Preview Screening of "Brooklyn Castle"

Click here to buy tickets to a preview screening of the documentary film Brooklyn Castle.

View this update from producer Nelson Dellamaggiore, asking for your support.

Knockouts Lose to Arch Rivals

In week six of the USCL, the Saint Louis Arch Bishops had these words for the New Jersey Knockouts: "Show me!"

The Knockouts drew the game on board one.  But the Bishops were too strong on boards two, three, and four.

Support "Brooklyn Castle"

Matthew Lillard says support Brooklyn Castle.

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Help us fund screenings of Brooklyn Castle for the communities, schools, parents, and kids affected by after school programs!

It's finally here!!!!! After many long hours of filming, editing, and appearances at countless film festivals (including our debut at SXSW this past March), Brooklyn Castle is now coming to theaters nationwide starting this October 19th!! It has been an absolutely incredible journey so far, and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Kickstarter community for helping fund our early creative vision and then turning it into reality. That's why we're turning to you again! We need your support more than ever, now that we're coming to theaters.

THE VISION
Brooklyn Castle is a film that has sparked discussions about the important role after school programs play in the lives and development of school kids across the country. While the film is coming to theaters, we also need to ensure our film reaches the audiences that have the most at stake in this issue: the communities, schools, teachers, and of course the kids who have the most to gain (and lose) from after school programs. Towards that end, we intend to use your funding to help us realize additional community screenings of Brooklyn Castle. This includes:
•Rental of movie theaters/screening locations for special community screening events in cities across the U.S.
•Transportation to get viewers to the screening, shipping costs for prints and travel costs, so the filmmakers and Brooklyn Castle's subjects can attend.

WHY WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
In addition to helping fund a larger rollout of the film to communities across the U.S. that might not otherwise see it, your funding support also plays another role - spreading the word. Through regular campaign updates that we plan to distribute to Kickstarter supporters, we hope to find partners and supporters across the U.S. who not only care about the critical issues of after school programs in their communities, but who can help us spread the word so that as many people see Brooklyn Castle as possible. Join us! Go see Brooklyn Castle on 10/19 and, in the meantime, donate whatever you can afford to make sure the film gets seen by as many people as possible. Whatever the amount, please know that your support will play a critical role in helping us spread the word about this amazing film to the people that need to see it.

Thanks so much!

Katie and Nelson Dellamaggiore + Brian Schulz

To learn more about the project and join our update list, please visit www.brooklyncastle.com.

In theaters October 19, 2012.

Marshall October Grand Prix 10/7/2012

On Sunday, this game was played at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Three: Center Counter Defense

Jim West (FIDE 2091) - Mitch Fitzko (FIDE 2085), Marshall Chess Club 10/7/2012

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Be2 Bf5 7.O-O Nbd7 8.Be3 e6 9.Qd2 Be7 10.Bf4 Qb4 11.a3 Qa5 12.b4 Qd8 13.b5 O-O

14.bxc6 bxc6 15.h3 c5 16.Rfb1 Nb6 17.Rd1 cxd4 18.Nxd4 Bc5 19.Nxf5 exf5 20.Qxd8 Raxd8 21.Be5 Ne4 22.Nxe4 fxe4 23.a4 Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1 Nxa4 25.Ra1 Re8 26.Bxg7 Kxg7, draw.

Marshall October Grand Prix 10/6/2012

On Saturday, I drew this game at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Two: Philidor Counter Gambit

Ben Goldstein (USCF 1736) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 10/6/2012

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 f5 4.d3 c6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.O-O f4 7.d4 Qc7 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.h3 a5 10.a3 Na6 11.Qe2 h6 12.Nh4 g5 13.Ng6 Rh7 14.Nxf8 Kxf8

15.b4 g4 16.hxg4 Bxg4 17.f3 Bd7 18.b5 cxb5 19.Nxb5 Bxb5 20.Bxb5 Nh5 21.Rd1 Qb6+ 22.Kh2 Rg7 23.Bb2 Nc7 24.Bxe5 Qxb5 25.Bxg7+ Nxg7 26.Qxb5 Nxb5 27.a4 Nc3 28.Rd7 b5 29.axb5 Nxb5 30.Rd5 Nc7 31.Rdxa5 Rd8 32.Ra7 Nge6

33.R1a5 Kg7 34.Rc5 Nxc5 35.Rxc7+ Nd7 36.c4 Kf6 37.Rc6+ Ke5 38.Rxh6 Nf6 39.g3, draw.

