Girls Academy is a great way to motivate girls to become empowered both through increasing their self confidence and their skills in the game.  Often when girls play other girls, the atmosphere is one of friendliness, and not so much competitiveness (although that’s still there, and I think that’s fine).  Girls Academy encourages girls to participate in more tournaments, where the current percentage hovers at a mere 10% in elementary school, and much less in the upper grades.

Eight girls arrived to learn about chess tactics and strategies.  Their ages ranged from 5-10 and their levels from between having just learned how to play (one girl attended a camp I taught at the week prior) to having participated in the National Championships.  Nevertheless, all the girls, and their parents (the moms, actually) were all able to learn something new about chess today—the pin in particular.  The girls were very well behaved, needless to say, and we discussed the difference between absolute and relative pins, cross-pins, and how to put pressure on a pin.  The examples ranged in difficulty so that everyone was able to participate.  (Example to follow.)

Then they played a game where they had to identify pins when they occurred.  Next I showed the girls a game I had played against another coach when I was working in NY.  We discussed opening strategies and the girls were able to correctly discover my next moves in the game which was rife with pins! 

Stay tuned for the game and pictures from the Academy!

RZA wins his first game at 9 Queens WuChess Fest

RZA and Michelle at the 9 Queens Tournament

RZA and 9 Queens at Chess Fest

RZA playing 9 Queens event

Many thanks to everyone that helped out with the 9 Queens WuChess Fest on June 17th. We are really excited to partner with RZA and WuChess for two more events including the 9 Queens Knockout Invitational at the Chelsea Art Museum on July 5th.

Special thanks go out to:

• WuChess
• Hotel Congress (and everyone who helped including Dave, Dan and Aaron)
• Epic Cafe (for the wonderful cookies)
• Sean Higgins
• Leo Martinez
• Eric Rice
• Quinta Peterson, Robert Rosenberg, Elizabeth Rosenberg
• Jenelle Wallace
• Amanda Mateer
• Gus and Sam Hoffman
• Demion andMorrighan Clinco
• Martha Underwood

It’s official: RZA and WuChess will participate in the 9 Queens WuChess Fest on June 17th at the Hotel Congress! From 4-7 pm, the 9 Queens WuChess Fest will feature free activities for chess players and music fans of all ages and abilities including:

• Speed chess tournament
• Free chess lessons and puzzles
• Face painting
• Prizes, exhibitions and games

The 9 Queens WuChess Fest is the second free chess festival hosted by 9 Queens and the Hotel Congress as part of their campaign to promote chess in downtown Tucson. For more information on the 9 Queens WuChess Fest or to pre-register for the speed chess tournament email Jean Hoffman at jhoffman@9queens.org. Visit www.wuchess.com to create your own WuChess account.

9 QUEENS’ WUCHESS FEST

Join 9 Queens and wuchess for the 9 Queens’ wuchess Fest on June 17, 2008. On June 17, RZA aka Bobby Digital is coming to Tucson to perform at the Rialto (for tickets visit www.rialtotheatre.com) Before his concert join 9 Queens and WuChess at Hotel Congress for a free afternoon of chess, music, puzzles and prizes.

WuChess (wuchess.com) is a new online chess and hip hop community founded by RZA in 2008. WuChess will offer live game play, chat rooms, tournaments, exhibitions featuring RZA and other special guests.
 

More details to follow! Visit www.9queens.org for more details or email Jean Hoffman at jhoffman@9queens.org

Jennifer with the two queens on the human chess board.

Mayor Walkup watches as Council Member Karin Uhlich challenges Demion Clinco

9 Queens Human Chess Board with costumes by Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Chess Fest on May 10th- especially Kevin Zhang the official 9 Queens Chess Fest 2008 Champion. Click here to read Jennifer’s blog about the event on US Chess Life Online.

Jean Hoffman and Jennifer Shahade at a pre-Chess Fest party

It was fantastic to see so many chess fans and players come out to support and enjoy chess. Many thanks to all the organizations who helped out at the event including:

• The Hotel Congress
• Chesspark
• Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s Toy Store
• Bookmans
• The Catalina Foothills Chess Team

Jennifer, Jenelle and Jean at the Chess Fest

I also want to thank the following individuals for all their support: Mayor Bob Walkup, Mrs. Walkup, Council Member Karin Uhlich, Robby Adamson, Shana and Richard Oseran, David Slutes, Demion and Judy Clinco, Eric Rice, Gina Olsen, Leo Martinez, and Sam Hoffman.

Jennifer and Jean at the Chess Fest 2008

I also want to thank Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s Toy Store for providing costumes for all the human chess pieces in our life-size match. These costumes will be for sale at the event, and all proceeds will benefit 9 Queens.

