City K-6 Champion!

Emperor tied for City Champion in the K-6 division of the tournament today.   :)

Happy National Chess Day!

Greetings from West Des Moines, Iowa!  Emperor is at the hotel room right now taking a whirlpool bath and celebrating his victories.  He won first in the morning rounds and second in the afternoon rounds at the West Des Moines Youth tournament today.  He won all of his games except for the last in which he drew.  I have a new respect for Emperor as I entered the Parents and Friends tournament and lost. every. game.   I just don't have that long-range concentration and thinking ahead and dealing with spectators thing that Emperor has honed.  Imagine hanging onto board one all. day. long. and having people watch your every move from 9 am to 4 pm.  Ok, I can imagine it a bit better now and know it is beyond me.

Emperor With Grandmaster Akobian

Can you tell Emperor is more than a little pleased to be working with a chess superstar?   He is taking group lessons this month at the Kansas City Chess Club on Wednesdays.

Hanging Out This Afternoon

Rose is supervising Woodjie's creative process.

I'm teaching Rose "ladder checkmate."  The second queen is an upside-down rook.

I'm also in the process of teaching Rose how the knight moves.  If your knight starts on a star, he'll have to hop over to the other star.  If he starts on a smiley, he ends on a smiley.  Two up, one over.  He always winds up on the opposite colour from which he starts.  The confusing thing about it is that this is true all around where the knight starts.  In the center of the board, there are eight squares to which the knight can move.

After Rose does a chess exercise, she gets to pick out a sticker and put it on her new princess. 

Photos From the Kansas Open!

It's a real trial to get anything close to a REAL picture of these children...

This is my "I paid a billion dollars for this trip and I will have at least one good picture of you all so stand there and look happy or else" photo.  Look at Elf doing the "I hate standing here but I'm going to get it done so Mom is not mad" cringe.

Awww!  G was asleep on the other bed.  Over the weekend, the boys played in the Quick tournament as well as five games that can last up to four hours each.  We had a great vacation and we're home now.   I've crawled out from under the piles of laundry and vacuumed a room or two, even.  :)

Kerrie And Me

I'm the crazy lady in the Happy Elf Homeschool shirt.  I had to squat so I wouldn't dwarf everyone.

I can now count my bloggy friend Kerrie as my IRL friend.  I am at the Kansas Open with G, Elf and Emperor so we met at the infamous McDonald's in Johnson County.  I even met Roberto.  He was so pleased to meet a friend of Kerrie's.  Kerrie, in real life, is one of those people who know everyone and if she doesn't?  She WILL know something interesting about you by the time you leave her presence.  While we were hanging out, she somehow found out some lady at an adjacent table was some mutual acquantance's fourth grade teacher... and was able to extract this information within about 30 seconds.  Really. :)

For Elf.

Elf is pretty excited about this letter addressed *just to him.*  (I covered his address and name on the letter so that all-ya'll stalkers wouldn't show up at his door.)  Apparently he will save a bundle if he bundles his car and home insurance with Nationwide Insurance.  It's a special offer because he's United States Chess Federation (USCF) member.  I don't know how chess and insurance go together, but "when things work together, they just work better."

Wow!  Elf will have to consider this offer.

Doggone it, though, if at the age of 11 he does NOT own a car or house.  I hear it's a buyer's market, but real estate isn't quite into the 55-cents to a dollar price range just yet.  He was too enthused about this business opportunity to just recycle this important notice.  Elf made sure that his father was aware of all the particulars of switching to Nationwide Insurance.  Dad could save up to 20%, did you know that?  Dad?  Dad?  Do you need to use this paper?

Woodjie @ The Kansas City Chess School

He needed a lot of help with his moves.  He tried to go to the bathroom in a closet but couldn't find the potty.  He wasn't quite up for a tournament-level game.  But hey.  He went and he had a nice time.

Yay, Elfie!

