4beginners.com Discovered Attack

Upcoming K-8 Chess Events

PAGE EVENT WHEN 19 Chess Mini-Game© Tournament 9am – 1pm, November 24 2 Winter Break Chess Camp 9am – 1pm, January 5-7 21 AV-wide K-8 Chess Club 5:15 – 5:45pm, Fridays, January 9 – March 27 3 Presidents’ Day 11am – 3pm, February 16 2 Spring Break Chess Camp 9am – 1pm, March 23-25

Upcoming Parent & Tot Chess Time (full details on page 20)

CLASS CHESS KNOWLEDGE NEEDED WHEN Wednesdays, January 14 – February 18 Parent & Tot Chess Time I No chess knowledge needed 3:30 – 4:15pm Parent & Tot Chess Time II PTCTI or knowledge of how chess pieces move 4:20 – 5:05pm Parent & Tot Chess Time III PTCTII or knowledge of check, checkmate, draw 5:10 – 5:55pm

Plus Our Regular Features Such As

AV CHESS OPPORTUNITIES page 8 Chess Funnies page 15

New! Holiday Gift Certificates!

Pages 23 & 24

Chess in the Antelope Chess e-Newsletter of the Antelope Valley

Vol V No 13 Page 2 of 24 1 December, 2014

These 3-day, 4-hour/day, K-8 CHESS CAMPS are the perfect break from school!

Fun, hands-on activities, skill-level appropriate lessons, variation games, and lots more!

Sign your child up for both of these camps before November 30 and s/he will receive the Chess Tactics

Workbook absolutely free (a $15 value) upon completion of both camps! (Only the first 10 to sign up for both camps are eligible for the workbook.)





More photos on page 14.



In honor of National Make a Difference Day,

the AV Chess House and the City of Lancaster sponsored a

K-8 Chess Makes a Difference tournament at the Stanley Kleiner Community Center in Lancaster City Park on Saturday, October 25. 18 youngsters, ages 5 through 14, competed in the event which included three large-group lessons, several small-group lessons, and dozens of teachable moments. Every child received a Participation Certificate and 1/3 earned a trophy. Competitors came from around the Antelope Valley, including Lancaster, Palmdale, and Quartz Hill.

Throughout the tournament, Ms. Daa consulted with parents on their children’s chess skills and abilities and, when requested, made suggestions for further chess growth and opportunities.

Participants are listed here, along with the award each received during the K-8 Chess Makes a Difference tournament held 9am – 3pm Saturday, October 25 at the Stanley Kleiner Community Center in Lancaster City Park.



K-8 Chess Makes a Difference tournament (continued from page 5)

At the K-8 Chess Makes a Difference tournament, each child received a Participation Certificate and 1/3 of them earned a trophy. United States Chess Federation National Master Matt Mahowald congratulates each award winner.

These volunteers contributed to the success of the chess tournament by guiding youngsters from station to station, playing tournament games (the adults were not eligible for trophies), passing out the snack, etc.

Top left: The K-8 competitors in the non-elimination chess tournament each played about a dozen games during the 6-hour event. In the top left of this photo, Ms. Daa is providing one of the many small-group lessons that occurred during the event.

Left: Throughout the tourney, the students stayed focused and involved in their games. Yet, the most common comment after the tourney was how much FUN they had!

Chess in the Antelope Valley Chess e-Newsletter of the Antelope Valley


An Interview with Chess Coach Jay Stallings by Chris Torres

The Torres Chess & Music Academy has chess programs in the Bay Area region of Northern California https://www.facebook.com/ChessAndMusic

Jay Stallings runs the California Youth Chess League http://cycl.org which is one of the best run scholastic chess organizations on the west coast. In addition, Jay Stallings just released Coach Jay’s Chess Academy, a chess application for iPhone, iPad and Android Devices. CAN YOU DESCRIBE COACH JAY ’S CHESS ACADEMY IN ONE SENTENCE FOR US? Coach Jay’s Chess Academy teaches you through 150+ mini-lessons and 1250+ fun and increasingly challenging puzzles not basics of chess, but the five key disciplines to being a well rounded chess player: Checkmate, Defense, Endgame, Strategy and Tactics! YOU AND I HAVE BOTH BEEN COACHING CHESS FOR A LONG TIME . HOW HAS TEACHING KIDS CHESS CHANGED OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS ? HOW DO YOU SEE COACH JAY CHESS ACADEMY AS CONTINUING THAT CHANGE ? I started coaching in 1994 on a demo board that I made from sheet metal, plywood, and a green Marks-A-Lot with

