NEW VIDEOS POSTED

For Christmas break, I thought I would post some more essential videos.

Please see our MSCC Video Library to see the new ones added.

A few words about Chess.com

First - THANK YOU to those parents who have signed up their kid(s) to chess.com, and who have given me their userID.

I have looked at several user's games, and forgot to mention one thing -

Chess.com starts a player at 1200 rating, which is a very strong rating- stronger than all but the top 4 boards or so on our varsity team (and we won our conference).  Not sure why they do this... but what this means is, your child will probably lose several games before winning their first game.  Their rating will drop and drop until it finds the right level.

Please tell them NOT TO GET FRUSTRATED AT FIRST as they play against much better players- they should use these games as important lessons, and go back and replay those games to think about mistakes they made, and what they could have done better.

They should be proud in the beginning to be around 500 or so.  Anything better than that and they're starting to learn some chess!

P.S. please keep those chess.com IDs coming... I am seeing some important things about what our kids need to learn in class!!!  

P.P.S. I will never share a kid's userID!!  and I will also never share a kid's game with the class or with anyone else without that kid's permission.

Great turnout tonight for pizza and chess!  Thanks to Leah and Summer for their hard work!

For tonight's lesson's Mark taught the green & white groups, Danny the blue group, and Matt the red and black groups.

Happy Holidays everyone.  Play chess over the break!

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to All!

Hoping everyone has a safe, warm, fun, relaxing time with family and friends this holiday season.
NO CLASS on Dec 25 of course, or on New Years Day.
Our high school team has a very difficult away match at Brookfield Academy on Jan 7.
Next class for everyone is Wed Jan 8, ... then...
Our own tournament on Jan 11 at Lake Denoon Middle School!  We have added unrated divisions for K-3 and K-6, so mark down that date for all white division players to jump into the mix and compete against other schools and cities.
Two weeks after that, we have another IAC "Grand Prix" event at Star of Bethlehem church in New Berlin.

Be like Santa!  Practice chess at home on chess.com and chesstactics.com, or of course by playing some "real" games with family or friends (or elves).

- Mr Seghers

great job at BA!

Lots of good things happened at brookfield academy!  Here is a link to the full results.
Congratulations to:

• Everyone who participated in this tournament!  Especially the younger players in their first or second tournament!
• Joel Otterbacher for taking 9th in K3 unrated with 2.5 points
• David Bundy, Nick Schuster, and Anoushka Prasad for getting 2.5 points in their first tournament and earning their Blue wrist bands
• Gavin Joers for earning 3 points and taking 10th place in the K-3 Rated section, and Nelson Klein for earning 2.5 and taking 15th place.
• Will Schantz and Alyssa Przedwiecki for each earning 3.0 points in the tough K-6 rated division and taking 9th and 12th overall.
• Mitchell Salentine for overcoming a tough start to earn 2 points in the same tough division- welcome back to tournaments, Mitchell!
• Jason Markowski (2nd=4.0), Evan Seghers (3rd=4.0), Reid Seghers (7th=3.5), and Rachel Gomoll (12th=3.0) for finishing in the top 12 for K-12 rated.  
• John Lamb for winning 2 in his first scholastic tournament.
• Congrats also to those who stuck it out in a very tough tournament and kept a positive attitude, and remained committed to improving their chess game.  We have a great group of kids in Muskego!

                                      Way to go, David!

BA tournament begins!

School Teams for Tournaments

We would like to put together a full team for each school, if we can!  That's not so easy.  The way we did it in the past, kids would ask their friends to join the team, and they would play together in tournaments.  Right now we have a big club, but the tournament participation is very scattered.
Chess on your own is fun, and you still have the other Muskego kids with you!  But chess AS A TEAM, together with your school winning a team trophy, is really a blast!
Our same group of Evan, Reid, Jason, Jorin, Kolt, Rachel, and others have been playing together for many years.  We would like to see if we can get the same thing going within different schools - especially in the same grade, so they can play in the same division every year as they grow up!
Just some food for thought.  If any parents have any ideas here, please let me know.  - Mark S

Muskego Vs. St.Johns 12-10-2013

Good win to start the High School chess season!

Last night MHS Chess (with special guests Will Schantz and Brian Mark from LDMS) took down St. John's Military Academy.  Varsity won 40-0, winning all five games, and JV won 22.5 - 2.5 with four wins and a draw.  Great start to the season!
Special congratulations to new player John Lamb, who won in his first match with the team.  Congrats also to Will Schantz who played and won on JV board 8.  Our conference allows Middle School players if/when we are not able to field a full team of 10 high schoolers.

Hi MSCC families - we've got a great start to the 2014 MSCC Tournament @ LDMS volunteer list but we need more help!

Please consider:

• Volunteering for a 2 hour shift during the tournament
• Donating some baked goods or a 6 pack of water, soda or Gatorade for sale during the tournament.  Even if your child is not playing, we can use all the help we can get !!

I'll have sign up sheets with me during this Wednesdays meeting.

