Chess Experts

Today, September 17, was our first ladder game.  All students were required to take notation. I asked those who had taken notation before to challenge those who are new to notation. That way, the experienced chess players were able to help their opponents keep up their score sheets. The player who won in the least amount of moves got first place on the ladder, the second fastest winner (in terms of moves played) earned the second spot on the ladder, and so forth. Now that the ladder is established, the next time we have a ladder game it will proceed as documented in Read, Write, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving.

On September 10, 2010 Denton High School chess club had its second meeting of the academic year. Nineteen students attended. Meeting minutes are here. When I gave my lecture about the Scholar’s Mate, I was very impressed with the attentiveness and note-taking of the students. After the lecture, they eagerly debated (chess boards and sets out) what the best defense was for black. That is, what is the best third move for black after 1.   e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5

Other than our planning meeting last spring, today was the first meeting of the Denton High School Chess Club. Minutes can be found here. When candidates made their speeches for officer positions, I found out that we have more USCF-rated players than I thought.  We have players with ratings of 1464, 1287, 1240, and 795. We hope to participate in a tournament in Irving on National Chess Day (October 9).

The sponsor of our new Denton High School (DHS) chess club, Mr. Fred Mueller, has created a fantastic Web page for the club. Check it out to get ideas for your own scholastic chess club. Also, if you are a DHS student, come to chess club on Fridays, starting September 3. DHS chess club is also looking to play matches with other North Texas high schools. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested.

Registration is now open for the Chess Online courses for Fall 2010. You can find course descriptions at The University of Texas at Dallas Chess Program Web site. Right now, I have two International Masters and 12 chess beginners registered. You may start when the semester begins (August 19) or at the second 8 weeks session (begins October 18). The courses are for students eligible to take college credit courses and interested in how the game of chess might help K-12 students reach educational goals. For more information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Today I attended the Borders Book Store Chess Club in Lewisville, Texas. FIDE Master Keith Hayward has run the club every Thursday night for 14 years. It's a great place to play a casual game of chess and enjoy a treat from the Seattle's Best Coffee. I invited my MOSAIC chess course students to try out the chess club, and four of them showed up. More than half the Borders players are under 18 years old, so my MOSAIC students fit right in.

My fifth book The Living Chess Game:Fine Arts Activities for Kids 9-14 is now available for pre-order online. If you've been wondering how to stage a living chess game so that the human chessmen and the audience experience both fine arts and chess, this is the book for you!

Every summer since 2007 I have taught chess at the Coppell Gifted Association's MOSAIC (Marvelous Opportunities Scheduled as Individual Courses). This year, I taught June 7-11 and will teach again August 2-6. Courses are open to rising fourth through eighth graders. (Rising means that is the grade the student will be in this coming fall). For chess, younger students may also take the class if a parent signs up with them.

I was one of the presenters at the ECISD (Ector County Independent School District) Math and Science Institute. I presented activities from my book Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving. Since roughly half of participants over the two days of workshops did not have prior experience with playing chess, I chose activities that did not require previous chess knowledge.

Today (May 20, 2010) was the first meeting of the Denton High School chess club. This was an organizational meeting for next fall. Eleven students attended (10 boys and one girl). When we were chatting informally during the chess games, one of the students, Luis, remembered my lessons from Strickland Middle School on Benjamin Franklin and chess etiquette (from People, Places Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess) and on the ABCD principles of chess (from Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities).  I recognized several students from the middle school chess tournaments I’d run over the past six years.

When I presented to educators, parents, and children May 6 at Hedrick Elementary in Lewisville, TX, my name was on the marquee. What fun! The presentations went well, and I sold several of my books.

May 1, 2010  I ran the fifth annual middle school chess tournament for Denton ISD. It should have been the sixth annual, but last year's was not held due to the swine flu scare.  On May 4, a front page story appeared with results from the event. This year, only one other team (Calhoun Middle School) sent players to compete. I am the volunteer chess teacher at Strickland Middle School, and Strickland hosted the tournament this year.