LDMS Tournament Announced Jan. 16 !!!

Yes! We are going to have our own tournament!!! This tournament will be held at Lake Denoon Middle School on January 16, 2010. This will be a USCF event which will be assisted by the Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Association (WSCA).

We will need several volunteers!! Please email me at seghers@gmail.com if you are able to volunteer to help out at this tournament.

More details to come. Thank you!
Mark Seghers

Updated: USM Information

We have a rocking good team ready for University School on Saturday!

Here is the list of those registered so far:
Evan Seghers
Reid Seghers
Chris Tillson
Jorin McGuire
Kolt Otterbacher
Brian Schroeder
Josh Bartz
Rachel Gomoll
David Petak
Jacob Gomoll
Zeke Baker
Jason Markowski
Blake Reeves
Jacob Stys

Please call me if you are able to ride-share. Thank you.

- Mr. Seghers

T-shirt order forms due by Thanksgiving!!!!

Click on this form to see a clearer version you can print!

Please note- the HOODIES RUN SMALL!!!!!

Please fill this out and print, you can bring to chess class or scan email to seghers@gmail.com.



Thank you!

"3 Musketeers" Take Trinity K-8

We weren't going to do Holy Trinity, thought we'd have an open week before University School.

However, Kolt and Evan wanted to play, and so did Jason. We weren't able to add anyone else at such short notice.

Evan, Kolt and Jason got it done as a team! LDMS took 1st place in the K-8 division over the always-tough Golda Meir. Evan went 5-0 including a victory vs. 2nd place (1734 rated) Jordan S., Jason went 4-1 (his only loss being to Jordan) and Kolt went 3.5-1.5 (his only loss also to Jordan)!

Way to go LDMS knights, and thank you to the WSCF and the folks at Holy Trinity for making a very nice tournament for the kids.

Tommy Takes Goodrich!

Congratulations to Tommy Schneider of Bayside Middle School, who took first place in the Goodrich Elementary School Open Division.    Tommy beat Reid in the final match, a good game where Tommy promoted a pawn in the endgame under time pressure!   Reid took 2nd place in the Open Division.
LDMS had a strong showing as a team, taking 1st place in the Open Division BARELY to a very strong team from Bayside Middle School.   We will be battling them a lot this year, I'm sure.   They are good players and great competition; we'll keep each other on our toes all year!
Reid had 4 points in the shortened 5-game tournament as did Chris Tillson who finished 3rd, and Kolton Otterbacher who finished 5th in the Open division.   Josh finished 8th and Jason finished 11th.  Jason would have had 4 also but missed a back-rank mate move by an opponent he was beating!   (Happens to all of us Jason... trust me, I know...!)    Zeke had very tough matchups this time around, just the way it works sometimes... but he played well, and will be a strong contributor for us this year.

Evan wins Best Game prize for Hales Corners X!

Below is a game Evan (as White) won against Derek S., from the Hales Corners X challenge last weekend.   It's a fun game, and was voted "BEST GAME" by the SW Chess Club.   Play the game by clicking on the controls.

When is a Player Ready for Tournaments?

We have three divisions in our club:

WHITE players are the players still learning how to compete. This is the bulk of our team today. Learning how the pieces move. Learning pawn structure. How to checkmate and mate. Basic opening strategy.

BLUE players are ready for tournaments. Generally, Blue players know and can demonstrate:
- How to play a full game all the way to the end
- How to deliver Check, and Check Mate, using a combination of pieces
- How to defend 4-move mate and its variations
- How to checkmate using queen and rook, and rook alone (vs. a lone King)
- When a game is winnable and when it is a draw
- Knows stalemate and how to avoid (or deliver when losing)
- Good opening form:
- Developing center pawns
- Controlling the center
- Developing minor pieces
- Castling
- Does not give away "free pieces" (where player takes a piece for free and you can't take back)
- Understands the value of the pieces
- Understands pawn structure
- Knows one good opening for white, and how to defend basic openings as black
- Etc.

RED players are tournament players who have won 4 games in a 6 game tournament, or 3.5 points in a 5-game tournament.