LCCC Monday Night…..a Little Light

Nine players showed tonight. It was far below our usual turnout of twenty or so. But there are a lot of school functions going on and that hurt our “younger” crowd turnout.

Quite a few casual games were played and some great chess conversation was had.

Some of the discussion centered around picking an opening repertoire. You need one that fits your chess style.

Do you like open attacking games?

Do you like closed positional games?

Do you like deep tactics and sacrificing of material for positional advantage?

Do you like to play endgames.

What part of your game is your strongest part?

What is your weakest part?

What Grandmaster thru Master games do you like the best?

Answering these questions honestly - to yourself - will help you decide what openings best suit your style.

You should learn at least two openings with the White pieces and at least one defense against e4 and one for d4 with the Black pieces.

Practice these four until you know them as well as you can and at least you won’t ambushed early by anybody. Who knows – they may even blunder early themselves!

Twenty-Two Players on this League Night

Vince V won his ladder game tonight.

Another strong outing at the LCCC for league night. It appeared eight to ten of the twelve league games were played (full report to follow later in the week).

Some Ladder tournament action also happened, as Vince V. moved up with a win! And more challenges were made. A busy Ladder week next week it appears!

Of course the usual casual games with coffeehouse kibitzing happened, along with the telling of old “war” stories of past tournaments and games played – and that is all good.

We saw the return of Jim G. to the club and right into League action, taking over for Steve H, who must miss due to work commitments. Welcome back Jim!

But the highlight of the evening was the game review by Jason M of a 1988 battle by two Michigan masters. Jason just returned from an extended business trip to Australia and it was great to have him back at the club.

The review was not only very instructional, but also very entertaining. With nearly everyone gathered around one table discussing the master’s strategies, really pulls the club together.

Thanks to Jason for sharing!

Next week we will be open in spite of the schools being closed for a holiday. So be sure and stop by. You won’t be disappointed!

LCCC League Night is This Monday

Our league night is this Monday, but that doesn’t mean it is a day of rest for everyone else. There is still the Ladder Tournament, casual games and maybe some analysis and practice.

For the league players, here are the standings

Team 4 – 20 points - Ken T, Terry G, Marcello M

Team 5 – 17 points – Mike N, Trent D, Dale

Team 1 – 16 points – Matt T, Tom H, Scott A

Team 2 – 16 points – Aaron J, Mike K, Luigi M

Team 3 – 11 points – Scott M, Jim G, Americo M

Team 6 – 10 points – Don J, Ken L, Elliot K

Here are the match pairings for Monday:

Team 1 (1^st board has Black) vs Team 2

Team 3 (1^st board has Black) vs Team 4

Team 5 (1^st board has Black) vs Team 6

It will be a fun night!

Come on by and check us out!

LCCC Closed Tonight Because the Schools Were

Sorry, but that is the way it goes.

See you next week for league night. And stay tuned for a mid-week article or game.

LCCC VP

LCCC Brothers Team Up for a Elementary School Team Tournament

Luigi M, Americo M, Marcello M and Luca M joined forces as a team representing their elementary school and played in a scholastic team tournament in Lansing, MI this last weekend. I will let their father, Luigi Sr., tell the tale:

Hi LCCC,
We are doing well and Adriana and I are recovering from yesterdays ooh so long chess tournament.

First, thank you for your attention toward our boys and concern for teaching them the game of chess. They enjoy each time they come to play on Monday with the club. From the grown men like you, Terry, Ken, the older Mike, to the young guys like Eric and Scott and the others who's names I dont recall - but are important and kind to our boys - it's a great experience for the boys. So, thank you LCCC.  

Yesterday, the boys as a team played five rounds of chess. I had them in the order you and I had discussed..first chair was Luigi, then Americo, Marcello and last Luca.

1st round against Roeper E (a school in Bloomfield)

   Luigi-won (1-0), Americo-won (1-0), marcello-lost (0-1), luca-won (1-0) / so we scored 1 team point

2nd round against Roeper C (same school in Bloomfield -they had many teams there)

   Luigi-won (2-0), Americo-draw (1-0-1), Marcello-lost (0-2), Luca-won (2-0) / so we scored another team point (two points total so far)

3rd round against Detroit Chrysler (these guy/girls won first place as a team in K-3 and K-5) We were in 4th position going into this round as a team out of 30 teams. This third round and fourth really hurt us.

Marcello was up several pieces and came up with a draw (0-2-1), Luigi went down in like fifteen to eighteen moves (2-1), Luca was up some pieces and ended up losing (2-1). Americo won (2-0-1) / so we scored 1.5 points..you need 2.5 or more points to score a team point -were still at 2 team pts.

4th round against Clio Carter, not sure where these guys are from..I assume Clio, Mi? This was another one where I think Marcello lost his grove - he was ahead but just could not hang on. Luigi played ok but, again just dizzed out and lost.

Luigi-lost (2-2), Americo-draw (2-0-2), Marcello-lost (0-3-1), Luca-won (3-1) / so we scored 1.5 pts. (still at 2pts as a team)

5th round against EGR Lakeside Janes (not sure where this team is from but, I felt bad for them..all four of their players were not on their game)

Luigi-won (3-2), Americo-won (3-0-2), Marcello-won (1-3-1), luca-won (4-1). / so we scored 1 team point to bring us to 3pts total, not good enough for any team honor.

They gave out honors for those that scored 4 or 5 individual points. Because Americo's two draws added up to a point - he scored 4 points individually. Luca scored 4 points -- So they haded out silver medals to those kids that had 4 points and gold  to those that scored 5 points.

All in all ..I just asked the boys if they enjoyed themselves and they all said they "loved it and thanks for calling to check on them during their games". 

Mike,

Again, thank you for the attetion to our boys and for the guys at the club they enjoy playing with.

 God Bless,

Luigi and Adriana - end

Thank you and your wonderful family for representing LCCC and chess so well!

Congratulations to our LCCC warriors who were an impressive (11-6-3)!!

Our trainers Terry, Ken, Scott, Aaron and Jason should also take a bow!

Twelve Players on a Snowy, Cold Evening

Past club VP Ken L. (left) and GM Ben Finegold. Great chess players wear black!

LCCC had a dozen brave the snow and cold for our first meeting in two weeks.

Maybe the weather kept attendance down. Maybe our building being closed last week due to the schools be shut down, got some out of their chess routine.

And I know some had other things to attend to. Life gets in the way of chess sometimes.

For those of you who have not stopped by our chess club, please feel free to try it out!
For those of you who have not been by in a while, come on back!
After all, winter is chess season!
Well, indoor chess season.