Thank you for your support !
Dan Schantz

Getting to the RED level

Several students have expressed disappointment that the RED wristbands are so hard to get.  Earning 3.5 out of 5 games, or 4 out of 6, in a tournament.  We have had several students who have had 3 wins in a tournament several times, but just cant QUITE get over the hump.

Other students have asked, do I have to play in a tournament to get to the RED level?

IF you study, and play, and learn, then participate in a few tournaments, you will get to the Red level.  Red is meant to be difficult.  But also note that it is much easier to get in grade 3 and grade 6.  If you make it to grade 4 then you have three full seasons to earn your Red level in K-6.

If you make it to grade 7 and haven't gotten there yet (or if you start chess at this age), you have a steep road ahead - but you CAN DO IT.  There are some K-8 and K-9 divisions in some tournaments, and it can happen at ANY tournament.  The WSCF hosts many tournaments around Milwaukee. Joining an unrated division or tournament is your best bet.

Bottom line - it's about practice, focus and dedication.  If we are lucky, most of our class will be in the BLUE division by the end of the year.  Only a handful will make Red, and those will be those kids who have really dedicated themselves to the game.

Pre-season High School Conference (SMCC) Results

Congrats to Evan Seghers for going 5-0 and taking first place in the pre-season SMCC chess tournament, edging Troy Zimmerman in tie-breakers.  Jason had to face Troy in the final round, almost beating him, and going 4-1.  Good tournaments all around.  Reid went 3-2, Sam was 2.5-2.5, Kolt 2-3 and John 2-3 against some of the best players in SE Wisconsin.
Our High School conference (SMCC) tournament season begins on Tuesday Dec 10 after school, room 243 at home (MHS) in room 243.  Play will begin approximately 3:00-3:30 pm, and will end before 6pm most likely.  We are probably looking at Evan, Jason, Reid, Kolt, Rachel, Chris, Jake, Will, John, Sam for our lineup - let me know if you are listed here and cannot make it!
If anyone else in 7th or 8th grade would like to show up, please do - we will have 4 extra players from St. Johns who will be looking for rated games (which will be rated for the purpose of the high school conference, but which will not affect our standings).
NOTE: the week 2 game at Jefferson High School Dec 17 is CANCELLED because Jefferson apparently has not responded to emails about the conference, so it is assumed they are out.  Dec 17 will therefore be a BYE for the MHS team.

High School Team - RSVP for 2 events

Two important events coming up:

- SAT DEC 7 at Arrowhead - the pre-season chess tournament.  This Saturday we will be playing at Arrowhead HS, all the teams will be there and we'll have a tournament.  They need us to arrive between 8:00 and 8:30 so they can start first round promptly at 9.  Their goal is to have the tournament end at 3pm with 10 minutes of awards, everyone cleared out by 3:30.  This tournament sets the ratings for the year, and lets us see how we stack up.  Reid and Evan will be there of course, and I have a couple places in the van if anyone wants a ride.  PLEASE RSVP for this.

- Tuesday Dec 10 we play at HOME vs. St. John's Academy.  We will be meeting at 3pm in room 234 (this is a new room for us, at top of the stairs from cafeteria).  Jorin will NOT be there for this event so we have a spot open.  I need you to please RSVP with your availability for this match.   We need 10 players of course.  

RSVP for these events to Mark Seghers, seghers@gmail.com - 262-679-4052.

The high school team is composed of the top 10 rated boards among students currently attending Muskego High School.  Sometimes we draw subs from LDMS or BLMS- that is allowed!

PIZZA NIGHT on December 18th!

On Dec 18th, we will have a Pizza Night!  Those who would like to eat can show up at 6pm.  The suggested donation is $5 per person who is eating/drinking.  The money left over will go to the Muskego Scholastic Chess Club fund and will be used for future boards/pieces/instruction and other expenses.  Leah is coordinating the event and could use some help- please email her if you would like to help out:  leahmike@ymail.com

Upcoming LDMS Tournament!

Hi Everyone.  I don't know about you, but I'm still in denial that December is actually here!  But this means that along with everything to do between now and the Holiday's, the LDMS Tournament is also just around the corner and planning needs to start!

Aside from being a great local tournament w/ great competition and prizes, this tournament is the primary fundraiser for MSCC that allows us to have this great club at no cost to our families.  This will give us the funds to buy boards & clocks and pay for instruction, amoung other things, and we need your help!

The tournament itself will be run by Mr. Matt as part of the IAC, but the concessions and other duties need to be covered by volunteers.  We really need your help to make this a success - we need maybe 5 people to help with set up Friday night Jan 10, and clean up after the tournament on Saturday, and maybe 10-15 (working in shifts) during the day to run concessions, collect money, clean up, etc. 

I will have a sign up sheet w/ me tomorrow, and we can discuss tomorrow after class and next week as well.  Thanks in advance!  Dan Schantz

MHS CHESS at Arrowhead Saturday

This Saturday Dec 7, our Muskego High School team we will be attending the SMCC preseason tournament at Arrowhead.  We will set our boards partially based on this tournament.  Our first match then is Dec 10 at home vs St. John's military academy.