Today: Lakefront Chess

This weekend, the Seghers cannot commit to a weekend-long tournament. So.... Today, .... Mark, Reid and Evan are going to check out the new Lakefront Chess Group! See below, from the Goddess Chess Blog:

New Chess Group Starting
This is great news! Wish it was closer to where I live, drat!A new local chess group is starting up - here's the scoop:Friday May 1Hi Chess players:The new Lakefront Chess Group, the main initial purpose of which is to simply set up this Alterra Lake front coffeehouse, as a place to find a week-end/Sat game, within an initial time frame (which can be modified). Hope to see you there sometime! Thank you! - Paul Edquist

Introducing “Chess @ the Lakefront”!
WHERE: The scenic Lakefront Alterra Coffeehouse
Across from the Marina
1701 N. Lincoln Memorial Dr
Milwaukee 53202
Use“MapQuest” as required.

Please do not call Alterrra re our group; they are very busy Saturdays! Look for us outside, on the north side area tables or inside, the south room, first floor, if the weather is marginal. Playing outside will be the summer/warm weather default!

WHEN: Every Saturday formally commencing May 2 from approximately 11AM -2PM
You can come earlier or stay later of course!
Alterra Sat. hours: 7AM-10PM (Our hours can be changed via a poll of players consistently attending.)
OTHER INFORMATION: BYO sets, clocks, (“louder” clocks only outside); BYO refill mug for $1.25 initial fill; and 50 cent refills! Other food on site. Great outdoor tables for playing; some picnic tables for four players; multi-level seating inside. Smoking OK outside. Free parking in adjacent lot; use their north driveway; but suggest first, parking directly across the street, lakeside, in the Marina parking lot, due to busy Saturdays! Or park on Lincoln Memorial Dr., just north. We hope to grow, hold informal tournaments, and perhaps have a team for USCF or area team competition vs. the local USCF affiliate club and other groups. Ideas and help are always welcome! Tell your friends!
Contact: Paul (former president of UWM Chess Club) or Galen

Sixteen 1st Place Team Trophies in 2008-2009 Year

Congratulations to the boys and girls of Lake Denoon, who took home the following sixteen 1st place Team Trophies this season:

1. Mill Valley- WSCA (K-6)
2. Ronald Reagan - WSCA (K-6)
3. State Scholastic Tournament - USCF (K-6)
4. Rose Glen Elementary - WSCF (K-5)
5. Wisconsin Grade Level Tournament - WSCF (5)
6. New Berlin Open - WSCA (K-6)
7. Blair Elementary - WSCF (K-6)
8. Blair Elementary - WSCF (K-12)
9. US Amateur Team North - USCF (Elementary)
10. Thomas Jefferson Middle School - WSCF (K-5)
11. Thomas Jefferson Middle School - WSCF (K-12)
12. Youth Leadership Academy - WSCF (K-12)
13. St. Bernadette's - WSCF (K-5)
14. University School - WSCA (K-6)
15. Holy Trinity - WSCF (K-5)
16. Milwaukee Museum - WSCF (K-6)

We attribute our success to - in no particular order:

1. the original teachings and dedication of Mr. Reese - now at Bay Lane
2. the great work of the WSCF, WSCA, USCF, SW Chess Club, Waukesha Chess Club, etc. - all the organizations and largely volunteer-driven efforts of the organizers and lovers of the game of chess and its rightful place in the scholastic world
3. keeping things humming with weekly chess classes that the kids paid attention and contributed to
4. the support of LDMS school administration
5. a great group of 5th, 6th and 8th Grade friends who glued it all together and helped to make the tournaments fun!
6. the LDMS parents who support their kids, drive them to tournaments, etc
7. a positive attitude
8. a competitive spirit

Without the above things, none of this success would have been possible. To everyone involved, THANK YOU.

X-Ray Vision

Use "X-Ray-Vision"

When you analyze your game it is sometimes hard to see all combinations that are hidden within a particular position. If you miss a hidden trap of your opponent then you lose instantly a piece or a pawn or even worse, you might get checkmated. Or you miss a strong combination which would have won the game for you right away. For that reason it is a big help if you use X-Ray-Vision in your chess games.

If you use X-Ray-Vision here as white, you might find this difficult winning move. Re8+!! This move wins the queen and the game, as white has more material and the better position. The king in the middle will come under strong attack. 1.Re8+! KxR (the knight is pinned and can't capture!) Now 2.Bb5+ c6 3.QxQ and white wins the queen and sooner or later the game. (Budovskis, Inesis - Atars, Pablo, 1970)

White moves and plays 1.Nxd5! cxd 2.QxB! Great isn'it? (Bobby Fischer - Predrag Ostojic 1970). X-Ray Vision does help you to discover hidden moves and prevent that you are running around mentally searching like a blind duck. Try it in your next games.

Calendar Updated- Several USCF Events Coming

Please see the chess calendar to the right for details on important tournaments coming up, for the more advanced players especially- or for players just looking to hone their skills and increase their USCF ratings:
- Arpad Elo Open this weekend~! Local tournament, USCF
- Chicago Open next weekend! Huge tournament, USCF
- Junior Open in July (already announced here), National tournament, right here in town!

We have not attended the first two, not in the habit, sorry for the late notice.
- Mark

Southwest Chess Club- Thursday Nights

Dont forget- while the scholastic season is complete, there is still Chess Action on Thursday nights at the SW Chess Club!!!! <--click for link
There is a new tournament starting tomorrow night!!! See the web site link above for more information.

Wednesday nights work better for you? Consider the Waukesha Chess Club at the Waukesha Eagles club at 7pm on Wednesdays! See the link on the right hand side of this page for more info on tournaments and times.
There is also chess on Saturday mornings at Alterra on the lake front- more casual, just show up! Let me know if you wish to attend.

Harders Take Mill Valley

Home-schooled Brady Harder went 6-0 to took the tough K-6 Division at Mill Valley. His younger brother, Brannan, also went 6-0 to win the K-3 division!

Lake Denoon took the first place trophy in the K-6 division, for our 16th first place team trophy this season! I'm not sure how many total trophies, but I'm sure it's a bunch. Great job Knights!
Evan took 2nd place to Brady, Greg Reese Jr. took 3rd (from Bay Lane), Reid took 4th place. Several other LDMS players finished with 4 out of 6 wins- incuding 7th grader Nick Filler in his first tournament of the year!! Participating in the tournament for Lake Denoon were Evan, Reid, Nick, ChrisT, Brian, Josh, Jason, Kolton. and Glen Park took 2nd place with only 4 players- nice job Glen Park!

In the Relatives division, Mr. Seghers took 9th place. Mr. Seghers and Evan together finished fourth as a father-son team. Jason and his Dad also did well, as did Josh Bartz and his dad Bob. The relatives division was a lot of fun.

Kudos to Mr. and Mrs. Reese, the Stevlingsons, Randy Bubolz, our visiting TDs, and many other helpers who put together a great, fun, family tournament! A great way to finish the scholastic chess season.

Good Intro on the Sicilian- Video

As Black, most beginners play e5 (king pawn move 2) in response to White's common e4 (king pawn move 2). At the master level however, the Sicilian Defense is most often employed as a response to e4. The video below explains the basics of the Sicilian.