My Chess Class at Caldwell College

Here are recaps of my Saturday morning chess class, conducted by Columbia Academy, at Caldwell College.

In the September 22nd class, I explained how each piece moves and gave the value of each piece. A pawn is worth 1, a knight 3, a bishop 3 and a quarter, a rook 5, and a queen 9. The king is priceless. Those are the piece values at the start of the game. Your goal, as the game develops, is to increase the value of your own pieces, while at the same time decreasing the value of your opponent's pieces. The name for this process is positional chess. I also discussed tactics and strategy. Tactics are the weapons that you use to carry out your strategy. Planning ahead is strategy. On the demonstration board, I showed two games: the first by Paul Morphy as Black, illustrating tactics; the second by Bobby Fischer as White, illustrating strategy. 

In the September 29th class, I taught the King's Indian Attack for White and the King's Indian Defense for Black. At the demonstration board, I showed a game won by Bobby Fischer, using the King's Indian Attack and finishing with a brilliant queen sacrifice. Next Saturday, I will start teaching how to play the middlegame, now that students know how to make it past the opening without any disadvantage. If chess is a war game, then the middlegame is when the fighting takes place, usually near the center of the board. To play the middlegame successfully, a player must combine tactics with strategy. I will give examples of tactics involving pins, forks, double attacks, discovered checks, and more. In a future class, I will focus on strategic planning in the middlegame. 

The topic for the October 6th class was tactics, which are the weapons that you use to carry out your strategy. These include pins, forks, skewers, double attacks, and discovered checks. At the demonstration board, I showed a combination by Mikhail Tal involving three different tactics: double attack by the queen, pin by the rook, and fork by the knight. I pointed out how Tal's pieces cooperated with each other in this winning combination. Piece coordination is important in chess. In the next class, I will focus on strategy, which is planning for the future. Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen can see as many as 15 moves ahead! For most chess players, 5 moves ahead is normal, as you aim for positions from which tactics flow naturally.

Book Review: "The Queen of Katwe"

Anna Clark reviews The Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers.

Pix from Westfield Quads 9/30/2012

During Sunday's quads in Westfield, I took these pictures.

"Brooklyn Castle" Player Posters

Take a look at player posters for the documentary film Brooklyn Castle.

If you ask me, the image of the rook belongs with the letters "rook" in Brooklyn!

Applesauce Jarred by Knockouts

A punch by the New Jersey Knockouts jarred the Manhattan Applesauce, in week five of the United States Chess League.

Take a ringside seat for the games on boards one, two, three, and four.

FIDE Mondays 10/1/2012

On Monday evening, I played this game at the Marshall Chess Club.

Round Four: English Opening

Nathan Resika (FIDE 2155) - Jim West (FIDE 2091), Marshall Chess Club 10/1/2012

1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 e6 6.d3 Nge7 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bd2 O-O 9.a3 d5 10.O-O b6 11.Rb1 Bb7

12.b4 cxb4 13.axb4 dxc4 14.dxc4 Nf5 15.c5 bxc5 16.bxc5 Rb8 17.Qa4 Ba8 18.Rxb8 Qxb8 19.e4 Nfd4 20.Nxd4 Nxd4 21.Ra1 Qe5 22.Qc4 Qh5 23.Rxa7 Nf3+ 24.Bxf3 Qxf3 25.c6 Bxc6

26.Rc7 Bxc3 27.Qxc3 Qxc3 28.Bxc3 Bxe4 29.Bf6, draw.

