If
you are interested in the West Woodland Chess Club, please contact our
coordinator, Beth Dennis. Come try
out Chess Club and meet the coaches! Kindergarteners need their parents to stay
with them for the duration of the meeting. All others may be dropped off.
Regular Chess Club at all levels will resume in September, (3:20 to 4:30 PM for
Beginners, 3:20 to 4:45 for Intermediate, and 5:00
for the Advanced group), and will be scheduled for most Mondays through April.
For less than the cost of a soccer camp, our kids enjoy the benefits of
professional chess instruction for nearly the entire school year!
Our approach is
to divide the kids into smaller groups based on skills and experience. Each
group has its own instructor, dedicated to engaging and challenging our
students. We feel that dividing children by skill level into smaller groups will
enhance the learning process. We are pleased to welcome back all three of our
coaches: Leo Stefurak, who coaches the Advanced group; Al Walker in the
Intermediate group; and Lori Osseward, who leads our Beginners.
The most important step in becoming a good player is to play as often as
possible. Another way to improve at chess is to participate in one of the many
scholastic chess tournaments held during the year. We will post tournament
information in the Current Events section below. It
is important to register soon for tournaments as space is limited and they tend
to fill up quickly. Kids at chess tournaments spend a large amount of time
playing outside in between rounds and the atmosphere is much like an all-day
play session with their friends.
One common misperception is that tournaments are only for older kids.
Actually, tournaments are geared for every grade level, and the organizers
understand that younger kids require more encouragement. For example,
kindergarteners typically play in their own section, and the awards tend to be
very generous. Kids who do well in local tournaments have an opportunity to
represent the school in the annual state scholastic championships each April.
One of our club goals for this season is to increase the number of students we
are able to qualify for the state championships.
Chess Club Events
Beyond the weekly Chess Club meetings, West Woodland members participate in a variety
of tournaments and events throughout the year:
Notable individual efforts: Max- 3rd place out of 175 fifth graders,
Charlie- 48th in kindergarten, Colin S- 35th out of 171 second graders,
Julian- 111th our of 222 third graders. Each of these participants qualified
for state by winning three points in a state qualifier.
On Monday afternoons, you will see students heading out of their classrooms
not for school buses and carpools, but to our school library. These boys and
girls span all grades and they are gathering to think, remember, visualize,
question, concentrate, problem solve... and play chess!
The club meets most
Monday afternoons during the school year. Some need-based scholarships are available
for West Woodland students.* Over 25% of West Woodland students were members last year!
To join, complete the Registration Form, and return, along
with payment to the school office. Students can join anytime during the school
year.
One of the things that makes West Woodland's Chess Club possible is the
dedication of volunteers. Many thanks to
Beth Dennis for coordinating our Chess Club and to Kristin Koshida
for assisting. We send our appreciation to
the parents who have contributed snacks, transportation and materials. There is
one individual who we especially wish to recognize and thank:
Dr. Leo Stefurak.
*If you would like to support chess at West Woodland, you can earmark
donations to the West
Woodland PTSA.
Digital
clocks are preferred by the USCF. Among the digital clocks, the Chronos
brand is
widely regarded as one of the best in terms of durability and functionality.
Multi-player (Parental supervision strongly advised for chat-enabled
multi-player sessions.)
US
Chess Live (free to members of the
USCF) contents very good training content, game exploration feature has
diagramming arrows and highlighted squares
World Chess Network
(sponsors on-line tournaments for scholastic players, creative tournament
formats, innovative "predict-a-move" game in which players compete to predict
moves in an anonymous game)
Record and replay chess games on-line by John Pratt (This is a great
visual tool to help young players learn how to record games, and it's free!
It can also be used to replay strategic matches, opening moves, etc.)
West
Woodland Chess Club
It
is important to register soon for tournaments as space is limited and they tend
to fill up quickly. Kids at chess tournaments spend a large amount of time
playing outside in between rounds and the atmosphere is much like an all-day
play session with their friends. 
