Check It Out Annual Minneapolis School District Chess Tournament

I know we just started this year’s chess club, but our 1st tournament is upon us. If your child likes Chess Club, they’ll like this tournament. It's also a very good warm-up tournament for the much more competitive ones later in the year. Last year Burroughs had about 20 kids attend. Here are the details.

What:

• Kids play seven games of chess, in either a K-3 level or a 4-6 level. Trophies are awarded depending on how kids do, and there are door prizes, too. Last year, Burroughs took home the 2nd place trophy in Grades 4-6 and the 1st place trophy in grades K-3.
• We will be competing as a team, but if your child is participating, you are responsible for arranging supervision for them. We cannot oversee this number of kids.
• It’s free and lunch is provided.
• There is down time between games, so bring a book or something for the kids to do. (Nintendos are a popular option.)
• Wear your Burroughs clothes to represent!
  

When: Saturday, December 11, 2010. 8:30AM for registration, 9:00 AM if you’re pre-registerd. Ends around 4:30.

Where: North High School, 1500 James Avenue North (enter on Knox Avenue side of building)

How: Preregister with Burroughs by clicking here BY 12/6!

If you have any questions, email busrroughschess@gmail.com.

Chess Club Practice Basics

Here is a little information about the practices for those who haven't been through them before:
· Fridays 3:40 to 4:30 in the Burroughs cafeteria.
· Teachers will send chess club kids to cafeteria and Mpls kids brings morning kindergartners.
· Kids will get their nametag, leave their stuff in the hallway, go to their chess table and PLAY!
· You may want to send a snack with your child to eat at the beginning of practice.
· Kids report results and they're tracked.
· If they get three strikes for discipline, including not playing, we'll talk to you about it.
· Lesson for each practice.
· Please pickup at 4:30 by coming into the school.
· Mpls Kids are walked to their room.

Chess Club Meeting Cheat Sheet

Hi everyone. For those of you who couldn't make the chess club meeting on the 29th, here are some of the things we covered:

Overview
· Open to all Burroughs students
· No cost, but no transportation
· Philosophy is: PLAY.
· Runs from 11/19 – 2/26 (11/12 for beginners)

Practices
· Fridays 3:40 to 4:30 in the Burroughs Cafeteria
· Teachers will send chess club kids to cafeteria
· Kids get their nametag, go to their table and PLAY!
· You may want to send a snack with your child to eat at the beginning of practice
· Kids report results and they're tracked
· Three Strikes disciplinary policy
· Lesson for each practice
· Please pickup at 4:30 by coming into the school
· Mpls Kids are walked to their area.

Tournaments
· 12/11 – More informal, Mpls only tournament
· 1/29 & 2/26 – More formal, SCA grade-level tournaments
· Parents must supervise
· Run from ~9AM to ~4PM

Volunteers
· Coverage of approximately one parent per 8 kids for practice
· We'll want to get volunteers to learn administrative systems for next year

More Info/Sign-up
· BurroughsChess.Blogspot.com
· BurroughsChess@gmail.com
· Coach: John Bonnes 612 581 0737 or john@bonnes.com

2010-11 Schedule

Preseason
10/29/2010 - Parents Meeting
11/5/2010 - NO SCHOOL
11/12/2010 - Beginners Only

First Third
11/19/2010 - Practice 1
11/26/2010 - NO SCHOOL
12/3/2010 - Practice 2
12/10/2010 - Practice 3
12/11/2010 - Check It Out Chess Tournament

Break
12/17/2010 - NO PRACTICE
12/24/2010 - NO SCHOOL
12/31/2010 - NO SCHOOL

Second Third
1/7/2011 - Practice 4
1/14/2011 - Practice 5
1/21/2011 - Practice 6
1/28/2011 - Practice 7
1/29/2011 - Frozen Open Tournament

Final Third
2/4/2011 - Practice 8
2/11/2011 - Practice 9
2/18/2011 - NO SCHOOL
2/25/2011 - Practice 10
2/26/2011 - Check It Out Chess Tournament

Wrapup
3/4/2011 - Final Practice 11

2010-11 Season is Starting!

