WEIBEL CHESS TEAM HOLIDAY BREAK INFORMATION

Let me start out by wishing everyone an enjoyable Winter break.  If you celebrate any holidays during this period of time I hope they are very fulfilling.  I am writing this note to remind all the Team members of what obligations, if any, they have during the break before we return to Weibel on Friday, January 9.

1)   Your child does not have to do any homework.  Any puzzles they do will be counted as extra credit.  Are the cheers I am hearing coming from the students, their parents or both?

2)   All Team members, unless they are Play Option Only, must have completed three tournaments by January 15, 2015.  I am very pleased to say that almost all our Team players have already done so & more.  The few that have not will receive extra notes from me.
  a)I have attached an Excel sheet that Carl Moy, our Parent Coordinator, distributes every few months so you can see your child’s progress in U.S. Chess Federation events as well as the number of tournaments they have competed in since June 1.  I am thrilled with the progress so many of our Team members are making.  This is a building year and we are building well as proven by our great results at the State Grade Level .  I know we will do even better at the Spring States as long as you and your children continue to take chess seriously while having fun playing the game.  Next year when we go to Nationals we will have our best Teams ever.
 b)The following youth tournaments are available for your child’s participation before January 15.

December 27, 2014 (Saturday)Milpitas Chess for Less Kids Swiss & Quads, Milpitas

January  2, 2015 (Friday)
New Year’s Youth Championships, Burlingame
New Year Quads, Santa Clara

*January 3, 2015 (Saturday)
"Ger" Youth Center's 3rd Scholastic Quads, Oakland,

January 4. 2015 (Sunday)
Milpitas Chess for Less Kids Swiss & Quads, Milpitas

January  10, 2015 (Saturday)
Let’s Play Chess, Santa Clara
Milpitas Chess for Less Kids Swiss & Quads, Milpitas

*January 10, 2015 (Saturday)
Game Castle Scholastic Quads, Fremont,

January 10-11, 2015 (Saturday & Sunday)
Game of Thrones Tourney, NorCalHouse of Chess, Fremont

January 11, 2015 (Sunday)
Cupertino Kid’s Quads & Swiss
Fremont Kid’s Quads & Swiss

 The starred events are to be found at http://www.CalNorthYouthChess.org/Tournaments.html  I strongly recommend these tournaments.

All other events can be found at  http://www.calchess.org/scholastic_calendar.html

c) If your child is rated over 1000, you might want to consider the following events due to their longer time controls.

January 2-4, 2015
New Year’s Championshjps, Burlingame

January 10, 2015
15th Bob Burger, Mechanics in San Francisco

January 16-19, 2015 (with 2 day through 4 day options)
6th Annual Golden State Open, Dublin (THIS SHOULD BE A MUST FOR ANY OF WEIBEL’S VARSITY TEAM)

Info for all at http://www.calchess.org/regular_calendar.html

3)   I still have one youth small & a few youth large T-shirts available.  The cost is now $15.

4)   Fremont keeps expanding its chess community. We already have two active Clubs in our city with Ken Zowal’s Fremont Chess Club (http://www.newfremontchessclub.org) and Ted Castro’s NorCal House of Chess (http://www.NorCalHouseofChess.com).  A third chess Club will make its appearance on January 17 near Pacific Commons, Demetrius Goins’  Shore View Chess (http://www.shoreviewchess.com/)  All these Clubs offer free play, tournaments and special instruction and lectures.  And, some people wonder why Fremont has become the hub of chess in the Bay Area in recent years!

5)   Gaurang Mehta, one of our teachers, is head chess instructor at the Indian Community Center in Milpitas in case you want to travel out of Fremont. They offer different level chess classes from January through November every Sunday in the early afternoon. (http://www.indiacc.org/sites/default/files/icc_web12-12-2014.pdf)

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Chess is Forever!
Alan