Last Tournament of the Year

Last team tournament of the year for 7th and 8th graders.
March 10 Jr. High/Middle School State Championships 5 Rounds
     Team score is the total of the top 3 scores. 4 team trophies.
     Last year we scored 6 points to finish in 9th place of 13 teams.
     (Aiden Lee 2.0, Henry 2.0, Isaiah 2) Can we score higher this year?

April 14-15 Two days 7 rounds - Breck School K-6 Championships - we need 4 for a team but individuals can compete also. K-3 and 4-6 sections 4-6 section will award 14 team trophies and 31 individual trophies. Register now - print form from www.schoolchess.org and mail in early for a discount.

Here are some graphs so you can see your progress since Christmas (read right to left):
Top 8: Henry - made some progress in the last few weeks; Luke - steady progress moved up 2 spots; Isaiah - steady progress; Owen - very good progress since min Jan.; Miles - very little progress, went from 2nd to 5th; Jaden - slow but steady progress until this last week when you wanted to lose; Niko - good progress since your vacation; Nick- wow! You're improving rapidly

Next 8 Christian - great progress til you hit a little bump in the road lat week: Ben - you passed 4 people; Gere - great progress until you stopped coming: Jack - very little progress because you need to focus better on lessons and games; Tyler - steady progress in Jan, but little in Feb; James - basically no progress since Christmas - you need to pay attention during instruction or everyones going to pass you up; Tom - going the wrong direction for some reason; Zack - wow, you're becoming a contender!

Next 8: The rest of the club is marred by poor attendance or new players who are having trouble getting off the 100 mark - next year they'll start the upward climb.

Name	28-Feb
Henry	862
Luke	819
Isaiah	804
Owen	765
Miles	738
Jaden	603
Niko	590
Nick	424
Christian	350
Ben	328
Gere	301
Jack	272
Tyler	267
James	239
Zach	211
Tom	210
Nolan	193
Derrick	190
Naomi	187
Isaac	182
Quinn	157
Patrick	147
Winston	107
Davis	100

Latest Ratings

Set aside March 10 for the final and most important tournament of the year!
By the way - we will be receiving the third place trophy from the league we played in on Fridays.

Name	21-Feb
Henry	832
Isaiah	811
Luke	796
Owen	740
Miles	729
Jaden	618
Niko	562
Nick	419
Christian	364
Ben	305
Gere	301
Tyler	276
Jack	272
James	221
Tom	202
Nolan	193
Zach	191
Derrick	190
Naomi	187
Isaac	182
Quinn	157
Patrick	147
Winston	107
Davis	104

Final Match Results and Awards

Standings for the MN Junior High Chess League..2018
FINAL
-

Place Team Match Record Game Record
-
1. Metcalf A 7-0 31.5-3.5

2. Highview 6-1 27-8

3. Metcalf B 5-2 23-12

4. Metcalf C 3.5-3.5 18-17

5. Friendly Hills ` 3.5-3.5 15-20

6. Sanford 2-5 11-24

7. Faithful Shepherd A 1-6 12-23

8. Faithful Shepherd B 0-7 2.5-32.5


Outstanding Player Award Winners: Harry Breheim (60 pts from Highview), Nathanial Weber (60 pts from Highview), Colin Marsh (70 pts from Highview), Zachary Friedmann (55 pts from Metcalf B), Calvin York (70 pts from Metcalf A), Gavin Kellen (70 pts from Metcalf A), Will Moe (60 pts from Metcalf A).

-
UPCOMING


March 10- Twin Cities Middle School Tmt At Metcalf schoolchess.org

March 24/25 State Middle School/Elementary tmt minnesotachess.org at St Kates

April 14/15 Statewide Elementary and Primary tmt a Breck schoolchess.org

April 6-8 National Junior High Tmt in Atlanta uschess.org


PLEASE NOTE: The annual MN Middle School Chess League awards ceremony will occur early Sunday evening March 25th at the conclusion of play of the MN STATE Middle School Chess Championship at ST Catherines in ST Paul. Teams receiving trophies are Metcalf A, Highview and Friendly Hills as we only award one trophy per team.

Upcoming Tournaments & Feb 14 Ratings

Basically there are only 2 team tournaments left (3 if you're in 5th or 6th grade)

Feb 17 State Grade Level Championships at Metcalf. Cost $20 + $5 for lunch Pizza or hot dog & chips or bring your own. Be there before 8:30 to fill out registration forms. If you've played before, you can register online and show up at 9:00
  There is very little difference between 6th, 7th and 8th graders in terms of ratings. I don't think any of us have much of a chance at an individual trophy that would be hurt by playing up, but I think if we all play up as 8th graders we have a shot at a team award. So unless you're in 5th grade, REGISTER IN THE 8th GRADE SECTION and we'll play as a team - only top 3 scores count so you don't have to worry about ruining the team's record - you can only help.
Isaiah, Luke, Miles, Oscar, Jaden, Christian, Gere
Owen can play but can't be part of our team since he is not enrolled at FHMS

