Monday, April 23, 2018

WEIBEL GIRLS' CHESS TEAM DO IT AGAIN--NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

Does it ever become old hat winning an All-Girls National Championship? I mean, after all, Weibel Elementary School Chess has won eight in the last eight years. Never! This year was the most exciting ever and I wasn’t there. I attended my cousin’s daughter’s wedding in SoCal. Genetic family came first over my Weibel family.
As is usual, the Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation held this year’s competition in Chicago from April 20 to 22. As usual, I am told, David Heiser, his family and his staff organized an outstanding tournament. The event keeps growing with 487 players and with some of the toughest team competition in their history.
Weibel had two teams this year with one in the Under 10 section and the other in the Under 12 division. Our Under 10 team came into the Championships ranked fourth nearly 500 rating points behind Dalton, a New York private school that has been a leader in chess even before I began the Weibel program in 1988. The girls fought hard all six rounds and ended up second to Dalton. A truly amazing finish. The Weibel Under 12 team came in ranked second and took home the first place trophy.
All nine girls who attended deserve my Kudos for their amazing finish. Special Kudos go to two special young women. Fifth grader Yesun Lee entered ranked 12th and finished only a half point behind the tied Champions. Prisha Jain, whose initial position was 20th, had one of her best tournaments ever tying a player rated 400 points higher and finishing tied for fourth place, a half point behind Yesun.
I thank my two coaches who joined the Weibel Girls Team in Chicago and led them to their victories, Badaamkand Norovasambuu and Jason Cruz. I thank all my parents who took their daughters and, especially, Minh Mai who graciously organized the Team and set up a special training session for the girls before the event.
I truly wish I could have been in Chicago to see all the joyful faces instead of just checking the results and making a few telephone calls. Oh, well. 
In photograph from left to right starting in front with the Under 10 Team: Shruti Nath (4th grade), Mihika Deshpande (4th grade), Mai-Ha Nghiem (3rd grade)
In back from left to right Under 12 Championship Team and coaches: Coach Badaamkhand Norovasambu, Rachael Tiong (6th grade), Kabita Nath(6th grade), Chau-Ha Nghiem(5th grade), Isha Varada(6th grade), Yesun Lee(5th grade), Prisha Jain(6th grade), Coach Jason Cruz  

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

WEIBEL CHESS DOMINATES THE KINDERGARTEN THROUGH SIXTH GRADE SECTIONS OF THE 2018 CALCHESS STATE SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

This weekend, April 7 and 8, 2018, CalChess held their State Championships at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Under the direction of Dr. Judit Sztaray the tournament continues to improve each year. I would say that the reputation of the event has been made great again. This year the event once again reached the numbers of the early part of the 21st century with around 1200 players. The good reputation of our State Championships are apparently spreading, for they are once again seeing teams from places like Chico and Fresno attending. I was even more excited to know that a fair number of players came from out of State this year.  Back in the 1990’s this Championship drew players from out of State due to its reputation for having outstanding competition. This year a fair number of players appeared again to test their skills against our CalChess players. One did especially well winning his section. While he won the first place trophy, he could not claim the title of State Champion. That honor went to the second place winner in his division.


I am proud to say that Weibel dominated the school competitions in the K-6 divisions. Of the ten Elementary School sections, we had teams in eight. Weibel did not have teams in the two unrated divisions—players without United Chess Federation ratings. We won six of the those eight. Weibel obtained this year’s championship titles in the Kindergarten, K-5 and K-6(co-Champions). We achieved first place in the K-6 and K-3 Junior Varsity sections. We also won a first place in the K-3 Under 500 division. ASIDE: Weibel Elementary School students feed into Horner Junior High School. Their Team won the K-8 Championship (Co-Champions with Fallon Middle School from Dublin).

