Help! Call 911!!

      Winners of the BIG trophies at the playoffs

       Grade 1 
         Rachel Ng              Dougall Avenue
       Grade 2
         Jack Li                Ste. Cecile 
       Grade 3
         Jeannie Zhang          Northwood               
         Rohan Talukdar         Central    
       Grade 4
         Josh Mathews           Bellewood               
         Matteo Palumbo         Malden                   
         Josh Peddie            Anderdon                 
         Lily Zhou              Bellewood        
       Grade 5
         Jeffrey Zhu            Bellewood                     
         Brian Luong            Dougall Avenue                
         Vithushan Krishnamohan David Suzuki                  
         Alex Mikho             St Gregory       
       Grade 6
         Karthik Baskaran       Southwood                
         Lukas Cheung           Southwood       
         Matija Zupanic         St John Vianney       
       Grade 7
         Jeremy Mathews         Bellewood                
         Erica Forshaw          Saint-Ambroise           
         Prushoth Vivekanantha  Talbot Trail               
         Rebecca Croucher       A V Graham      
       Grade 8
         David Deforest         Queen Victoria                  
         Michael O'Neil         Southwood                        

We had a great time at the playoffs. Having the players and the parents all in the same room was a little worrying, but there were absolutely no cases of parents straying into the player area. Retired vice-principal Don Brown was great as master of ceremonies, and with competent computer work and a lot of arbiters everything went very well.

There were 87 players in the morning (out of 93 qualifiers) and 83 players in the afternoon (96 qualified). The 170 players who attended took home 83 trophies, and in addition there were chess-piece-keychains for those who didn't win a trophy. Windsor Family Credit Union donated piggy banks for all grade 1 and 2 players.

Many thanks to arbiters Herb Alice, Vlad Drkulec, Linda Deforest, Frank Lee, William Cheung, Terry McAlinden, and Zoltan Kiraly. Lukas Cheung helped with setting up and packing up.

Congratulations to all the trophy winners, listed above. Now, it's on to Ontario Youth Championship in April, and the Canadian Youth Championship in July.

Only days left till the 2013 Chess Challenge - February 26 - 27

Bisons flex their biceps! Again! Once again, the thundering herd of the Bellewood Bisons led all schools at the Chess Challenge with an incredible 78½ points from their top 10 players. (The maximum possible is 80 points.) Yup, the top 10 players (80 games in all) collectively won 77, and tied 3. Not a single loss. Bison, as everyone knows, are large humped bovids having large heads and short horns. Those horns may be short, but they are certainly sharp enough, and as for the large heads... well, they must have to be large, all the brains those kids have.

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Friday, March 2nd

No school pennants this year. Instead, we gave individual pennants to the players. There was a survey about this last spring, and 85% of respondents wanted individual rather than school pennants. Missed the survey? I guess you were one of the teachers that didn't respond.

Some people may be interested in purchasing a participation pennant (about 30"), which can be ordered directly from the screen printer for $12, plus tax(Mincity): Order form. The deadline for ordering has been extended to 13 March.

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Wednesday, February 29th

Lost & Found

The usual miscellany of hats and lunch bags, including

a hard-cover book, "Hunger Games", by Suzanne Collins

a multi-coloured girls jacket, kinda fleecy

a checkered "Roots" insulated lunchbag

a padded lunchbag, grey with yellow trim, with money in a pocket!

I keep everything till March Break, and then donate everything to Goodwill. Email me at chessman@cogeco.ca if you want to claim anything.

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Tuesday, February 28th, 11.00 pm

I didn't receive the scores from the Computer Guru till after 10.00, so I'll wait till Wednesday to do the list of medal winers. Congratulations to the Bellewood Bisons, champions again. In second place was Talbot Trail, and a half-point behind was Southwood.

More tomorrow.

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Sunday, February 26th

I've had a super-busy week, even had to skip Judge Judy a couple of times, but the van is stuffed with chess sets, my alarm is set, and we are ready...

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Monday, February 20th

All the room layouts and section assignments are done, check 'em out here.

