50th KNIGHTS QUEST TOURNAMENT

FEBRUARY 7 - 50th KNIGHTS QUEST TOURNAMENT

Renaissance Knights Quest turns 50

by Jeff Caveney

The Super Bowl wasn't the only big competition on Sunday. Earlier that afternoon at the Renaissance Hotel in Northbrook, 78 chess players young and old battled at the 50th monthly Knights Quest tournament organized by the Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation. The Knights Quest was the original series of monthly Scholastic & Adult Class Tournaments in Chicago having three sections: U800 and U1200 for children and an Open Section for children and adults. Today the series has expanded to 4 sections: U600 & U1000 for children and U1400 and Open for children and adults. The success of these tournaments has changed the landscape of scholastic tournaments in Chicago; more and more organizers have switched to this format from the traditional grade level format.

FIDE Master and former 'Illinois State Champion' Aleksandar Stamnov won the top section of the tournament with a perfect 4-0 score. Two of his opponents, Paul Seet and Joey Bikus, won all the rest of their games to tie for 2nd with a 3-1 score, as did Expert Larry Cohen. There was a four-way tie for 5th place at 2.5 points: Howard Cohen, Timothy Zhou, James Demos and Ryan Toepfer. A field of 22 players took on the challenge of competing in the top section.

Another 22 players battled in the next section, for those with ratings under 1400. The competition was so tough that no one won all of his or her games, but 3 young chess players tied for 1st with 3 wins and a draw for 3.5 points: Akash Mattu, Josh Power and Miranda Liu. Three more players scored 3 wins and lost only one game to one of the top finishers. They tied for 4th with 3 points: Lukasz Tony Zak in his first ever rated chess tournament, Daniel Sun and Eric Gan.

The third section, for young people with ratings under 1000, had 12 players and the competition was intense. Avinash Rajendra secured 1st place with a perfect 4-0 score. Samuel Bergman and Anupama Rajendra tied for 2nd place with 3 points each. There was a big six-way tie for 4th place at 2 points: Joshua Liu, Adarsh Mattu, Prateek Dullur, Jacob Zhou, Vishesh Verma and Brody Frapolly.

Finally, the section for young people with ratings under 600 or beginners had 24 enthusiastic players. This section always has a mix of new young players in their first or second ever tournament and more experienced players. Jason Bai won the section with a perfect 4-0 score. Dylan Cotter earned 2nd place with 3 wins and a draw for 3.5 points. Five more players tied for 3rd place with 3 points: Saivikas Gundam, Frederic Fosco, Brandon Smithson, Owen Power and Ethan Shifrin.

Congratulations to all the winners! We also congratulate everyone who bravely competed in such a challenging tournament. At Knights Quest events, every young player who doesn't win a trophy for the top 5 places receives a medal in recognition of the achievement of coming out to compete, playing hard, and having fun!.

The next big event 'Renaissance Knights' will hold is the Greater Chicago Scholastic K-12 Championships, in partnership with 'The Kasporov Chess Foundation'. This unique tournament is coming to Chicago for the first time; it is similar to “The Greater New York Scholastic Chess Championships!”America’s longest-running rated scholastic chess tournament. Last weekend's Greater New York Scholastic Championships had a record breaking turnout with over 900 players. The Greater Chicago Scholastic K-12 Championships will be held at the 'Crowne Plaza Hotel' in Northbrook the weekend of February 27-28. All young players from kindergarten to 12th grade are welcome to attend, and players can play either on Saturday or Sunday or both days. Please visit the event page for more information on this regional championship tournament: 2010/Greater Chicago

2nd INDIAN TRIALS TOURNAMENT

JANUARY 10 - 2nd ANNUAL INDIAN TRAILS LIBRARY

JANUARY 10 - 2nd ANNUAL INDIAN TRAILS LIBRARY

49th QUEST

JANUARY 3 - 49th KNIGHTS QUEST TOURNAMENT

Mayor Daley's Holiday Sports Festival

DECEMBER 27 & 28 - CHESS PAVILION MAYOR DALEY'S HOLIDAY SPORTS FESTIVAL

DECEMBER 27 & 28 - CHESS PAVILION MAYOR DALEY'S HOLIDAY SPORTS FESTIVAL

Mayor Daley's Holiday Championship

DECEMBER 27 - 2nd ANNUAL MAYOR DALEY'S HOLIDAY CHAMPIONSHIP

CONGRATULATIONS

TO ALL THE WINNERS!

