Please Help the Chess Kids of IS 318

Times are hard.  Revenues are down for states and municipalities.  As is the case in so many school districts across the country, budgets are being slashed, teachers are being fired, aides are being fired, programs (those left that is, after many prior years of cutting, cutting and cutting) are being eliminated.  None of this benefits our kids.

I think all of us would agree that our kids should not be made to suffer. 

When I read the plea for help for IS 318's chess program at Elizabeth Vicary's blog, my heart went right out to the kids - in this case, chess kids!  We immediately pledged a donation.  We only wish it could be more!

For those of you who don't know Elizabeth Vicary, she has played in several U.S. Women's Chess Championships.  These events are by invitation only from the U.S. Chess Federation, to the top-rated U.S. women and those who have otherwise earned the right to participate (such as the prior year's champion and winners of certain USCF-sponsored events).  Elizabeth won the 2007 Goddesschess Brilliancy Prize for her game against WGM Camille Baginskaite at the 2007 Frank K. Berry U.S. Women's Chess Championship.  It was by virtue of that prize that I came to "know" her a little bit, and became a big fan! 

Goddesschess believes whole-heartedly in the importance of chess programs for our young people.  The many benefits that chess brings to them are well-documented and I'm not going to bore you to tears by going into them here.  Suffice to say that the tangible and intangible benefits for our young people stand as a testament to why "scholastic" chess is so popular in the United States today - and new chess programs are being added across the nation, despite budget cuts!  But, as fast as we're pedalling, we're just playing catch-up to programs that have been going on in Europe (and particularly in Russia and many countries of the former Soviet Union) for generations; and these programs are a primary reason why Chinese players have risen so quickly to the top ranks of female and male chessplayers on the world ratings lists! 

Please help the IS 318 school chess program.  If you can, please help the kids by making a donation.  A Pay-Pal account has been set up to make donating easy.  Any amount, no matter how "small" you think it might be, is welcome.  All of those "small" donations can add up quickly, darlings, if enough of us make them! Remember the story about how a mighty forest grew from one little acorn? That's what we can do, a few dollars at a time.

Your donation is deductible for U.S. income tax purposes to the extent allowable by law as a donation to a qualifying tax-exempt entity (as a public school, IS 318 is a qualified tax-exempt entity under the Internal Revenue Code).

Link to the PayPal page for IS 318. 

If you pre, checks, made payable to I.S. 318 Chess Team, can be mailed to:
I.S. 318
101 Walton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11206

For more information, please contact I.S. 318 Chess Coach Elizabeth Vicary. 

Anita Maksimiuk, 2010 IS 318

Elizabeth Vicary (left) and some of the girls from the 2007 IS 318
Chess Teams.  IS 318 was honored by the Mayor's Office in 2007!

I would also like you to know that Goddesschess' donation will be used as follows:  [W]e decided to use the money to send girls to girls nationals, in honor of your blog. The total should cover the entry fee for 10-12 girls. Obviously, we'll still have to cover other expenses, but the assistant principal said he would find the money.

Information on the wonderful chess program at IS 318:

You can read up close and personal accounts of Elizabeth's work with these kids at her blog.

I.S. 318 Chess Team

IS 318 Chess Team

The Story of IS 318: Interview with the Director of Chess Movie
by Jennifer Shahade
April 5, 2010

April 20, 2011
Remainders: IS 318 wins national chess tournament
by Philissa Cramer, at 7:28 pm

Information on Elizabeth Vicary:

E. Vicary on Chess, Girls and Genius
by Jennifer Shahade
June 26, 2007

Some of Elizabeth's games at Chessgames

Braden Bournival on Elizabeth

According to the U.S. Chess Federation's current statistics, Elizabeth is currently ranked 49th of U.S. women, with a USCF rating of 2076 and a FIDE ELO of 2154.  She reached her peak USCF rating near the end of 2007. As so often happens with promising U.S. female chessplayers, Elizabeth has not played in many events recently - her life is now filled up with other demands on her time, including her teaching career.  Her most recent event was in May of this year, the 2011 World Amateur Team and US Team East. 

A Great Article About a Great Program

From USA Today
To 'chess lady' game is more than fun
By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY
March 28, 2011

Quiet, please. The second- and third-graders at McGinn Elementary School are playing chess, which means they're concentrating, which means they shouldn't be interrupted.

But Wendi Fischer can't resist giving a compliment. "You're really using your brain to think instead of your mouths," she tells students, as she walks from class to class.

