Waterfront Junior Intermediate Chess Club

Thursday, February 22, 2007

2007-02-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

30 kids today, mostly screaming away. Great fun for most, though a few, like me, would prefer it quieter. Next up: team tournament hosted by The Waterfront School after-school (3:45pm-5:00pm) in the lunchroom, Thursday March 1. Four other schools have been invited to bring teams of 5 players. If you want to play for Waterfront, please tell Mr. Webbe immediately.

Second: University of Toronto will again host a team tournament organized by Chess'n Math Association, this time the ONTARIO Championship, on the weekend of March 3-4. On Saturday it will be Grades K-9, and on Sunday Grades K-6. Deadline for putting teams together is Wed., Feb. 28. Please let Mr. Webbe know immediately if you are interested. Teams are 4 players each.

Third: Our deadline for the TDSB Team Championship, to be held during school hours on Thursday, March 22 at Deer Park PS, is Friday, March 9. We need a team of 5 players, with at least one by and at least one girl. Last year we had 4 girls and one boy, the most girls of any school. Players will be chosen by merit, which means both chess skill and ability to represent the
school (i.e., behave responsibly). We would like one team in each of Grades 1-3, 4-6, and 7-8.

David Cohen
Chess Coach
The Waterfront School

Thursday, February 15, 2007

2007-02-24T18:54:00.002-08:00

23 kids today, though it seemed like more, they were so busy. A few of the kids have taken to watching other kids play, rather than playing themselves. This is good, because chess can certainly be a spectator sport. It's good when the kids are interested and are learning in this way. But a reminder: it's bad when the kid doing the watching starts to talk and adviseone of the players, or to interfere in the game.

We call this 'kibitzing'. It's fun for the person doing the watching, but it's no fun and no fair for the player whose opponent is getting the advice.
Everyone is interested in the March 1 afer-school team tournament that The Waterfront School will host. We expect visitors from King Edward P.S. where I also teach chess, and a few other schools.

David Cohen
Chess Coach
The Waterfront School

Thursday, February 15, 2007

2007-02-24T18:54:00.001-08:00

Thursday, February 15, 2007

2007-02-24T18:54:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 08, 2007

2007-02-24T18:48:00.002-08:00

30 kids today, and wow were they noisy! Strangely enough, they all know how to scream my name.

Thanks to Coral and Kaiyash for help setting up and to the girls (Megan, Chelsea, Maisha) for help cleaning up.

The Waterfront School will host a small team tournament in the lunchroom on Thursday, March 1 after school from 3:45 - 5:00pm. We need players for teams of 5! Anyone not signed up for Karate at that time, please see Mr. Webbe if you are interested in being on the chess team.

Starbucks is going to sponsor this event, with prizes and hot chocolate!!

David Cohen
Chess Coach
The Waterfront School

Thursday, february 01, 2007

2007-02-24T18:48:00.001-08:00

Hello, Some updates about the Junior/ Intermediate Chess Club We had 29 kids playing today, combined Primary and Intermediate. Mason took the time to play Lara from Primary, which was nice to see. Practice is continuing, in advance of the High School Qualifier tournament, Saturday, February 10 at Stephen Leacock C.I., open to Grades 7 and up. See Mr. Webbe for the form if you want to play. The Waterfront School is being challenged to a match by King Edward P.S., with Thursday, March 1 being the suggested date. --- David Cohen

TDSB Team Chess Championship, on Thursday, March 22.

2007-02-23T19:24:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Just some info about a Tournament coming up on Thursday, March 22, 2007.

Deer Park will host the TDSB Team Chess Championship, Regional Qualifier, on Thursday, March 22. Both Int. (Grades 7-8) and Primary (Grades 1-3) are in the afternoon. Grades 4 - 6 are in the morning, but if there's only dstu we'll need 3 more for a team.

David Cohen

Winter 2007 Semester

2007-02-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

Here are some updates covering our return from the Winter Break and leading us towards the end of the thrird week in January.

Enjoy the reading... ;)

Week 1
Winter 2007 semester of Chess Club started quietly at Thursday lunch on Jan. 11, as the Grade 7-8 kids were away the first day. We had 12 primary kids. This gave me the chance to work with a few kids one on one. I taught them how to make a couple of the basic checkmates. This will enable them to win their games where they are ahead and should win, rather than only obtain a draw by not knowing how to finish off their opponent. Alexia received her ribbon forfinishing in first place in the Fall semester tournament.

Week 2
At the parents' advisory council meeting, money was approved for Chess Institute of Canada (CIC) to continue teaching at Chess Club! Many thanks. We're still looking for sponsors, so that we can continue to the end of the school year. The council also approved the purchase of 10 new chess sets and boards, to replace the ones loaned by CIC.

At Chess Club, we had all of the regulars back, joined by newcomer Friede, and it was the usual chaos.

Week 3More chaos, and lots of noise! Everyone had fun, staying indoors against the wind chill warning. I continued teaching the basic checkmates to Sarah and Nitai; and started work withGaleo. Kabeer and Anton received their ribbons for finishing in first place in the Fall semester tournament. David CohenChess Coach

Chess News for You! Update!

2007-02-23T18:57:00.000-08:00

Everyone was very supportive at the Parent Council meeting on January 16, 2007! They voted $500 for (CIC) to teach chess for Winter 2007, which leaves us to find $500 for the balance of the year from other sponsors. They also voted $100 for 10 new chess sets with laminated paper boards, which I (CIC) will buy and deliver to the school.
We wish to Thank You... The Waterfront PS Parent Council for your generous and continued support of our programs.