DECEMBER 27 - 2nd ANNUAL MAYOR DALEY'S HOLIDAY CHAMPIONSHIP

48th QUEST

CONGRATULATIONS

OPEN SECTION
29.50 Demos, James
25.75 Shekhtman, Louis
16.50 O'Connor, Scott
16.00 Toepfer, Ryan
16.00 Pollack, Walter
16.00 Smith, William


U1400 SECTION
26.25 Noonan, Kevin
25.00 Dhiman, Rahul
23.75 Habrel, Samiylo
20.06 Gant, Jordain



U1000 SECTION
21.75 Wallach, David
20.25 Wallach, Adam
20.19 Wu, Michael
19.63 Prugh, Ronan

U600 SECTION
23.25 Noonan, Mark
18.50 Yu, Chenshu
16.50 Fosco, Frederic
16.25 Maguigad, Noah

DECEMBER 6 - 48th QUEST

CHICAGO TOY & GAME FAIR 2009

Knights had an exhibit at the Chicago Toy & Game Convention at Navy Pier November 21-22. We set up a giant sized chess set that kids especially enjoyed playing with. We met a lot of people and gave them fliers about the chess classes we teach in Chicago area schools, and about our upcoming events.

We found that among all the high-tech toys and new board games, people who love toys and games still love chess! Kids and adults alike eagerly challenged our expert instructors to a game throughout the weekend -- the games with Stormtroopers always drew a lot of attention. We also had the chance to teach kids how to play chess. We were very pleased when we heard a group of kids, when asked what their favorite exhibit was, enthusiastically answer "Chess!"
Renaissance Knight looks forward to continuing to work with the Chicago Toy & Game Convention in the coming years.

November 22 - Chicago Toy & Game Fair

KNIGHTS WORKSHOP

The "Sneaky Scholar's Mate" and How to Stop It
Lesson from the December Knights Quest
By Jeff Caveney

Many beginning chess players lose a game to Scholar's Mate in their first or second tournament, and then learn how to stop it. But at the December Knights Quest tournament, I saw a game in the Under 600 section where one player found a way to keep trying to get Scholar's Mate even after his opponent stopped it in the first 4 moves. I want to share this example with Renaissance Knights players, parents, and readers, so everyone can learn how to defend against this trick too.

The game began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Bc4. With the good move Nf3, you think White doesn't have to worry about Black playing for Scholar's Mate!

But Black found a sneaky way to try. He played 3...g5. The idea is to play the pawn to g4 next to attack the knight on f3, make it move, then play the Black queen to f6 or h4 to go for Scholar's Mate with Qxf2.

White did not realize Black's plan, and made a developing move that is usually good, but doesn't defend against Scholar's Mate: 4.Nc3 g4 5.Nxe5 Qh4.

Here White did see the threat of Qxf2 Scholar's Mate, and played 6.g3. But Black still did not give up on Scholar's Mate, and played 6...Qh3.

White made another developing move that is usually good but doesn't defend against Scholar's Mate: 7.d3.

Now Black played 7...Qg2 threatening Qxf2 Scholar's Mate and also threatening to capture the unprotected rook on h1.

White tried to run away with his king and protect his rook with his queen: he played 8.Ke2. Unfortunately for him, now 8...Qxf2 was still checkmate because White's pawn on d3 and queen on d1 block his king's escape.

This is a good learning experience for everyone to pay attention to. White was not a bad player, he is a good player who has won trophies in the Under 600 section before. He just didn't know how to defend against this sneaky version of Scholar's Mate. Let's take a look at what White should play instead to defend himself and stop this trick:

First, right away after 3...g5, White can simply castle! 4.O-O is an excellent move. Now the rook on f1 is defending the pawn on f2, and there will be no Scholar's Mate. Black cannot threaten checkmate on h2 so quickly or easily, and if he tries with moves like 4...g4 5.Nxe5 Bd6 6.Nxf7 Qh4, White can defend safely and easily with 7.g3. So, this is yet another good reason to castle early in the game!

