National Scholastic Chess Foundation
 
The NSCF provides chess instruction to over 30 communities and 70 schools in Westchester, NY and Fairfield, CT counties.
Online registration is available for NSCF tournaments, community chess classes, and summer chess programs. For schedules, results, and other information about these and other activities, choose a subject from the menu bar above. Use the Donate/Pay link to register for special events, make a tax-deductible donation to the NSCF, or pay for NSCF services.
You are invited to play in a simultaneous exhibition by the #1 rated U.S. chess player!  
On May 31st Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, the top rated player in the United States, will play up to fifty boards simultaneously as a fundraiser for the NSCF. The benefit will start with a reception and light buffet at 6:30 PM, followed by the simultaneous chess exhibition. The event will be held at KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP, 601 Lexington Avenue (between 53rd and 54th St), 50th floor, NYC. Children and adults are welcome to play in the simul, singly or in pairs. Spectators are invited to attend.
          View the invitation and mail-in response form.           RSVP online here.


 GM Hikaru Nakamura is currently competing in the 2012 U.S Chess Championship, which is being held at the St Louis Chess Club from May 8th thru May 20th.

In his first round game against GM Robert Hess, Hikaru found a nice concluding combination. Playing White in the position on the left, he set up the win with 29.Bxe6 fxe6 30.Rd7, and after 30...Kh8 the game arrived at the positon on the right. See if you can find the winning combination that Hikaru then played.
You can follow the U.S. Chess Championship at the official site and see the games live at chessdom.com.



The 2012 NSCF Summer Chess Program offers a choice
    of any number of six weekly sessions, July 9-August 24.
Brochure     Online registration
The early registration deadline is May 31st.

    Summer Program Features
  • Instruction for K-12 players
  • Group Lectures and Game Analysis
  • Opening Preparation and Endgame Technique
  • Structured play
  • Air Conditioned Classrooms 
Top NSCF trophy winning teams 
2011-12 Season Final Standings

Team               1st   2nd   3rd   Total
Bronxville          33    13    0     46 
GCDS                 8    11    6     25 
Brunswick            8     7    7     22 
Greenwich Academy    3    12    6     21 
Pelham MS            7     3    2     12 
Colonial             6     3    3     12 
Columbus             8     0    1      9 
Ward                 1     2    5      8 
Purchase             2     3    2      7 
Iona Grammar         2     2    3      7
The final event of the 2011-12 NSCF Grand Prix tournament season concluded April 28th.
See the final 2011-12 NSCF Scholastic Grand Prix standings.

April 23, 2012. Kudos to Greenwich Academy for winning the National All Girls Championship in the 8 and Younger category, and for finishing second to Hunter in the 12 and Younger category.   All results.
April 18, 2012. Mazeltov to Ben Gershenov of Solomon Schechter for winning the 2012 National High School Championship!
Josh Colas of White Plains finished 12th. See Ben's picture and an interesting win by Josh in the USCHESS report. In the National High School team championship, MS 318 nosed out co-Champions Hunter on tiebreak. This was Hunter's third straight championship, but they were eclipsed in the news by the middle school's win, which made the New York Times.     See all National HS results.

March 24, 2012 Congratulations to the 2012 Westchester County Chess Champions
K-1:
Luis-Joshua Casenas (PK!)
Primary:
Aiden Resnick
Elementary:
Fritz Pingel
Middle-High:
Christopher Mercado

Oh my! I almost forgot to register for the National Elementary (K-6) Chess Championships,
May 11-13 in Nashville. There's still time...
January 29, 2012. Congratulations to the 2012 Greenwich City Scholastic Chess Champions. 
K-1:
     Thomas Ewald
Primary:
     Elliot Greenbaum
Elementary:
     Hunter Korn
Middle-High:
     Jason Yung
Click on photo for enlargement.
Chess closeup: Cobb-Xiong, January 7th, 2012.
The game played on the top board of the final round in the combined top section at the Church Street Scholastic in January 2012 produced a number of interesting positions. See if you can find winning moves for Black in the positions shown on the left and right. Check the solutions here. Then see the complete game analysis by NSCF coach Ricardo Perez-Billinghurst.

   


    Why play chess? See what a lady attorney, former teacher, and chessplayer has to say about it: Westchester attorney thinks Chess can create the next superpower!     For more about the benefits of chess, See Why Chess?

Read a proud parents blog about her son's experience at the National Elementary Chess Championships, May 2011.
Want to blog about chess? Contact the NSCF Webmaster.

Happy Birthday, Hikaru!
December 9, 2011. White Plains bred US #1 GM Hikaru Nakamura, who is 24 today, gets better with age. He is leading the London Chess Classic ahead of the world's top four Grandmasters. On Tuesday, he defeated World Champion Vishy Anand, then took the lead with another victory yesterday. Update: Hikaru finished a close second behind former World Champion GM Vladimir Kramnik and ahead of World #1 GM Magnus Carlsen.

The NSCF's Chess Movie Family Event, a showing of the award-winning film Chess Kids at the Picture House in Pelham on Saturday, November 5, was a big hit with all attendees.

Chess Kids follows the progress of a group of talented students at the 1990 World Youth Chess Championship in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and rejoins them as adults.

Thanks to Betsy Harding for her organizational efforts, and to all who donated to the event.
Chess Closeup
Your webmaster, perusing the tables at the May 2011 Woodlands tournament, found himself at the table of a playoff game between David Brodsky and Morgan Lawless. While snapping the picture at the left, he wondered "how did they get into that position?" See the diagram at the right. It is Black to move and he's losing a piece in a queen-exchange tempo race. A peek at the scoresheets revealed what had happened - and what could have happened. More...



