Alisa Melekhina

Woman International Master (WIM) Alisa Melekhina will be conducting a simultaneous* exhibition at All the King’s Men Chess Center on Sunday, January 31st at 2:00 PM. All the King’s Men will award a $10 ATKM gift certificate to each player* for a win and a $5 gift ATKM certificate for a draw. The cost to participate is just $25, $20 for All the King’s Men Chess Club members. Spectators are welcome. The charge to watch is just $5.00, $3 for All the King’s Men Chess Club members or their family members.

This event is designed to raise a portion of the funds needed to cover operating expenses associated with the Chess Club and it’s tournaments . Your participation is definitely needed and certainly will be appreciated.

Seats are very limited (only 20). Therefore, pre-registration is required. You can do that online, by phone, or you can sign up at All the King’s Men.

Food for thought: Alisa is the USCF’s #2 ranked girl player under the age of 21. She’s an outstanding young woman whose brilliant chess play may only be outshone by her lady-like charm and stunning good looks. Alisa lives in the Philadelphia area and this event just happens to be her very first simul.

*A “simul”, as it is often referred to, is a chess exhibition in which one player (commonly a chess master or grandmaster) plays multiple games (often 20 or more) at the same time against other players.

* Offer only available to player’s USCF rated U2000

Monthly Tournaments

Tournaments are a chance for chess players all around the world to gauge their skills against other chess players — and possibly earn themselves a bit of extra green to pack in their wallet.  Fortunately for chess novices to chess enthusiasts, ChessBoss is offering monthly ChessCube Tournaments and Chess Title Tournaments:

ChessBoss Monthly ChessCube Tournament

This new variant of chess, named ChessCube, involves rolling a cube with a different chess piece displayed on each side.  Each player rolls a cube on their turn and must move the piece corresponding to the face-up side of the cube.  If a piece is unable to move, the player loses his or her turn.  ChessCube offers a new way to play the game, training players to become better at chess with an aspect of randomness providing new situations and revealing new moves for players to consider.  The monthly tournament pays $300 to the winner of each tournament, $150 to the second place and $50 for third place.

In order to qualify for the ChessCube main event, players must win one of the 64 satellite ChessCube Tournaments.  Each tournament, whether it is a satellite tournament or the main event, uses the Olympic System in which players are eliminated following their first loss.

The 64 satellites leading up to the monthly main event will be permanently listed in ChessBoss’s tournament listings area.  Each satellite tournament goes live when 16 players join the tournament room.  Immediately following the start of a satellite tournament, another satellite tournament room will appear.  Using this system, the 64 participants in the main event may be decided within two weeks, one week, or even the first day!  It would be unwise to sleep on the opportunity to make $300, so act as soon as possible!  The main event will be hosted on the last Saturday of every month.

ChessBoss Monthly Title Tournament

Although the ChessBoss Monthly Title Tournament is directed generally toward kids, anybody can participate.  The tournament will be hosted on the second Saturday of every month, with no cap on the total participants.  The tournament is run in a “knock-out” format in which players are eliminated after their first loss.  The players will be competing for three titles:

1st place: Chess Samurai
2nd place: Chess Ninja
3nd place: Chess Warrior

Titleholders will receive a trophy through the mail and gain bragging rights on ChessBoss in the form of their title being included in their account name for the month.  Do you have what it takes to become next month’s Chess Samurai?

Registering for Tournaments:

To register for any of the ChessBoss tournaments, players must create their own ChessBoss account.  Have a Facebook?  ChessBoss is fully integrated with the popular social-networking site, allowing users to challenge and connect with friends, post results on their walls and much more.

After creating an account, visit the tournaments tab in the ChessBoss server to join a tournament.  It’s as easy as a simple click of the mouse!

Future Tournaments

ChessBoss is continually planning new tournaments and new prizes in hopes of creating a community of chess players that improve each other and provides prizes and titles to deserving players.  In the future, ChessBoss will host monthly Swiss, Round-Robin, and Knock-Out tournaments.

In Swiss-System Chess Tournaments, players are matched with players of even skill (the top player is matched with the player just under the half-way mark, the second player is matched with the player under the opponent of the top player).  Winners receive one point and half point for drawing.  In each subsequent round, players compete with others with the same number of points.  Each player is expected to compete through the entirety of the tournament; the player with the most points at the end of the designated rounds is declared the winner.

In Round-Robin Chess Tournaments, each player faces every other play once as white and once as black.  The player with the best win-loss record at the end of the tournament is declared the winner.

In Knock-Out Chess Tournaments, players participate in an elimination tournament in which winners from the first round advance to the second round, and losing players are “knocked out” of the competition, eventually leading to a final of two players playing for a title.

Whichever tournament you decide to participate in, ChessBoss chess tournaments provide a free, competitive environment to hone your chess skills.  Be on the lookout on ChessBoss.com for more information.  Continue training on the server to win prizes, trophies, and titles on ChessBoss!

Chess Clubs

As chess is a game that requires knowledge of your opponent, people who enjoy playing chess are constantly looking for new people to play against. Playing against new opponents gives players the opportunity to increase their skill level through the understanding of different situations, as well as the proper moves to use in the situation and the probable outcomes of those moves.

Chess clubs are a perfect avenue for players to seek improvement. In addition to providing players with new, skilled opponents, chess clubs often give resources and education in person — something that an online resource or chess tutorial can not offer. Listed below are three of the top chess clubs that chess enthusiasts should consider checking out:

The Dallas Chess Club

The Dallas Chess Club remains one of the most active chess clubs in the entire nation. With an excellent, dedicated facility in North Dallas, the Dallas Chess club offers a number of educational resources. Included in these resources are an extensive chess library and a club computer that possess all of the latest chess software for their members’ use. Members experience regular lectures and lesson by National Masters and FIDE Masters, allowing them to gain experience and learn tips from some of the greatest chess players in the world. On Wednesday and Friday nights (and weekends), the Dallas Chess club features USCF-rated tournaments, allowing players to test their skill against competition. Check them out here.

The KnightMare Chess Club

The KnightMare Chess Club is a part of the Chess Learning Center, a place where students can learn, study, and practice in a non-threatening yet challenging environment. They stand as Central Ohio’s premier scholastic chess club for weekly chess lessons and open scholastic chess play. They produced the highest percentage of champions in the state of Ohio. Additionally, they produced several nationally ranked girls, including the up-and-coming Brianna Conley and Maggie Fin. The founder of the Chess Learning Center and the KnightMare Chess Club is F. Leon Wilson, the first FIDE certified instructor in the US, whom ChessBoss.com personally interviewed. Check them out here.

Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that is committed to making chess an important part of the Saint Louis community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons and special lectures. Another important aspect of the club’s mission is to develop scholastic chess programs. The staff at the CCSCSL believes chess is an important tool for the developing student and is working hard to develop in-school and after-school programming in schools across the metropolitan area. Although the club just opened its doors in July of 2008, it has already played host to the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship and the 2009 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship, and the 2010 U.S Championship is scheduled to be held at the CCSCSL in April of next year. In addition, the CCSCSL has agreed to sponsor the United States team as they travel to Turkey to compete in the World Team Championship. Check them out here.