Next, after 4.Nc3 g4 5.Nxe5 Qh4, White can play 6.d4 to block the Black bishop from f2. With no bishop protection, there is no Scholar's Mate by the queen. Now White has both center pawns, both knights, and a bishop developed, while Black's bishop has to move away from the pawn attack and the Black queen has no support from other pieces. White has excellent chances to win the game now, and Black is in big trouble. This idea of pawn to d4 to block the bishop on c5 is also a good idea to know for many different situations in the opening -- as long as you have enough protection for the d4 square, which White does here: If the Black bishop takes the pawn, the White queen takes the bishop back safely.

Finally, after 6.g3 Qh3 7.d3 Qg2, this is White's last chance to defend. White needs to play 8.Rf1 to stop the checkmate on f2 and save his rook at the same time. It's too bad that White can't castle on the kingside now, but he can still develop his queenside pieces and then castle on the queenside to be safer. This is not quite as good as the first two ways to defend, but it is still a good position for White, and remember: Any position is better than getting checkmated!

You may wonder what happens if White tries this trick against Black. Let's take a look:

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qf3 Nf6 4.g4.

Once again, castling is the best defense! 4...O-O. After 5.g5, Black's knight has to retreat with 5...Ne8, but he is safe because his castled rook on f8 defends f7.

Another example is 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.g4 Bc5 4.g5 Nxe4 5.Qf3. Now castling is not a good defense because the White queen can take the unprotected Black knight on e4. Black could play 5...Nxg5, which defends f7 for the moment and attacks the White queen too. But I prefer to push the d-pawn into the center to block the White bishop: 5...d5. Now White only has one little trick: 6.Bxd5 Qxd5 7.d3 and Black has to watch out for the pin: Don't play 7...Nxf2 and lose your queen to 8.Qxd5! As long as Black doesn't lose his queen like this, he will be ok. There may be some wild and crazy back-and-forth piece captures for the next few moves, but Black won't have a bad position as long as he or she keeps the queen or trades it for the White queen. For example 7...Bxf2+ 8.Ke2 Bxg1 9.dxe4 Qc4+! and next move Black can retreat the bishop on g1 to safety and have an extra bishop. Add extra protection to f7 on the move after that with castling or Be6, and Black will have a great position and White will be in big trouble.

The good part is, once you learn these ways to defend yourself, you will start winning all the games against the players who try tricks like pawn to g4 or g5, because you will get to the positions where THEY, not you, are in big trouble. You will more than make up for the one or two games you lost to a sneaky Scholar's Mate the first one or two times somebody tried it against you.

I wish everyone the best of luck that plays chess the right way and develops their pieces and learns how to stop all the Scholar's Mate tricks and punishes their sneaky opponents who try them!

PHPL - RKNIGHTS

OCTOBER 18 - PROSPECT HEIGHT PUBLIC LIBRARY

6 CORNER'S CORNUCOPIA

Renaissance Knights joined other community groups Saturday, September 19, 2009 to participate in the Cornucopia event at the Six Corners area in the Portage Park neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago. The Bank of America branch at 4901 W. Irving Park Rd. kindly hosted us, making room for us to set up an information display, a jumbo size chess set, and a number of chess boards. Some of the best chess players and teachers on Renaissance Knights' staff were present. We invited any and all community members who came by to challenge our teachers to a game, and we offered chess piece keychains to anyone who could beat FIDE Master Zin.

The Cornucopia event was a successful and enjoyable experience for all. Area businesses displayed green balloons and people visited them in a "treasure hunt", getting cards stamped at each location. A special highlight of the day was the appearance of Elvis on stilts, who sang and even stopped by our boards to play a little chess. Renaissance Knights thanks the Cornucopia organizers and Bank of America for their generous hospitality in hosting the event and giving us a warm welcome to the community.

SEPT. 19 - KNIGHTS CHESS PAVILION CHICAGO'S 6 CORNERS CORNUCOPIA

44th QUEST

AUGUST 9 - 44th KNIGHTS QUEST TOURNAMENT