It's hard to believe these are the same kids who, just an hour earlier, could barely contain their glee when Fischer made a surprise visit to an assembly in the library. There were pictures, autographs, hugs.

Fischer, executive director of America's Foundation for Chess, has become a celebrity among the elementary school set. Kids know her as the Chess Lady, the tiara-wearing medieval queen who hosts the chess lessons they watch each week on DVD. While chess has long been a staple of after-school programs, the foundation aspires to bring chess into more classrooms through First Move.

It's not the first initiative to teach chess to elementary students. Since 1986, the non-profit Chess-in-the-Schools has taught the game to low-income students in New York City Public Schools. And no one keeps track of how many teachers use the board game as a teaching tool, though plenty of books are available to help them.

The foundation, based in Bellevue, Wash., aims to expand First Move nationally and beyond. Launched in the 2004-05 academic year in 11 Seattle area schools, the program last year reached more than 50,000 students in nearly 2,000 classrooms across 27 states, mostly by word of mouth. In 2008, Idaho became the first state to encourage public schools statewide to use the game as part of their curricula in second and third grades, and Maryland's Senate education committee this month considered a similar proposal for its public schools. First Move can be found in Antigua, Kenya, Canada and Mexico, and Fischer's group has been in talks with the education ministries of Norway and Denmark.

Fischer (no relation to Bobby, the American who in 1972 famously beat the USSR's Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship) says the weekly lessons, mapped to standards typical for second- and third-graders, serve multiple goals. They encourage students to strategize and solve problems, involve math skills that will come in handy when they study algebra, and introduce content related to medieval times. (Did you know that the queen, the most powerful piece on the chess board, gained strength in the game over time, as her role in real life grew more prominent?)

While First Move doesn't claim to improve students' test scores, some researchers have found chess can improve academic performance. A 1993 study, for example, found that a group of students in the New York program scored significantly higher on reading tests than a control group.

Chess also addresses social skills, which the Scotch Plains students seem to have picked up on very quickly.

Players always shake hands before the game "as a courtesy" and afterward as a way to say "good game," says second-grader Zoe Wernsing, 8. It is "unsportsmanlike" to offer unwanted advice or commentary during a match, says second-grader Kieren Adams, 7. And while beating an opponent (especially a parent) is a worthy goal, "you learn more from a game you lose than a game you win," says third-grader Athena Postlewait, 9.

Some educators say chess can be a confidence booster. "For some children this is a way to express their intelligence," says author and University of Texas at Dallas senior lecturer Alexey Root, who since 2007 has taught online courses for aspiring and practicing teachers nationwide who want to use chess as a learning tool. "You see lines of force and manipulate things in your mind's eye."

Fischer, who hopes to add about 1,200 more classrooms this year, says the biggest obstacle isn't lack of interest but lack of funding. Chess may have gotten a boost from former president Bill Clinton, who, in his 2007 book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, called the New York Chess-in-the-Schools program "a classic example of a very good idea with no chance of becoming a reality without private support."

In Scotch Plains, that caught the attention of the owners of the Stage House Tavern, who liked the idea of supporting something that would involve schools, co-owner Tom Britt says. They approached the district anonymously, offering to fund First Move if educators approved its curriculum. The cost to put the program into 39 classrooms across all five of the district's elementary schools was about $25,000.

Second-grade teacher Sondra Chernoff says teachers, some of whom had never played chess before, like the opportunity to build their repertoire of skills.

"We're like the students, we're learning like everybody else," she says. And by the way, she adds, they're also star-struck by the Chess Lady. "I think the teachers are more excited than the kids."

2011 All Girls Scholastic Chess Championship Set for Clarksville, Tennessee USA

News from theleafchronicle.com

Clarksville to Host All-Girls Tournament
Roy Manners • Reader Submitted • September 14, 2010
[Excerpted]

Clarksville [Tennessee, USA] has been chosen as the site of the 2011 All-Girls Scholastic Chess Championship. The All-Girls Chess tournament is held every year to determine the State Champion among girls eighteen years of age and younger. The winner is Tennessee's official representative to the National Championship for girls.

The tournament will be held Saturday April 9, 2011 at the Montgomery County Civic Hall in Veteran's Plaza, 350 Pageant Lane, Clarksville, TN 37040. The tournament will be in two sections. The Championship Section will be open to all TN girls age 18 and Under and will be USCF rated. The Competition Section will be open to all girls age 18 and Under from anywhere and will not be rated. Each section will have three divisions according to age: 18 and Under, 14 and Under, 10 and Under. Trophies and prizes will be awarded in each division.

