SWCC Round 4

Last night in the SW chess club championship, Reid beat Steven Davidson, a 1580 player with a nice endgame tactic wherein he forced SD's King away and took a Rook, upon which Steven resigned. He was a very good sport, and sat with us to go over the game afterwards. Very gracious, sportsmanlike player.
Evan played John Becker (2050) on board 2. They went all the way to the end in a three hour game in which JB had 3 minutes left, and were tied in a drawish endgame when Evan's knight was trapped and JB was able to force Evan's king away and promote. Evan was very disappointed, but JB agreed it was a great battle.
I will post one of these games later today.
The boys played great, but Dad (me) really bit the big one. Against Rohan, who I knew had a great knowledge of Ruy Lopez and all its variations, I wanted to avoid that line as Black. I played the dubious but surprising Latvian Gambit which was recommended to me. I'll post a little bit of that when I have a moment. I didnt have enough time to practice it with a couple busy workdays, but tried anyway. I was able to achieve a playable and confusing opening with a strong kingside attack, but I was overly aggressive and lost to a tactic I didn't see. At least I gave him a fun, unusual game. The "Spanish Torture" of the Lopez would have lasted three hours and I would have ended up losing anyway I'm sure.
Great tournament, SWCC, lots of fun. Thanks for all you do.

Solid Games from Evan and Jacob!!!

Evan won against a very tough Rohan last night in the SWCC championship to go to 2.5 points out of a possible 3.0. In the game last night, Rohan had a one-pawn advantage late in the game but Evan caught him on a late-game tactic. Next week, Evan will face a very difficult challenge, probably against an Expert, on one of the top boards.
Jacob Glumm is really coming on lately. Just learning the game this year, Jacob quickly became a good player for our LDMS Knights. This year, he will be one of the pillars of a budding new Muskego High School team that Greg Reese and I will be assembling over the next few years. Jacob plays slow and thinks hard- the foundation of someone who is able to learn and excel at the game. He plays unusual and inventive chess which often throws off much higher rated players. Recently, he drew a 2100 rated player in a Simul. Last night, at the SWCC Championship, he drew against Sarfaras, a strong, 1300+ attacking player. Congratulations Jacob!
In other SWCC news, myself (Mark) and Reid both won against some beginning players. Reid's opponent, a very nice man in his 40s who opened up with a very unusual variation of the Philidor after that with centralized Bishops on his second rank, and his knight to h3. I played against a little girl who played too quickly but showed very strong potential and intuition, with one very surprising Queen move that got her 2 points back. I kept thinking over and over "dont lose dont lose dont lose" thinking of what kind of poison I could end it all with if I had. Happily I can keep the arsenic in the closet for now.

Mr. Reese Meeting / The upcoming season!

Had a nice meeting with Greg Reese this morning.    Mr. Reese, as the kids know him, has done a lot to get chess going in Muskego.  He is the coach of both Bay Lane M.S. and Country Meadows Elementary.   I will be coaching Lake Denoon M.S. and Mill Valley Elementary.   Overflow kids from Muskego H.S. will come to LDMS for instruction, and we will begin a chess club there this year, with an eye on competitive chess for MHS starting in the 2010-2011 school year.   I am looking for coaching assistants this year!  So far, Dan Gomoll continues as assistant (I hope!   Dan?), and Peter Stevlingson has agreed also to help.  Hopefully a few more parents (Bob?   Rick?) can also kick in!

 

In the 2009-2010 school year, Muskego will host a few tournaments:

• LDMS (Nov-Dec timeframe) - WSCA
• Mill Valley (end of season- Mayish timeframe) - WSCA
• Bay Lane (Jan-Feb timeframe) - WSCA

This is of course in addition to other Milwaukee area tournaments run by the WSCF, WCA/USCF and WSCA.   We look forward to a great year coming up for Muskego Chess!