Teachers should note that they can no longer make changes to player lists in the online system... it will NOT save your changes. You have to email changes to chessman [AT] cogeco [DOT] ca

Changes from now on have to be done by hand - literally - and are very time-consuming. I waste a lot of time and energy gnashing my teeth while trying to smile sweetly. It's a challenge.

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February 18th practice tournament

This event was sold out (40 players); there were a couple of no-shows, and we ended up at 38 players. Read all about the event at www.windsorchess.ca

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Friday, February 17th

Today is the LAST DAY that teachers can make corrections or changes to their list of players by using the online registration . After today, any corrections must be made "by hand" - MY hand, a process which is time-consuming and prone to error. I am a 2-finger typist at the best of times.

The closer we get to the event, the more places changes have to be made... the database of players, the school's list of players, the name tags, the score cards. It's very time-consuming.

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Tuesday, February 14th

The list of players is posted here. Schools can make changes to their list of players, until February 17th, but cannot add any more. Day of Competition for each school is listed here. I gotta write to a couple of schools who didn't realise that "not more than 8 players per grade" meant that they can't have more than 8 players per grade. Maybe I should say "one player for each finger, not counting thumbs". Yes, that would help, unless we get any polydactylic aliens. One school has 12 players in grade 5. (Update: he fixed it, as soon as I asked.) In 1999, the first Windsor Chess Challenge, there were no grade limits, and one school brought their entire Grade 8 class... about 27 players. Since there were only about 42 players in the grade, of course, they all ended up playing each other. I must be getting old, reminiscing about the good old days...

Teacher's Pet? This polydactyl pussycat has 28 toes.

Check to make sure your name is spelled correctly, you are in the correct grade, etc. This information is used "as-is" to produce scorecards and nametags. You don't want to be wearing a nametag with your name spelled wrong. Email corrections to chessman@cogeco.ca. And it is really really REALLY a nuisance if you are registered in the wrong grade.

Teachers can still make changes, hopefully minor changes, till February 17th.

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February 4th practice tournament

We had a record turnout of 44 players, too many for the room, and so for the next practice tournament, February 18th, players MUST PRE-REGISTER! Read all about the event at www.windsorchess.ca

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January 29th We've been giving participation ribbons for 13 years; time for a change? At the same time, the thought occured to me that the school participation pennants weren't much valued. So, I had a survey, and 70% of the respondents said they would prefer individual pennants, 15% were indifferent, and only 15% were in favour of school participation pennants.

So this year, instead of giving each school a participation pennant, we are giving each player a small (12") pennant.

There will still be pennants for the champion school, and 2nd and 3rd place schools.

School participation pennants, for those schools that want one, can be ordered directly from the screen printer (Mincity): Order form

Let's see what everyone thinks about the individual pennants. (Much more expensive total cost than school pennants, btw.)

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January 21st practice tournament

Lots of dancing chess players after the 2nd practice tournament.... in the 6-player A-section there was a 4-way tie for first, and no time for playoffs. Of course, they all wanted a first-place medal, and refused to be bought off with money instead. The B-section awarded 5 medals, and the C-section also awarded 5 medals. Names and details at www.windsorchess.ca

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January 19th

Registration procedure: In answer to a question, if there is no chess club at the school, Parents can register their child themselves:

first, go to online registration , make a new "account", select your school from the list, and enter how many players you will bring.

then enter the names and grades of the players.

Please note, if there is a school chess club, the school chess club gets priority over individual entries.

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January 16th

Registration update: After the inital rush, registrations are trickling in. Currently at 58 schools with an estimated 1075 players, we are about three-quarters full. Tuesday is already sold out, but there is lots of space left on Monday 27th.

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January 13th, 12.30 pm

Registration update: Sorry, folks, that's all for Tuesday. We are at 101% of capacity. Lots of space left on Monday 27th.

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January 13th

Registration update: as we start the 5th day of registration, we are about 70% of capacity, with almost 1000 players, based on teachers' estimates. However, Tuesday is 96% full; if you need Tuesday, register soon. Lots of space available on Monday.

