Rio Norte Royal Knights Chess Club 2010-2011

Meetings: Every Monday at lunch in room D-11

Open to all interested students (new or veteran)!

I am excited about the opportunity to be an advisor for Rio Norte’s Chess Club. This game of pure strategy has always been an interest of mine and I look forward to creating some of the same experiences for your child.

This club is for students who have never played chess before as well as those with existing ability and knowledge. There will be some lessons, some socializing and certainly a good amount of game time. They will learn strategies and technique, opening concept and analysis, endgame strategies and middle game improvement. The object of rated or serious players will polish up skills against fellow classmates.

There will be tournaments within the school at lunch time to be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, or if needed, we can adapt to the players schedules. These tournaments depending on the participation will occur once a quarter with a final culminating spring tournament which will have placing trophies and certificates for each division. We plan to participate in the local California Youth Chess League tournaments and other events. I will let you know when these will occur and what we need to do to register and prepare.

By the way, the biggest misconception about chess clubs is that kids need to be great players to participate, It doesn't’t work that way. The chess club is scholastic gaming and social club. The tournaments steer everyone to play at their skill level, if you know the basic rules of the game you qualify to play and have fun.

The United States Chess Federation (USCF) is the national governing body to standardize player’s rating (ranking) and set rules for organizing tournaments. I have USCF information for the kids that interested, but membership is not required.

Welcome to the Rio Norte Chess Club!!

Sincerely,

Bob Fiero Club Advisor

Contact: Rio Norte School phone: (661) 295-3700; or this email address: rfiero@hartdistrict.org

Club Rules -

The first rule you ask?! No one talks about chess club ;-)

Club Tournaments

A schedule of assigned games will be available at Friday afternoon meetings. Tournaments will spread over quarter long as needed to complete them. In addition, you are free to play these games outside of club time, on the honor system. For example, if you play with a fellow member online or face-to-face all you have to do report the victory and if it was a timed game or not and if it is timed what was the time duration set at. If it is online you can simply print the screen when the game is done and it will show the moves listed.

In-Club Rating

• Each student will have a club rating that will increase or decrease as they win or lose games. All games played at the meetings and school tournaments should be reported, with the exception of games played with a chess clock set less than 10 minutes per player or games between beginning players who learning tactics etc. The decision to report a game is made by either both players, or by the winner only. For all in-meeting games, you don’t need to record the moves only the game result.
• For club members may play club rating full games outside of meetings, but for these games to count toward their rating, the moves must be recorded and turned in.
• Bonus points are given to those members who are very helpful in patiently teaching others the game, Penalty points may given to those who show bad sportsmanship (I don’t expect this to happen).

Games

Games may played with or without time limit (your choice). If a chess clock is used it would typically be set to 10-30 minutes per player. Games may be interrupted (recorded and continued another day) or a win/lose/draw can be determined by mutual agreement or by advisor’s (that’s me or high ranking responsible members) decision (adjudication).

All games are played with “touch move”; your move is done (it can’t be taken back) once you let go of the piece.

If you are unsure about a game rule, please ask an advisor for help before making the move.

Club advisors will resolve game disputes if they arise.

Good Sportsmanship

• Be respectful of others and your opponent.
• You are NOT allowed to tell or even hint to other players about moves you see. To do so may result in rating penalty points, even if you are just an observer.
• Be considerate as a spectator, especially if asked by the players to be quiet.

A Game WIN!

• Checkmate of one player
• Resignation (giving up) by one player.
• Calling the game-by mutual agreement.
• By one player’s chess clock running out of time, regardless of the game point status.

A Game Draw

• Stalemate (various ways this can happen—see game rules) This means there is no legal move an opponent can make when it is his or her turn to move. This often occurs when a king is trapped in a position where its only move would be to move into check.
• The fifty-move rule: If a piece has not been captured or a pawn moved in fifty moves then a player can declare a draw on his or her turn.
• Neither side has enough pieces left to setup a checkmate.
• By mutual agreement.

We play chess at chess club. This means conventional chess, timed chess (regular, tornado, speed), chess variants (Ultima, Bughouse, 4-Way, etc.).

We don’t play other board games, card games, or video games no matter how cool they may be.

Gambling is not allowed in the club or school grounds.

United States Chess Federation (USCF)

 Games, if recorded, must be recorded in algebraic notation—see handout.

USCF rating games between two club members may also count toward your club rating--such as postion in tournaments. If interested in local clubs let me know.

The game of chess is over 1300 years old and is one of the most popular games in the world. It has received more total thought-time than many great works of art and literature. Like a great work of art, chess is a paradox on many levels. It's easy to learn but can take a lifetime to master. There are few games which can match its usefulness as a tool for developing mental abilities, yet it's downright fun.

Rio Norte Chess Tournaments 2009-2010

The tournament will be played by Swiss tournament format that is the custom of most chess tournaments. The principle of a Swiss tournament is that each player will be pitted against another player who has done as well as him or herself.

The first round will be drawn at random for the first tournaments and then as players gain a rank then they will be placed accordingly. Players who win receive a point, those who draw receive half a point and those who lose receive no points. Win, lose or draw, all players proceed to the next round where those with the same point totals are pooled together to play.

In subsequent rounds, players face opponents with the same (or almost the same) score. No player is paired up against the same opponent twice however. In chess, it is also attempted to ensure that each player plays an equal number of games with white and black, alternate colors in each round being the most preferable, and definitely not the same color three times in a row. If a player has played everyone in his or her score group, or cannot avoid a third game on the same color then they become a “floater” and will play in another score group who has nearly the same score as the group they should play in.

That means that a player can enter such a tournament knowing that he will be able to play in all rounds, regardless of how well he does. The worst that can happen in this respect is being the player left over when there is an odd number of players. The player left over receives a bye (he or she can the play the mysterious Chess Master of Rio Norte-if available, for fun and experience), meaning s/he does not play that particular round but receives a full point as if s/he had won a game and is considered to have had no color . S/he is reintroduced in the next round and will not receive another bye.

If a player may have picked up such a great lead that by the last round s/he is assured of winning the tournament even if he loses the last game the we will hold single elimination rounds among the top scorers.