Senior-Citizen Chess Club Tournament in 2018 (West Valley City, Utah)

West Valley City, Utah, senior center that has a chess club
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By the chess instructor Jonathan Whitcomb

Yesterday we finished the Harman Chess Club championship tournament, with seven players participating enough to keep on the records to the end of this all-summer competition (it began on June 13, 2018). Since we had no rules about attendance, however, nobody was able to play all possible games in this double round robin tournament; people do have other things than chess games in their lives, after all, and we could not get everybody paired with every other competitor.

This was a free tournament, open to all senior citizens who play chess in this area of Utah. The Harman Senior Center is in West Valley City, Utah, and the chess club meets on Wednesdays from about 12:15 p.m. until the building closes at 3:00 p.m.

The top three winners were:

  • First: Jonathan Whitcomb, 8½-1½ (7 wins, 3 draws, no loses)
  • Second: Grant Hodson, 7-2 (6 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss)
  • Third: Alan Bradbury, 4-5 (3 wins, 2 draws, 4 loses)

This was a double round robin chess tournament, and trophies will probably be provided to the top three finishers. Here is the cross table, ordered according to positive scores of the seven players:

Harman Chess Club Championship totals

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Chess Tournament in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah

The event was organized by the local chess tutor Alexander Gustafsson and the Youth-Services librarian Laura Renshaw, with publicity help from the author Jonathan Whitcomb. . . . October 29, 2016 [a free chess tournament for children]

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Chess lessons in Utah

I’ll be happy to introduce you to chess lessons, and the first session is free. If you choose to continue, the lessons are only $25 per hour-long session, which is less than most chess tutors charge for face-to-face instruction.

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Harman Chess Club Championship of 2018

This double round robin chess tournament was held at the Harman Senior Center in West Valley, Utah, from June 13th through September 12th of 2018, with fourteen days of tournament play. I was delighted and challenged in my participation. I don’t recall any game that was easy for me. [First place: Jonathan Whitcomb]

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Dragon or Big Bird in Sandy and Draper, Utah

This is unrelated to the chess opening “dragon-Sicilian,” although the researcher/investigative-reporter does play that chess opening.

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Chess tutor in Utah

I (Jonathan Whitcomb) am both a tutor and an author of chess, having written the book Beat That Kid in Chess in 2015. I’m active in both the Harman Senior Center chess club and the Sandy Senior Center chess club . . .

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Lessons From a Tournament Chess Game

The following game I [Jonathan Whitcomb] played on June 14th against Grant Hodson, the tournament leader in the Harman Chess Club Championship (2017) in West Valley, Utah.

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Chess Tournament Tiebreaker

chess knight
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By the chess tutor Jonathan D. Whitcomb (Salt Lake Valley of Utah)

While directing two chess tournaments in Utah recently, I devised a tiebreaker system for double round robin events:

Whitcomb tiebreaker (especially useful for Double Round Robin chess tournaments)

First Part

Use the two-game match (or matches) between players who have tied. If that does not resolve one or more ties, use the following system for the tie or ties that have not been resolved:

Second Part

A player’s score for the last played game is multiplied by four. That sum is then added to the final score of the opponent in that game.

Third Part

Use a variation of Part One: count only the second game (chronological) of the two-game match (or matches).

Fourth Part

Use a random method (tossing a coin)

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Explanation for the second part

This gives more weight to performance at the end of the tournament, for prizes are awarded after the tournament is completed. It allows for the possibility that a player has improved during the event, giving credit for that.

Example #1

The first part of calculations did not resolve a three-way tie, so the second part is used:

Player-A and Player-B and Player-C are tied at the end of a double round robin. Here are the last played games for those three persons (remember these are only the last games that were actually played by those three players):

Player-A: won against an opponent who had a final score of 2: tiebreaker = 6
Detail: (4*1)+2=6

Player-B: drew against an opponent who had a final score of 3: tiebreaker = 5
Detail: (4*½)+3=5

Player-C: lost against an opponent who had a final score of 4: tiebreaker = 4
Detail: (4*0)+4=4

Example #2

Player-A and Player-B are tied at the end. In their individual match, however, Player-A scored 1½-½, meaning Player-B scored ½-1½, so Player-A wins the tiebreaker. There is no need to go to the second part of calculations.

