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SCHOLASTIC CHESS UPDATE |
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| Volume 2, Issue 5 | May-June 2002 |  |
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over 1,500 readers |
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Greetings to All Chess Folks, Welcome
to the eighth issue (Volume 2, Number 5) of the Scholastic Chess Update.
One of the Scholastic Council�s goals is to improve communication among
members of the scholastic community. This
e-Newsletter is the second step towards reaching this goal.
Our first step was the creation of a Scholastic Chess Website to
communicate what the Scholastic Council is and what goals are being pursued.
For details, please visit www.chess.isgenius.com. If you are NOT interested in scholastic chess, please click the reply button and type �remove� in the subject line. If you know others who would like to receive this information, please forward the URL for the website to them. If you are receiving multiple copies, please let us know so we can correct our error.
A Parent's Guide to
Chess
Dan Heisman, National Master and noted chess coach, and author of "Everyone's 2nd Chess Book", has just published "A Parent's Guide to Chess" through Russell Enterprises, Inc., 234 Depot Road, Milford CT 06460. More information is available at www.Chesscafe.com.
"A Parent's Guide to Chess" answers the questions parents raise when their young child gets interested in chess and especially when their child wants to play in chess tournaments. Heisman, calling on his personal experience coaching young players, presents guidelines to determine when a young player is ready for tournaments. He then addresses how USCF tournaments are run, what equipment and memberships will be necessary, etc.
This is primarily a reference book for interested parents. Although it contains advice on how to play and how to behave, it is not a chess instructional manual.
Hopefully, USCF will carry this very useful guide in its bookstore.
2002
Scholastic Committee Report Greetings from the wonderful world of
scholastic chess! In 2000 a plan to form a group of five people known as the Scholastic Council was approved by the Executive Board. The Scholastic Council functions as the head of the Scholastic Committee and directly represents the scholastic chess community to the Executive Board. The Scholastic Committee elects the scholastic Council members. The Scholastic Council/Committee members have been communicating with one another via email, telephone, and meetings at tournaments. We have had Council representation at each national tournament and scholastic meeting held at these tournaments. Parents/coaches have offered various suggestions for tournament changes which Council members have noted and reported to the office. As
a result of countless dedicated hours from volunteers in the scholastic chess
community, there has been a huge surge of interest in scholastic chess this
year. Three national scholastic tournaments set new attendance records this
spring: Elementary Tournament in Portland, OR (2138), Jr. High Tournament in
Milwaukee, WI (1458), and High School Tournament in Louisville, KY (1434). As
most of us know, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to organize and have a
successful tournament. The three
mentioned tournaments were well run and enjoyed by all. Thanks to each person
who helped make the tournaments successful and to everyone who has given their
time to the promotion of scholastic chess. COMPLETED
PROJECTS BY THE
COUNCIL INCLUDE: 1.
Creation of a Web Site
To help the scholastic council/committee become
unified and organized, Bob Ferguson graciously donated, created, and has
maintained a web site for us. This information will be transferred to the USCF
web site eventually. This web site
is used to provide information regarding the purpose of the council, names of
council/committee members, projects, news events, and council meeting
minutes/reports. Bob has created a
GREAT web site. Please visit at the
following address: www.chess.isgenius.com 2.
Development of a National Network System Beatriz Marinello with teammates De Knudson, Jay
Stallings, and Ralph Bowman have developed an extensive plan designed to support
the entire chess community. Please refer to www.chess.isgenius.com
Actions to implement this plan include establishing communication with
each state scholastic coordinator, to support existing chess programs, assist in
the development of new clubs, and support existing chess clubs. 3.
Completion of a Tournament Check List Ralph Bowman, who organized a successful
SuperNationals II in Kansas City, Mo. last year, has written a TOURNAMENT
CHECKLIST which provides helpful information to folks planning to
organize a tournament. The check
list is not available through USCF yet but anyone wanting a copy, please visit
the Scholastic Council web site: www.chess.isgenius.com
4. Listing of Colleges Offering Chess Scholarships Kelly Jacobs compiled a list of colleges currently
offering chess Scholarships.
The list is available on USCF�s web site or on the Scholastic
Council�s web site. 5. Evaluation of
Scholar Chess Player Applicants Each year USCF in partnership with the Chess Trust
gives SCHOLAR-CHESSPLAYER
awards. The availability of these scholarships is advertised in Chess Life and
School Mates with high school students who are either juniors or seniors
eligible to apply. These Awards are
based on particular criteria including chess rating, SAT/ACT scores, GPA, chess
achievements, academic achievements, chess service, essay, and references.
Bob Ferguson formulated a rating system that is used to evaluate each
applicant. This year Jack Mallory,
Steve Shutt and Pat Hoekstra evaluated applicants with 7 awards being given.
The names of the recipients were announced at the National High School
Tournament in Louisville, KY in March 2002. Scholastic Council/Committee members would like to
give a huge sincere �THANKS� to all members of the Chess Trust who
unanimously voted at the U S. Open August, 2001 to increase the monetary amount
of each Scholar Chess Player award as well as provision for an additional Award.
6. Review
of Scholastic Tournament Bids The scholastic council reviews all scholastic
tournament bids/contracts and provides feedback/suggestions to Tom Brownscombe
and Diane Reese. PROJECTS BEING DEVELOPED BY THE COUNCIL INCLUDE: 1.
Writing a Coaching
Manual designed for the �entry-level� coach. 2. Visiting
colleges to meet with administrators to present information that will
demonstrate the
valuable contributions that an outstanding chess player can bring to their
academic arena. Hopefully, we can
solicit additional chess scholarships from various colleges. 3. Continuing to work with the Chess Trust to
identify sponsors and funds in order to increase the monetary amounts given for
Scholar Chess Player Awards. ** Submit Articles For the Update ** We
need your help to provide articles to chess folks. Please consider
submitting an article.
I thought of you Friday night when watching
another movie (on Cinemax) that turned out to have a strong role for chess and
a young boy - "Fresh." Chess is about the only thing the boy's
father has going for him, and you don't realize he's his father at first. It's
the only type of relationship the father and son can have, but it's the means
his dad teaches him about life. A movie that really has something to say and
isn't after cheap thrills.
Thank You to Lance Eck
for Creating Our New Logo
Lance Eck, Webmaster for the American Chess
School and all-around computer whiz, designed the above logo for us. I
think it looks really sharp. Visit the AmChess Website at www.amchess.org
to see more of Lance's handiwork.
Cindy Tsai took clear first (in the girls section) and Hikaru Nakamura tied for first place in the Pan-American Junior (under age 20) Chess Championship. See http://torre64.550m.com/ for more information. This is quite an accomplishment, especially considering that these players are only 16 and 14 years old, respectively. The Scholastic Chess Update is a newsletter created to help coaches, parents, teachers, and others promote scholastic chess. It is read by over 1,500 chess aficionados. The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the opinions of USCF Scholastic Council. The Council makes no warranties about the contents of the Scholastic Chess Update. To unsubscribe, just reply to this email with "remove" in the subject. � Copyright 2001-2002 American Chess School |
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