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Queensland Interschool |
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Issue 17, November 2010 |
| New Ratings | Open State Finals | Girls State Finals | Chess Calendar | Free Software | Help students | Tactics Puzzles | Coaching |
With the term coming to a close in a few weeks, Gardiner Chess would like to wish everyone a safe and merry Christmas. |
| Interschool Chess Year Wraps Up | ||||||||
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What a year it’s been! There
have been over 60 tournaments and more than 7000 participants for 2010. October 16/17 saw the Queensland Interschool State Finals held in Brisbane where teams from around the state battled it out to be crowned Queensland champion or Regional champion. This was preceded by the Queensland Girls State Finals on the Friday which was another successful event. |
Term Four also had the Individual Age
Championships for the
Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Gold Coast. Excellent numbers attended
these events and ages ranged from just 5 years old through to 17.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers and parents who help coordinate chess within their school. At Gardiner Chess we know this all takes time, however we hope that you can see the benefits and happiness that chess often brings to students. |
The first publication from Gardiner
Chess in 2011, will be the Interschool Information brochure,
sent (hardcopy) to every school. Interschool Chess dates can be found on the Gardiner Chess website here and will be updated frequently as venues are confirmed. |
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| New Ratings | ||||||||
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One of the best ways in which a student can track their progress is via the Queensland Junior Rating System. The ratings are published bi-monthly, and take into account any tournaments that have been played in that period. |
Ratings are an effective motivator in keeping students focused as they try and progress along the chess path. To achieve a rating, students must play at least 8 rated games in a 4 month period and achieve a minimum performance of 500. There are currently over 2000 students on the list. |
To see the latest ratings, head to the Gardiner Chess webpage here and look at the top improvers' section and various other links on the page. | ||||||
| Queensland Interschool State Finals | ||||||||
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The weekend of 16/17 October saw the top teams from around
Queensland gather in Brisbane to take part in the Queensland
Interschool State Finals. 14 teams took part in the Secondary
division, whilst a record 24 participated in the Primary
division. The tournament itself was a six round swiss draw with players receiving an hour +10seconds per move for each game. Across both tournaments, there were many outstanding and very closely fought games. The primary students often rushed through their games, however the secondary tournament had many protracted games that attracted an audience of spectators as the clocks got low. At the end of the day standings were as follows: Primary:
For full primary school results click here Secondary:
For full secondary school results click here Kings Christian College and Somerset College will now compete at the Australian Schools Team Championships being held on 4th/5th December in Perth. |
Contact Details: Attn: Andrew FitzPatrick 11 Hardys Road Mudgeeraba Qld 4213 Tel 5522 7221 Fax 5522 7760 afitzpatrick@gardinerchess.com
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| Queensland Girls Interschool State Finals | ||||||||
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Friday 15th October saw the
top girls teams in the state compete to be crowned State
Champions. In the primary division, Somerset College
dominated and duly took out the title, however Trinity
Anglican School came all the way from Cairns to claim second
position in a great result. Fernvale SS took third place
on tie-break from Somerville House.
In the secondary division,
Somerville House complete with two Australian
representatives made hard work of their favouritism, but did
enough in the end to get across the line in first place. Second
went to Somerset College to complete a good day for them,
whilst third place went to The Glennie School from
Toowoomba. Somerset College
and Somerville House will now compete at the Australian
Schools Team Championships being held on 4th/5th December in
Perth. |
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| Interschool Chess Calendar 2011 | ||||||||
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With the finish of
Interschool Chess for 2010, planning is well under way for the
2011 year. Much of the Interschool Chess Calendar has already
been planned however we do need hosts for some regions. For the full calendar please click here. Please take careful note of when your regional tournament is on, and make sure to mark down the dates in the school calendar! Finally make sure to check back regularly in case there are any changes - changes will be noted at the top of the page. |
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| Free Tournament Software | ||||||||
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Swiss Perfect is a
program designed specifically for the running and organization
of chess tournaments. The program can be used for submitting
results for rating and provides a range of reports including
standings, cross tables, results and rating performances. Most
importantly it instantly carries out the pairing for the next
round of your tournaments - regardless of the size of the
tournament. The owner of Swiss Perfect, Robert Rozycki, has kindly given permission for all schools in Australia to have free use of the relevant state licence. To get your copy of Swiss Perfect and begin running tournaments within your school, please follow these steps;
Once you have run a
tournament within your school, you can send the Swiss Perfect
files (suffixed .ini, .trn, .sco) to the Queensland Junior
Ratings Officer, Dr David McKinnon via email -
qjrl@hotmail.com
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| How to Help Students Improve | ||||||||
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One question often asked is
how can a chess coordinator assist the children improve their
chess. The best way is a chess coach, however there are a
variety of other ways which can be used also. One lasting legacy
is chess books in the school library. This method enables kids
over many years to learn and improve their game, for a
relatively low outlay. Another way is simply to have chess sets
and boards available and encourage children to play. Using chess
as a reward can inspire kids to work hard. Finally puzzles are
another great way. See the dedicated section we have on this
below for more information. |
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| Tactics Puzzles | ||||||||
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One of the best ways for
juniors to progress their chess is through the use of tactics
puzzles. These puzzles serve to either reinforce or introduce a
new tactic or skill and through repetition and practice students
can quickly master the idea. Every day at Gardiner Chess has three new puzzles to solve (easy, moderate and difficult) on their website http://www.gardinerchess.com Chess Tactics books are also a great way to learn about puzzles and various motifs. Contact us to find out more about what books might work for you and your students! |
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| Coaching Services For Schools | ||||||||
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Gardiner Chess and its
franchisees provide chess coaching classes, curricular or
extracurricular, in or outside school house, for schools in the
Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Cairns, Townsville and NSW
Northern Rivers regions. Gardiner Chess is also willing to look at regional schools for one off, or week long sessions. For details, please see http://www.gardinerchess.com/coaching/coaching.htm or call (07) 5522 7221 |
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