The Lincoln Chess Club completed its inaugural year with
overwhelming success! More than fifty
children participated in the club throughout the year, with a core group of
over twenty students that met on a regular basis. The children demonstrated great
motivation and ability to learn, to succeed, and above all, to be respectful of
their fellow participants.
Throughout the course of the year, a range of activities
were conducted to help the club members improve their chess skills. The
participants learned a number of fundamentals of the game, including correct
board setup, the rules of the game, proper conduct when playing the game, the
system of reading and writing algebraic chess notation, and simple strategic
principals. The club offered the children the option to participate in offhand
games or competitive games, receive instructional lectures and analysis with
the coach, and take home weekly handouts that provided instructive lessons or
problems to be solved on their own.
We culminated our efforts with two tournaments, which was
the high point for the club members and capped off the year with exciting games
and suspenseful conclusions to both contests.
The winner of the first tournament was Deniz Erdem with a perfect record
of 5-0, and the winner of the second tournament was Noah Meade-Kelly, who also
scored a perfect 4-0 record. Awards of chess-themed pencils and erasers were
provided to all participants, and the winners received a chess scorebook.
Congratulations to Deniz and Noah for winning their events!
Coache, Robb Stewart and coordinator Deb Varat thoroughly enjoyed mentoring the children and took a lot away from the
experience. We also appreciate the great help we received from parent Claudine
Lesk and high school freshman and former Lincoln Student, Christian Perkins who dedicated their time every
Monday to the club. We are are looking forward to running the club again next
fall, and hope to improve upon our accomplishments and success. Look for our sign up sheet in the fall!
