This Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday, February 3, the largest non-State/non-National tournament in California, the 2013 CalNorth Youth Chess Age Level Championships will take place in Newark, CA. The way it looks right now, the tournament will reach its maximum of 600 players very shortly. The number of advanced entries as last published was at 536. Almost 100 entries were received on Wednesday (1/30). If you haven't registered your child yet, better do it soooooon.
Besides the tournament itself, there will be many other activities, ranging from simuls given by World Youth team members and former Weibel students Kevin Moy and Joanna Liu, along with former Weibel team member Abhishek Handigol, to game analysis from many titled players (GM Enrico Sevillano, IM Ricardo De Guzman, IM Ronald Cusi, WFM Uyanga Byaamba, NM Emmanuel Perez, NM Hayk Manvelyan), to face-painting. Strategy games outside of chess will be available for play as well outside.
More info here: http://www.calnorthyouthchess.org/AgeLevel2013/
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
CalChess Girl's State Championships
Twenty Weibel players attend the CalChess Girls State
Championships at St. Mark's School in San Rafael. This year only 52 players
registered - in previous years there have been at least 25 to 30
more
competitors.
I had a meeting with the Weibel and Horner players. Two of our girls, Shivangi Gupta and Amy Chan had birthdays that could have been celebrated this weekend.. Louis Law, the brother of Kindergarten competitor Erin Law, was celebrating his birthday on the same day of the tournament. I wished the three Happy Birthday and gave them little gifts for their dedication to chess by traveling to San Rafael for the Girls Championships. Then I dropped the bad news--since Weibel had almost half the players they would be playing against each other starting in round one.
And, so it came to pass. Each round saw our black shirts face off against each other. Interestingly, there were a number of upsets where the lower rated Weibel girl defeated her higher rated teammate. While this, I know upset our girls, it will result, I believe, that one to three of our girls will break the 1000 rating points barrier, placing them on the Weibel Chess Honor Roll. I will have their pink or black caps (their choice) ready for them. I do not expect the USCF ratings for awhile--one to two weeks as has been the case in
past years.
This was the first year of the Girl's States that we did not have a State Champion in any of the Elementary School sections. Sharon Lu, however, did win the Junior High School title so we didn't go home completely void of an individual State Champion.
I am happy to report that as has been the case throughout the history of this event, our girls brought home State Team titles. We won a clear first in the 4-6 grade section. Well, OK--there weren't any other teams competing. I have little doubt, however, that if there were, the outcome would not have changed. All you had to see was the plethora of black shirts in the awards ceremonies to realize the depth of our Team. We may not of had an individual champion, but we had loads of runner-ups. I am proud of how well the girls played and how seriously they took each game.
In the 2-3 grade division we also took a first place Team title tying with Mission San Jose. For the first time we could not field a Team in the-1 section, but neither could any other school. I hope next year some of this year's Kindergarten girls in the Club join the Team. Our young women attending Horner won the Junior High School section.
I might mention that Ray Orwig, the organizer, and I bounded through out the event. We shared the same ice bag. When he was done icing his ankle, he lent me the bag so I could ice my wrist. I just had an operation and the swelling remains.
I do want to thank all you wonderful parents who were willing to make the journey to San Rafael to support your daughters. I appreciate it as a coach and I know your daughters appreciate your being there with
them.
You can find the full results of the tournament and the photos I took at: http://www.CalNorthYouthChess.org/photographs.html
Dr. Alan Kirsher
I had a meeting with the Weibel and Horner players. Two of our girls, Shivangi Gupta and Amy Chan had birthdays that could have been celebrated this weekend.. Louis Law, the brother of Kindergarten competitor Erin Law, was celebrating his birthday on the same day of the tournament. I wished the three Happy Birthday and gave them little gifts for their dedication to chess by traveling to San Rafael for the Girls Championships. Then I dropped the bad news--since Weibel had almost half the players they would be playing against each other starting in round one.
