History Log

Date	Log Entry
09/07-08/2004	Two more days with the middle school. Still over 150 in attendance (and two of the 7th grade classes had intramurals!).
09/02/2004	Its football season. Had to leave early to make it to the game. Some faithful few (self not included) did make it in to play.
08/26/2004	Mayberry Chess has started working with a local middle school this year. yesterday's turn out was about 50 6th graders. Today, over 110 7th and 8th graders.
08/19/2004	Our first rumblings of a tournament happened tonight. With 5 attendees, all of approximately the same strength, and a newly acquired 10 sec/30 sec timer, it was a natural. The four person event saw Zach Claxton pull ahead of the field with 2 points out of two. Play had to be cut short because of time constraints. Next week: More Chess!
08/12/2004	New Attendance Record!!! Seven, count 'em: SEVEN attendees tonight!
08/10/2004	Stopped at the Borders in Greensboro on my way across the state tonight. We managed to win three games against a Philidor, an Irregular Queens Pawn game, and an Irregular Kings Pawn game. All in all, a fairly irregular night. The Philidor was very tactical with both sides going for the opponents King. We're sure we dodged a bullet in that game. Just when we thought our opponent would press his attack, he tried to consolidate and we were able to open his King's position and win Queen for Rook. The last game was really the only game we thought we were even of ahead most of the game. Fairly early on we gained the good-vs-bad Bishop advantage, then a slip up allowed us to win a Pawn. A little later another Pawn fell, and we entered a 2R+B vs 2R+B endgame two Pawns up. After one Rook and the Bishops came off the board, we had a protected passed Pawn and an active King. Interesting games and good conversation. Hard to beat.
08/05/2004	Five attendees, including myself. Ed was back. Brad was back. Brad brough Maketa with him. And Zach came in after football practice. Maketa learned the moves and won her first game. Typical "beginners" game with lots of Pawn moves and not much of an opening strategy, but as her opponent developed threats against her exposed King, every piece seemed to be in just the right place. Finally she was able to counter against her opponents exposed King, and the game was decided quickly with Knight protecting Queen that issued the checkmate. The only potential escape square was covered by one of those early Pawn moves. A strange but interesting game with Knights protecting Bishops that attacked Rooks that were covered by Knights. Oh yes, a bishop forked Queen and Knight only to be blocked by an interposing Bishop that saved the Queen and added protection to the Knight. Pretty? No. Ellegant? No. Interesting? Absolutely!!!
08/05/2004	The August USCF rating supplement will be available at this weeks meeting. See how friend and foe are doing. Find your own lastest official United States Chess Federation rating.
08/03/2004	Stopped at the Borders Book Store in Greensboro on High Point Rd last night. Turns out they have a group of chess players that meets there on Tuesday evenings. I'll have to try and make it a little earlier next week.
07/29/2004	Ed stopped by for a couple of games. Another first time visitor!
07/28/2004	We are now listed in the "Clubs" section on the North Carolina Chess Association's web page.
07/22/2004	We received our U.S.C.F. Affiliate certificate and Certified Coach certificate this week. The big news here is that we can now start looking at hosting rated tournaments.
07/15/2004	Slow night. Looking forward to school when things should pick up. Visited the Barnes and Noble bookstore just off US15-501 and I-40 Friday night. A young man named Eno played several games. Went over to Barnes and Noble in Streets of South Point, Durham, NC, Monday night to check out a line in MCO. Having a chess board was enough to solicite an offer to play a game from a soon-to-be-med student at UGA. After a Scotch (game that is) and a King's Gambit (Accepted), he had to depart. Then a recent gran of UNC wanted to know if he could play. Sure. An Alekhine's Four Pawn Attack ensued. By then it was closing time. Never did get MCO off the shelf. Met with the Yadkinville club on Tuesday. Some of their players may visit us soon. We'll be glad to have them.
07/08/2004	Out of town - no reports from attendees - if you have anything to report - please email us
07/01/2004	It was a long and lonely night. One attendee. Sigh. I did get to go over several games from the new Chess Life, read a litle more of the 5th edition of the rule book, and kick back a large Sumatra blend.
06/24/2004	Six attendess (self included). A father and two daughters from Virginia came in and we were able to give our first free lesson at the father's request to the older of his two daughters. We were able to post flyers at Staples and Wal-Mart. It was the flyer at Wal-Mart that brought in the family from VA
06/17/2004	Two attendees (self included). A young man came in an we played three games. Although he lost all three, his game sharpened up considerablely as they progressed. The first game was a kind of reverse-Damiano. is King was trapped at e2 by a Queen on f2. His d1 sqare was blocked by his Queen and d3 was blocked by a Bishop. Minimal promotion has been done. We'll get flyers up in local stores and businesses next week.

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