News

You asked, and we answered.  After conducting our summer chess camp blitz clinic and summer blitz tournament, our Madison kids asked for more opportunities to play rated blitz games.  The Madison City Chess League is pleased to announce a Blitz Tournament Series, providing quarterly rated blitz tournaments for kids K-12.  The complete schedule is below and you can register online at any time.

National Chess Day Blitz

The next scholastic Blitz tournament will be on National Chess Day, Saturday October 8th.  You must register online by October 6th to participate.  This is in conjunction with National Chess Day festivities.  All Blitz tournaments in this series will occur at Rainbow Elementary located at 50 Nance Road in Madison.  Currently, everyone will register to compete in the same section, but if registration grows to a suitable number, MCCL will sub-divide the competitors by blitz rating.  That will be at the discretion of the tournament director.

2016 Summer Blitz tournament at Rainbow Elementary

Why Blitz Tournaments?

When students, particularly beginners, are learning to play chess, coaches are frequently reminding students to slow down and not rush through their customary 30-minute games.  The challenge in the beginning is to teach kids how to manage the time available and make wise decisions by analyzing the position and potential threats before making a move.  So why are we introducing a four-part blitz tournament series where kids are limited to 5-minute games?  There are many reasons we want to help our students develop their blitz-playing skills.  Here are a few:

1. Playoffs - As students reach middle and high school age, they will be faced with the possibility of playing in tie-break blitz playoff games.  In Alabama, instead of using tie-break rules to determine the Junior High and High School scholastic chess champion, blitz playoff games are utilized to crown a champion.  A state chess championship would be the wrong time to play in one's first blitz tournament game.  It is necessary to prepare for this possibility, and the best way to prepare is to play in blitz tournaments.
2. Time Management - A necessary skill in chess and in life is time management.  Depending on the circumstance, we have different amounts of time to complete tasks.  Chess helps students develop time-management skills and apply knowledge in a framework of time that varies on occasion.  In scholastic chess, students  can play in tournaments games as long as 120 minutes per side at Nationals, or 30 minutes in traditional scholastic tournaments, or some variation in between.  How one approaches a game is dependent in part on the time control.  That is a skill that requires one to adjust to the circumstances and translates in everyday life.  Even if one does not play 5-minute blitz games frequently, in every game with longer time controls, the time eventually will reduce to five minutes.  When facing that time pressure, students who have practiced closing a game and securing a checkmate within a short time-frame will succeed more than those who have not.  Blitz tournaments will help students develop time management skills.
3. Pattern Recognition - While pattern recognition is important in any chess game, it is of paramount importance in blitz and games with shorter time controls where the luxury of time to analyze positions disappears and players must rely on instincts and patterns to accomplish their objective.
4. Openings.  Blitz games are great for learning openings, because one is able to play more games and reach more positions than in a regular game.  According to International Master Danny Rensch, "if students learn 15 moves of opening theory, they can't really be expected to have it memorized or to understand it fully until they've played at least 20 games in the line. That's my professional coaching opinion (20 games). So why not get there faster and play blitz games, challenging yourself to play the openings you plan to play in tournaments?"
5. World Champions Play Blitz - Have you noticed that world chess champions are not just good at classical chess?  They also demonstrate excellence in blitz, bullet, and other chess variations.  Chess played in faster time increments is becoming more and more popular.  It is far more interesting to the average spectator to watch a blitz or bullet game than a game that lasts hours.  As chess gains popularity, more kids will need to develop their skills using shorter time controls as well as longer, traditional ones.
6. Blitz Games are Fun!  - Kids really enjoy playing blitz games, and ultimately we want kids to have fun.  The level of concentration for a brief amount of time is unparalleled, but at the end of the game kids are smiling and laughing.  Psychologically, blunders are more accepted when kids are being forced to play so quickly, and the mood is much lighter.  Yes, these are still rated games, but only the blitz rating is impacted.
   

MCCL Blitz Tournament Series

Game: 5 minutes/ No delay

6 rounds/ double swiss

Fee:  $20

Membership:  USCF membership required

Location: Rainbow Elementary, 50 Nance Rd. Madison, AL  35758

 

• Summer Blitz (June 30, 2016 – held during summer chess camp)
• National Chess Day Blitz – Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016 (1:30-4:30 p.m.)
• Winter Blitz - Sunday Jan. 8, 2017 (1:30-4:30 p.m.)
• Spring Blitz - Sunday March 5, 2017 (1:30-4:30 p.m.)

 

Register online at www.madisonchess.com