Example #3

Player-A, Player-B, and Player-C are tied at the end of the chess tournament. Here is how they did against each other:

from Example number 3 of the Whitcomb tiebreaker for chess tournaments

 

 

 

 

After looking at those games those three played against each other, we have this:

Player-A = 2½
Player-B = 2
Player-C = 1½

The above points are used for tie-breaking.

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Two Double Round Robin Chess Tournaments in Utah in 2017

Many chess tournaments in Utah, as in other states of the USA, are Swiss system competitions. Double round robins, aside from speed games, are indeed rare tournaments, but that’s what we’re having in the spring and early summer of 2017, in the Salt Lake Valley. In fact we’re having two of them at the same time, in two senior centers.

At the Sandy Senior Center, a few miles south of Salt Lake City, we’re winding down the first annual chess club championship, although the top players have basically completed their games. Of the six players competing, over a period of many weeks, the following three will be receiving awards:

#1 Jonathan Whitcomb – score: 8-2

#2 Bruce – score: 6½-3½

#3 Steve – score: 6-4

It’s possible that another player, Greg, may attain a final score of 6-4, if he wins his last three games, but Steve will win the tiebreaker. For this double round robin chess tournament, the tiebreaker is this: whoever completes his or her games first. The Whitcomb method of tie-breaking is not used in this event, for it was developed during the competition.

At the Harman Senior Center in West Valley, Utah, Grant Hodson is almost sure to be the winner. If he wins his last game, his score will be 10½-1½. His only loss was to me, but it seems that the best I can hope for, in this year’s championship chess tournament, is getting second place, half a point behind Grant. Like the Sandy tournament, the tiebreaker goes to the player who finishes all his or her games first, and Grant has only one game left, while I still have four games to go.

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Lessons From a Tournament Chess Game

The following game I [Jonathan Whitcomb] played on June 14th against Grant Hodson, the tournament leader in the Harman Chess Club Championship (2017) in West Valley, Utah.

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Utah chess lessons

I’m Jonathan Whitcomb, of Murray, Utah, author of the book Beat That Kid in Chess, and I’m now offering my services as a chess coach in the Salt Lake Valley.

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Utah chess tutor

A free chess tournament gave about half of the children their first ever experience in tournament competition. The event was organized by the local chess tutor Alexander Gustafsson and the Youth-Services librarian Laura Renshaw, with publicity help from the author Jonathan Whitcomb.

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Contact the chess instructor Jonathan Whitcomb

Utah Chess Instruction

man talks on telephone while playing chess
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Chess lessons are available in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, from chess coach Jonathan Whitcomb, who lives in Murray. The cost is very reasonable: $25 per lesson, with an hour for each lesson. (Keep in mind, however, that not all of the youngest chess players, less than about six years old, will do well for more than 45 minutes of tutoring.)

For most chess players, improving basic tactical ability is very important.

He has taught chess to students of many ages, from young children to older kids, teenagers, and adults. Instruction is available for those of many different levels of ability.

In general, the following subjects may be covered in various lessons (depending on the skill of the student, for each person is given precise individual attention):

  • Basic tactical awareness
  • Motifs of tactics
  • Strategy as a chess game progresses
  • Opening basics and details
  • Middle-game battles
  • End-game principles
  • Precise methods in the end game

 

man talks on telephone while playing chess

Jonathan Whitcomb wrote the book Beat That Kid in Chess, which may be the first chess publication using the NIP system of chess instruction: nearly-identical positions. This can make it much easier for a chess player to learn most thoroughly the most important aspect of winning chess: tactics.

To communicate with Whitcomb, and ask questions or make an appointment for your first free introductory meeting, use the CONTACT page or call him:

phone number of J Whitcomb

Also feel free to ask what you will about the royal game.

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Chess Tutor in Salt Lake Valley

Convenient (at your home or at a nearby library) . . . The following communities in the Salt Lake Valley [Utah] can easily be visited by the chess tutor Jonathan Whitcomb . . .

Chess Lessons in Las Vegas

Atanas Kolev is a chess grandmaster with more than 30 years professional chess experience as a chess player and coach in many countries all over the world – Bulgaria, Spain, USA, Greece, San Salvador and so on. [$100/hour]

Chess Lesson Reviews – San Diego, California

(Although the title page mentions St. George, Utah)

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