NHC U1500 Swiss Sat 9/22

For the players under 1500, please be sure to attend the NorCal House of Chess tournament tomorrow, Ssaturday September 22.   3 sections - U1500 4 rounds G/45, U1000 and U500, 5 rounds G/30.  The Norcal House of Chess is at 44802 Osgood Road, at the northeast corner of Grimmer and Osgood.

Under 1500, G/45, 4 rounds

Round times: 10:15, 12:30, 2:15 & 4:00 pm.

Under 1000 and Under 500, G/30, 5 rounds

Round times: 10:15, 11:30, 1:30, 2:45 & 4:00 pm.

Trophies for Top 5 winners of each section.

Byes are available, if requested before rd. 3. Rounds can start early if both players agree.

Polgar World Open For Boys and Girls

The annual Susan Polgar World Open For Boys and Girls takes place October 6-7 in Oakbrook, IL, just west of Chicago.  The winners of the Girls K-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12 will receive automatic invitations to the Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational (late July 2013 at Webster University in St. Louis), which includes free room and board. The winner of the 9-12 Open section gets a free scholarship to Webster University in St. Louis, MO.

http://www.polgarworldopen.com/

Advanced Entries here

Reminders and a recommendation

For many of you, this is the first Weibel Chess blog post you've seen.  Welcome!  A reminder that the first Team meeting is this Friday, September 21.  The first Club meeting is on Tuesday, September 25.  Team times are from 2:55pm-5:30pm, and Club is from 2:55pm-4:15pm.  Dr. Kirshner will be at the Back To School Night on Tuesday (9/18) from 6:30-7:00pm to answer any questions.

Ted Castro and the Norcal House of Chess will host a scholastic tournament for players rated under 1500 this Saturday, 9/22.  The Norcal House of Chess has a new location, very close to Weibel, on the corner of Grimmer and Warm Springs Blvd/Osgood, at the northeast corner business complex.  Please look to the right in the scholastic section tournament listings for more details.  The tournament sections for scholastic and advanced kids are updated through New Year's Day.  Note that there are tournaments every week, so please find many to go to.  Also, a new 5-week Friday Night Marathon begins Friday September 28.

Book recommendation (for the parents). How Children Succeed - Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by noted education writer Paul Tough. Using some of the latest scientific research on non-cognitive thinking skills, Tough argues that skills like perserverance and self-control are just as important to success in academics, and in life, as having a high IQ. One chapter, "How to Think" focuses on the role chess plays in education and documents the successes Elizabeth Vichary-Spiegel has been achieving at I.S. 318 in Brooklyn (also featured in the upcoming Brooklyn Castle documentary). You can buy it at Amazon here.

Start of School Year tidbits

The summer went by very quickly and everyone is now back in school.  I wanted to recapitulate some of the things that went on over the summer, and list out some of the upcoming events coming up.

Over the summer, some of the kids were busy with chess.  Among the highlights:

- Weibel Team member Abhishek Handigol continued his spectacular rise, going from 1683 at the end of the Scholastic State Championship at the end of April to 1955 this past weekend at the Labor Day State Championship tournament in San Francisco.  Along the way, he placed very highly in 2 big tournaments this summer, tied for 2nd in the U1800 section of the National Open in Las Vegas back in June, and clear 1st in the Pacific Coast Open in the U1900 section at the Pacific Coast Open in Agoura Hills, CA.

- former Weibel Team member Michael Wang crossed 2050 this past weekend at the Labor Day State Championship tournament in San Francisco, and is now officially qualified for next year's World Youth tournament.  I say former because sadly, Michael's family moved away to the Cupertino area this summer.

- former Weibel attendee and now Horner student and to-be World Youth attendee Kevin Moy got his first IM scalp this past weekend at the Labor Day Tournament in San Francisco, and in fact got his first two wins ever against masters.  His rating is now 2073.

- Kudos goes to Weibel fourth grader Prithvi Nagamanivel for crossing 1000 and to 2nd grader Oliver Wu for getting almost to 1200.  Both kept quite busy this summer with tournaments.

- Ted Castro's NorCal House of Chess moved to a location very close to Weibel, over at the complex on the northeast corner of Osgood and Grimmer.  44802 Osgood Road.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Beginner Chess camp 3-5pm from 9/11-9/14 - see Dr. Kirshner's email on 8/30 for more details
Parent's Meeting on 9/14 at 7pm - see Dr. Kirshner's email from August 29 for more details

the NorCal House of chess will have a couple of upcoming tournaments.  See the right hand side of the blog for more details.
On 9/15-9/16, the Norcal House of Chess will host an advanced tournament for players 1000 and above.  4 rounds, 2 games each day.
On Saturday, 9/22, the Norcal House of Chess will host a scholastic tournament for players 1500 and under.  3 sections.  4 rounds G/45 for U1500, 5 rounds G/30 for U1000 and U500.