In-House Tournament 12/13

MCDS In-House Chess Tournament!
An Unrated Event
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Registration: 9:30-9:50am
Tournament: 10:00am-2:00pm

This is a tournament for MCDS students of all ages! USCF membership is NOT required.

Only a $5 entry fee for USCF/Spartan Chess Club members! $10 entry fee for all others (also gains membership into the Spartan Chess Club)!

Trophies will be awarded!

This is not just an opportunity for competitive players to hone their skills. This is a great warm-up tournament for those newer players that either play recreationally or want to practice in a relaxed tournament atmosphere before moving on to USCF-rated tournaments.

Rules: G/20, 5-round Swiss standard (subject to change).

For questions or to register, contact Michael Hutsko at hutskom@miamicountryday.org, or leave a message with Ms. Cheryl Skalberg at 305-779-7245.

Spartan Chess Tournament December 13

Kevin and I believe that it would preferable to have an unrated in-house tournament on December 13 as opposed to a rated multi school tournament

Please Comment on what type of tournament you would like to have on Saturday, December 13

Thank You, 

Goldfarb Administration 

Upcoming Tournament Location Changed to Doral Middle School

We have changed the location of tomorrow's USCF tournament to Doral Middle School. Professional Chess Services, directed by Grandmaster Renier Gonzalez, hosts its 3rd in a series of 7 tournaments.

Spencer Berens, David Gonzalez, and Julian Schultz will represent MCDS at the K-8 level. Daniel Goldfarb and Devon Zifferblatt will be playing K-12.

Players are to report to the pool turnaround at MCDS no later than 7:45am (with replacement permission slip if applicable). We should return around 4pm.

Thanks!

Upcoming Tournament on 12/6 in Boynton Beach

There will be a scholastic USCF chess tournament (for all grades) at Freedom Shores Elementary School in Boynton Beach on Saturday, December 6th. I am considering getting a bus for the tournament if the tournament director expects a decent-sized draw for the non-Palm Beach county players (they are put in a different section) AND if we have enough interest. If you are interested in participating and/or taking our bus, please let me know by 4pm on Monday, December 1st. We willndepart from MCDS at approximately 8am on that Saturday and return around 4pm or so. More accurate times will be given if we decide to go.

There will be individual AND team trophies (teams must consist of 3 or more), and I think it would be great to field a team in all of the sections if we could. Again, If you are interested in participating and/or taking our bus, please let me know by 4pm on Monday, December 1st. Please email me or call me with questions. A link to the entry form is below:
http://www.bocachess.com/FreedomShoresDistrictTournament%20120608.pdf

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spartan Chess Club Brings Home First Place Trophy!

The Spartan Chess Club fielded a team that brought home a First Place Team Trophy this past Saturday in the K-12 division of the Miami International Chess Academy USCF-Rated Grand Prix Scholastic Chess Tournament #1. Moshe Libbin, A.J. Pitchman, Miroslav Kriz, Daniel Goldfarb, and Kevin Goldfarb all contributed to the Spartan victory! Congratulations to the players on what hopes to be the first of many trophies earned this season.

For a crosstable of the event, visit:
http://miamichess.com/GP/GP1-k12-final.htm

Lower School Chess Club Schedule Announced!

The Lower School Chess Club will begin meeting after school on Thursdays starting January 22. Registration packets will be going home with students on December 10, when registration begins. If you have any questions, please contact Betsy Kaplan at kaplanb@miamicountryday.org or 305-753-8304.

MICA Grand Prix Tournament Schedule Announced!

The Miami International Chess Academy traditionally hosted a series of Grand Prix tournaments each year. In addition to playing individually, there is also a team element. I think it would be great to send enough players to represent MCDS in all divisions (K-12, K-8, K-5, & K-3). The schedule is:

#1-November 22
#2-December 20
#3-January 31
#4-February 28
#5-March 21
#6-April 24
#7-May 16

We can start organizing a team during the week of 11/10. Start thinking about it in the meantime.

-Mr. Hutsko

Spartans Superb at Quads!

The Spartan Chess Club made a very strong showing at the first quads tournament hosted at MCDS in recent times. Of the 6 quads, Spartans won 5 of them! There was a total of 25 participants, with 15 Spartan community members taking part.