Best Regards,

The Waterfront Junior Intermediate Chess Club!

The Ontario Chess Association:

2007-02-23T18:54:00.000-08:00

The TDSB Individual Championship for Grades 7-12 will be held there on Friday, April 27. Permission slips will be necessary.

It will be located at: Stephen Leacock C.I. (Scarborough - Sheppard Avenue East at Birchmount Road)

Mid-Year Standings: 01 January 2007

2007-02-23T18:51:00.000-08:00

Listed below are the links to the current standing for both our Chess Clubs.

Take a peek and look at where each of your stand....? You all might be surprised!

Mister Webbe ;)

By a quirk of the ratings system, Devon has a higher rating than Kabeer!

http://www.chesstalk.com/elo/pub/scr/tournois.php?no=2921

http://www.chesstalk.com/elo/pub/scr/tournois.php?no=2922

REMEMBER: Chess Tournament at The Waterfront School

Thursday, March 1, 2007
3:45 PM till 5:30 PM

Please eturn your Permission Forms as soon as possible.

Thursday, December 21, 2006...

2006-12-22T12:50:00.000-08:00

We had 21 kids out for the last session of the calendar year. We wrapped up the tournaments.

In the Junior/Intermediate section, Anton and Kabeer shared first with the same number of wins.

Kabeer had a perfect score, whereas Anton had to play one extra game to catch up. After the school break, we'll resume chess club on the very first Thursday lunch: January 11, 2007 beginning at 12:05 p.m. in Mr. Webbe's classroom; Room 8.

Just a reminder to those who would like to help that funding has now run out for this program which is free for the kids. We need to raise $1,000. Possible sources include donations, for which a tax receipt can be arranged; corporate sponsorships; and advertisements from local usinesses in our monthly Newsletter which we will launch in January!

See Everyone in 2007! Have a safe holiday break!

David Cohen
Chess Coach
The Waterfront School

David Cohen

Thursday, December 14, 2006: Holiday Break Approaching!

2006-12-22T12:39:00.000-08:00

Good Afternoon everyone!

We had 24 kids today for lunch time Chess Club. Devon played Lilyan in a helpful way, by showing her how to make better moves at each step of the game. Then Devon turned around and was on the receiving end of some friendly instruction from Kabeer. Just the atmosphere
we like to see!

Anton and Kabeer wanted extra practice before the individual Scholastic Tournament this Saturday, so they each challenged me to a game. I played them both at the same time, on two separate boards, and even played Devon an instruction game on a third board at the same time. First, Kabeer beat me. He then took over the instruction game. Then Anton beat me. So that
didn't turn out well for me, but I was happy for the kids.

Thanks to Chelsea, Telia and Megan for help cleaning up for both divisons!

David Cohen
Chess Coach
Waterfront

David Cohen

Reminder... School begins on Monday, January 8, 2006

Days to the Tournament... WOW!

2006-11-23T18:13:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Days to go... 2.5 in fact before we head to our first tournament as a school team! Our team consists of Kabeer (Captain), Anton, Clayton and Mason.

The team has been working upon new moves and techniques throughout the week. They are prepared and organized for the challenge this weekend.

Stay Tuned! Look out for tournament updates this weekend and in The Waterfront Wave.

Chess Clubs, Tournaments and other Stuff

2006-11-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 12, 2006 - Update

Toronto Team Chess Championship
November 25, 2006
K-3, 7-9, 9-12St. Michael’s College, Brennan Hall
By team of 4 players from the same school. Pre-registration only
For more information see toronto_team.pdf
Information: Chess'n Math Association at (416) 486-3395.

*Our school would like to send a team. Please support this activity.

Our First Three Weeks Watch Out... More to Come

2006-11-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

Good Afternoon,

The kids at The Waterfront School are excited about lunchtime chess every Thursday. We had 18 kids come out for the first hectic day. Unfortunately, I only brought 7 chess sets, the same as last year. I didn't expect such a great response! But it was really wonderful to see the kids having fun. A few kids left disappointed, because they didn't get a chance to play. So, for our second week, I brought more chess sets: a total of 10, to accomodate 20 players. But again we ran short, as 24 kids came out!

During our third meeting - Thursday, November 09, 2006 we had a combined total of 32 Chess Club Members from all three division in attendance! Wow!

Thanks to Mr. Webbe, we were better organized. The Primary kids played first, and then some left for recess, and were replaced by the Junior/Intermediate kids. So, everyone got a chance to play. I'll just mention a few kids. In Week 1, Coral was a big help setting up the boards at the start of the lunch period. Everything goes much smoother and faster when the kids pitch in and help with setup. It's also important to help clean up at the end. If everyone sets up their board, then I know there are no missing pieces, and I can put the sets away. As Ted says, imagine if everyone always cleaned up after themselves ... Among the older kids, Kabeer is the whiz kid. He plays fast and he plays well. He even came close to beating me. This is a frequent goal of the kids, many of whom love to challenge me. No one at The Waterfront School has beaten me yet, but kids at other schools have. I'll know I'm teaching them well when I see the kids confident enough to challenge me, and skilled enough to beat me.

If a child has a chance to play chess during the week betweeen chess classes, then encourage the child to play: with a classmate, friend, or relative.

Next Chess Club:
Thursday, November 17, 2006
Junior/ Intermediates (Grades 4 to 8) 12:05 pm to 12:35 pm

David Cohen
Chess Coach
The Waterfront School

Junior/ Intermediate Team Members

2006-11-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

Kabeer - Captain
Anton
Mason
Clayton
Jonathan
Amir
Devon
Steven
John
Eric
Evan

By: Anton Kats