Silver Knights Chess

USCF Rating Report

Thirty-four scholastic chessplayers took part in the Holiday Rumble, held on 12/13/08 at Beaumont Elementary School in Devon. Mike Zhang swept through the K-3 section with a score of 4-0, followed by Praneeth Ramesh at 3.5-.5 and Jeremy Miller, Jason Hurle, and Spencer Lasky at 3-1. Ithan Elementary School narrowly edged out the team victory over Beaumont by a score of 9.5 - 9.

In the K-8 section, Matthew Razat won all four games to take first place. Patrick Liu and John Peterson took 2nd and 3rd place with 3-1 scores. Beaumont Elementary won first place team with a score of 7.5

New this week in our online chess video library:

IM Bryan Smith analyzes his five wins from the National Chess Congress. Bryan won the tournament ahead of six Grandmasters, and as a result he should be ranked around 30th in the United States as of the next rating supplement!

New this week in our online chess video library:

1) IM Bryan Smith shows Shirov-Topalov, a game from the recently completed 2008 Chess Olympiad.

2) IM Bryan Smith analyzes his last-round win over GM Darmen Sadvakasov. This win enabled Bryan to tie for first place in the King's Island Open in Ohio.

3) NM Adam Weissbarth analyzes a position that could have arisen from Smith-Sadvakasov, and shows how several small advantages can add up to a large advantage.

USCF Rating Report

Congratulations to the winners of the Perkiomen Valley Classic:

K-3 Champion - Jacob Taranta, 3.5/4 points
K-3 Team Champion - Friends Select School, 5.5 points
4-8 Champion - Clayton Johnson, 4/4 points
4-8 Team Champion - Beaumont Elementary School, 6 points

New this week in our online chess video library:

1) NM Adam Weissbarth shows how beginning players can avoid discovered attacks.

2) NM Adam Weissbarth begins a series of lessons on the two bishops vs. a better pawn structure - when is it better to have the two bishops, and when is the better pawn structure more important?

3) NM Adam Weissbarth shows why it's important to learn basic endgames.