Mar 10 Jr High Championships at Metcalf

April 14-15 K-6 Championships at Breck

April 28 Tournament of Champion - top 16 K-6 players have their own section

Feb 14 Ratings

Rank	Name	14-Feb
1	Henry	811
2	Luke	807
3	Isaiah	804
4	Miles	757
5	Owen	700
6	Oscar	678
7	Jaden	612
8	Niko	552
9	Nick	419
10	Christian	364
11	Gere	301
12	Ben	283
13	Jack	275
14	Tyler	262
15	James	221
16	Tom	213
17	Nolan	193
18	Derrick	190
19	Naomi	187
20	Isaac	182
21	Zach	173
22	Quinn	157
23	Patrick	147
24	Winston	118
25	Davis	114

MATCH RESULTS (? - matches not yet played)

	MA	HV	MB	FH	MC	FSA	San	FSB	Pts	games	Place
MA	/	?	4-1	5-0	4-1	?	5-0	5-0	5	23	1
HV	?	/	?	4.5-.5	3-2	5-0	5-0	5-0	5	22.5	2
MB	1-4	?	/	4.5-.5	3.5-1.5	3-2	?	5-0	4	17	3
FH	0-5	.5-4.5	.5-4.5	/	2.5-2.5	3.5-1.5	3-2	5-0	3.5	15	4
MC	1-4	2-3	1.5-3.5	2.5-2.5	/	3-2	3-2	?	2.5	13	5
FSA	?	0-5	2-3	1.5-3.5	2-3	/	?	4.5-.5	1	10	6
San	0-5	0-5	?	2-3	2-3	?	/	3-2	1	7	7
FSB	0-5	0-5	0-5	0-5	?	.5-4.5	2-3	/	0	2.5	8

Match Results

Highview 4.5 FHMS .5 (Good - it wasn't a 5-0 shutout)
FHMS 3.5 Faithful Shepherd 1.5 (Good - we won the match)
Final score for FHMS 3 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses.
We will end up in 5th place if MetC beats FSB. We tied with them but lost on tiebreaks.
There are still 2 rounds with a total of 6 matches next week.
Here's my guess as to the final standings.
There are 3 team trophies. However, they allow only one trophy per school so it looks
like we might get the third place trophy!
1 MetA
2 Highview
3 MetB
4 MetC
5 FHMS
6 FSA
7 Sanford
8 FSB

What I predicted came true - when we won a match, we'd do it with our lower boards, although Isaiah came through on board 2 a couple times.

COMPOSITE SCORES from Match Play
Bd  Name   W  L  D  Pts
1   Henry  0  6  0  0.0
2   Isaiah 2  4  0  2.0
3-4 Luke   1  2  3  2.5
3-4 Miles  3  3  0  3.0
4-5 Owen   4  1  1  4.5
5   Jaden  3  2  0  3.0
TOTALS    13 18  4

TOP TEN

Rank	Name	9-Feb
1	Isaiah	804
2	Henry	795
3	Luke	791
4	Miles	757
5	Owen	700
6	Oscar	678
7	Jaden	603
8	Niko	539
9	Nick	396
10	Christian	350

Upcoming Match, Tournament, Ratings

MATCH
Feb 9 Get a E-Pass to get out at 3:00 and gather outside by the parking loop.
Lineup vs Highview 1. Henry 2. Isaiah 3. Luke 4. Owen 5. Jaden - Scrimmage - Miles
Lineup vs ShepherdA 1. Henry 2. Isaiah 3. Luke 4. Miles 5. Owen - Scrimmage - Jaden
Our match on Feb 16 has been cancelled since we have now played all 7 teams counting one team that forfeited to us.

TOURNAMENTS
Feb 17 State Grade Level Championships at Metcalf. Cost $20 + $5 for lunch Pizza or hot dog & chips or bring your own. Be there before 8:30 to fill out registration forms. If you've played before, you can register online and show up at 9:00
  There is very little difference between 6th, 7th and 8th graders in terms of ratings. I don't think any of us have much of a chance at an individual trophy that would be hurt by playing up, but I think if we all play up as 8th graders we have a shot at a team award. So REGISTER IN THE 8th GRADE SECTION and we'll play as a team - only top 3 scores count so you don't have to worry about ruining the team's record - you can only help.
Isaiah, Luke, Miles, Oscar, Jaden, Niko, Nick, Christian, Gere
Owen can play but can't be part of our team since he is not enrolled at FHMS

Mar 10 Jr High Championships at Metcalf

April 14-15 K-6 Championships at Breck

April 28 Tournament of Champion - top 16 K-6 players have their own section

RATINGS
Henry retains board 1 because he was there +5, got a perfect score on the worksheet +12 but lost to Luke -17 so his rating remained the same. Luke is now only 9 points away from the top. Owen passed Oscar, Jaden broke 600, Nick has risen above the crowd and will break 400 next week. Meanwhile the kids who are absent or looking at their IPads and phones remain at the bottom. Pay attention, work hard, play often and you can get good at chess.