Moshe Libbin (2.0/3.0-Quad B), Daniel Goldfarb (perfect score-Quad C), Kevin Goldfarb (perfect score-Quad D), Shadi Tabbara (perfect score-Quad E), and Ian Gonzalez (3.5/4.0-Round Robin section) walked out winners of USCF gift certificates for winning their quads. Chris Stormont, Club Director of The Stormont Kings, was victorious in Quad A (the highest rating quad), defeating Mr. Keelan (2.0/3.0) in a competitive final match.


The Spartan Chess Club would like to welcome it's newest USCF members: Julian Schultz, David Gonzalez, Ian Gonzalez, and Mike Kriz. They join the ranks of a fast-growing, rapidly improving club.

To see the crosstable and up-to-date ratings for the event, visit:
http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,201/
and use the tournament ID 200810114081

Report submitted by Michael Hutsko, USCF Certified Club Tournament Director

Quads Tournament This Saturday!

OCTOBER CHESS QUADS at MCDS for ALL AGES!
A United States Chess Federation-Rated Event
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Registration: 8:30-9:00am
Tournament: 9:00am-Noon
Garner Center @ Miami Country Day School,
601 NE 107th Street (just east of NE 6th Avenue)
Brought to you by the SPARTAN CHESS CLUB

This is a tournament for ALL AGES and ALL ABILITIES! This is not limited to just students!

Only a $5 entry fee for USCF members!
What? You’re not a USCF member? You can become one easily! Details are below.

Winners of each quad receive a USCF Gift Certificate!

You can purchase a membership to the USCF at the door (cash or check only). All memberships include:
· 12 issues per year of the magazine Chess Life (or Chess Life for Kids for 12 & Under),
· the right to earn a chess rating in the official national rating system,
· discounts on chess equipment purchased through USCFSales.com.

USCF Membership Fees: Scholastic Membership (12 & Under): $17,
Youth Membership (15 & Under): $20,
Young Adult Membership (24 & Under): $25,
Adult Membership: $41,
Senior Membership (65 & Older): $36

Rules: G/30 (30 minutes per side), 4-player round robin format (with the likelihood of a 5-7 person swiss section). Quads will be created based on standard rating from the official, published October supplement. Unrated players will be placed based on their unofficial rating if one exists. Games are dual-rated, counting towards both standard and quick ratings. Placement of unrated players is at the discretion of the tournament director.

For questions or to register, contact Michael Hutsko at hutskom@miamicountryday.org, or leave a message with Ms. Cheryl Skalberg at 305-779-7245.

Spartan Chess T-Shirts

Dear Spartan Chess Club Members,

To finish what every other spartan chess club was unable to finish I would like to ask who out of the current members would be willing to spend money to get Spartan Chess Club Shirts. Please comment if you would want to finance the first ever MCDS Chess Club Shirts and I will contact Mr. Hutsko with the feedback.

Sincerely,

 VP Goldfarb (better Goldfarb)

Third Annual Spartan Chess September Scholastic a Success!

With the largest draw in its 3 years of existence, the 3rd Annual Spartan Chess September Scholastic, a USCF-rated tournament at Miami Country Day School, successfully crowned 2 section champions and 1 division champion. It was the first year that the tournament was split into 2 sections. With only 13 participants in 2006 and 18 in 2007, all of the participants in those years were put into the same draw. This year's sections were K-6 and K-12.

The K-6 champion was 6th grader and veteran scholastic player Lance Shkolnik, who went 4.0/4.0. First grader Julianna Piloto finished in second place and was recognized as the lower school division winner, scoring 3.0/4.0. Sascha Kappos earned a 3rd place finish with a score of 3.0/4.0 and was the highest finishing MCDS student in the section.

The K-12 champion was from Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School, 9th grader Nicolas Getty. Nicolas won his last round match against highly-rated Bruno Maggi, who finished second. Shuli Mishali rounded out the top 3 out of a field of 18.

International Master John Donaldson was on hand for game analysis. IM Donaldson is the Chess Director at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club in San Francisco and has authored 30 books on chess covering all aspects of the game. He will be this year's captain of the U.S. Olympiad team that travels to Dresden in November. This marks the third year that MCDS has brought IM Donaldson to their campus and created opportunities for the chess community to interact with one of the world's best chess instructors.

To view a crosstable for the event, go to:
http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,201/
and search for tournament ID 200809202591