Tournaments

Last Friday was our First Thanksgiving Open. We had three sections this time. In section A Nihaal Garud won first place with 3 points, Kenson Lo took second with 2.5 points, and Calvin Chacko took third with 2 points. In section B Jaxon Cheng and Gabriel Minor tied for first and Sohum Brahmbhatt and Siqi Chen tied for third. Finally in section C there was a 2-way Tie for 1st between Abraham Aitemadi and Andrew Wu. Register for September tournaments.

Classes

New classes for levels 3, 7, and 10 will start the first week of October. Look out for future announcements.

Level 3

In level 1 we learn how to make legal moves and checkmate the king. In level 2, we learn how to make good moves. And in level 3, we learn how to find winning moves, called tactics. We also learn how to tell who’s winning when the sides have the same pieces left, we learn a process to use when you play in tournaments, and we learn the 12 endgames that you have to master before you’re rated 500. See all the learning objectives and register here. 

Level 7

Everyone tells me that level 7 is the most fun level. This level turns good players into dangerous attackers. Level 3 taught how to use tactics. But by the time you’re an intermediate player, you usually don’t find tactics just waiting for you on the board. You have to use combinations to create your own tactics, and that’s what level 7 teaches. See the learning objectives and register here.

Level 10

One of my all-time favorite players is Aron Nimzovich, and his theories changed how everyone has played chess for the past 100 years. Advanced play requires using and understanding the principles from his book My System. See the learning objectives and register here.