The Championship section will also offer a Grand Prize to the State Champion of a partial Scholarship to the college of her choice. Money is being raised for this purpose even now. The goal is to be able to offer the winner a $1000 scholarship.

The tournament format was designed in order to encourage more girls to participate. The winner in the 18 and Under division of the Championship Section will be crowned the TN All-Girls State Champion and be TN's official representative to the All-Girls National events. The Competition Section was included “just for fun” so more girls could participate without the pressure of competing for the title or risk losing rating points. The prizes and trophies in both sections are very comparable.

In each of the past four years only nineteen girls have participated in the TN All-Girls Tournament. The goal in 2011 is to get forty girls in each section, so the tournament was designed to give girls a choice about which way they'd like to compete.

The Competition Section even though not rated, is not just consolation play. It is set up to be just as much fun and just as exciting as any other tournament. There is no risk to anyone's rating. No memberships of any kind are required. Just pay the entry fee and play. It is hoped that this will encourage first time girls to participate. A girl does not have to be unrated to play in the Competition section. It is open to all girls, rated or not, from anywhere.

2009 Sioux Falls, SD Grand Prix Tournaments

Announcement was published at Argusleader.com: Monthly chess tournaments to be held December 16, 2008 The Sioux Empire Chess Foundation is holding the Sioux Falls Scholastic League 2009 Grand Prix. Tournaments will be held monthly in various locations throughout the Sioux Falls area. Players compete in one section: K-5, with class prizes available for K-3. Games are time controlled and rated by the United States Chess Federation. Official USCF game timers are used. All players get to play five games. Scorekeeping is not required but strongly encouraged, official score sheets are provided. The first event is 12:30 to 7 p.m. Jan. 11at John Harris Elementary. All players must have current United States Chess Federation Membership. Visit online at uschess.org to join for $17 (one year) or pay $20 at site. Entry Fee: $10 if sent in 2008, $15 thereafter. Mail registrations to Alex Yermolinsky, 6300 W Cheyenne Drive, Sioux Falls, SD 57106. Include your name, grade in school, your USCF ranking and if just joining your date of birth. No registrations accepted after 12:45 PM on the day of the tournament.

$250,000 Chess Program - Out of Business

Ohmygoddess! How low-life can you get - ripping off parents and kids who just want to play chess. Where is the money? Families Duped Out of Money Popular After-School Chess Program Suddenly "Checks Out" November 13, 2008 FREMONT, CA (KGO) -- Parents from as many as three dozen Bay Area schools are wondering tonight if they'll ever get the estimated $250,000 they're owed from an afterschool program. A popular children's chess program has suddenly closed up shop. Know Chess rented space from public and private schools in the East Bay, South Bay and the Peninsula. The closures came without warning. Shubham Mandal of Palo Alto enjoys a game of chess with his dad. The 8-year old is one of an estimated 1,300 Bay Area children enrolled this semester in Know Chess. But the afterschool program suddenly closed down a few weeks ago. "It feels bad because I like chess a lot and they're stopping it," said Mandal. The closure left parents like Michelle Biche disappointed for her child and wondering about a refund of her $204 tuition payment. Her son Owen attends first grade at Delaine Easton in Union City. "I want to get better and beat my dad once," said Michelle's son Owen Biche. "I hope other people see this, and other people get involved. And that this woman doesn't go on and continue to do this because it's just going to disappoint children," said Michelle Biche. The Know Chess' office in Fremont appears closed. A neighbor says he hasn't seen anyone there in a month. Calls and e-mails by parents to Know Chess have gone unreturned. So 7 On Your Side went to owner Angela Hughes' condo in Fremont. There, we found a Know Chess parent also looking for Hughes. We followed her to Hughes front door. Hughes refused to open the door, but later told 7 On Your Side she's been busy responding to e-mails and phone calls and promised refunds in six to eight weeks. "It sounds like she's trying or wants to refund people their money. I'm not sure she knows when that's going to happen, and that's causing the anxiety," said Suzanne Ogawa. Meanwhile back at Delaine Easton, Know Chess is being replaced by a competing program, U.S. Chess Mates. The school district's nonprofit foundation has stepped in to cover the tuition for parents. "It's the right thing to do. Our job as a foundation is to work with the community to provide access to extracurricular, pro-curricular activities," said the president of the New Heaven School Foundation Phillip Crosby. We were the first to break the news to some of the parents. "This is nice. It's nice to see that you know our district cares as much about the kids that they say," said Michelle Biche. The donation covers children at Delain Easton. But the parents of 1,200 other children are still waiting for their refunds. We'll keep you posted. (Copyright ©2008 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Wisconsin 4th Annual All Girls Scholastic Chess Tournament

