Bateman Chess Club & All-Stars Newsletter

Mar. 6, 2019
 
Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),
 
            March is always an important month for the chess team.  We have city, state, and national championship events, where all of the skills that we have been working on are put to the test.  Thank you to those of you who signed up to play the IL K-8 state championships.  Bateman once again has a competitive group representing our school!  Here are several important reminders for the rest of the month and beyond:

• As a reminder, due to some scheduling conflicts, there will be no practices for All-Stars or Chess Club on Thu. 3/7.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  The schedule is also updated on the Bateman chess website (http://bateman.cps.edu/bateman-chess-schedule.html)
• There will be a separate letter and permission slip going home for the players that are invited to play in the CPS playoffs on Sat. (3/23).  Unfortunately, there is a limit for how many players can participate from each school.  I am appealing to have more roster spots, and if/when they are offered, I will extend the invitation.
• Some players have also qualified for a special invitational event called the MVP tournament.  It takes place on Wed. 4/17 (during Spring Break) at the Chicago Symphony Center.  Most invitations will be sent home next week.  Please note that this date has been revised on the April calendar on the Bateman chess website.
• The next whole team tournaments will be in April.  The Lozano Library will host its Spring tournament on Apr. 6.  A flyer will be sent home when available.  The April 27 CCF tournament will be at a location to be determined.  More information will be sent out in April. 
• As of right now, the All-Stars program is officially scheduled to end on Thu. Apr. 30.  However, I will continue to open the room for Free Chess every Friday until the end of May.  Sometimes, we get extra funding to extend the programs, so if the schedule changes, I will send out a notice.  Chess Club will continue until mid-May.
• We still have two major national tournaments coming up for this school year.  The first is the All-Girls National Championships here in Chicago at the McCormick Place, April 20-22.  A flyer will be sent home to all girls on our chess team soon.
• The other big tournament is the Elementary Nationals on May 10-12 in Nashville, TN.  We have a few families who are already planning to attend.  Let’s keep building an even larger team to represent Bateman and Chicago!  An updated flyer will be sent home soon about that event, but feel free to ask any questions in the meantime, if you have any interest.
• We are hoping to do two spring fundraisers for the Bateman chess program: Our annual Chess-a-thon, and a possible Chess Movie Night.  Both dates are still TBD.  The Chicago Chess Foundation is also doing its annual Chess Night Out on Thu. April 4.  See the flyer on the Bateman Buzz or the Bateman Chess website.
• The Bateman Chess Team Facebook page is now live.  You can find it by searching that title in Facebook.  We will have tournament updates and other chess news posted there.  “Check” it out!
• As a reminder, students should be using their chesskid.com accounts for additional practice and study.  I encourage students to enjoy using the website for targeted lessons, videos, skill workouts, and online matches with friends.  I do, however, emphasize the importance of doing school work first, as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle with limited screen time. 

 
    If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact me at acgeisler@cps.edu or (773)534-5055.
 
Sincerely,
Mr. Geisler (Member: United States Chess Federation, Illinois Chess Association, Chicago Chess Foundation)

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