demo board pieces that were figurine notation blown up, cut out and laminated with magnets glued to the back! Since then, as my demo board has been replaced by a laptop projector using Fritz, my students have utilized books, software, web-based programs, and now apps to supplement my lessons. Almost every day, I talked to parents and they often asked me what chess apps I would recommend, and I began to realize that mobile devices were in almost every kid’s home these days. They’re often seen as toys, but they can also be a teaching tool! Over the years, I have accumulated a chess book collection that has a retail value of perhaps $20,000. I’d wager that one day, chess players will have access to far more content for maybe $50 total. Seems like a steal to me! Obviously, I still read and recommend many books, but I think books, videos and software are all tools. I’m just particularly fond of apps at the moment—they’re much easier to carry around in my pocket!

WHY DID YOU INITIALLY DECIDE TO BECOME A CHESS COACH ? At the end of 2093, the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer” came out. At the time, I was selling computer printers to Latin America and enjoying coaching soccer. My wife, Michel, realized that parents were going to be looking for chess classes after seeing that movie. She was right! A small add in the local paper yielded 35 students and only the 1994 Northridge earthquake slowed us down a little. Interestingly, one of my first students, Kyle Sellers, was the one who encouraged me to create Coach Jay’s Chess Academy and worked with me to make it happen. I never could have imagined in 1994 that I’d not just watch my students grow up, but build lifelong relationships with students and their parents that would last over two decades! WHAT ARE YOUR THREE BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE F IELD OF YOUTH CHESS? Founding and running a non-profit organization that has taught chess to over 35,000 youths, being a member of the USCF Scholastic Council where I can help change the attitude and policies for scholastic chess in the U.S, and cramming two decades of coaching experience and curriculum into one $5 app and getting to hear from kids all over the world about how much they’ve enjoyed learning chess! AS A CHESS DAD, WHY SHOULD I HAVE MY DAUGHTER TRAIN WITH YOUR APP RATHER THAN S OME OF THE OTHERS ON

THE MARKET ? My app was designed by a chess coach with the typical scholastic player in mind. Over the course of several years, I tried just about every app out in order to make recommendations to parents and I saw a giant hole in the marketplace. There were apps that taught you the rules and moves and then let you go and there were apps that were targeted at serious chess players, but not much in the middle. Chess has a profoundly positive impact on kids and it’s a shame that so many never make it over the hump, so to

Guest Columnist Chris Torres

Jay Stallings

INTERVIEW continued on page 13



AV CHESS OPPORTUNITIES

FOR ALL AGES USCF-rated Monthly 4 RD SWISS Tournament 10am – 3pm, 2nd Sunday-of-every-month USCF-rated, LOC AV Chess House. PZ 1st

Place 50% of combined entry fee, 2nd Place 25% FEE $10 if pd at least 10 days prior; $15 if email registered 3 days prior, $20 if email registered at least 1 hour prior. RDs 10:10; 11:20; 12:30; 2:00 USCF req. CONTACT: [email protected]

AV Checkmate Sunday Tournaments 2pm – 7pm 1st & 3rd Sundays. PZ TBA. REG at door. RDs TBA. USCF req. CONTACT: [email protected] 661-917-7628

Unrated Monthly 3 RD Chess Tournament 10am – 2pm, 1st-Saturday-of-every-month. LOC AV Chess House FEE $7. PZ 1st Place $15, 2nd Place $10. RDs 10:15, 11:30, 12:45. CONTACT: [email protected]

Improve Your Chess Play with Private Lessons Individual and small-group private chess lessons for Beginners, Beyond Beginners, and Intermediates of all ages. LOC AV Chess House. CONTACT: [email protected]

Bring Chess to Your Client Base Whether you work with seniors, preschoolers, families, special-needs populations, etc. The AV Chess House can provide a chess program tailored to your needs. CONTACT: [email protected]

Get Your “Chess Match” USCF-rated Only $1/person/game. CONTACT: [email protected]

FOR KIDS Mini-Game© Tournament 9am – 1pm, November 24th. Details on page 18.