Grade	Rank	Name	7-Feb
7	1	Henry	795
8	2	Isaiah	794
6	3	Luke	786
7	4	Miles	737
7	5	Owen	685
8	6	Oscar	678
8	7	Jaden	603
8	8	Niko	539
8	9	Nick	396
7	10	Christian	350
7	11	Gere	301
8	12	Ben	283
8	13	Jack	270
5	14	Tyler	262
5	15	James	217
8	16	Tom	209
5	17	Nolan	193
5	18	Derrick	190
5	19	Naomi	187
6	20	Isaac	182
5	21	Quinn	157
5	22	Zach	152
6	23	Patrick	147
7	24	Winston	128
5	25	Davis	114

Updated League Scores and Game Positions

      MetC MetB Scrimmage
Henry   L    L
Isaiah  W    L
Luke    D    L
Miles   L    L
Owen    W          W
Jaden        L     W

ROUND 3
Highview 5, Faithful Shepherd B 0
Metcalf A 5,  Sanford 0
Friendly Hills 2.5, Metcalf C 2.5
Metcalf B 3, Faithful Shepherd A 2

ROUND 4
Faithful ShepherdA 4.5, Faithful Shepherd B .5
Metcalf B 3.5, Metcalf C 1.5
Metcalf A 5, Friendly Hills 0
Highview 5, Sanford 0

UPCOMING MATCHES (note schedule change)
ROUND 5 Friendly Hills vs Highview
ROUND 6 Friendly Hills vs Faithful Shepherd
ROUND 7 No game - we already played Sanford

League Standings (unofficial)
Because Plymouth dropped out and was replaced by Sanford,
wins by forfeit against Plymouth have been rescinded and
games against Sanford are official.
     Matches Games
MetA    4.0   19.0
Highvw  4.0   18.0
MetB    3.0   11.0
FrHills 2.5   11.0
FaShepA 1.0    6.5
MetC    0.5    7.0
Sanford 0.0    2.0
FaShepB 0.0     .5

TOP TEN - Look out Henry!

Henry	795
Isaiah	794
Luke	752
Miles	737
Oscar	678
Owen	655
Jaden	594
Niko	540
Nick	369
Christian	327

Positions From The Matches With Metcalf

#1 What is Henry's only good move as white? (Hint: Henry traded knights on e7 and Metcalf Board 1 took with the King instead of the Queen! What's going on?! Then Henry checked with the Bishop and Metcalf blocked with f-pawn, leaving this position. Henry always falls for this!)

#2. Luke has just played a daring but actually inaccurate move - NxPd4?! and Ava responded with g3 protecting her bishop and freeing the e-pawn to attack Luke's knight. What are his best options?

#3. Jaden, playing Black, is crushing his MetcalfA opponent on board 5. What does he need to do now? 

#4 Miles reaches this complicated position early in the game. Black has just moved b5. What should Miles do?

#5 In Miles' other game he has a slight positional lead which he can turn into a material lead. How?

#6 Same game a few moves later. Again Miles has a chance to pick up a piece. How?

ANSWERS:

#1 Henry has to play defense! He has to prevent the Queen fork. Bd2!

#2. Nb5, Nc6 or Bxd2. The game continued 12. ... Nf3+ 13. Nxf3 exf3 14.Qa4+! (forking K and B) I guess Henry isn't the only one that falls for this! 

    Remember when I taught the Giuocco Piano, I said whenever the c-pawn advances or is exchanged, you've go to watch out for Qa4+ or Qa5+ 

#3 Jaden needs to play defense! His opponent's last move was Rook from b1 to d1. Jaden thought he was just moving away from his bishop which had just snatched the a-pawn with an assist from the other bishop's pin, but his opponent was setting up a discovered attack. Jaden needs to get his King out of the line of fire! Kc8! or Bxc3+ bxc3 Ke7 

Instead the game continued 13. ... Re8? 14. Bc4+ (discovered check) Ke7 15. Bxa2 a5 16. 0-0 a4??

17. Nd5+! (fork) Kf7?? (stepping into the line of fire) 18. Nxc7+ (discovered check and fork!) 

#4 He should just take the pawn! Bxb5+ Do you see why?

After mistakes by both sides Miles finished with a nice queen sac, then rook sac, then mate.

#5 Attack the pinned piece! Ne5! Black knight cannot be defended. Instead Miles tried to get cute with a zwishenzug. Bxd7 Qxd7 Ne5 but this gains only a tempo with the attack on the queen.

#6. Trap - we just studied these. Attack the piece that cannot move. g4!