Summer Chess Camp - Our Best Yet!
Our chess kids had fun, learned a lot, and were inspired to continue to work harder to improve their skills. For the first time, Competition Chess Camp utilized a full-day format similar to what an overnight chess camp experience would be like. The Madison City Chess League invested in three unique instructors who each delivered lessons targeting specific areas of chess. Class sizes were small and each group rotated to each instructor throughout the day. The full-day format offered complete immersion in chess and allowed MCCL to introduce new aspects to the camp.
Daily Tournament Game
Each day after lunch our full-day competition campers played one round of a five-round tournament with 45-minute time control. After each round, players had their games analyzed by Instructors IM Rensch, Will Stevenson or Jonathan Rasberry. Bill Nash was the tournament director each day. The immediate game analysis was very valuable to the players, and one of the favorite new aspects of summer camp. Winners from each section were: Arnav Maskey (Red group), Mark Skrabanek (Green group), and Will Fox (Blue group).
Simul
On Wednesday, IM Danny Rensch conducted a simultaneous chess match (Simul) with 34 campers and their instructors. This was the first time some of our kids had ever participated in this type of match. Will Stevenson won his game, and Michael Guthrie drew his; IM Rensch won all the other games and was very complimentary of how our kids played.
Outdoor Chess Classroom
The Rainbow Elementary Outdoor Chess Classroom was a popular feature for multiple classes during summer chess camp. Pictured below are members of our Learn to Play Class that was taught by MCCL Coach of the Year Ed Mullin.
Top Camper Awards
Each group instructor awarded a Top Camper award. These were very difficult to choose because the kids did such a great job all week. Pictured here is Ilene Pour-Biazar, top camper for the half-day Beginning competition class that was taught by Bill Nash and assisted by Nancy Brandon. Top camper awards for the full-day Competition Chess Camp went to: Red Group - Andrew Nguyen; Green Group - Mark Skrabanek; Blue Group - Constance Wang and Tyler Wessling. Learn to Play Chess Class top camper was Samsara Rajbhandari.
Evening Activities
A new aspect of Summer Chess Camp was optional evening activities such as a blitz tournament, movie night, and bowling night. One of the most popular events was Bughouse Night. This year, we allowed spectators to observe the Bughouse tournament, and it was fun to watch and fun for the kids to play! More photos from each day's activities can be found on the MCCL Facebook page. We hope everyone enjoyed Summer Chess Camp!