And, so it came to pass. Each round saw our black shirts face off against each other. Interestingly, there were a number of upsets where the lower rated Weibel girl defeated her higher rated teammate. While this, I know upset our girls, it will result, I believe, that one to three of our girls will break the 1000 rating points barrier, placing them on the Weibel Chess Honor Roll. I will have their pink or black caps (their choice) ready for them. I do not expect the USCF ratings for awhile--one to two weeks as has been the case in
past years.
This was the first year of the Girl's States that we did not have a State Champion in any of the Elementary School sections. Sharon Lu, however, did win the Junior High School title so we didn't go home completely void of an individual State Champion.
I am happy to report that as has been the case throughout the history of this event, our girls brought home State Team titles. We won a clear first in the 4-6 grade section. Well, OK--there weren't any other teams competing. I have little doubt, however, that if there were, the outcome would not have changed. All you had to see was the plethora of black shirts in the awards ceremonies to realize the depth of our Team. We may not of had an individual champion, but we had loads of runner-ups. I am proud of how well the girls played and how seriously they took each game.
In the 2-3 grade division we also took a first place Team title tying with Mission San Jose. For the first time we could not field a Team in the-1 section, but neither could any other school. I hope next year some of this year's Kindergarten girls in the Club join the Team. Our young women attending Horner won the Junior High School section.
I might mention that Ray Orwig, the organizer, and I bounded through out the event. We shared the same ice bag. When he was done icing his ankle, he lent me the bag so I could ice my wrist. I just had an operation and the swelling remains.
I do want to thank all you wonderful parents who were willing to make the journey to San Rafael to support your daughters. I appreciate it as a coach and I know your daughters appreciate your being there with
them.
You can find the full results of the tournament and the photos I took at: http://www.CalNorthYouthChess.org/photographs.html
Dr. Alan Kirsher
Sunday, December 30, 2012
North American Open results
the Open section continues today for one last round, but the remaining sections are complete. Weibel Team coach NM Hayk Manvelyan was a big winner in the U2300 section, tying for first place with 6.0 out of 7 and getting a cool $4,000 check. In the U2100 section, former Weibel attendee and coach Kevin Moy finished with 5.0, as did former Weibel Team attendee Abhishek Handigol. Both received a check for $68.
Joanna Liu had 4.5 in U1900. Anthony Zhou in U1900, Steven Li in U1700, and Vittal Thirumalai in U1250 all had plus scores of 4.0 as well.
Joanna Liu had 4.5 in U1900. Anthony Zhou in U1900, Steven Li in U1700, and Vittal Thirumalai in U1250 all had plus scores of 4.0 as well.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
North American Open in Las Vegas
| The annual post-Christmas edition of the 2012 North American Open in Las Vegas is nearing its completion. Many Weibel team members, alumni, and coaches are participating, in sections ranging from Open all the way to U1250. Here are some pictures of many of the participants. |
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Monday, December 17, 2012
I want to thank everyone for giving up their weekend to attend the State Grade Level Championships in a crowded and inadequate facility at the Pleasanton Hilton. I want to assure all of you that are new to large events that not all big tournaments are run as badly. For those of you heading to the Super-Nationals in April, I do expect you to see how proper preparation can produce a successful event with 5000 plus participants, not just 400 plus as appeared at this weekends event.
On a very very positive note--I had a number of parents from other schools ask how they could join the Weibel Chess Team, not just because they could tell we had serious chess players, but because our children were truly enjoying themselves playing chess. They were disappointed to learn that except for a very few exceptions, our program was limited to students attending our elementary school.