Elf won the USCF Christmas Scholastic Tournament in Olathe, Kansas, today! He won two games and drew one.  "I worked pretty hard and my mom helped me a lot, although this day wasn't the best day of my life because my mom made me clean my room and throw away stuff I wasn't using and I cried over it," Elf said.  "Mom told me to throw away a humongous dust ball and I did not want to throw it away so I hid it and Mom will never find out where it went."

Kids Play Blindfold Chess.

You Can Look Now.

The older children have been playing blindfold chess.  It's exactly like regular chess, except they have to face away from the board, call out their moves by notation only, and keep track of the entire game in their head.  I make their moves on the board, notate, and occasionally have to tell them that this or that move is not possible.  It is a LOT harder than it looks.  Elf says the middle game is hardest because that's when there are the most pieces on the board to keep track of.  During the beginning of the game, the pieces are all near their starting positions.  Endgame has very few pieces, usually.  Emperor kicked butt in this game, but many of his pieces are idle under this system, which almost never happens in a regular game.  It's good mental exercise, have you ever done this?

At the Club

Emperor is not so happy about having his game interrupted by me. But Rose? Rose is THRILLED to be allowed to go to the Kansas City Chess Club for the first time. Not to mention, she LOVES having her photo taken. She did participate in most of the exercises (with help... lots of help). The only thing she wasn't even slightly interested in doing properly were the pencil and paper tactics exercises. In those, random chess pieces were circled and, instead of a line and arrow indicating the "best pin," she drew lines that would seem to indicate that they wandered off the page and went AWOL.

Rose Update!

Rose can now set up the board if you remind her that the queen goes on her colour and king goes on the e square. Here are the chess pieces and how they apparently move:

Knight: Just take a guess and then let Mom show me.

Bissip: goes diagonally, but I lose track of where I'm going.

Ponn: hops forward. Takes diagonally! I'm starting to get this one.

Qwweeeeen: Queen does whatever she wants. Do not touch my queen.

Keeng: hops one spot.

Wook: I want to move this piece out early in the game, but Mom will not let me. I wind up moving my Knight. At the end of the game, Mom helps me with Wook to make "ladder checkmate." I always win!! :)

Monroi

Emperor's new Monroi! This handy-dandy (and $400) device replaces the old pen and paper "notation sheet." On the Monroi, you tap the pieces and enter the moves. You can see in the top picture that on this game, we're on move number 5 in which white moves a pawn to the d3 square, and black moves bishop to g4. We don't quite have the hang of it yet, but it will eventually make notating so much easier. No need to get the board out, move the pieces around and *try* to decipher what Emperor has written. It will make his private coaching minutes ($$) more effective because going over his games will be much faster.

Chess Preschool

Rose has expressed interest in playing chess for a good while. I was hoping we could learn the potty thing first, but ok. We start out learning how to place the pawns and the king on the board. Then we learn how the pawns advance on the board. When Rose gets a queen, our little game is over. Someday when she gets all the moves down, we will have to take her to the chess club. There aren't that many girls who play chess, but I figure that Rose is used to doing everything with lots of boys around and she'll be fine.

Assorted Picture Post

1. I know you're looking at this top picture and going, "Can this lady PLEASE quit constantly posting about Polish pottery and chess?" Answer: not in this post, sorry. This is my new kitchen pottery arrangement. Going with a "less is more" look. Had tons of pottery out before and it looked like the Teacup Vikings were displaying their armour, it got so busy-looking. P.S. Taking pictures like this makes me appreciate the Polish pottery catalogues even more. Getting pictures that show the pattern but not a glossy glare are nearly impossible.

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2. Matlock and Emperor playing a practice game of chess. Not pictured: Matlock's mother. :)

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3. Elf and Emperor at Bo Ling's in Zona Rosa near the chess club. They had SUCH a good time after a recent chess tournament, goofing off and waiting for the food to arrive. This is the big moment where Elf finally gets to try the pork dumplings he ordered. I did not snap a picture of him literally vomiting at the table in revulsion after tasting one. Sorry, but you will have to just "picture the scene" for yourself.

We're Home!

