WI High School Rapid Online Chess Championship

 IAC (International Academy of Chess) with the endorsement of the Wisconsin Chess Association

Normally this time of year we would have had our last big tournament on the campus of UW Oshkosh.  Thanks to covid it was cancelled last year and held virtually (zoom +lichess.org) this year.

Only the high school team event (no K5 or K8 individual) was held, but it was also opened up to middle schools, so we brought our LDMS team!

• As a 5 player team competing against mostly high schools, LDMS finished 11th out of 18 teams, which i think is very good!
• Andy finished 3rd place on our board #1, taking 8 out of 10 points 
• Luke finished 6th place on our board #2, just barely missing a trophy, taking 6.5 out of 10 points
• Daniel also finished 6th place on our board #3, also just barely missing a trophy, taking 7 out of 10 points 
• Reid on board #4 and Travis on board #5 also played multiple good games against experienced players.

I really want to emphasize how proud I am of this team for stepping up to play against mostly high school teams, thus encountering matches that are more difficult than normal.  Everyone learned a lot from this tournament and came out stronger!

We're looking forward to hopefully being back in-person this fall, and competing again next year on campus!

Coach Dan

 Fun in-house virtual tournament tonight w/ 13 MSCC players

Congratulations to:

1. Andy
2. Anthony 
3. Lucas 

And everyone else who played w/ us tonight!  See you next week for our last lesson.

 Last weeks of Chess club!

Here are the details for the remaining weeks:

• Mar 10 - No lesson, but we'll have a 4 round Swiss style tournament 
• Everyone plays 4 rounds -  G10+5.  Depending on the length of games, we may go past 8pm a little.
• Join the normal Zoom at 6:30 for a few announcements, and then go to Lichess Team page for tournament start at 6:40
• All Players - please try to make this tournament - the more that can join, the better the pairings will be and the more fun we'll have !
• Mar 17 - Last lesson by Coaches Ryan and Chris
• Focus will be on knowing where to go & how to practice to stay in shape, until we meet back up in the fall!
• Mar 24 - Last class -  no lessons, but we'll play different games/ variants on Lichess, should be lots of fun!

For anyone who wishes to still get together on Wednesday nights I will set up Team Arena games for Mar 31 (spring break week for most) through April.  If attendance is high enough (8 or 10+) I will happily extend into May or beyond.

There will be, of course, tournaments hosted by IAC on many upcoming weekends and I recommend joining some if you can!

Muskego Chess Apparel Store extended

 Hi All,

 What a gorgeous week we've been having weather wise!

The link to the store for the Chess Apparel has been extended until Friday, November 13th & will close at midnight. http://muskegochess.ottpromo.com  Unfortunately, personalization isn't an option this year. Remember proceeds go towards the Chess Club.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. 

Leah

leahmike@ymail.com

PS As a reminder, the company won't be shipping your order. I will be pick it up & put it on your front porch or we can arrange a time a time for pick-up. If you have a preference, please let me know. 

Chess Apparel

 Hi All,

Just a reminder that the Chess Apparel link ends Monday, November 9. Any proceeds go towards the Chess Club. http://muskegochess.ottpromo.com/muskegochess/shop/home

 If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Stay safe.

Leah

Muskego Chess Apparel Fundraiser

 Hi All,

I hope you've been enjoying your chess season so far.

This year, we're doing the apparel fundraiser a little differently, it's going to be online. Unfortunately the company doesn't ship so when the orders are ready, I'll pick-up & either drop the order off at your house or arrange a time we can meet. The link is http://muskegochess.ottpromo.com/muskegochess/shop/home & is open until November 9. Any & all orders help benefit the club.

Enjoy & stay safe!

Leah

 Hello Chess club parents & players,

Welcome to the new year!!  As students return to class, I want to let you know what we've been working on for you in order to continue with the chess club, but in a safe way.  While many players may prefer to learn and play face-to-face, that just isn't possible right now, but luckily we can still do this online and have a lot of fun at the same time!

The basics:

• Lessons will take place on Wednesdays, from 6:30-8pm as usual.  First lesson would be Wed Oct 7.
• Players will need to sign on to Zoom, using a link that will be provided
• We will start with the usual announcements & questions.  After that, players  will be put into "breakout room" groups, which will have been decided ahead of time based on players abilities.  Each breakout room will have a coach, who will go over a lesson for 15 or 20 minutes.
• The more advanced players will be coached by IAC coaches Chris and Ryan.
• Beginners will be coached by me and Ryan O'Leary.  
• After the lesson, players will then go to lichess.org,  sign into the MSCC club, and play "Arena" style games with other players from the club, much as we would in class.  "Arena" style just means that a player is paired with someone relatively close in rating.  After the game is over, the players are then paired with someone new, depending on rating and who's available.  The Arena style games would end around 8, but a player would always have the choice to leave early or stay later.

The process:

• Sign up on the website as usual - at muskegochess.com   (available now)
• Annual fee of $50 remains the same, and includes chesskid.com gold membership for those who want it.
• Fee can be mailed or paid through PayPal (details TBD, I will send out information when it's set up).
• Each player must have a lichess.org account and a device to join the Zoom lesson and lichess.org.  A link will be sent for the player to join the MSCC club, and also the IAC club if he/she chooses.
• Players will be provided account information for chesskid.com, if they are new to it.  For current players (2019/2020 season), the log in information will remain the same.

Trial Run

In order to help the club and IAC get everything organized, we are looking for 5-10 volunteers to have a practice lesson over Zoom on Wed Sept 9th.  We will have a shortened lesson to test the breakout rooms, and then everyone can go to lichess.org to play, so anyone volunteering needs to have a lichess account by then.  If you are interested in volunteering, please email me as soon as possible.  Limited to the first 10.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.  We're looking forward to getting started and will have other announcements about tournaments soon!

Thanks

Coach Dan