Soon the Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Federation will be announcing details for the 4th Annual All Girls Scholastic Chess Tournament - I understand the particulars of the 2009 Tournament are being put together. I realize this is somewhat late in reporting (lol!) but I've only recently become aware of this important event in my home state that promotes chess for younger chess femmes! Way to go WSCF! Here are the individual standings in the K-3, K-6 and K-12 classes from the 2008 tournament, held on April 26, 2008: K-3 Place Name Rating Pts TBrk1 TBrk2 TBrk3 Rnd1 Rnd2 Rnd3 Rnd4 Rnd5 1 HUANG, ALENA 1019 5.0 14.0 16.0 32.0 W21 W9 W8 W3 W2 2 CHIESA, EMILY 648 4.0 14.5 16.5 23.0 W24 W12 W17 W4 L1 3 CATALAN, ANGELICA 450 4.0 14.0 15.0 20.0 W32 W15 W10 L1 W11 4 SCHNEIDER, CLAUDIA 519 4.0 13.0 14.5 21.0 W6 W23 W25 L2 W8 5 RATHORE, SRISHTI 458 4.0 11.0 12.5 20.0 W18 L17 W29 W13 W9 6 LEWIS-TAYLOR, DONNA 407 4.0 10.0 11.0 14.0 L4 W33 W23 W29 W17 7 ROBINSON, DESTINY 249 3.5 11.5 14.0 19.5 W11 L8 W12 D17 W19 8 ULATOWSKI, HANNAH 442 3.0 15.5 17.0 16.0 W28 W7 L1 W10 L4 9 O'CONNOR, HÉLÈNE 318 3.0 13.5 15.0 12.0 W16 L1 W24 W25 L5 10 LENZ, EMMA 397 3.0 12.0 14.0 14.0 W26 W14 L3 L8 W21 11 HUANG, SABRIN 611 3.0 12.0 14.0 13.0 L7 W19 W20 W21 L3 12 ILCHENKO, ISABELLA 313 3.0 12.0 14.0 13.0 W27 L2 L7 W18 W20 13 SCHNEIDER, MAYA 311 3.0 11.0 13.0 14.0 L20 W27 W14 L5 W22 14 REBHOLZ, MADISON 306 3.0 10.0 11.0 10.0 W22 L10 L13 W34 W24 15 RAJENDRAN, JASHMI 301 3.0 10.0 11.0 9.5 W33 L3 D18 D20 W25 16 SIDDIQUE, MANAAL 194 3.0 9.0 9.0 7.0 L9 L18 -B- W23 W29 17 ADUSUMILLI, ARIANNA 279 2.5 11.5 16.5 13.5 W34 W5 L2 D7 L6 18 GONZALEZ, MARINA 122 2.5 8.5 14.0 11.0 L5 W16 D15 L12 W31 19 SUBRAMANIAN, UMA 214 2.5 7.0 12.0 9.5 D30 L11 W22 W26 L7 20 DEPALMA, NATALIE 270 2.0 10.5 13.5 10.5 W13 D29 L11 D15 L12 21 HILDEBRAND, GABRIELLE 193 2.0 8.5 13.5 5.0 L1 W32 W28 L11 L10 22 GALIEN, SIERRA 112 2.0 8.5 11.5 6.0 L14 W31 L19 W28 L13 23 CHRYST, BAILEY 213 2.0 8.0 12.0 3.0 W35 L4 L6 L16 W33 24 ZIETLOW, MARIAH 111 2.0 7.5 11.5 3.0 L2 W35 L9 W33 L14 25 ULATOWSKI, GRETA 100 2.0 7.5 11.5 3.0 -B- W30 L4 L9 L15 26 MCCAULEY, MIRANDA 115 2.0 7.0 10.0 6.0 L10 D34 W30 L19 D27 27 OKORO, CHIKA 100 2.0 7.0 10.0 4.5 L12 L13 W35 D30 D26 28 PEREZ, ERIKA 100 2.0 5.0 8.0 2.0 L8 -B- L21 L22 W34 29 PETZOLD, GRACE 221 1.5 10.0 14.0 5.0 W31 D20 L5 L6 L16 30 WHITTOW, KATIE 100 1.5 6.5 9.0 5.5 D19 L25 L26 D27 D32 31 CAYEN, EMMA 100 1.5 5.0 7.5 2.0 L29 L22 D34 W35 L18 32 HILLER, MARLA 100 1.5 4.5 8.5 1.5 L3 L21 L33 -B- D30 33 RUCKSTADTER, ALI 100 1.0 8.0 12.0 2.0 L15 L6 W32 L24 L23 34 TROMPETIR, HAILEY 100 1.0 7.5 10.5 3.5 L17 D26 D31 L14 L28 35 RUCKSTADER, EMMA 100 1.0 5.5 7.5 0.0 L23 L24 L27 L31 –BWSCF K-6 Place Name Rating Pts TBrk1 TBrk2 TBrk3 Rnd1 Rnd2 Rnd3 Rnd4 Rnd5 1 EMERY, ELIZABETH 606 5.0 11.0 11.0 22.0 W11 W14 W3 W2 -X- 2 HOLZ, MARY 564 4.0 14.0 17.0 25.0 W8 W4 W5 L1 W3 3 DUBROSKY, JASMIN 377 3.0 14.5 16.5 16.0 W15 W9 L1 W7 L2 4 SMEATON, MORGAN 388 3.0 12.5 13.0 11.0 W18 L2 W10 L5 W12 5 SAGER, STEPHANIE 587 3.0 12.0 12.0 16.0 W12 W6 L2 W4 -F- 6 LEWIS, ABBY 544 3.0 11.5 13.5 14.0 W7 L5 W13 W11 L9 7 RAJENDRAN, RASHMI 301 3.0 11.0 12.0 12.0 L6 W8 W14 L3 W16 8 MERAZ, ODALYS 293 3.0 11.0 11.5 9.0 L2 L7 W17 W14 W13 9 MCCAULEY, ALANNA 722 3.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 W13 L3 L11 W12 W6 10 PATTERSON, HEATHER 224 3.0 9.0 10.0 10.0 W16 L12 L4 W15 W11 11 MISEY, ROSE 315 2.0 11.0 15.5 10.0 L1 W15 W9 L6 L10 12 GOMOLL, RACHEL 301 2.0 10.0 13.5 8.0 L5 W10 W16 L9 L4 13 WHITTOW, JESSICA 294 2.0 7.5 10.5 3.0 L9 W17 L6 W16 L8 14 MCKAY, RACHEL 413 2.0 7.0 11.5 2.0 W17 L1 L7 L8 W18 15 REDLINGER, JULIA 132 2.0 6.0 9.0 2.0 L3 L11 W18 L10 W17 16 MCCAULEY, CASSIDY 263 1.0 7.5 10.5 1.0 L10 W18 L12 L13 L7 17 MARLIN, LAURA 100 0.5 6.5 9.5 0.5 L14 L13 L8 D18 L15 18 STAUDT, SARA 100 0.5 5.5 8.5 0.5 L4 L16 L15 D17 L14 K-12 Place Name Rating Pts TBrk1 