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The final term of the school year saw the introduction of yet another new event for our eager chess players. All of the schools involved in the Teesside branch of the project were invited to participate in The First CSC Teesside Chess Championship, with Whale Hill Primary as the venue. Teams consisted of four players and the championship was run over two rounds using the Jamboree system.

Ings Farm, Throston and John Emmerson Batty moved ahead of the pack after the first round. The latter faded slightly during round two, but it Ings Farm and Throston both kept up their terrific early pace. Indeed, they went on to share first place with a magnificent score.

Final scores

7½: Ings Farm, Throston

4½: John Emmerson Batty

3½: Pennyman, Whale Hill

1½: Caedmon

(A couple of our schools had calendar clashes and were unable to play.)

So Ings Farm and Throston will now share the new trophy until next year. Members of the winning teams received medals too.

It was very good to see teams from our schools united for the first time and to see how far the children have progressed since learning the basic moves back in September. They all mixed together extremely well and now they have lots of new friends from all over Teesside.

- Sean Marsh

This report is also available on our News page.

We had plenty of success stories at the York 'Megafinal'.

Following hard on the heals of Victoria Lynn's 'Suprema' success at the Newcastle 'Megafinal' earlier in the month, our schools came away with four more trophies.

Leah Kay (Whale Hill) and Frankie Whelan (Whale Hill) were the winners of the Under-7 Girls and Under-7 Boys respectively. Faye Thompson (Whale Hill) is the new 'Under-11 Suprema' and Chloe Holmes (Ings Farm) captured the Under-9 girls; title.

We look forward to seeing them in action at the 'Gigafinal' in July.

Frankie		Faye
Leah		Chloe

This report is also available on our News page.

Victoria Lynn of Throston Primary School won the U-9 Girls' section of the Newcastle 'Megafinal'. She was one of ten Throston players in action. Michael Anderson and Caitlin Jobling both won certificates and all of the children thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Victoria is looking forward to testing her strength at the 'Gigafinal' in July.

All of our other schools are eligible for the York 'Megafinal' (June 12) so we are hoping a few more Teesside players can match Victoria's excellent achievement.

Proud winner: Victoria Lynn of Throston Primary School with Teesside CSC Coach Sean Marsh.

This report & larger images are available on our News page.

Suddenly we are two thirds of the way through the school year.

Not so long ago we were teaching the very basic moves to classrooms full of complete novices. Now our young chess players have experienced the highs and lows of tournament chess for the first time and some have achieved qualification for the ‘Megafinal’ stage of the UK Chess Challenge. The ‘Megafinals’ will be a tough test of their new skills but the excitement and experience should stay with them for a very long time.

As we head into the third and final term of the year, the thought occurs that the older (Year 6) children will soon be leaving Primary life behind and (hopefully) spreading a little chess around in their new Secondary schools.

Before that, we still have an action-packed term ahead of us. The chess work has become more advanced and the children are steadily improving their skills and increasing their knowledge. They are enjoying tackling tougher sets of chess problems and looking forward to the next challenge.

After the ‘Megafinals’ we are hoping to develop a series of inter-school matches within our clusters. The social side of chess should never be underestimated; I’m a great believer in mixing up people from different schools and seeing how they adapt, make friends and learn from each other.

Meanwhile, there’s no doubt that chess is having an impact on their lives. At Whale Hill Primary School the other day, I was delighted to see the chess players dressed as Kings and Queens (luckily, on Royal Wedding week, they didn’t look out of place once they left the chess room).

This report is also available on our News page.

Suddenly, chess just got a whole lot tougher!

We'd been 'threatening' our players with the impending arrival of the UK Chess Challenge for quite a while and now it is here. The children are in a state of real excitement as they experience tournament chess for the first time in their lives. 'Even when you are World Champion', I told them, 'you will always remember that the UK Chess Challenge was your first ever tournament'.