Our happy kids, as a whole, did quite well with a good number coming home with trophies. Since I do want to get to bed before I collapse, I am not going to list all the trophy winners. You can find the full results of the Championships at http://bayareachess.com/events/12/c15.php
The best result of the evening came from fifth grade student Anthony Zhou. As the new State Fifth Grade Champion Anthony will forever have his name engraved in the Weibel Chess Hall of Fame. Oliver Wu, in second grade continues his meteoric rise to someday winning a State Championship and maybe more. He finished third without a lose, winning four games and tying a fifth. Close on his tail was Louis Law who only lost to the ultimate winner of the event. Right behind Louis in the standings with four wins and one loss was Eshaan Mistry. Both tied for fourth place. There were a large number of other Weibel players in this section that give us amazing depth. I have predicted that by the time this group is in sixth grade, baring anyone moving, Weibel will win the Nationals again.
I had mentioned last Friday that I would provide special awards to anyone in grades K, 1, 2 & 3 who get 4 out of five points. Since grades 4 and up played 6 games, winners of my special award would have to obtain 4.5 points and up. Besides the names I mentioned earlier, third grade student Ryan Song obtained a tie for third place with 4 points. Second grader William Sartorio obtained four points. In fourth grade, Jeremy Chen will be a recipient of the award with 4.5 points and a tie for sixth place.
What about Team results? Well, many would say getting second in every section except Kindergarten was a great result. However, it is hard for me to feel that way. We went into the last round in every division either in first place or with a great chance of winning first place. Our--my--Weibel Team fell victim once again to the gremlins that have plagued us in almost every major tournament except the Nationals over the last five years. Our players lose their final games. We do not have the staying power and I am at a loss as to how to fix the problem. I have tried different motivation methods over the years all to no avail. This year I tried to work on visualization and confidence. I am going to continue that theme for the rest of the chess year as we may need more time. Time will tell.
Now on to my heroes--the players and parents in Kindergarten. They gave us our only State Championship Team. We have only two Kindergarten players on the Team. We needed three for a team in the Grade Level. In other championships a Team consists of four players. I put out a call to our Club for an extra player. Three people responded and so Weibel had five players in Kindergarten to draw its three top player points from. The five Kindergarten players on this year's State Championship Team are: Mihir Gadre, Nik Sadeghi, Erin Law, Alex Htutt, Natalie Brahan.
One final note: Throughout most of my tenure at Weibel the vast majority of the players drop out of organized tournament chess by Junior High School. Our class of 2010 continues playing chess even though they do not train any more at Weibel. Last year they placed second in the Junior High Nationals. Today, they won the Ninth Grade State Championship. I can't express how much this meant to me to stand on stage next to this group of wonderful, dedicated and skilled players. I can literally say that I looked up to each and every one of them. I tried standing on my toes, but it didn't help. KUDOS to Irvington students Daniel Ho, Justin Wang, Amarinder Chahal, Nikhil Jaha, Shubham Gupta. I hope they join us at the Super Nationals in Nashville the first weekend in April.
--
On a very very positive note--I had a number of parents from other schools ask how they could join the Weibel Chess Team, not just because they could tell we had serious chess players, but because our children were truly enjoying themselves playing chess. They were disappointed to learn that except for a very few exceptions, our program was limited to students attending our elementary school.
Our happy kids, as a whole, did quite well with a good number coming home with trophies. Since I do want to get to bed before I collapse, I am not going to list all the trophy winners. You can find the full results of the Championships at http://bayareachess.com/events/12/c15.php
The best result of the evening came from fifth grade student Anthony Zhou. As the new State Fifth Grade Champion Anthony will forever have his name engraved in the Weibel Chess Hall of Fame. Oliver Wu, in second grade continues his meteoric rise to someday winning a State Championship and maybe more. He finished third without a lose, winning four games and tying a fifth. Close on his tail was Louis Law who only lost to the ultimate winner of the event. Right behind Louis in the standings with four wins and one loss was Eshaan Mistry. Both tied for fourth place. There were a large number of other Weibel players in this section that give us amazing depth. I have predicted that by the time this group is in sixth grade, baring anyone moving, Weibel will win the Nationals again.