TBrk2 TBrk3 Rnd1 Rnd2 Rnd3 Rnd4 Rnd5 1 HUANG, JOANNA 801 4.5 11.5 12.0 21.0 W5 W3 W4 W2 D2 2 LANGE, CHARLOTTE 406 3.0 13.5 14.0 13.0 W3 D6 W5 L1 D1 3 KIM, MARY LIZ 730 3.0 11.5 12.0 9.0 L2 L1 W6 W4 W5 4 UNGER, DEBORAH 458 2.0 5.0 9.5 4.0 W6 W5 L1 L3 -U- 5 STEARNS, MADDIE 113 1.0 8.5 13.0 0.0 L1 L4 L2 -B- L3 6 FILALI, SARA 249 0.5 5.5 8.5 3.0 L4 D2 L3 -U- -U As you can see, there was a great drop-off in participants between the K-3 and K-12 level: from 35 girls to 6. As GM Susan Polgar has repeatedly pointed out at her blog, young girls who start out eager to play chess tend to drop out of the game in their early to mid-teens. Just speaking selfishly, as a nation, we could potentially be losing some female players who could develop into outstanding chess talents - and we cannot afford to lose even one of these potential stars! I mean, darlings, it's not as if we're churning out top 10, 20 or 50 world-class players on a regular basis. I would like to see more American players in the top 10 of international competitions - and in world events put together for children (World Youth Chess Championships) and teens (World Junior/Girls chess Championships). What's to be done? GM Susan Polgar has led the way in the United States by developing and promoting national girls-only events - we can do more. Programs to encourage girls to play chess and continue to play chess can be developed at local levels, in our own communities, and at state levels. But - it is local players who participate in the big national events that GM Polgar has been putting together, offering great scholarships and other prizes for the all-female participants. (GM Polgar also sponsors a great national boys event offering great prizes, so no promising young U.S. players are excluded from perhaps winning a 4-year college scholarship, laptop computers, and other great prizes). We must start at the local level to promote chess among our children. The benefits of young people playing chess has been well documented and I won't go into that here - I will post links to some articles that discuss the topic and provide much better information that I can do in my own words! This morning I had a lengthy telephone conversation with one of the members of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Federation. It was an eye-opener for me, and very informative. Perhaps because of reading so much about GM Polgar's efforts to promote chess as an educational tool (as well as a route to individual personal development) I was under the impression that scholastic chess in the United States is pretty well funded. That is not necessarily the case, at least - not here in Wisconsin. The WSCF, operating on a shoe-string budget (funding is primarily comprised of individual donations and net funds raised from entry fees for tournaments and chess camps) and run by non-paid volunteers (primarily parents of scholastic chessplayers), offered a total of $700 in prizes in 2008 for their girls-only tornaments, in the form of U.S. Savings Bonds. I hope I got that right! Can we do better? I know we can - we just need more people wrapping their brains around how to get better funding and how to better promote these fantastic events for our young players. I mean really, darlings, wouldn't you rather see our young people going head to head over a chessboard, using their brains, developing skills and abilities that will serve them well for the rest of their lives, than acting out their competitive instincts as gangbangers on a one-way trip to dead before 21? How about volunteering to assist at a local chess club? Or if your state has a scholastic chess organization, volunteer to assist it? How about contributing $25, $50 or $100 a year toward funding prizes for our kids? Imagine the impact on a state chess organization if just 50 people contributed $100 each. Wow! Think about it.