It is easy to forget that the vast majority of our players knew nothing about chess until a few short months ago. Now they are having their vocabularies extended too, with words such as 'Megafinal' and 'Gigafinal'.

It will be an interesting test of skill and temperament. Who can keep their nerve and continue to win games? Who will be able to recover from frustrating defeats?

The highs and lows of competitive chess have entered their lives. It's going to be quite an experience for all concerned.

This report is also available on our News page.

December and January proved to be challenging months in more ways than one.

The month of December, of course, decided to ‘play white’ and became one of those annoying opponents who seem to have white far too many times in a row. For a couple of weeks, the vast majority of our schools found themselves up against an unstoppable foe and had to shut up shop and resign for the duration.

Things changed for the better towards the end of the month, but then the schools closed again for the end of term. A disjointed time for chess, but when things actually went ahead the sessions themselves went very well. Sometimes it was possible to introduce new people to chess (when some of our established players where either still snowbound or rehearsing for Christmas plays). Good use of the chess equipment was doubtless made during many indoor playtimes and lunchtimes, so chess is slowly but surely become a real part of the internal culture for all of the schools we attend.

January brought a return to slightly warmer times and the promise of a tough working term, with plenty of new concepts and ideas to test the children.

‘Stalemate’, ‘castling’ and ‘en passant’...for those who found the concept of ‘check’ somewhat baffling, these ideas must have seemed like chess from a distant galaxy. ‘En passant’ appeared to be some sort of magic trick; even the noisiest of children fell silent and open-mouthed. We must invent more rules like that one.

A group pronunciation in your actual French conjured up something akin to an audio tribute to ‘Allo Allo’.

This led on to a discussion about which other foreign words still survive in our language, producing some great answers from imaginative minds and a chat about why ‘serviette’ was once considered a rude word at the dining table.

Almost without exception, a lesson in stalemate will lead on to a practical example appearing later when the children play their games.

Meanwhile, I have discovered a second ‘Bishop’ to go with the Bishop and Knight mentioned in an earlier report. We are slowly building a chess set of real people.

Thinking of chess sets, it’s been good to see some of the children bringing in their remarkable sets from home. I have seen two Lewis sets, one from the world(s) of Star Wars and this one, all the way from Kenya.

The UK Chess Challenge will start very soon! There are some very excited children...and I haven’t even shown them the prizes yet!

This report is also available on our News page.

Further details can also be seen at http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/2010/10/junior-news.html

'Check!' It's hard to remember when we didn't know exactly what that meant. I can't recall being taught the concept, so it must have stuck fairly quickly with me when I was seven.

It's such a strange thing, though; quite unlike anything in any other game. Our school lessons have been focusing on the special qualities of the King over the last few weeks. He's an old man, who struggles to outrun a pawn or two, yet he is also the most important piece on the whole of the chessboard and despite his delicate nature he can never be captured.

'Keep him safe!' I say and I even show them how to castle if I think they are paying attention. Needless to say, in the very next practice games we see the King charging out as soon as he possibly can, hurtling headlong into inevitable face to face combat with his opposite number.

Oh well - at least the juniors are motivated to play 1 e4 rather than 1 a4. Those flank pawn openings are useless for developing adventurous Kings.

As the juniors become better acquainted with the chess pieces, I am learning more about my pupils and their schools. There is a boy called Bishop in one school and one called Knight in another. Two brothers are the sons of a man I went to college with in the early 1980s; I haven't seen him since then. One school secretary was in one of my first ever junior chess clubs, back in 1988… '

Onwards! Through the difficulties of explaining 'check' and 'checkmate'; through the challenges of clashing with Christmas play rehearsals and struggles through snowbound villages; onwards towards the chess competitions we have promised for next term.

Who will thrive in the competitive environment, and who will be the first chess champion of their school? We shall see…but for now, put that King back on the board and carry on playing! Didn't I just tell you they can never be captured…?

This report is also available on our News page.