Westfield Quads 9/30/2012

54 players showed up for Sunday's quads in Westfield.

Round One: Larsen's Opening

Jim West (USCF 2202) - Brandon Nydick (USCF 2064), Westfield NJ 9/30/2012

1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Bf5 3.f4 e6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Be2 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.a4 c5 9.Na3 a6 10.Qe1 Qe7 11.d3 Bg6

12.Ne5 Ne8 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.e4 dxe4 15.dxe4 e5 16.f5 g5 17.Nc4 Bc7 18.Qg3 Nd6 19.Nxd6 Bxd6 20.Rad1 Bc7 21.Bc4 Rae8 22.Bd5 Rb8 23.c4 Rfd8 24.Bc1 Nf6 25.Bxg5 b5 26.axb5 axb5 27.Qh4 bxc4 28.bxc4 Rb3 29.Rb1 Rdb8 30.Rxb3 Rxb3 31.Bxf6 Qxf6 32.Qxf6 gxf6

33.Ra1 Rb8 34.Ra7 Rc8 35.Kf2 Kg7 36.Kf3 Kf8 37.Kg4 Kg7 38.h4 Kg8 39.h5 Kg7 40.Kh4 Kg8 41.h6 Kh7 42.Kh5 Kg8 43.g4 Kf8 44.g5 fxg5 45.f6 g4 46.h7 Ke8 47.h8=Q+ Kd7 48.Bc6+ Kxc6 49.Qxc8 g3 50.Qxc7#.

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Round Two: King's Indian Defense

Leonid Fleysher (USCF 2024) - Jim West (USCF 2202), Westfield NJ 9/30/2012

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 7.b3 e5 8.e3 e4 9.Ng5 d5 10.Nh3 Re8 11.c4 c6 12.Nf4 Nf8 13.h3 Ne6 14.Nxe6 Bxe6 15.Bb2 h5 16.Rac1 Qd7 17.Kh2 Rac8

18.Nb1 Nh7 19.Nc3 Ng5 20.h4 Bg4 21.Qd2 Nf3+ 22.Bxf3 Bxf3 23.Ne2 Bf6 24.Ng1 Bxh4 25.Nxf3 exf3 26.Rh1 Qg4 27.Ba3 Bg5 28.Bd6 Rcd8 29.c5 Kg7 30.Kg1 h4

31.Rc3 Rxd6 32.cxd6 hxg3 33.fxg3 Rxe3 34.Rxe3 Bxe3+ 35.Qxe3 Qxg3+ 36.Kf1 Qg2+ 37.Ke1 Qxh1+ 38.Kf2 Qh2+ 39.Ke1 Qxd6 40.Qxf3 Qb4+ 41.Kf1 Qxd4 42.Qe2 Qe4 43.Qb2+ d4 44.Qa3 a6 45.Qb4 b5 46.Qa5 d3 47.Qc3+ Kg8 48.Qf6 Qf5+ 49.Qxf5 gxf5 50.Ke1 c5, White resigns.

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Round Three: Budapest Gambit, Fajarowicz Variation

Gregory Nolan (USCF 2165) - Jim West (USCF 2202), Westfield NJ 9/30/2012

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.a3 d6 5.Qc2 d5 6.cxd5 Qxd5 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8.Qxc3 Nc6 9.Nf3 Bg4 10.Bf4 O-O-O 11.h3 Bxf3 12.gxf3 Bc5

13.e4 Qd4 14.Bg3 Nxe5 15.Be2 Qxc3+ 16.bxc3 Nd3+ 17.Kf1 f6 18.Kg2 g5 19.Rhd1 Nf4+ 20.Bxf4 gxf4 21.a4 Rhg8+ 22.Kf1 Rxd1+ 23.Rxd1 Rd8 24.Rxd8+, draw.