After my first tournament, I kept playing playing chess every day. A month later, I played in another scholastic chess tournament in Lansing, and got second place, and another awesome trophy: Red, white, gold, and black with a pillar with fire in the middle, and a plastic gold king head on top. Because of my success in tournaments, and my passion for the game, my parents started a chess club for me at my school. It started in October of my first grade year. There were about 20 kids, and just 3 coaches. The main coach is still helping out at our club, and he is named Derrick Baker. The other 2 coaches were my parents who helped with the beginners, as they were just beginners themselves. Just like my school, Eagle Crest, the club was for kids grades K-8. I got a little cocky, and thought since I had 2 trophies, I would beat everybody, but some 7th and 8th graders knocked some sense into me. John was an 8th grader, and he offered me a great challenge, constantly beating me. I played him every week at club, until finally I won against him, and I was very excited. The next couple of years I continued to get better at chess. In 2008, I played in my first rated tournament, scoring 3/6, and getting a best Unrated trophy. Our chess club also learned about a man named Dan Hronchek in the area, who was an International Master, playing constantly in other countries, mostly Europe. He coached me for about a year, and became a coach in our club, and still is.
In April, 2011, I learned about the Calvin College Chess Tournaments that happened every month. When Katy Ford was the tournament director, there was a Top section, for the best players in the group, a Reserve Section, for the lower rated adults and higher rated kids, and a Scholastic Section, for kids K-12 who were just starting out. Every month, I played at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, in the scholastic section. I played in that section until about September when school started back up. My rating got up to about 850, so I moved up to the Reserve section, with adults. If you don't know about the rating system, look forward to a blog article later this month. The first time I played In the reserve section, I got 1.5/4! In the first round, I played a man named Faron. He was rated about 1350, and he looked intimidating. Don't take that the wrong way. He was the first adult I would ever play in a rated game, and he had a high rating. We played out the game for a long time, but I was able to trade my knight for his rook, and later held a draw. I was so excited! The next couple of months, I kept playing in the reserve section, meeting some really nice people.
Right now, my rating is at 1477, and I continue to play at calvin college, and continue to play at my club.
Here is an instructive article if you are a complete beginner.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Introduction to Chess
I learned to play chess when I was in Kindergarden, at the age of 5. One day after school, I went down to my dad's office where we store all our games, looking for a game to play with my dad. He was working on his computer in the office near me. I was looking around, trying to find a game I hadn't played in a while, and came across a game that said, "Chess Training Kit." I thought it looked interesting, so I brought the game to my dad. "Daddy, what's this?" I questioned.
"That's a chess kit. Wanna learn how to play?" I was excited, so I tried it out. The pieces were made of plastic with writings on the front of the name of the piece and how it moved. The board was a simple checkers board. After we both read the directions, we decided to play a game. We didn't know that pawns capture sideways. So, we played our first game, and it went about 10 minutes, but I ended up losing.
That didn't discourage me though. I asked my dad if he wanted to play again, and so we played. This time, the game went even longer, and I ended up winning! After this, I was very excited and got hooked to the game.
A few days later, my dad heard about a chess tournament in Allegan that would occour 3 weeks later, and I was very excited to play. For the next 3 weeks, I played my dad constantly. We both looked back at the rule book and discovered that pawns capture sideways. Days went by until it was the morning of the tournament. Our family woke up early, at 6:00 and headed out in our old van to lansing, for a Fun Scholastic tournament. 5 rounds, no clock. All I brought with me was my training kit.
We got there with a little time to spare, so I went to a table with my dad, and we played a few quick games. After some announcements, my mother helped me find my first opponent, and we began. "Good Luck." I said. The tournament was so long ago, I don't remember much, but I ended up beating the first kid I played in less than 5 minutes. I left the tournament room overcome with joy. My second game I won also. My third game, I looked at the pairings, and next to my opponent's name in parinthesis, I saw a number: 200something. I didn't know what that meant at the time. During the game, my opponent made a move I thought was illegal. He had moved his king over 2 squares, and brought his rook over his king to the other side. What kind of a move was that! He told me that it was something called castling, but I din't know. A tournament director came over and told me that that was called castling, and it was legal. I ended up losing that game. After the game, the organizer came to me and helped me understand about castling. In the fourth game, I was playing a kid named Alex, who walked over to me in his froggy sllippers and said we were playing. I judged him to early. He crushed me on the board. I didn't know that he would become my main rival for many years in the future. I won my last game, but it was tough, and lasted about 15 minutes, which to me was a long time.