I had mentioned last Friday that I would provide special awards to anyone in grades K, 1, 2 & 3 who get 4 out of five points. Since grades 4 and up played 6 games, winners of my special award would have to obtain 4.5 points and up. Besides the names I mentioned earlier, third grade student Ryan Song obtained a tie for third place with 4 points. Second grader William Sartorio obtained four points. In fourth grade, Jeremy Chen will be a recipient of the award with 4.5 points and a tie for sixth place.
What about Team results? Well, many would say getting second in every section except Kindergarten was a great result. However, it is hard for me to feel that way. We went into the last round in every division either in first place or with a great chance of winning first place. Our--my--Weibel Team fell victim once again to the gremlins that have plagued us in almost every major tournament except the Nationals over the last five years. Our players lose their final games. We do not have the staying power and I am at a loss as to how to fix the problem. I have tried different motivation methods over the years all to no avail. This year I tried to work on visualization and confidence. I am going to continue that theme for the rest of the chess year as we may need more time. Time will tell.
Now on to my heroes--the players and parents in Kindergarten. They gave us our only State Championship Team. We have only two Kindergarten players on the Team. We needed three for a team in the Grade Level. In other championships a Team consists of four players. I put out a call to our Club for an extra player. Three people responded and so Weibel had five players in Kindergarten to draw its three top player points from. The five Kindergarten players on this year's State Championship Team are: Mihir Gadre, Nik Sadeghi, Erin Law, Alex Htutt, Natalie Brahan.
One final note: Throughout most of my tenure at Weibel the vast majority of the players drop out of organized tournament chess by Junior High School. Our class of 2010 continues playing chess even though they do not train any more at Weibel. Last year they placed second in the Junior High Nationals. Today, they won the Ninth Grade State Championship. I can't express how much this meant to me to stand on stage next to this group of wonderful, dedicated and skilled players. I can literally say that I looked up to each and every one of them. I tried standing on my toes, but it didn't help. KUDOS to Irvington students Daniel Ho, Justin Wang, Amarinder Chahal, Nikhil Jaha, Shubham Gupta. I hope they join us at the Super Nationals in Nashville the first weekend in April.
--
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Grade Level State Championships
The Grade Level championships is taking place this weekend, December 15 and 16. Day 1 started with the 4th grade and up sections. After Day 1, two Weibel players, 4th grader Atri Surapaneni and 5th grader Anthony Zhou, are in with perfect 3.0 out of 3.0 so far. Another player on the team, Vittal Thirumalai, also has a perfect 3.0 out of 3.0 so far.
The Kindergarten thru 3rd grade Grade Level groups begin play on Sunday, while the 4th thru High School sections go into Day 2 on Sunday. The Weibel Team room is very small, so we ask all parents to refrain from staying in the room on Sunday - there will be at least another 30 players from K-3 playing, and the Team Room is designed for players to go over their games and prepare for upcoming games.
Pictures will be posted soon.
The Kindergarten thru 3rd grade Grade Level groups begin play on Sunday, while the 4th thru High School sections go into Day 2 on Sunday. The Weibel Team room is very small, so we ask all parents to refrain from staying in the room on Sunday - there will be at least another 30 players from K-3 playing, and the Team Room is designed for players to go over their games and prepare for upcoming games.
Pictures will be posted soon.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
World Youth Chess Championship - Final Results
In the U12 Open Division, Santa Clara's Samuel Sevian won the gold medal, while Cupertino's Cameron Wheeler also tied for first but got the silver medal. In the U14 Open Division, Utah FM Kayden Troff wold the gold medal. In the U8 Open Division, Ohio's Christopher Shen won the bronze medal. Congratulations to the four!
As far as the Weibel alumni goes, Joanna Liu wound up with 7.0 (out of 11) in the Girls U10 Division, while Kevin Moy wound up with 4.5
As far as the Weibel alumni goes, Joanna Liu wound up with 7.0 (out of 11) in the Girls U10 Division, while Kevin Moy wound up with 4.5
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