Winter Break K-8 Chess Camp 9am – 1pm, January 5-7. Details on page 2.

Kids Chess Club (Fall) 5:15 – 6:45pm, Friday’s January 9 – March 27 Details on page 3.

Spring Break K-8 Chess Camp 9am – 1pm, March 23-25. Details on page 2!

Parent & Tot Chess Time Wednesday’s January 9 – March 27. Details on page 20!

President’s Day - Chess-O-Rama 11am – 3pm, Monday, February 16th. Details on page 3.

Girl Power Chess Camp Chess learning experience for K-8 girls, all skill levels Details coming soon!

Have a Chess Match with Another School Several Scholastic Chess Clubs in the Antelope Valley are eager to hold a Chess Match with other Scholastic Chess Clubs in the AV. If your school is looking for a Chess Match, CONTACT: [email protected]

Boy Scout Chess Merit Badge To earn a Boy Scout Chess Merit Badge or Cub Scout belt with Ms. Daa, CONTACT: [email protected]

Start a Chess Club at Your Child’s School Students who participate in a once-a-week Chess Club reap numerous benefits, especially improvement in math and reading skills. To learn how to start a CHESS CLUB, CONTACT: [email protected]

FOR ADULTS

Chess Club 1 – 4pm Thursdays. LOC AV Senior Center, 777 West Jackman St, Rm 105, Lancaster Free, casual chess CONTACT:

Casual Chess at Starbucks A free, casually-organized group of chess players meets at different Antelope Valley Starbucks at a variety of days and times. CONTACT: John Buck 661-816-1423 or Christian Mercado 661-406-0798

http://www.chesscorner.com/index.html



17 of 43

Lessons from Total Chess

by John Herron

Rook Maneuvers (Beginner Lesson)

Rooks are long-range pieces. They work best in open positions where there are fewer pieces to block their movement. Rooks often hang back early in the game, waiting for the board to clear before coming into play. When other pieces and pawns are traded and the board opens up, the rooks play a greater role. A rook is usually worth much more than a bishop or a knight. A rook can get to every square on the board whereas a

bishop cannot, and a rook can get across the board quickly whereas a knight cannot. The value of a rook increases as more pieces are traded, especially as more pawns are traded. Two rooks are a little stronger than a queen. They work very well together. They can team up to double their power in ways that two bishops cannot. Rooks are much better than bishops or knights when working with your own pawns or when working against the opponent’s pawns.

Skewers

A skewer is similar to a pin except in this case the piece of greater value (for example, the King, Queen or Rook) is in front. An enemy piece attacks the piece and when this piece moves away, it leaves a piece of lesser value exposed to capture.

In the diagram, the White Bishop is threatening to capture the Black Queen. When the Queen moves out of the way, the Bishop captures the Rook.

Below the Bishop is Skewering the Black King and Queen. The King must move out of check and the White Bishop captures the Black Queen!

From the book, “TOTAL CHESS: Learn, Teach and Play the Easy 1-2-3 Way,” by John Herron, copyright 2011, reprinted with permission from the publisher.

SKEWERS Continued on page 15



(continued on page 11)

Reprinted, with permission, from the October 27, 2014 issue of the

AV Press newspaper.



(continued from page 10)



ANTELOPE VALLEY ’S NM Ruben Ondangan’s

CHESS CORNER SPONSORS NEEDED!

AV Girl Power Chess Camp

Because girls often need greater encouragement than boys to become involved in, and thus reap the benefits of, chess, the non-profit, Say Yes to Chess, will provide up to 100 Antelope Valley girls

with a free, one-day Chess Camp as soon as we raises the $1,000 needed to fund the camp. For more details or to make a tax-deductible contribution to this effort, email [email protected]