SW Chess Championship Round 2

The game above shows an interesting draw between Evan and Andrew G. Click on the controls to move thru the game.
Evan adds this analysis about the game:
"Me being about a 1450 player was happy to tie the 1786 Andrew G. . Him and i are friends. this was a fun game. He is 16 i think but i am not completely sure, anyway here is my analysis about my game: He started by playing the queens gambit, a very good opening for white. Gregory used to prefer this to e4 because gregory thinks that playing e4 gives black better chances because of the sicilian. I agree but i am not very good at this opening so i play e4. i just choose to play the little i know about this opening at first. Then on move 6 i play a passive move that i looked at after the game, Nbd7. this blocks out my bishop from going to d7 and i have to play b6 to get it out. Then on move 8 he takes my d pawn with his c pawn and then i begin to notice that i am very very cramped. Things are looking bleak. Then he plays a3 and b4. once he moves b4 i am pretty happy to play my freeing move, a5!. Andrew thought that taking was worse for him so he played 11. Rb1. After i take i had a reflex to play ra3 right away, but then he would play Nb5. So i played c6 to stop that. Once i got a stronghold on a3 he played Qc1. I played qc8 to protect my rook and set up a batterring ram. on move 16 he played Qb2. I saw if he was planning to play ra1 i had a tactic that was to play bxb4. if queen takes then i play Rxa1. So i was hoping he would play that so i played a kind of weird move to waste time. i played re8. just as i hoped he play the move ra1 and i took bxb4. I had the advantage now. He did Rxa3 and i took with queen to try to trade. we traded queens and i was pretty confident - maybe a little too confident. I started to play a little sloppy now. On move 21 I played b5. When i moved Nb6 he did a shocking move. He played Nxb5. This led to an exchange where I was up a full piece for a pawn. Then later he trapped my knight in the corner on a8. I could have saved it with 32.....Kf8 33. Bd7 Bd6 34. Bc6 and i save my knight with Nc7. All of you smart guys that commenting what if he plays 33. Ra1. and saying ha ha you where wrong! He cant take because i play Re1#. I did not see this in my game but saw it in my analysis. I was so anxious and overconfident that i played Re1+ on reflex. That makes my bishop stray from b4 and i cant play Bc6 fast enought to save my knight. He wins my knight and i am down a pawn in the endgame. I offer a draw on move 39 and he accepts. I was not sure if this was a draw or not because i was to lazy to analyze if his king escapes out of h3 and trys to knack off all my pawns. Since my king cant stray from my d5 pawn because it is isolated and hanging. I will accept any comments on if it was a draw or not. So please comment."

In the 6-round SW Chess championship, last night we competed in Round 2. Myself, Evan, Reid, and also Jacob Glumm from the LDMS club.
In the first round last week, Reid drew against Coons (1843), Evan won, Jacob and I did not play (I used one of my two Byes).
In round 2 last night, we all got pretty tough matchups. Evan drew against A. Grochowski (1788), Reid lost to R. Mhaskar (1653), Jacob lost to R. Pkenwitz (1486), and I lost to S. Richardson (1579).
I had a pretty good game but made one early mistake which ended up costing me the game ultimately. Reid admitted he played too fast- he and Rohan were very quick to an endgame in which Rohan had the advantage on position plus an extra pawn.

Barn Blitz Tournament Coming Up!

The glamorous site of the prestigious 2009 Muskego Barn Blitz!

On Sunday, August 30 at 1PM (watch the site for updates), we will be holding the prestigious 2009 Muskego Barn Blitz at the fabulous luxurious Seghers Barn Resort (watch out for rusty nails and mice), pictured above.

This is projected to be a 10-round, 5-minute blitz tournament. There will be a small entry fee which will cover a few trophies. We will be asking for RSVPs and volunteers, and some snacks, etc. There will be a 12 and under Division, a 16 and Under Division, and an Open division.

We'll also have swimming between rounds and for parents who wish to hang out and talk. We did this a few years ago and it was a lot of fun! The Evite went out today (Fri 7/17)... if you didn't get an Evite, please email Mark (s e g h e r s @ g m a i l . c o m - with out the spaces). RSVP for people, snacks, etc.

- Mark, Sue, Reid and Evan Seghers

US Junior Open

LDMS Takes Third Place in the U11 Division

Too bad we could only get three players in the U11 division! We might have had a shot at first place! As it was, Reid Seghers, Evan Seghers and Chris Tillson did very well, taking 3rd place as a 3-person team.