Scholastic Chess - Big Money In The USA

No wonder some people are so bitter against Susan Polgar and Paul Truong, who got elected to seats on the USCF Executive Board. They had a chance to grab for the gold ring, and they lost it. Cha ching - down the tubes. Bye bye, $$$. Where’s the Real Action Now? In the Nation’s Schoolrooms By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN Published: May 20, 2007 Scholastic chess has become the game’s lifeblood. Almost 60 percent of United States Chess Federation members are under 18. The most exciting scholastic events are the national championships. In late March and early April, more than 1,000 players competed in the junior high school championships in Sacramento. That was followed last month by the high school nationals in Kansas City, Mo., with more than 1,400 players. The cycle ended last weekend with more than 2,000 children, some only 5 years old, playing in the elementary school championships in Nashville. And yes, even children this young can show talent. One Georgia family seems to have chess running in its veins. Ryan Joseph Moon, 11, who goes by Joseph, won the K-6 section with a score of 6 ½ out of 7. His ranking is almost that of an expert, which makes him better than more than 90 percent of adults who play in tournaments. Joseph’s brother Benjamin, 9, won the K-3 section, also with 6 ½ out of 7. It may not be the last such sibling act: They have a brother, Richard, 2 (who has yet to begin playing). Henry Moon, the boys’ father, an associate professor of management at the London Business School, who commutes between London and Georgia, said the family traveled to more than 20 tournaments a year. He and his wife are home-schooling Benjamin because he missed too many days of school. Moon said it was difficult to balance chess and school. “You are always trying to dance between the two,” he said. “I think that is true for any parents of kids who compete at a national level.” He said the family spends more than $15,000 a year on travel and lessons.