INTERVIEW continued from page 7

speak, between knowing how to play and understanding how to play. It’s a subtle difference, but I’ve seen so many kids who know the rules of the board, but had absolutely no idea of what to do next! You could put five queens on the board against a lone king and the game would only end with an accidental checkmate or stalemate! I want to see more kids get over the hump, so to speak, and stick with chess. Their lives will be better for it. Also, if you don’t mind, I’d like to share a word of warning to parents who might be looking for the right chess app. There are several good ones out there, not just mine, but keep in mind that most apps out there are designed by an app developer who wants easy money and they have created hundreds or thousands of fake email addresses so they can post false reviews. Often they are just a way to serve ads or sell micro transactions. I’d really encourage parents to take a look at the apps before they give them to their kids—I’ve seen some very kid un-friendly ads on some of these apps as well as constant hooks to try to get the users to keep putting in more money, a dollar here a dollar there… Coach Jay’s Chess Academy takes young players from zero chess knowledge to a tournament ready strength of around 1000. It’s not just Checkmate and Tactics puzzles, though kids do love those! Rather, it’s those two, PLUS Endgame, Strategy, and Defense. If kids want to get to the next checkmate and tactics puzzles, they’re going to have to learn something about the rest of the chess disciplines as well! It’s the only app that includes all five indispensable disciplines and I think we roll it out in a way that really helps kids “get” it! WHAT ARE SOME WEEKLY TRAINING ROUTINES A PARENT MIGH T ASK OF THEIR CHILD IN REGARDS TO COACH JAY ’S CHESS

ACADEMY ? First, if you are the parent of a young player (Under 7 or 8), I advise sitting with your child in 20-30 minute stints and going through the app. For older students who know how to read well enough, the parent can ask them to earn 400-500 stars each week. After 4 weeks, they could revise it to 300 stars since the puzzles get a little tougher. In either case (with or without a parent) the Lessons should not be ignored, especially since the student only needs about 1 minute to get through them and they give you the concept and puzzle instructions that will then save you a lot of time over the next 8-16 puzzles. Of course, they should also be playing games. Preferably notating them and showing them to their coach. That will always be the Number 1 way to improve in chess! SO FAR, WHAT HAS BEEN MOST POPULAR ASPECT OF COACH JAY ’S

CHESS ACADEMY WITH CHILDREN ? Even though they might not be able to articulate it, the younger students love the gradual progression – getting dozens of answers correct as they slowly but certainly work their way towards more instructive and challenging puzzles. Older students enjoy the Post Puzzle Text – funny comments by Yours Truly, plus tournament advice, protocol, sportsmanship, chess history and fun facts. IN GENERAL , WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO CHESS INSTRUCTORS ON

MAKING TRAINING FUN FOR KIDS ? Read a ton of chess history yourself and spend time every

day (at least once a week) keeping up with what’s trending in the chess world. Kids can tell if you love your subject or not. When I find amazing games, I work to bring the excitement to my students as well. Additionally, I have introduced a ton of outside products into our programs – Think Like a King, Chess Magnet School, ChessKid.com, Solitaire Chess (app and board game), 4-Way Chess, Magi Chess, Chess Legends Playing Cards, and much, much more! Also, the more you teach with kids, the better you become at it. It sounds simple, but entertaining and educating kids is a skill that must be developed. For the past 20 years, I’ve watched the responses to the lessons I give, listened to their comments and refined my curriculum accordingly. I still use some of my early lessons, but they probably look much different now. Also, hopefully, my jokes have gotten better! DO YOU ENVISION THAT COACH JAY ’S CHESS ACADEMY WILL BE

UPDATED REGULARLY ? WHAT ARE SOME FUTURE UPDATES YOU ARE PLANNING ? In these first few months, our updates have been to fix bugs and modify the design of the app to make it more intuitive and user-friendly. Next year, we plan to introduce new content and also an app that utilizes the engine for practice games. Maybe one day, there will be a story mode. We created an entire script, but had to scrap it when we found out how much it would cost to develop! I have literally thousands of lessons sitting around waiting to make their way into the app! It’s a lot of work to modify it and work it into the app, but I’m having a blast revisiting some of my, and the kids,’ favorite lessons and I’m having too much fun to stop yet! EVEN BEFORE COACH JAY ’S CHESS ACADEMY , I REMEMBER SEEING YOU PROMOTING A CHESS PRODUCT THAT USED KARATE

