Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays  & Happy New Year from MSCC!

Just a reminder, the first tournament of the new year will be IAC's St. Dominic's on Saturday, January 10. The sections are K3, K6, K12 & K5 (unrated). Please register at http://ia-chess.com/registration.

Also, the first club practice will be Wednesday, Jan 14.

Think Like a Strong Player!

I'd like to spend a little time going over how our kids should THINK about chess.  We see a lot of players looking at the board and not knowing 1) how to evaluate the position and 2) how to make the best move to improve their position.

The most important thing is to start by thinking "Why did they move there, and what can they do to me?"  We've been asking this question for years in Muskego chess.  The kids that DONT ask themselves this question have paid the price!  KNOW WHAT THE OTHER PLAYER IS DOING (and how the game has changed with their move) before you decide what you want to do.

Immediately after every move by your opponent, you should answer the following two
questions:

1) What are your opponent’s THREATS?
A threat can be:

• a mate attack or other threats against the king,
• a gain in material,
• gaining a very good position for a piece,
• getting control of an important square, line, or diagonal, or
• any other tactical or strategic advantage that the opponent can gain on the next move.

Then, you should evaluate which of the threats are real. Not all threats are REAL and
in this regard many chess players often make mistakes. For example, if your opponent is
threatening to gain the bishop-pair, you should evaluate whether this is really negative for
you in the concrete, exact position that you have on the board.  Only real threats should be taken into consideration. 

2) What are the CONSEQUENCES of your opponent’s last move?
Almost every move has a good effect and a secondary effect which may be negative.  Most chess moves have pluses and minuses. For example, by moving the bishop from c8 to
f5, Black gains control over the the b1-h7 diagonal, BUT at the same time, he looses the
protection of the b7-pawn.
Also, you should always evaluate the consequences of your own moves before playing
them.

The consequences of moves can be things like:

• opening a file or a diagonal,
• blocking one piece with another,
• weakening a square or a pawn structure,
• leaving a piece undefended, and
• many others that you will soon learn to notice very clearly. 

Lake Denoon Results

Hello MSCC players & parents!

Sorry for the delay, but here’s a summary of our own tournament last Saturday – we had good turnout, especially from our own club (36 players in total) and overall had a good day!  Also very importantly, we raised over $700 to help offset some of the clubs materials & lessons costs.  We really appreciate all those who volunteered to help plan & run the day – it went very smoothly!

Some highlights from the sections – I’ll try to keep it brief!

K3 USCF rated:

·         Michael Swiezynski (TC) was our top finisher with 2-1/2 points – 8^th place finish

K4 /K8 unrated (had to combine sections)

·         Evan Stachowiak (MV) was our top finisher with 4 points – 3^rd place finish.  Welcome to the RED division, Evan!

·         The Mill Valley team of Evan, Logan O’Leary (1^st tournament), Rachel Fredlund, Joshua Kierzek and Peter Morgan (also 1^st tournament) took 1^st place w/ 11 points !

K6 USCF rated:

·         David Bundy (BL) was our top finisher with 3 points – 6^th place finish

·         The Bay Lane team of David, Alyssa Przedwiecki, Noah Gover, Anoushka Prasad and Adam Putz took 3^rd place w/ 8-1/2 points

K12 USCF rated:

·         Evan Seghers (MHS) was our top finisher with an undefeated 5 points – 1^st place!, followed closely by Kyle Jain (LDMS) with 4 points – 2^nd place, and Reid Seghers (MHS) also with 4 points – 3^rd place.

·         The MHS team of Evan, Reid, Fernando Collahuazo, Kolt Otterbacher, Sam Miller and Julie Redlinger took first place with 15.5 points!

·         The LDMS team of Kyle, Brian Mark, Jack Bognar, Elliot Bognar, Will Schantz, Cole Zettel, Mathew Redlinger, Aaron Gibbs and Nick Schuster took 2^nd place with 10.5 points

Dan Schantz

Good Tournament!

We had a good turnout at today's tournament.
 The results will be posted either by Coach Seghers or Mr. Schantz.
 I just wanted to say thank you to all the volunteers that helped. I did post pictures on FB.

Jason hits 1800 in Quick Rating

Our highest rated player, Jason Markowski, just hit 1802 in a tournament at the Southwest chess club last night!  His performance included a win and a draw against 2000+ players.  Jason's regular rating for slower games is also the highest in the club, at 1777.
Great job Jason!

SMCA Conference Match Sign-up Form

High Schoolers and Parents - I have created a sign-up form for the High School matches.  We need 10 players for our 7 remaining matches, and 3 drivers for our three Away matches.  Please sign up on this form below so we know who can attend, and so we have drivers:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0e4baeaf2babfb6-conference

Muskego High School Beats St. John's

St. John's Military Academy is a very interesting place to visit.  We were there 2 years ago and returned again last night.
Their chess program is always starting and re-starting, because their players turn over quite regularly. It's hard for them to keep momentum going over the years.  However, they maintain a great program of very well mannered young men who give a good fight and are always both gracious hosts as well as visitors to any match they attend.
Muskego won all 5 of the Varsity games (ESeghers, Collahuazo, Markowski, RSeghers and RGomoll), and all 4 of the JV games (Jain, Schantz, Miller and EBognar), with one forfeit because we were a player short.  We won 40-0 in Varsity and 20-5 in JV, therefore, and are now 1-0 in the conference in both divisions.

NEXT UP: Jefferson High School will visit Muskego on 12/16 after school.

Open Spots for Lake Denoon

Hi All,
 These are the open slots, please sign up if you haven't already done so. Thanks!
 

Front door usher (8-10) (1 slot)

cashier 8 – 10 (2 slots)

cashier 2 – 4 (1 slot)

hall monitor 9 – 11 (1 slot)

hall monitor 11 – 1 (2 slots)

hall monitor 1 – 3 (1 slot)

hall minotor 3 – 5 (1 slot)

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0b4eafa928a3ff2-lake