Further details can also be seen at http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/2010/10/junior-news.html

Half of a school term has now flown by. To say it's been a busy one for Chess in Schools and Communities is a massive understatement.

It's been very interesting to see the different rates at which children absorb the new information. Some of my students have needed extra time to master the basics of the first few pieces (especially the Knight), while others have managed to to sail all the way through to delve into the mysterious nature of the King.

Practice games involving armies of pawns against Rooks, Bishops, Knights and Queens have proved to be very successful teaching methods. Some students were disappointed to find out that the King, such a powerful piece in many respects, would lose a battle against just two pawns in most cases.

To assess the children's ability to work as a team, I introduced a few sessions of matches based on the 'capture the flag' exercises. This worked very well, with some  children responding admirably to their chosen roles as captains and all of the responsibilities this entailed.

The captains had to select their players, in turn, from the rest of the group and maintain a very high level of concentration and motivation to be a good example to the rest of their team.

Another idea I used to create a more competitive atmosphere was to have the winning players move up a board and the losers move down accordingly. The challenge was to end up on board one by the end of the session.

A little bit of a competitive edge will be useful when we start to introduce our new players to tournament and matches in 2011. I also think it is important to teach the players not only how to be good losers, but how to be polite winners too.  'When it comes to choosing a school team, I probably won't consider those who wave their arms about and tell their opponent they were rubbish', I tell them. Some will need extra work in this area!

The concepts of 'Check' and 'Checkmate' will feature heavily in our sessions between now and Christmas. Stripped down to the basics, they are fascinating and unique ideas. Some children have already been shouting 'checkmate!' whenever they capture a lowly pawn. Their chess journey is going to be longer than they originally thought…

Thursday 7 October 2010
 

This report is also available on our News page.

Further details can also be seen at http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/2010/10/junior-news.html

Here’s the first in a series of regular updates from our area’s branch of the Chess in Schools and Communities scheme.

The first month of chess activity in the schools was, of course, merely the tip of a very large chess iceberg. Many hours had been spent back in June and July emailing, phoning and meeting people from interested parties.

Some leads went cold, sometimes unexpectedly. Others emerged completely out of the blue, with a chance comment by a third party leading to another very important school being added to our list.

Seven schools managed to meet our criteria in full and were ready, willing and able to free up curriculum time for the new chess sessions. Top quality equipment was dispatched; big boxes of brand new chess sets, boards, demonstration boards and software. The summer break came and went quickly and suddenly it was September - time for some real work!

Armed with a copy of the new C.S.C. Curriculum, 22 years experience of teaching chess in schools, a sense of humour and yet another C.R.B. check, it was action time. Chess in schools traditionally takes the form of an after-school club, in which all members are at least provisionally interested in the great game. How would a class of children, most of whom have no prior experience of chess, cope with formal lessons over a school year?

The session we conducted throughout September can definitely be logged under ‘a flying start’. The curriculum is a success. Teaching the children methodically, essentially one piece each week, is really working very well.

In our area, we have 267 pupils split over seven schools. Some groups are straightforward classes, offering a single year group (we have all ages from Y2 to Y6). Other groups are a mixture of age groups.

The children are progressing well in all of our schools. They are generally very keen students, never short of an interesting question or two (...or three or four!). Here’s some samples....

‘Is there one called a horsey?’

‘Could you beat my Granddad?’

‘Is there a chess club near our school?’

‘Do you know my Dad? He was the Cleveland Under-16 champion once.’

‘Can we do this again later, instead of science?’

‘When are we going to battle another school?’

The coaches have plenty to learn too, such as the best route from the staffroom to the classroom (was it left at the end of the dining hall, or was that at the last school...?) and trying to learn 267 new names. I tell them it’s not fair - they have only one name to learn and I have 20 - but they just laugh at me.

So into October we go, with a large number of juniors now fully in control of pawns, Rooks and Bishops. This next month will take a Royal turn and we’ll find out if there really is a piece called the horsey...

This report is also available on our News page.