And then what?
In Polly Wright's blog Castling Queenside, she reviews a game she played in the 2010 New York State Championship. In this position she writes: I can simply play 25. Qd2! I didn't play it because I was concerned about a discovered attack that's not there. The bishop is pinned. If he plays 25...Qd7, I have 26. Rd1. But what does White do after 26...Bb5, breaking the pin and defending the queen? More...

Stop that pawn!
Connected passed pawns can be very dangerous, especially if supported from behind. In this position, Paul Gardephe has a material advantage as Black against Aditya Royyuru, the 2010 Overall Grand Prix champion, but he must consider that he may have to give something back in order to stop White from queening a pawn. With that in mind, what is the best move for Black? More...
May 23, 2011. Congratulations to White Plains raised US #1 GM Hikaru Nakamura for his St. Louis match win over former world champion GM Ruslan Ponomariov. Nakamura moved up to World #6 in the live ratings. Nakamura also won the ensuing rapids match.

May 8, 2011. Congratulations to all local players who won trophies at the National Elementary Championships, and to team trophy winners Bronxville, Brunswick and GCDS.    Local results.   Official site.

April 30, 2011. School pride. The Church Street School posted a victory notice on the school website after winning the Novice team trophy at Ridgeway. Results.


The Church Street Novice Team

April 17, 2011. Joshua Colas finished third in the K-8 section, and the GCDS team finished 8th in the K-9 section of the National Junior High (K-9) Championships.    Results.

April 10, 2011. In the Age 12 and Under section of the All Girls National Chess Championships, the Greenwich Academy team finished a close second behind a strong team from I.S. 318. Greenwich Academy also won a 4th place trophy in the Age 8 and Under section. Results.

 
The Greenwich Academy Teams.

Kudos to Bronxville for winning five(!) team championship trophies at the April 9 NSCF Scholastic Grand Prix tournament.


Do you know how to mate, how to mate on... Sesame Street fans Drew and Hunter Korn recently did some internet research and uncovered an excellent video of a Sesame Street segment in which FM Sunil Weeramantry, the NSCF Executive Director, teaches chess. If you watch carefully, you will see snatches of him teaching a sharp combination that starts with the position below and ends in smothered mate (though the final moves are not shown). This famous combination has its own special name - Philidor's Legacy.   See the video.



Congratulations to the 2011 Westchester
County Scholastic Chess Champions
Max Steinberg( JHS/HS), Jason Li (MS), Christopher Mercado (Elementary), David Brodsky (Primary) and Erik Brodsky (K-1).
See all results.   See Polly Wright's WCC Photo Gallery.
2011 WCC JHS/HS Champion Max Steinberg is raising money to sponsor the National 7th Grade Champion, USCF Master Josh Colas, in his competition at the 2011 World Youth Chess Championships in Brazil. If you are interested in donating to this cause, you may contact Max at metspride09(at)yahoo.com.
January 30, 2011. A hearty thanks to all who attended the NSCF
Fundraiser Party or otherwise donated to the NSCF cause. Pictures
of the event are posted at Polly Wright's My Gallery site.

P.S. Missed your opportunity? You may still donate to the NSCF
by choosing "Donation Only" on the Online Donation form.
Congatulations, Hikaru!
January 30, 2011. US #1 GM Hikaru Nakamura has scored a major tournament victory at the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee. Hikaru's score of 9-4 has secured First Place, ½ point ahead of World Champion Viswanathan Anand. To win, Hikaru had to face a tough tournament field that featured the top four players in the world. With his victory, Hikaru moves up the live world ratings list to #7, within a few points of the world #5 slot. Hikaru is the stepson of NSCF Executive Director FM Sunil Weeramantry.
See the St Louis press article at USCHESS.   See "Nakamura Steels the Show" at ICC.   See Hikaru's Wijk aan Zee blog.

Progressing in Chess
2009-2010 NSCF Scholastic Grand Prix Elementary Section Champion Lazar Vilotijevic has been progressing rapidly in chess, gaining more than 600 USCF rating points over the course of last season.

Lazar capped this success off at the National Elementary Chess Championship in May with a success of another sort - he drew a game against "Chess Queen" GM Alexandra Kosteniuk in a simultaneous exhibition.

In the position on the left, GM Kosteniuk offered a draw without moving. I hope you see why she did not take the pawn!

Lazar and the Queen of Chess

Nov 21 2010.The GCDS Fall Scholastic saw outstanding results by teams from GCDS (1st in the Primary and K-1 sections), Bronxville (1st in Elementary and 2nd in Novice) and Brunswick (1st in Novice and 2nd in K-1). Scarsdale MS took 1st in the Reserve, and Greenwich Academy scored place trophies in the Elementary and Novice sections. Results.

Nov 15 2010. Greenwich Academy team blog (Excerpt)
Congratulations to all the GA girls who participated in the tournament today. We had amazing results and a lot of fun. We won a 2nd-place Team trophy in the K-1 section and a 2nd- place Team trophy in the 2-5 novice section and a 1st-place Team trophy in the rated Elementary section. Wow! This is an auspicious beginning for our team. We are looking forward to the (Nov 21) GCDS tournament.   (Betsy Korn).

Parents and organizers
Would you like to blog for a school team?
Contact the NSCF webmaster.



Photo:Yumi Nakanishi
September 2010. See the August 2010 Chess Life article Best Lessons of
a Chess Coach, penned by Hunter student Alec Getz about his 2010 National
High School Co-Championship, and the role his chess coach played in his life.

See more news here.


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