Be sure to email me at jhoffman@9queens.org to pre-register for the tournament. Space is limited and we have some great prizes including:

• A signed copy of Josh Waitzkin’s book The Art of Learning
• Pro Memberships to chesspark.com
• Gift certificates donated from Bookmans
• 9 Queens chess sets and t-shirts

Tentative Schedule of Events

2:00 pm-2:30 pm Speed Chess Tournament Check-in and Blindfold Chess Exposition

3:00 pm Opening Ceremonies and First Round of Speed Chess Tournament

3:00 pm- 6:00 pm Speed Chess Tournament continues

Chess workshops and puzzles contests

Speed Chess Champion challenges Jennifer Shahade to a Human Chess Match

Josh Waitzkin

Last weekend I attended the"Mind Over Matter" Chess and Grappling Exhibition hosted by the Hip Hop Chess Federation at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement in Menlo Park, California on April 12, 2008. During the event, RZA announced the launch of wuchess- a new chess and hip hop online community. Click here to watch a video from the event.

RZA announces the launch of wuchess

I secured some great prizes for the upcoming Chess Fest including a chess board signed by RZA and members of the Wutang clan, a free membership to chesspark.com, and a signed copy of Josh Waitzkin’s book "The Art of Learning." Many thanks to everyone at Chesspark who made it possible for me to come and invited me to dinner with RZA, Josh Waitzkin and the Hip Hop Chess Federation.

Jennifer and I are excited to announce the 9 Queens Chess Fest 2008- a free family chess festival to be held at the historic Hotel Congress in Tucson Arizona, on May 10th, 2008. Beginning at 2 pm, the 9 Queens Chess Fest 2008 will offer a range of chess-related activities for the entire family including a chess benefit tournament, a human chess match, and chess workshops for newcomers to the game.

At 3 pm, chess players of all ages and abilities will participate in a benefit speed chess tournament. Prizes will be awarded to the top eight players in the tournament, including a grand prize for the champion. Spectators can watch as the winner of the tournament challenges Jennifer to a game of chess played out on a human chessboard.

To sponsor a youth chess player from the 9 Queens’ program to play in the tournament or to pre-register please email me for more information. The entry fee for the speed chess tournament is $25.00 per person; all proceeds from this event will benefit 9 Queens. Space is limited. Register early in order to insure eligibility!

At the most recent Queens’ Academy in Philadelphia, I focused my lesson on zugzwang, which means stopped train in German. In chess lingo it means a position in which every move you make worsens your position- if you could just pass, you would be ok. Here is one of the most basic examples of mutual zugzwang, and one of a handful endgames which it is crucial for even kids to memorize.

White to move is forced to either lose his e7 pawn or play Ke6, creating a stalemate. Black to move must play Kf7, allowing Kd7, winning instantly. Achieving the desired version of this position is a crucial endgame skill.

I showed a few more examples, including the following more advanced favorite of mine:

This is a famous study from 1922 by Richard Reti. The solution is Kh1!! Now any move that Black makes allows White to find a knight fork or to queen the a-pawn. Check all 13 of Black’s moves to see for yourself.

Then I gave my students an exercise that I had never tried before. I asked them to work in groups of two to create their own zugzwang positions from scratch. Because many of the students are not that experienced with rigorous training or tournament play, I was not sure how they would do, and was extremely impressed at the following two amazing creations:

This position illustrates "mutual zugzwang." If White is on move, she is forced to play either A. Kxf4, which loses to Kd5 Kf3 Kcd4 Ke2 Kc3 and Black wins because she is in front of the pawn, B.Kxd4 loses to Kf5 in the same way. If White tries to bide her time with Kf3 or Kd3, Black can just play d3 or f3, winning. If Black is on move, Kd6 or Kf6 are forced, allowing White to capture a pawn and gain opposition (If Kf6 Kxf4 and if Kd6 Kxd4.) This position seems so pure in its demonstration of mutual zugzwang that I imagine it already exists in an endgame book. Either way, I was very impressed that my students created it from scratch.

In this zugzwang creation, White must play e7,after which Bf4 is checkmate. (Bf4 is not checkmate until White plays e7, blocking the king’s only escape square.)

The day before this class, I read the New York Times article about separate girls and boys education that Jean just blogged on. It occurred to me the interactive element of this exercise would be particularly well-suited to female players. Their excellent performance on the zugwang challenge is powerful anecdotal evidence that I should come up with more chess challenges that emphasize cooperation.

Feel free to post ideas or exercises in a similar vein.