We’re back! The PTA sponsored Burroughs Chess Club, which boasted over 100 kids last year, is looking to build on last year’s enormous success. The goal is to get as many kids to try chess as possible and maybe even help them compete in city and state chess tournaments. Here are the details:

• Open to all Burroughs students and all skill levels.


• Eleven practices on Fridays from 3:40 to 4:30 PM, starting 11/19 and going through March 3rd, which will be held in Burroughs cafeteria. Also, this year there will also be a beginners only practice a week earlier on 11/12.
  


• The Chess Club will send a contingent of interested students to three tournaments on 12/11 (open to all levels), 1/29 and 2/26.
  


• Mostly, the kids play a lot of chess with new friends.


• No cost again this year! THANKS PTA!

We will have a meeting for interested parents and students, tentatively scheduled on Friday, 10/29 in the Burroughs auditorium at 3:45. Or you can sign up you child (or just look to get more information at BurroughsChess.Blogspot.com. Don’t delay! Space really is limited.

3/1/10 Chess Practice - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

“In life, as in chess, forethought wins.”

- Charles Buxton

Our second to last Burroughs Chess Club practice is this Friday (March 5th) at 2:50 in the Burroughs lunchroom. Below you’ll find details about it, but feel free to send any followup questions to BurroughsChess@Gmail.com.

NEED VOLUNTEERS!
We are short volunteers this week, especially for the practice time. Please, if you have time between 3 and 4:20 on Friday, click on the link below and sign up. If I don’t have enough volunteers by Thursday, I’ll need to cancel the practice.

http://www.mysignup.com/burroughschess0305

Thanks!

3rd TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU PLAN ON COMING SO I CAN HAVE AN IDEA HOW BIG OUR TEAM WILL BE. Our third (and last) tournament is this Saturday in Burnsville. For more information, including how to register, click here.

OUR LAST PRACTICE
Our last chess club practice will be Friday, March 12th. We’ll continue to play chess, go through some strategies, and should have a parting gift for all the kids. I hope they can make it.

THANKS again for your participation and we’ll hopefully see you on Friday.
Sincerely,
John

Final Burroughs Chess Tournament Info and Registration

The last tournament of the year for the Burroughs Chess Club will be Saturday March 6th, starting at 8:00 (non-registered) or 9:00 (pre-registered) and ending about 3:30. It will be at Metcalf Jr. High in Burnsville.

I expect this tournament to be more competitive than the Check It Out tournament, but not quite at the level of the Capitol Hill tournament. It has two grade classes, K-3 and 4-6. It is conducted at the same time and place as a Jr. High Championship tournament, though we obviously won't be competing against that group.

I don't see any mention of this being a tournament where they give out awards for chess teams, or at least not at the K-3 and 4-6 level.

REGISTRATION
To pre-register, you start at http://schoolchess.org/registration/player_status.php. If you're a new player, you will choose "I'm a new player - never played in an SCA tournament" which takes you to http://schoolchess.org/registration/new_player_01.php . Calling it 'online' registration is stretching it a bit for new players, since you need to mail a form into the address listed, but the process is pretty painless. Basically you need to:

1. Print out a form from the page
2. Include a check for $18. This includes registering for SCA and for the tournament.
3. Mail it to them at the address listed.

The mail must be postmarked by the Tuesday before the tournament (the 2nd of March) to make sure they get it in time. If you can't mail it by then, you just bring the form and payment directly to the tournament and they'll process you there.

Once you register, you'll get a card with a number on it and you can use that to truly register (and pay) online for future tournaments, which I think is just $16.

If you previously registered with the SCA (for the Capitol Hill tournament), it'll ask you for your SCA number and you'll be able to register and pay online (through Paypal).

GIVE IT A TRY!
This will be our final tournament, and a chance for the kids to see what all the practices has done for them. We will have one more practice the week folowing to let them play one more time and give out some gifts for their participation.