CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF MY SCHOLASTIC PLAYERS WHO COMPETED AT THE 2010 EDITION OF THE ASCF'S GOVERNOR'S CUP! Here is how the K-3 Group did...

Here are how the K-3 players from my present and past Sunday Super Group meetings did at the 2010 Edition of the Governor's Cup held at Bogle Jr. High this past weekend...

Alex - 1st place
Bennett - 7th place
Arjun - 8th place
Riley - 13th place
Peter - 17th place
Rick - 30th place
Ian - 35th place
Aman - 68th

Not bad considering there were 242 players all told in this section!

Cross table can be found at:

http://www.aschess.org/Ratings/tournament_view.php?TOURNAMENT_ID=1499

Here is a photo essay of our players from this event - it was a real pleasure to work with my players between rounds. Even if I only drew my blindfold game at this year's Governor's Cup!!!! : p

Enjoy the photos! Well done everyone - Congratulations!
Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2010 Topalov versus Anand GAME ONE

I hope you have all enjoyed my Scholastic coverage of game one! Other games will soon follow!!
- Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

GAME TWO ANALYSIS : In terms of FORCING MOVES and THEIR STRENGTH.

ENJOY GAME 2 - BENNETT KATZ versus NATHAN THOMPSON!

HAPPY EARTH DAY TODAY!

Once again our thanks to both players for playing this very instructive game that will allow all of us to improve as chess players!

- Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

P.S. These first two games are for ALL of my students to review - we can learn from other people's games as well! I will get the remaining games up later on tonight so please review these games before the tournament this Weekend if you have time tonight or tomorrow. I apologize for any typos in advance - please notify me if you see anything that is really off and I will update this lesson later on.

FORCING MOVE VISION - LESSON ONE!

I have used the game "ALEX vs RICK" as the game to demonstrate what I would like to do for all round one games played this past Sunday - to show how certain moves were forcing and in what way they were forcing.

HERE IS OUR LIST OF "FORCING" OPTIONS:

1. CHECKS - Must be answered.

2. CAPTURES - Must be answered if we can or else we lose the endgame or - more than likely - get checkmated sooner rather than later.

3. THREATS - Threats to checkmate or threats to capture. If a player does not answer threats then the other player will carry them out and win the game.

This is the usual order in terms of "POWER" for the three classes. However one move can threaten one of these options more than once while other moves can combine two or all three FORCING / ACTIVE moves.

Time to hit the hay - the rest of the games will go up later on Thursday.
Enjoy - Coach Sean Tobin.

MIRROR PUZZLES - Solve one then reverse your first move to solve the other! DUAL SOLUTIONS FOR THE FIRST MOVE - ONE IS THE REVERSE OF THE OTHER!

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

No hints - other than this is a puzzle of amazing beauty!

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN!

Totally different tactic involved in this chess puzzle
- but also one with a surprise twist for the first move!

THIS IS THE ULTIMATE DUAL PUZZLE
I RATE THIS AS VERY DIFFICULT!
Enjoy - Your Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

LEAST WE FORGET THIS MEMORABLE PHOTO from the "TYPHOON"!

Riley is biting his trophy a la NADAL STYLE... while I am practicing how to fall down!

IMPORTANT RECENT GAME SCORES! : P

Here are the game score for relevant and recent games played by me and my students - Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

A COACH SEAN TOURNAMENT GAME - FRIDAY NIGHT G30 CHESS EMPORIUM OPEN

SUPER GROUP GAMES - Round 1 TOP SUPER GROUP
04/18/2010

This was the game that was played after the first round games that went from 1:30 till 2:30 PM on Sunday the 18th of 2010. This game will be a rated practice game outside of the context of the actual ASCF Super Group Open. Jacob and Peter can play their round one game during our next meeting.

I hope you all enjoy the new "user friendly" format that I have elected to use - I want to make your child's chess experience as rewarding for him/her and the whole family - as much as I possibly can!

Your Chess Coach
Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

CHESS LESSONS AND CAMPS for SUMMER 2010

Hello everyone!

I will be here for "parts" of Summer 2010 - my schedule of camps and chess events will be forthcoming very soon! I will be away for the first three weeks of June but will be back for the end of June and the start of July, away again and then back again in August - so stay tuned for all forthcoming details.

- Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

PHOTO ESSAY of ASCF'S "TYPHOON" chess tournament held on 4/17/2010

Some familiar faces!

Some of my students that competed at this event.

Coach Cody!

A TERRIFIC CHESS COACH and more importantly a TERRIFIC HUMAN BEING!

Between rounds we worked on mini chess lessons that covered tactics and endgames!

I also reviewed the games for any players that had a score sheet as well.

Chess Coach Carl LaTempa!

Coaches Philip Wharton and Jeremy Dancer

Coaches Jeremy Dancer and Mateo Ogaz

COACH "KING" CODY!

Enjoy the photos! - Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

3 x 3 - Brought to you by Bennett and Peter!

Enjoy the games of Bennett and Peter!

The first three rounds from our top two players - a lot of food for thought here. Our players will be at "2.0" by their next tournament together! I look forward to seeing the "2.0" team in action! - Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

CHESS TEAM EXTREME AT THE ASCF's TWISTER 4/3/2010

Just some of my students at the TWISTER!

All of them had a great time at this ASCF Chess Tournament - no doubt about it! And I mean all of them - even those students not pictured!! The next event is being held this weekend and will be held in the PARADISE VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT - the flier will be posted on this site shortly as this is one of only two qualifiers that remains before the big championship "THE GOVERNOR'S CUP" being held on April 24th and 25th!

Go chess team extreme! - Chess Coach Sean Tobin.

An Excellent and Instructive game brought to you by both JACOB & BENNETT!!

A game where both players played for interesting complications - not necessarily paying much a mind to the material count but always thinking about the other guys King! An instructive game of attacking chess - one we can all learn from.

To access the sub-variations please just move your mouse/touch pad cursor over the variation in question and then click upon it. You will then be following that line in the game box as you press play - thus being able to scroll through the moves. You can either just play through the moves of the game and treat it as a chess movie or you can go into the devilish details by playing through the sub-variations and reading my commentary on the lines in question.

Thank you JACOB and BENNETT - now we all get to learn from your game! - Coach Sean.