BELTS TO MARK ACHIEVEMENTS IN CHESS . WHEN DID YOU FIRST START INCORPORATING MARTIAL ARTS RANKINGS IN YOUR C HESS

TRAINING ? HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA OF AWARDING BELTS IN THE FIRST PLACE ? I had originally envisioned my checkmate packets to be Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Queen, and King, but the martial arts colors offered more levels and, at the time, we had another testing system that used those names. The Pawn Test had 10 tests to see if the players were ready for tournament play. It actually worked very well. This all happened in 1995, almost 20 years ago. The idea came to me when a student came to class bragging about earning his Yellow Belt. A chess dad who was also a martial arts dad, told me the order – White, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Green (POG), then Blue, Brown, and Black. So far, our Checkmate Belts only go up to Blue. But that’s hundreds of chess problems, and the difficulty increment is much steeper than in the app, since they have me in the room with them to help them when they get stuck! It’s funny, but kids love metaphors. There are no actual belts in chess and Coach Jay’s Chess Academy doesn’t award any actual degrees, but they’re both systems that make sense to kids! It’s the same reason we award stars for completing puzzles. Not because they mean anything, but kids understand, largely from elementary teachers, that stars are rewards for a job well done!



Chess Funnies Chess Tactics Workbook (4th edition)

by Al Woolum

Retail Price $15 Bulk Price $13 Sale Price at the AV Chess House $10

Contact [email protected] for more information.



Can you see how White can win material by using a skewer?

White plays Rh7+ and when the King moves the Rook captures the Queen!

SKEWERS Continued from page 9

ADVERTISE in the Chess in the Antelope Valley e-newsletter!

w $10 for a one issue 8" x 3" ad l $18 for a two issue 8" x 3" ad t $24 for a three issue 8" x 3" ad m $20 for a one issue full-page ad v $15 for a one issue half-page ad



Support chess in the Antelope Valley by patronizing our advertisers!

Because this monthly e-newsletter has over 1600 subscribers, it's a great outlet to advertise your products or services, whether or not they're chess related!

(Non-profits pay half price for any ad.)

https://www.facebook.com/daa.mahowald



Chess Activities Outside of the Antelope Valley

every Thursday West Valley Chess Club http://westvalleychessclub.com/Tournaments.htm every Friday Pasadena Chess Club http://www.tim-thompson.com/pasadena.html La Palma Chess Club http://www.lapalmachess.com/LPCC/schedule/currentsession.html Chess Palace Action Quads www.chesspalace.com Every Saturday & Sunday Chess for Juniors LA Chess Club http://www.uschess.org/tlas/13930.ctla every Monday Arcadia Chess Club http://www.arcadiachessclub.com/ every Tuesday Alondra Park Chess Club (Lawndale) http://www.alondraparkchessclub.com/ November 22nd & 23rd American Open Scholastic http://www.americanopen.org/junior-tournament

November 27th to 30th American Open (main event) http://www.americanopen.org/main-tournament January 16th &17th, 2015 Top 100 Invitational http://www.hanleychessacademy.com/Top%20100%20Invitational.html January 18th & 19th, 2015 American Youth Championship http://hanleychessacademy.com/2015AYC.html January 17th to 19th, 2015 Dreaming King Open San Diego February 14th & 15th, 2015 US Amateur Team West Los Angeles March 7th & 8th, 2015 SCCF Super States Valencia March 21st & 22nd, 2015 Western Class Championships

Want to see your name in print? by Daa Mahowald (editor of the Chess in the Antelope Valley e-newsletter) [email protected]

Want to see your name in print? This e-newsletter will happily oblige! Just submit some chess news with an Antelope Valley tie. For example, if you live in the Antelope Valley, write about a chess tourney you played in, even if it wasn’t held in the AV. Or, if you’re NOT from the Antelope Valley but you played in a tourney here, write about that. Including one or two notated games would be great! There are lots of other ways to get a byline in the Chess in the Antelope Valley e-newsletter. Write a book review on any chess book which came out on or after January 1, 2000. Write a family-friendly fiction story with a chess theme. Submit an original chess joke or cartoon. Interview a local chess champion (names and contact info can be provided by this newsletter’s editor). Give a first-person account of how you earned your Girl Scout Creativity Badge through chess or your Boy Scout Chess Merit Badge. Write an essay on “Why I Love Chess” or “How Chess Has Improved my Life” or . . . In other words, just about any contribution to this newsletter will enable you to see your name in print. You might want to run your idea past this newsletter’s editor before you put a lot of work into it. [email protected]



chesslessons4beginners.com



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