JH Nationals. Thursday: Problem Solving Day

Meet some of the hard-working, puzzle-solving members of the IS 318 Under Sections Team! I spent a beautiful Thursday stumping 1100s with problems from Ray Cheng (Practical Chess Exercises) and Jeff Coakley (Winning Chess Exercises for Kids).

Michael, Vincente, Adam, William

Krystian, Austin

Isaiah, Chris, Jacob

Adam, William, Edmond

Edmond

William

Stefek, Michael, Adam

Stefek, Michael

Sebastian

Zanea, Humriah, Summayah

Ashe, Zanea, Humriah, Summayah, Edeli, Jamye

Jamye

Humriah and Summayah

Patryck and Justin

We just won the blitz tournament with 42 out of 48 possible points, making IS 318 both High School and Junior High School blitz champions. :)

We  have 50 students here: 28 in open, 14 in Under 1250, 6 in Under 1000, and 1 in Under 750. I'm forgetting someone somewhere, I know.

Results throughout the weekend will be here.

Girls Nationals, Saturday

 Maya, Mariah, Shanniah, Edeli, Anita, Haby, Yuxin doing pre-tournament tactics

 Edeli played well to beat a 1300 in round 2.

Maya, 2-0

I'm in Chicago with 7 girls for Girls Nationals. Maya, Mariah, Yuxin and Anita are in the 16 and Under section (they are all 13 or 14). They face a team from Hunter of Lilia Poteat, Sophia Flanagan, and Julia Katz. Shanniah, Haby, and Edeli are in the 14 and Under section, but they are the only team in that section. Incredibly, they are all playing 3 hour games every round, so I'm sitting in my hotel room alone, pretty bored. I'm (re)reading Practical Chess Exercises by Ray Cheng-- really good.
 Results are here.  

Rachel Maddow!!

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IS 318 wins High School Nationals

more soon

my match with Donny Ariel

My match with Donny Ariel has, at last, begun! It was conceived of 7 or 8 years ago, when several people were betting a total of $10,000 on whether I would manage to score 0.5/10 (a draw) or 1/10 (when "my backers" would win). Donny reconsidered at the last minute back then, but then nostalgically called me last week, and we played a g/90 9 second delay game yesterday.

(28) Spiegel,Elizabeth - Ariel,Donny [B22]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Qe2+ Be7 8.Ne5 0-0 9.Nxd7 Nbxd7 10.Be3 c4 11.Ba4 Bd6 12.Nd2 Qc7 13.g3 Rae8 14.Bc2 b5 15.0-0 Ne4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.f3 f5 18.fxe4 fxe4 19.Rxf8+ Nxf8 20.Kg2 Nd7 21.Rf1 Nf6 22.Bg5 Qe7 23.a4 a6 24.axb5 axb5 25.Bxf6 gxf6 26.Qh5 Rb8 27.Qd5+ Kg7 28.Bxe4 b4 29.Qf5 Kg8 30.Bd5+ Kg7 31.Qg4+ Kh8 32.Bxc4 bxc3 33.bxc3 Qe3 34.Rxf6 Qxc3 35.Bd5 Be7 36.Rf7 Qd2+ 37.Rf2 Qg5 38.Qe4 Bf6 39.h4 Qg7 40.Be6 Rf8 41.d5 Be7 42.Rxf8+ Qxf8

white to move and win

I was about to make the excuse to you that I had only 20 seconds left here, but then I realized this happens to me in every endgame-- I don't know what to do; I spend a lot of time thinking about it, then I'm low on time and play badly and say "well, but what could I do; I had no time." The real problem is that I usually don't care anymore by move 35; I just want it to be over. I traded queens stupidly, (Qf5) but white has a great move here.

I let you think about it and then post the answer tomorrow, hopefully. I'm going to Minneapolis tomorrow for high school nationals. We'll have a team in open and in under 1600-- 19 kids.

has anyone noticed they took our rights away?

      The Supreme Court ruled today that anyone arrested on suspicion of any crime at all can be strip searched. You may have been busy celebrating the new year and not noticed, but on Dec. 31 last year, Obama signed away your right to not be arrested indefinitely without trial. (I wonder if they will change social studies textbooks, because I'm pretty sure the ones we use right now say America was set up so the government could never do that to its own people.)