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January 10th

Registration update: a day and a half after registration opened, we have reached 50% of capacity, with 38 schools promising - or do I mean threatening - to bring 700 players. For some reason, 27 of those 38 schools have chosen to compete on Tuesday, which is now 68% full.

Teachers, if you MUST play on Tuesday, perhaps because you are sharing a bus, it might be wise to register soon. (Last year, it took a whole week to reach 38 schools... hmmm.)

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January 9th

It's live! The Computer Guru came thru again, and the online registration is now live!

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7 January 2012

Chess Challenge Practice Tournament

We had a good turnout, for the first practice tournament, 26 players in three sections.

In the A-section, Jeremy Matthews showed no signs of rust, as he prevailed in a very strong top section. Rohan Talukdar was second, and Rachel Tao and Erica tied for third. In the B-section, Lukas Cheung continued his winning ways, scoring 4½/5, despite being 4th-ranked. He gained 120 rating points! Zhehai Zhang was second, and Joshua Mathews was third.

In the 14-player C-section, Prushoth Vivekanatha and Karthik Baskaran tied for first with 5/6. Kiran Menon came 3rd.

The next practice tournament will be January 21, at Riverside library Click here for tournament details

Thanks to William Cheung for his work looking after the biggest section. Monique Forshaw was the snacks lady.

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January 3rd

The first of four Chess Challenge practice tournaments will be at Riverside Library on Saturday, January 7th. Click here for the tournament ad.

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January 2nd

I'm having a frustrating time... the T-shirt lady is having a hard time with her computer, the order form will be ready "soon". And the Computer Guru must have been heavily into the eggnog over the holidays, unfortunately the online registration won't be up and running till January 9th. You can have a sneak peak here.

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December 17th

The Chess Challenge practice tournaments will be starting soon at Riverside Library... the first one is on Saturday, January 7th. For many juniors, who are used to playing their friends, the experience of competing against strangers is an eye-opener.

The ad for the January 7th tournament is here.

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New for 2012
The BIG new thing this year is individual pennants for each player, instead of participation ribbons. In the past, each school has received a participation pennant - some schools displayed it proudly, others weren't interested. So I had a survey last spring, and 70% of the respondents liked the idea of individual pennants, 15% were indfferent, and 15% wanted school pennants.

So, let's go with the individual participation pennants for each player, and I'll try to talk Michelle into offering school pennants at a modest cost for the 15% of schools who really liked them.

Team sizes will stay the same as last year:

Most schools (up to 600 students): 18 players overall, not more than 8 per grade
Large schools (over 600 students): 26 players overall, not more than 8 per grade

My suggestion is that schools with big chess clubs have an in-house tournament to determine who can go to the Chess Challenge.

Features for 2012

All chess equipment is provided. Please do not bring your own chess sets.

A two day event... Monday February 27th or Tuesday February 28th. Choose which day for your school. (Schools entering at the last minute may not have a choice.)

Each player will receive an individual participation pennant.

The top school will receive an annual trophy, to be held for one year.

The top three schools will be awarded pennants.

Team T-shirts are optional but recommended.

Robert Bierer, an Information Technology manager, will be processing registrations.

On-line registration is compulsory. You cannot enter by fax or email.

You can enter as an individual player only if there is no "official" team from your school.

We have a written snowday plan in the (unlikely) case of bad weather.

The playoffs will be held on the weekends after March Break (not during school hours)

All games at the playoffs will use a chess clock. The playoffs are to select players for the Ontario Youth Chess Championships, where clocks will be used. We will have about 100 clocks available for the playoffs.

Please note there are now TWO separate deadlines....

-- 3 February for the T-shirts. Shirts have to be ordered, printed, and delivered.

-- 10 February for the player lists. We have to make sure we have enough chess sets (about 400), and get more if necessary. We have to order the pennants, about 1400 of them. And, yes, we have to rent tables (the Ciociaro Club has mostly round tables- no good for chess, unless you have very long arms).

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Any questions? E-mail us at

chessman [AT] cogeco [DOT] ca