T-shirts are coming!!!

Order your Chess T-shirts now!

Coming VERY soon- Lake Denoon Chess Team T-shirts! I will post the order forms here on the site as soon as they are ready, and will also email. We will have order forms at the chess party this Saturday. The shirts will arrive in time for the Jan 10th tournament!!!

Saturday Jan 3 at Mr. Seghers

This Saturday, January 3rd, Mr. Seghers will be holding a Chess Day.

We'll have an hour of instruction, then some pizza, then a mini-tournament.

The fun starts at 11am, and ends at 5pm. We hope you can make it! So far we have 8 boys signed up. Contact Mr. Seghers at 262-679-4051 for details, or to RSVP.

Below is a MAP to Mr. Seghers House. w207 s7004 High Bluff Drive.

View Larger Map

Southwest Chess Club Announces New Location

The Southwest Chess Club announces new location.

Starting January 8, our new host is the St. James Catholic Church , located at 7219 South 27th Street in Franklin, WI. The club opens at 6 PM, Tournament Games start at 7 PM. Here is a map to the club. We are just south of Rawson on 27th, and close to I-94 in Franklin. We meet in the lower level of the Parish Center building (immediately in front of the church). The address is 7219 South 27th Street in Franklin.
Visit SWCC's website for more information about the club: http://home.roadrunner.com/~swcc/ .
See SWCC's active Blog, and feel free to add your comments there: http://swccchess.blogspot.com/ .
Here is our upcoming schedule (with more detail at http://home.roadrunner.com/~swcc/Calendar.pdf ):

DESCRIPTION OF TOURNAMENTS AND EVENTS:
Freeze Bowl Swiss: January 8, 15 & 22 - 3-Round Swiss in Two Sections (Open and U1600). Game/100minutes. USCF Rated. EF: $5 members, $7 others. (One ½ Point ByeAvailable for any round (except round four) if requested at least 2-daysprior to round). TD is Grochowski; ATD is Becker.
Winter Blitzzard IV: January 29 - 3-Round Swiss in Two Sections (G/30 Minutes and G/29 Minutes).USCF Rated. EF: $5 members, $7 others. (½ Point Bye available foronly first round if requested prior to round) TD is Becker; ATD isFogec.
Chess Valentine Lovers Kiss: February 5, 12, & 19 - 3-Round “Round-Robin” (a “Quad”). Four chess players to a Quad.Game/90 minutes. USCF Rated. EF: $5 members, $7 others. TD isBecker; ATD is Grochowski.
Snowstorm Blitz-A-Matic: February 26 - 10-Round (Round-Robin) in One or more Sections (depending onnumber of players). Game/5 minutes. USCF Quick-Rated. EF: $5members, $7 others. TD is Becker; ATD is Grochowski.

Next up: Richards Elementary Jan 10

Our next tournament for the LDMS Knights is at Richards Elementary in Whitefish Bay. There is a K5 and a K8 division for us to compete in. Here is the link to the tournament information.

Please let me know if you would like to participate! I will pre-register everybody.

Thank you,
Mark/Mr. Seghers

Free Chess Tactics Online

A local master tells me "chess is 99% tactics." That is, knowing what to do in each situation as it comes (rather than planning too far ahead, only to have the strategy foiled with an unexpected move by your opponent).

In that spirit, sometimes you find something REALLY special on the Internet. Check this out: http://chess.emrald.net/

This is a Chess Tactics Server... very easy to register and use. It presents puzzles, just find the right move at the time. Your score goes up and down based on your answers. Amazing stuff.

Have fun!

Quiet positions

Sometimes in a game, you get "locked up" with the opponent, and the moves become "quiet" and hard to see. It is in these times that you need to think hard and find the best move.

Above is the same chess position, shown as Black and as White. This is an actual position in a game with Reid and I, going on right now. I am white and Reid is black. It is white to move.

Think about:

1) who has the best position and why?

2) what can white do to break the tension?

3) what can black try to do here to break through the pawn chain?

You can comment here if you have any ideas. I will update this post later with the result of the game from this point forward.

LDMS Takes 2nd Place K-5 at Donges Bay

Well... After taking 1st at the Museum, Holy Trinity and University School... I guess we learned that you can't win 'em all.... But we did pretty well, taking 2nd place in K-5, missing out on first place by HALF A POINT, 14.5 to 14.0! Argggg...! Golda Meir took first. Tosa School of health Sciences took 3rd, University School of Milwaukee took 4th, and our hosts, Donges Bay, took 5th. Donges Bay is the sponsoring school for the parent-driven Mequon Scholastic Chess Club. For full results, click here.
Reid played again in the last game for the championship, and ended up taking 2nd to Roshan. Reid went 4-1 in the shortened tournament, Brian went 4-1 also to finish 9th. This is the second great tournament in a row for Brian- he's on a roll! Kolt went 3-2 for 14th, Rachel also went 3-2 for 22nd. Josh went 3.0 for 25th. Also playing for k-5 was Zeke Baker in his first tournament ever, and learning the game this year... Our goal for a first-time player is to win ONE point out of 6. Zeke got 1.5 out of 5! Great job Zeke, you are a nice addition to the team!
Our K-8 Team of Evan, Chris and newcomer Jacob Glumm finished fourth. The very tough Magellan Day School took first, Lakeshore second and Glen Park third. Evan had 3.5 out of 5, Chris 3, and Jacob Glumm got his goal of one win by Drawing two games (half point each). This was a great experience for Jacob, and a nice start. We welcome him to the team!
Complete results are listed here. Look to the right to see photos from this tournament in our photo album!!!

Social Chess Class Starts Thursday 12/4!

Mr. Antoniewicz is starting his weekly Thursday Social Chess Club tomorrow (12/4). Right after school on Thursdays in room 419. I will post more details as soon as I hear...

This will be a nice companion class to the competitive class on Mondays. Thursdays will be about just playing a game of chess. Thursdays will also offer beginning instruction to new players.