Well, hello! We're home again. Emperor and I had a great time, though I must say we're pretty disappointed that Emperor was only able to get one win. I don't get it... he beat some of these children handily in the practice games, and then lost to them in the tournament. And by the end of the three day tournament, I was able to beat him in a couple games.

That, friends, should never happen. So I'm thinking he's just taken a good tailspin on this and needs to just keep on studying tactics and work on concentration, really, more than anything else.

I'm going to admit we're doing it all wrong.

See, there's this kid named "Matlock." The kid seems like a nice, likeable young man. He was playing some practice games with Emperor and we were having a nice time.

Were. Having a nice time.

The mom comes in and squawks at the kid about guarding his back rank. WHAT about the checklist your coach went over with you?? You need to bla bla bla and she was just tearing that kid up. It either inspired him or un-nerved Emperor because he later lost to this kid in the tournament, after having won two practice games.

Oh, well. I think the worst part was that Matlock and his little sister were so likeable and Emperor kept trying to play with them, show them his game system, and all that. The mom kept GLARING at us as though we were the enemy. Good grief.

Next morning, she didn't let her kid eat what he wanted for breakfast. Protein only. She even had him listening to music before the tournaments so that he would be prepared properly. Actually that isn't a bad idea... but... she's just a little more than a little controlling. I guess it's the spirit of the whole thing rather than the substance.

Please tell me I will never wind up like that. Though I sure did scold Emperor that he ought notate his game and THINK THROUGH EACH MOVE. He'd beaten a player with a 1400 rating, and he shouldn't be losing - in 13 moves and 15 minutes - to someone lower-ranked than him. Not when you have a an hour and fifty-five minutes on your clock.

I think we've come away from the tournament with a LOT of advice from some of the higher-rated players. Most of the advice? Emperor is talented, tactics are good, uses combinations well, but JUST isn't studying the board and thinking about what the other player is trying to do. And that is gonna get him.

We couldn't find ANY post cards in the hotel, and as I arrived by cab, didn't get any nearby. So, folks who guessed where we were earlier who want a post card and a chance at receiving a small package, please email your address to happyelfhomeschool (at) gmail (dot) com. I will select a package winner on Wednesday morning. :)

The Fried Liver Attack!

Have you ever been the victim of a fried liver attack?? Emperor pulled this move on me and I didn't even see it coming. I think what bothers me most about it is the incredulous, "MOM! You have to try to win!" and "WHY did you move that piece there?" and "That was an interesting move... but not a very intelligent one!" sorts of comments I get from him during our friendly games. As if I know each of the several hundred move series, each with its own name and history. Did you know that in an official USCF tournament you can't even say "check" or "checkmate?" Our chess coach explains that "that's just Hollywood" and they don't do that in real life. You'd just better figure out you are in check. Note how in the video, the narrator never explains when the king is in check, but simply states that the king moves. Emperor and Elf did well in their first USCF rated tournament on Saturday. Emperor won all of his games and Elf won two of three.

Playing a Grandmaster!

Elf and Emperor recently had an opportunity to listen to a lecture and play Grandmaster Akobian at the Kansas City Chess Club. Thanks to Tradebot Systems, Inc. for sponsoring this! GM Akobian put on an excellent presentation, and all the children were very attentive. And thanks to my friend Maria for sending me this picture and giving me permission to use it on the blog. :) Patrick came along as well and was glad he went. He just doesn't want his pic on the blog. Meh.

How to Play Bug House Chess

The Anpanman twins and their friends are demonstrating how to play Bug House chess. It's a team game. One teammate will play white, and the other black. It's pretty much a regular chess game, except if you take a piece from your opponent, you can give it to your teammate to use during his next turn! Here, we're demonstrating how Anpanman got a black queen from his teammate and has placed it on the board. Now, mind you, you can't place a pawn in the promotion row or anything like that. When the other team is checkmated, you win! More detailed rules here. We're going to play in a friendly Bug House tournament tonight ourselves. Enjoy!