In the end, I finished with 3/5. We stayed for an awards cerimony afterwards just to see what it was like, and I was talking to my dad when I heard my name called. I went up, and recieved a shiny blue trophy that said "Joshua Posthuma, 3rd- K-1st grade, Fun In Chess 2006." I was absolutely thrilled.
Right before we left, the organizer came up to us and said that he was impressed in how I'd done. He gave me a few instructive chess videos that I liked very much. He helped me become a stronger player, just when I was first starting out.
That was my exciting introduction to chess, and how it all started out.
"That's a chess kit. Wanna learn how to play?" I was excited, so I tried it out. The pieces were made of plastic with writings on the front of the name of the piece and how it moved. The board was a simple checkers board. After we both read the directions, we decided to play a game. We didn't know that pawns capture sideways. So, we played our first game, and it went about 10 minutes, but I ended up losing.
That didn't discourage me though. I asked my dad if he wanted to play again, and so we played. This time, the game went even longer, and I ended up winning! After this, I was very excited and got hooked to the game.
A few days later, my dad heard about a chess tournament in Allegan that would occour 3 weeks later, and I was very excited to play. For the next 3 weeks, I played my dad constantly. We both looked back at the rule book and discovered that pawns capture sideways. Days went by until it was the morning of the tournament. Our family woke up early, at 6:00 and headed out in our old van to lansing, for a Fun Scholastic tournament. 5 rounds, no clock. All I brought with me was my training kit.
We got there with a little time to spare, so I went to a table with my dad, and we played a few quick games. After some announcements, my mother helped me find my first opponent, and we began. "Good Luck." I said. The tournament was so long ago, I don't remember much, but I ended up beating the first kid I played in less than 5 minutes. I left the tournament room overcome with joy. My second game I won also. My third game, I looked at the pairings, and next to my opponent's name in parinthesis, I saw a number: 200something. I didn't know what that meant at the time. During the game, my opponent made a move I thought was illegal. He had moved his king over 2 squares, and brought his rook over his king to the other side. What kind of a move was that! He told me that it was something called castling, but I din't know. A tournament director came over and told me that that was called castling, and it was legal. I ended up losing that game. After the game, the organizer came to me and helped me understand about castling. In the fourth game, I was playing a kid named Alex, who walked over to me in his froggy sllippers and said we were playing. I judged him to early. He crushed me on the board. I didn't know that he would become my main rival for many years in the future. I won my last game, but it was tough, and lasted about 15 minutes, which to me was a long time.
In the end, I finished with 3/5. We stayed for an awards cerimony afterwards just to see what it was like, and I was talking to my dad when I heard my name called. I went up, and recieved a shiny blue trophy that said "Joshua Posthuma, 3rd- K-1st grade, Fun In Chess 2006." I was absolutely thrilled.
Right before we left, the organizer came up to us and said that he was impressed in how I'd done. He gave me a few instructive chess videos that I liked very much. He helped me become a stronger player, just when I was first starting out.
That was my exciting introduction to chess, and how it all started out.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Welcome to My New Blog, Let Me Tell You What It Is About!
This is my first blog. So, for people who don't know me, my #1 passion in life is chess. This blog is going to be about me and my chess journey. My goal is to try to get better at chess, and to record it in a blog for others to see. I am hoping to become a chess expert by 16. In this blog, I will include my chess games, some tactics, stories about chess, advice, etc. I will try to make posts at least once a week. My family runs a scholastic chess club in Holland, MI, so I may talk about that occasionally.
I have several mentors that have helped me along the way in my chess journey. Dr. Tony Palmer is my chess coach from Saint Joseph. He has helped me a lot over the last year, and taught me most of what I know. Andy Catlin has also helped a lot with his own instructive website, and has given me much advice and coaching along my journey. He is a very nice guy.
And so now my journey begins.
I have several mentors that have helped me along the way in my chess journey. Dr. Tony Palmer is my chess coach from Saint Joseph. He has helped me a lot over the last year, and taught me most of what I know. Andy Catlin has also helped a lot with his own instructive website, and has given me much advice and coaching along my journey. He is a very nice guy.
And so now my journey begins.
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