Kids' Giuoco Piano Thematic
Jacob Johnson (1st, left) and Mario Arnson (=3rd) relaxing before their second round game. Joe Singerling is standing behind the board. Jacob and Mario are former team mates and school champions at West Michigan Academy of Arts and Academics. Jacob’s 4-0 run was most impressive: three of his opponents—Mario, Josh Vandermeulen, and Josh Posthuma--have all won multiple regional scholastic events. With a lineup that include Jacob and Raphael Wieland, Spring Lake High School’s chess team looks to be the most formidable since the days of one-time Michigan state champion Jon “Bruiser” Budzenski.
Spring Lake held a scholastic thematic tournament on Saturday, September 25 where all games featured the Giuoco Piano (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5) to teach the 22 students this important opening and help them gain more experience with 1. e4 e5 strategies in general. The first two rounds were White to Play after 3 … Bc5, while the last two rounds were Black to Play after 3. Bc4, although most players chose 3 … Bc5 as Black anyway. Jacob Johnson played extremely well to win all four of his games, finishing in First Place with 4-0, and Keegan George earned Second Place with 3.5/4. Jacob and Keegan took home trophies for their outstanding results. Four players tied for 3rd-6th Place with 3-1 scores: Joshua VanderMeulen, Joshua Posthuma, Mario Arnson and Seth Dibble, and they each won medals for their fine play. Several players broke even with a 2-2 score: Nathan Peterson, Brant VerLinde, Dylan Constantine, Caleb Dibble, Raphael Wieland, Ryon Hordyk, Taz Shreve, Zac Shreve, Devin Shreve, Connor Ward and Ryan Ross. Also competing were Ben Hylen, Andrew Hylen, Collin Sportell, Lily Sportell and Quinn Hatton, who played hard and gained very valuable experience. All games were G/15 Unrated, and Tony Palmer handled the pairings while Joe Singerling and Andy Catlin helped run the event. After the four rounds were completed, everyone enjoyed pizza and pop for lunch, then the players held a teaching session with Tony about the Giuoco Piano along with tactics and strategy. Several students presented their games in front of the group to learn and improve, and they received a copy of Tony’s article on the Giuoco Piano from the August 2010 Chess Life for Kids magazine.
Students were encouraged to follow the Move/Clock/Write system so they didn’t forget to press their clocks after making their moves. We also wanted players to take notation during their games, so they could be reviewed and studied later. In the teaching session, we discussed how King safety is a crucial factor for beginners and juniors, protecting the King by castling (while developing the Rook) to avoid early attacks. The students were very well behaved (as were their parents), and they were extremely eager get better at chess. All players should annotate their best games and send them to WestMichiganChess as a surefire way to improve.
The next Spring Lake scholastic event will be an open tournament (play whatever you want) on Saturday, October 30 which will also be four rounds G/15 Unrated followed by pizza & pop and then a teaching session. See you there!
Dr. Tony has annotated the third round game between Jacob Johnson and Joshua Posthuma here:
Runner up Keegan George (2nd, 3.5/4.0) plays Black against Caleb Dibble.
Photo Credit: Joe Singerling
Seth Dibble’s three points in four tries was good for a share of third place.
Joshua VanderMeulen and Joshua Posthuma shared in the third place medals.
Andrew Hylen makes his move against Nathan Peterson. Photo Credit: Joe Singerling
Dr. Tony Palmer directed the tournament, reviewed the games, and sponsored the lunch from Spring Lake favorite Marco’s pizzeria.
After a pizza lunch, most of the kids took part in Dr. Tony’s session to review games. Players that showed their games included Joshua Posthuma, Joshua VanderMeulen, and Lily Sportell.
Between Spring Lake Über-organizer Joe Singerling and Tournament Director / Coach Dr. Tony Palmer, the tournament was run very smoothly. Photo Credit: Joe Singerling