Vietnamese Redux

It seems the Vietnamese chess community has something of a battle going on regarding state funding of promising (versus "already there") chessplayers. What is it to be? Funding many promising young players at a low rate of support every month, or funding fewer, more mature players with higher ELOs at a higher rate of support every month? Is the immediate controversy at all related to the relatively poor showing of the Vietnamese Women in the recently concluded First World Women’s Team Chess Championship? Unfortunately, no. That event wasn’t mentioned in the article – and perhaps the author doesn’t give a rap about women’s chess in Vietnam. All the players the article mentions are males: GM Le Quang Liem: 2541 (born 1991) GM Dao Thien Hai: 2543 (born 1978) GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son: 2542 (born 1990) GM Nguyen Ahn Dung: 2528 (born 1976) GM Tu Hoang Thong: 2472 (born 1972) Tran Duc Hoa Khanh: 2183 (born 1974) Here is the article: Investing in sports talents needs thorough change 14:21' 03/06/2007 (GMT+7) VietNamNet Bridge – Chess player Le Quang Liem is a rare talent but the total State investment in this great master is only VND43 million ($3,000) a year or only VND3.5 million ($215) a month – too little for a great talent. Le Quang Liem is the first player who has held all three national championships for traditional, rapid and blitz chess tournaments within a given year, according to Vice Chairman of the HCM City Chess Federation Nguyen Phuoc Trung. Mr Trung also said that in early July, when the World Chess Confederation (FIDE) announced the Elo and the new rankings for chess players worldwide, Liem had passed Thien Hai and Truong Son to become the top chess player of Vietnam. At the age of 16, Liem has proven his talent in overcoming great masters like Thien Hai, Anh Dung, Hoang Thong and Truong Son. Is there any special investment for Liem to develop his talent? “Liem currently ranks 372nd in FIDE’s ratings and if he is invested in properly, Liem can enter the top 50 of the world,” Mr Trung said. What is proper investment? It is participating in around ten international contests and being trained by a good coach who is paid US$5,000 a month. That’s an unreachable dream for a Vietnamese chess player, even a rare talent like Liem. It is sad to know that the above investment level is a dream but it is much sadder to know the current investment in Liem, because it is too low. Each year Liem receives VND21 million of salary from the HCM City Department of Sports and Physical Training, VND2.5 million for being a national sports great master and around VND20 million for being a member of the national chess team, totaling VND43.5 million (less than $3,000). Changes are needed Hoa Khanh, a former member of the national chess team, said: “Irrational investment mechanism has held back the development of sports in general and chess in particular. It’s absurd when a pupil who has just played chess for a short period of time and shows a little talent is immediately selected for the team of key chess talents and enjoys State support of several hundreds of thousands dong a month.” This amount of money is small but it becomes a big number when the payment for hundreds of players of this kind is added up. In addition, there are many other kinds of talented players who also receive State money. If this whole sum of money is invested in a small number of big talents the results would be much better. The viewpoint of Hoa Khanh is the way that developed countries perform. An overseas Vietnamese in Australia said that his family must pay everything for their 7-year-old daughter who has won a gold medal at a state swimming contest for students. If this girl becomes a member of the state team she will receive huge investment from the state and her future will be very bright. Irrational investment has hindered the development of many talents of Vietnamese sports, for example chess players Dao Thien Hai, Truong Son or Anh Dung, who have shown signs of stagnation since they lack opportunities to play in international contests. Le Quang Liem’s future will be the same when he can’t devote his mind and life to chess but has to study at school to prepare for his future life. “People like Quang Liem, Truong Son and Thien Hai are rare in Vietnam. We now have only five great masters of chess. Those transcendent heads, if they focus on studying at school only, will easily find a good job to earn a high salary. If they pursue the career of a chess player, after they stop playing chess, they can only work as a chess coach and earn a low salary. So who dares to let their children pursue such a sports career?” Khanh asked. So, a thorough change for investment in sports is a must. (Source: Tuoi Tre) Here are prior related posts: A Different Perspective Dragon Capital – Trying a Queen’s Gambit? It seems to me we have our own "war" going on right now in the USCF, between the supporters of "adult" and the supporters of "scholastic" levels of membership. That chess wag Sam Sloan recently "made a motion" (not, of course, to the actual Executive Board of the USCF, but as a post on an online message board that he can always disclaim as "not serious") to fund increased prizes in USCF-sponsored adult championships by increasing the membership fees of scholastic members by $3 per member per year. Basically, SS wants to stick it to the kids (who now are a majority of USCF paying membership) to benefit a relatively small number of above 2600-rated U.S. players who play the rather anemic tournament circuit in the US every year rather than travelling overseas where the events are more numerous but the competition is also more fierce (and they would probably, but for Nakamura, Onischuk, Krush, and a few others) lose their butts. Hint: The way to improve chess in the USA isn't by sticking it to the scholastic players.