Saturday, January 30, 2010

THE FIRST SATURDAY ASCF EVENT OF 2010!

FOR THOSE YOUNGSTERS WHO ARE READY AND WANT TO COMPETE IN TOURNAMENTS - WE HAVE THIS EVENT COMING UP!

Not all club members should consider these events until having gotten through their first several meetings of the chess club. I want our players to have fun at these events and that means they will need some practice before their first chess event. So for now this event is only for those members of the club who have played in tournaments before.



FIRST ASCF EVENT OF THE YEAR!
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This event will be a lot of fun for those youngsters who make the trip out to Gilbert on Saturday the 13th of February. I will be there so if you need help between rounds come find me or call me on my cell phone. We can also all agree to meet at one location before the start of the event as well.

Your Cherokee Chargers Chess Coach
- Coach Sean Tobin.

More changes coming right up!

Hello folks,

Thanks for your patience as I continually improve upon the format of our community chess blog. I have some even more interesting ideas a foot about what to put up on this site - so stay tuned!

Your Cherokee Chargers Chess Coach
- Coach Sean Tobin.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Need an idea for a Birthday cake? : P

Now that is what I call a cake!

“THE” CAKE!

I went to the Birthday party for my student Mitchell today – and THIS was his Birthday cake! WOW! Now that is a Birthday cake for a serious chess player! If you need/want to know who the artist is that produced this Birthday Cake then here you go:

SUGAR SUGAR

CAKE STUDIO

Ted Scutti – President and Sugar Artist

Business office:
387 N 2nd Avenue, Unit 1G
Phoenix, AZ 85003
Phone: 602.300.2625

http://www.sugarsugarcakestudio.com

And don’t forget to save me a slice of cake! : P – Coach Sean.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

WELCOME TO THE CHEROKEE CHARGERS CHESS BLOG!


Ready, set... CHESS!


Welcome Parents and chess club members! This blog is a resource for all members of the Cherokee Chargers Chess Community and will help those youngsters looking for more chess to find even more interesting chess puzzles, games and lessons. This site will also keep everyone to keep up on what is happening with local Scholastic chess scene as well - so stay tuned for tournament reports!

For those of you who are returning members of the Cherokee Chess Community - Welcome back! To those of you who are joining us for the very first time Thank you for joining the Cherokee Chargers Chess Club and chess community! My promise to all of you is that no matter how much time we have for chess that our players will always have fun while learning even more about chess. But just a quick FYI - our newest members will need a chess set in the home upon which to practice. Playing chess is a lot like playing a musical instrument - if they do not practice regularly then they will not be able to perform. I do not want any of my students to fall behind so if you need help finding an inexpensive chess set please feel free to ask me for assistance and I will be more than glad to help you find the perfect chess set.

I set this Blog up so that I could keep the chess content separate from the updates that I send to parents. Not everyone has all the time in the world for a super long email - I certainly do not have a lot of time with which to type them up! So this was my easy solution for this Semester - a website where all of our players and Parents can come for more chess. I will update this blog at least once a week so if you check in from time to time you Parents will learn even more about chess along with your youngsters making their chess experience even more enjoyable and rewarding - all while the whole family has fun playing chess together.

Thanks for "checking" out the New Blog! I have posted some additional information for everyone down below. Our players may find the Puzzle given down at the very bottom to be very interesting - so enjoy!

Your Cherokee Chargers Chess Coach
- Coach Sean Tobin.

CHESS CLUB SCHEDULE for 2010


THE BOARDS ARE SET...


Our Schedule for the Winter/Spring 2010 Edition of Chess Club is:

First Meeting....1/21/2010
Last Meeting....4/29/2010
Days off:............3/11/2010

See you at our next chess club meeting! - Coach Sean Tobin.

No LUNCH TIME DEMO for SPRING 2010


LUNCH TIME CHESS DEMO = CHESS GALORE!

I was unable to do the Lunch time demo - per Scottsdale District Rules - for the Spring 2010 edition of chess club. However I will be back in the fall for the Fall 2010 Lunch time demo and I am expecting some tough competition then! Should I lose to any player during this event I lose one of my precious chess sets - and any youngster who defeats me will win major kudos from me and a big round of applause from their classmates.

- Coach Sean Tobin.

FIGHTING SPIRIT PUZZLE - - > Play your game out - No matter what!

Coach Sean's great escape...
COACH SEAN TOBIN 1997

JOEL F. JOHNSON - 2215

White (Joel) has just blundered away a totally won game... can you find the move that saves half a point? During the game I did... now it is your turn!
BLACK TO PLAY AND DRAW!

Now quite obviously I am totally lost, or rather I was totally lost during this game and against a player of Joel F. Johnson's caliber I should resign - but I did not resign and it is a good thing too! Why hadn't I called it the day before reaching this critical position? Because this was a Game in three minutes blitz game and anything can happen in such a short time control and it often does. I also didn't resign because of the "fighting spirit" principle - I play on and by doing so I say to my opponents "Show me your technique - and if you fail to do so then I will try to pull out a draw, or even a win or maybe a stalemate. But show me that you have good technique first!". This is why I tell all of my players never give up a game and play it out no matter what.

The Solution will be posted on Sunday the 24th of January in the "COMMENTS" section to this post. I hope our players enjoy this chess puzzle - taken from one of my more recent games. This game was played on Sunday the 17th - so it is very fresh! : P

-Coach Sean Tobin.