I have inserted photographs of this year's Cal Chess State Scholastic Champions as well as the first place team winners in the lower sections. I do not have, at this time,  a photograph of our K-6 Junior Varsity team that took first as they were giving out the trophies in two different room on Sunday night. However, I do have a photograph of one of that team's members holding the trophy in a photograph with the K-6 Under 500 group who placed fourth. 
I hope to have more good news in two weeks after the All-Girls Nationals in Chicago. A victory there would mean that Weibel will have obtained ten National titles since 2010.
All the photos I took are now posted from the link at http://www.CalNorthYouthChess.org/photographs.html

You can view the complete results of this year's CalChess Scholastic Championships at: https://bayareachess.com/static/pairings/states1day/


I wanted to send my thanks and Kudos to my players and their parents.  Most of all I want to think our outstanding and unmatched teaching/coaching staff:  Demetrius Goins, Frisco Del Rosario, Gaurang Mehta, Jason Cruz, Badaamkhand Norovasambuu, Kevin Moy, Clarence Jones, Kevin McCue, Jenny Ly and Richard Shorman.  I end with a special call out to our Assistant Coaches from Horner Junior High School that have been working with many of our Kindergarten and First Grade students: Chenyi Zhao, Amy Chan, Rithwik Narenda, Sidharth Raman, Irene Xu, Eshaan Mistry, Louis Law, Aaron Lee and Prabhav Vashist.  
Chess is Forever as I hope Weibel Chess will be.
Alan


Thursday, April 5, 2018

LOUIS LOVE LE RECEIVES HIS ELITE WEIBEL PLAYER JACKET

Today, I was very pleased to honor Louis Love Le with his Elite Weibel Chess jacket. I provide every player in our K-6 program who receives a U.S. Chess Federation rating of 1000 with an Honor Roll Cap. For each grade there is a set rating for a team member to obtain an Elite Player jacket with our logo on the left side and the player's name on the right. Louis is in first grade and needed a rating of at least 1000 to be declared an Elite Player. If he were in sixth grade he would need to reach 1450. His present rating is 1019.
He is following in his brother Nikko’s footsteps. Nikko on my right also obtained a 1000 rating in first grade. He is now in fourth grade and is presently rated 1788. His rating qualifies him for a large crystalline trophy as a Weibel Ultimate Player. In fourth grade he had to obtain a minimum rating of 1700 and maintain it for three straight tournaments for our highest achievement title.
KUDOS TO BOTH BOYS!

Sunday, April 1, 2018

MEMBERS OF THE WEIBEL CHESS TEAM MEET QUEEN OF KATWE AND WIN TEAM MATCH VS. NCH

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Published by Alan KirshnerYesterday at 10:30pm
Let me start with the attached photos. The photos are of the Weibel Elementary School Chess Team at the March 31. 2018 head to head tournament with the NorCal House of Chess.

If you look to your left on the photo below you will see Phiona Mutesi with our team. Some of you may have seen the movie ‘The Queen of Katwe.’ This highly acclaimed film details Phiona's struggle for success in chess coming from a very humble background in the African Nation of Uganda.

Phiona is presently a student in a college in Seattle and was in the area this week. Ted Castro invited her to speak at the NorCal House of Chess were our team members met her. The next day, April 1, she provided a truly inspiring story about her struggle to escape the poverty in the district of Katwe.

Our Weibel Elementary School went head to head against the NorCal House of Chess. Each of our 15 players competed against a NorCal student with a similar rating—once as white and once as black. Many of the top players from both the teams were gone for Spring Break. Carl Moy, the present organizer of the CalNorth Youth Chess Age Level Championships, wanted to get rid of some of his left-over trophies. He convinced Ted and myself to go ahead with the match as he thought it would be a great practice for next week’s State Championships. The time control of game, in 75 minutes with a 5 second delay, is the same as it will be at the States. I could not stay do to a family event. 

The hard work the Weibel Team has been doing this year paid dividends. Weibel won the team match 16 to 14 despite a big comeback from NHC in the second round. From what Carl tells me—all had a great time. In the end, that is what it is all about. Thank you Carl!
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