Information for Deer Park Chess Club (Rook Ranger) Parents About the Deer Park Chess Club The Deer Park Rook Rangers have been long established at Deer Park Elementary and average 40-50 players per session. We have always had strong participation from both genders. Groups are broken into beginner and advanced (regardless of grade) and the coaching lessons are tailored accordingly. We currently meet Wednesdays after school in the Media Center. Parents are welcomed to drop by any day to see what is happening at Club. The school administration and the Deer Park PTA have been very supportive of our chess club and their activities, so please be sure to thank them when you get an opportunity. Our coaches this year are Head Coach Willard Taylor and Coach Rita Mirchandani. One additional coach may join us sometime during this school year. In the past we have enjoyed the coaching of Stephen Crookston, Tek Ajao, Bryan Taylor, Alex Basista, Michael Young, and others who remain on the coaching scene in Tampa Bay today. *Coach Taylor is the well known face of chess in Tampa Bay and is responsible for conducting chess programs in dozens of schools within the Tampa Bay area. A chess player himself from age 5, he grew up in Frankfurt, Germany, where he was taught by a grandmaster. Coach Taylor is *Rita Mirchandani is currently a USF senior and an experienced chess champion. She coaches in public and private schools with Coach Taylor's program as well as with her private students. Rita started playing chess at age 8 under Coach Taylor when he had chess club at MOSI. She had the distinction of being the #1 ranked female in Florida during 2008 as a child.
Contact Coach Taylor @ bjtnwjt@aol.com Upcoming Tournaments Tournament play is the culmination of the learning done in chess club. Valuable experience and knowledge is gained through tournament play. Coach Taylor's tournaments, such as the two day Gran Prix recently at Mary Bryant Elementary School are great beginner venues. Students are grouped based on sections (grades) and all participants receive a large trophy. School or team trophies are awarded based on scores. Parents may enter and compete in the adult section for free to earn your own trophy. These are long affairs - it kills time while you wait for your child! In this last Mary Bryant tournament, we had 17 players from Deer Park represented in all sections. There are all types of tournaments in Florida and around Tampa Bay - large, small, rated, scholastic, rated-scholastic, great venues, not so great venues - your participation and interest will be driven by your child's interest, commitment, and talent. Ratings do matter - even in unrated tournaments so it helps for your players to gain rated tournament play experience. If you would like additional information, please contact Coach Taylor at any time. I would be happy to offer my observations as a parent as well.
You do not need to be a member of the Deer Park Chess Club in order to participate in area chess tournaments. In fact, we have now and in years past had highly rated players at Deer Park (not current chess club members) but represent the Rook Rangers in scholastic tournaments. To participate in rated tournaments, players will need to have a United States Chess Federation membership. Most tournaments offer sign ups and renewals at check in or it can be done online beforehand. Once a member, players begin to receive ratings based on performance. You may also sign up online at uscf.com. There is a fee to participate in chess tournaments. Sometimes, scholarships are available and many tournaments offer a discounted registration for multiple children in one family. Players are expected to notate at chess tournaments (to write down their moves) and in some tournaments, it is mandatory. It is a good idea to get into that habit early for two reasons; one, it serves as a written account of the match for tournament directors if there is a dispute between players and two, it becomes a coaching tool for improvement later when the game is reviewed. Many of the tournaments have a chess store where you can purchase a notation book or you can do so from USCF. Our 2014 Race to the States Last year, a group of four Rook Rangers in Grades 4/5 distinguished themselves by qualifying Deer Park at the Regional Chess Championship in Gainesville which allowed them to participate in the State Chess Championship held in Tampa last Spring. We also had a 3rd grader who qualified as an individual. We ended up in 8th place in the State Championship in K5 (GR 4/5). We intend to improve our standing this year and to take our best team of players in that section to the States in Orlando in the Spring. Once qualified as a team, the best players (based on ratings, standings, and experience) will be invited to represent Deer Park at the States. The State representatives will be wearing special shirts to this event. Anyone can enter the West Florida Regional Chess Championship which will be held in Tampa this year - a first. No hotel costs! The more students who enter, the better chances we have of qualifying a team in each age category since everyone's score counts towards a team effort. If you can participate please do. Specifically, we would like as many 4th and fifth graders as possible to enter for the team. Notation mandatory during matches.
The Florida State Chess Championship is an invitation only tournament and will be held in Orlando in the Spring. In order to participate, you must qualify (with your performance at Regionals) as an individual player and will be invited by the state tournament or be invited by the coaches to play on a qualified school team. Notation mandatory during matches. For these large, prestigious events where the school is represented, parents may request an excused absence from the homeroom teacher and our principal for their child if a Friday is needed off in order to play. Provided there are no academic or absence problems to consider, those requests may be viewed favorably. Social Media and Online Resources On Facebook, connect with Tampa Bay Chess and United Minds Chess for two sources of area tournament information as well their website and USCF. *Many parents ask the coaches and I about playing chess online. Yes, it is a good practice tool for the kids. There are several online resources to recommend - Chess Tempo, chess.com, and the Internet Chess Club are some examples. Some chess playing sites offer "ratings" depending on your performance online. Remember, the USCF rating is the only one that counts! Note: Basic internet security precautions should be taken anytime children are online. Chess Club Tee Shirts Students in chess club do not need a tee shirt to belong to chess club or compete in tournaments. If you would like one to display school chess spirit, you may purchase one from the school uniform website. There was an error when vendors changed this year and they were not picked up and put on the new site but that should be happening soon. Chess Team tees have been approved by Mrs. Porebski as one of our official school Spirit Shirts and as such, may be worn on Fridays. Recent Publicity Deer Park's Chess In The Courtyard event in celebration of National Chess Day is a featured item currently on the scrolling banner photo and information on the Hillsborough County Schools website. Thank you to all parents for assisting our chess players to participate that day.
Thinking Ahead: Chess in Middle School I have been asked about middle school chess clubs. I am aware of chess clubs in the following middle schools but this list is not comprehensive. If you know of any others, please let me know. Roland Park Middle School Academy Preparatory Middle School Hillsborough Academy of Math and Science Carrollwood Day School Berkeley Preparatory School Cambridge Christian School End of Year Awards/Celebration At the end of the school year, various awards are given out by coaches including titles like "most improved" and so forth. This year, I would like to include a small chess club party with snacks and refreshment as part of that last club meeting in 2014. More information on that as we get closer. Let me know if you would like to help with that. Opportunity for 20142015 School Year: Chess Parent Wanted We would like to identify a Chess Mom or Chess Dad to be our designated parent liaison for the Deer Park Chess Club next year. Duties are light and include (but are not limited to) assisting the Coaches throughout the year: sometimes at club, with our annual Chess In The Courtyard event in celebration of National Chess Day, communication about upcoming tournaments and other updates, coordination with Deer Park's uniform vendor, taking photos, and team chaperone at the States (all parents must attend with their children but the Team Parent coordinates the participation and related activities). Ideally, the candidate should have a tournament playing child so you can coordinate the team participation. The coaches and I have observed strong parental support and advocacy of a school chess team results in greater participation and results for the students. I have enjoyed being the Deer Park Chess Mom but we will be moving on to middle school. It would be great to identify and orient someone before the year is over. If you're interested, just email me at cgoodric@tampabay.rr.com or call 727.408.0406 and we can set up a time to meet at club. cag