Evan Goes 4-1 and Takes 4th Place in the U11 Division

Evan took 4th place by going 4-1 and Reid took 9th place, also going 4-1 including a great, hard-fought win over Pranav (a 1400 player). Chris went 2.5-2.5 and also played very well in this national tournament. Interestingly, Reid and Evan's only losses came to Adream and Awonder Liang, the amazing boys from Madison. Little 5 year-old Awonder (pictured below, the top under-7 player in the entire US) beat Evan in an amazing game which I will post soon here on this site. His older brother Adream beat Reid.

The Boy "Awonder"

Another LDMS player who played in the tournament was Jacob Glumm, a rapidly improving player who is attending Muskego High School next year. Jacob did very well in the U15 division, raising his rating almost 200 points!

Congratulations to division winner Brady Harder who beat Sarfaras in the last game to go 5-0 and win the U11 division.

A big THANK YOU to Ashish Vaja, Alex Betanelli, Gregory Reese, Pam Reese, and all the others within VICA, USCF and WSCA who made this tournament possible and brought more national chess visibility to the city of Milwaukee.

2009 U.S. JUNIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Attention Lake Denoon and Mill Valley Chess Players!!!

The 2009 U.S. JUNIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP is This Weekend!!! July 10-12, 2009.
Yes- A NATIONAL tournament- right here in town!!!! Run by the WSCA.
For details click here-> http://www.wscachess.org/wscachess/custom/events/usjunioropen5.pdf

NEW LOCATION:
RAMADA CONFERENCE CENTER MILWAUKEE
6331 South 13th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53221
Chess Rate of $79 for hotel rooms is Valid until July 1st.
Reserve Early at 414-764-1500- LET ME KNOW IF YOU DO THIS

MAIN EVENT SCHEDULE:
Opening Ceremony: Friday at 2:45
Rounds:
Friday 3:00 pm.
Saturday 10:00 am and 2:00pm.
Sunday 10:00 am and 2:00 pm.
Closing Ceremony: Sunday 5:30 pm.

There are also side events, including a Parents and Coaches Tourney on Saturday (not rated games at 10:30, 2:15 and 3:30).
Registration is $35 if your register by July 9th. Only $30 per player if 4 or more players are registered together. Right now we have three players in the U11 division - Reid, Evan and Chris Tillson, and one player in the U15 division- Jacob Glumm (who just drew against a 2100 in a Simul last Thursday!). We could use one or two more players at least!
We could win an "Under 11" team trophy (cutoff is September 1, 2008 for turning 11, which would be anyone of our 5th graders, or anyone from Mill Valley). PLEASE RSVP ASAP for this National Tournament! I can drive a couple kids on Friday or maybe Sat/Sun if anyone needs a ride. Let's share rides!

SW Chess Club Championship

LDMS Chess Club Player, Jacob Glumm Draws a 2100 in Simul at SWCC last Thu

Summer days are so busy; some players find the best way to learn chess and stay sharp is to play in the evenings. There are two options for that- Wednesday evenings at the Waukesha Chess Club, and Thursday evenings at the SW chess club. Reid and Evan, and Kolt and Jacob, play at the SW chess club usually. Josh and his Dad Bob have played at the Waukesha Club. Both clubs have a good mix of ages and skill levels!

The next 6 weeks are the SW Chess Club Championship. Starts this Thursday night. One game per week, every Thursday night for 6 weeks. Each player can request 2 "byes" which would give him or her a half-point for that game (as if they drew). I can help drive in some cases. Please RSVP for this tournament!

Southwest Chess Club Championship:July 9, 16, 23, 30 & August 6 & 136-Round Swiss in One Section. Game/100. USCF Rated. EF: $7(must be a member to participate). SWCC Membership $10 (can join prior to first round). (Two ½ point byes available in rounds 1 through 5 if requested at least 2-days in advance; no byes available for round 6.) TD is Becker; ATD is Grochowski.

About the SW Chess Club: Thursday events are held at St. James Catholic Church in the lower level of the Parish Center building (immediately in front of the church). The address is 7219 South 27th Street in Franklin. Parking in rear, enter through south door. Hours: 6-11 p.m. Thursday tournament Registration: 6- 6:55 p.m. Games begin at 7 p.m. Every Thursday, you can either join in the action, or play a friendly game, some skittles, or arrange a match, a tournament, or an extra rated game. Ask a Tournament Director for assistance (Allen Becker, Tom Fogec, Robin Grochowski, or Sheldon Gelbart).