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Important messages / Latest News:

Click on the Aristea Chess Tournament banner (flyer) on the right,
to enter online, or the Tournament News tab above for more information on the 2018 tournament at Aristea.

Latest blog links:

How chess helps your brain - 10 Big Brain Benefits of playing Chess.


Upcoming events:

The Aristea Friendly chess tournament, sponsored by Harcourts Cape Gate, will take place on the 15th of September 2018.

Click on the Tournament news tab above, or on the small flyer on the right hand side. The online entries are open. Click on the small flyer below, on the right to enter.

Read more on the blog!

Monday 25 June 2012

A Knights Tour - Scrabble™ Puzzle Nr.20


A Knights Tour - Scrabble Puzzle Nr.20

If you are unsure of what's going on here, go to the previous post with all the details on, just click on the following link:

http://aristeachess.blogspot.com/2012/06/puzzles-of-different-kind.html

I suggest you print out each post and do them on a piece of paper.



A Knights Tour - Scrabble™ Puzzle Nr.19


A Knights  Tour - Scrabble Puzzle Nr.19

If you are unsure of what's going on here, go to the previous post with all the details on, just click on the following link:

http://aristeachess.blogspot.com/2012/06/puzzles-of-different-kind.html

I suggest you print out each post and do them on a piece of paper.



A Knights Tour - Scrabble™ Puzzle Nr.18


A Knights  Tour - Scrabble  Puzzle Nr.18

If you are unsure of what's going on here, go to the previous post with all the details on, just click on the following link:

http://aristeachess.blogspot.com/2012/06/puzzles-of-different-kind.html

I suggest you print out each post and do them on a piece of paper.



A Knights Tour - Scrabble™ Puzzle Nr.17


A Knights  Tour - Scrabble  Puzzle Nr.17

If you are unsure of what's going on here, go to the previous post with all the details on, just click on the following link:

http://aristeachess.blogspot.com/2012/06/puzzles-of-different-kind.html

I suggest you print out each post and do them on a piece of paper.



A Knights Tour - Scrabble™ Puzzle Nr.16

A Knights  Tour - Scrabble  Puzzle Nr.16

If you are unsure of what's going on here, go to the previous post with all the details on, just click on the following link:

http://aristeachess.blogspot.com/2012/06/puzzles-of-different-kind.html

I suggest you print out each post and do them on a piece of paper.





Puzzles of a different kind: A Knights Tour - Scrabble™ Puzzle

Good morning to all!

I found this on the internet over the weekend and thought I just have to share this with you.  This will come in handy for those off us who will get bored during the holiday.  And it will keep the mind sharp for next terms academics and chess top-schools play off's!


The websites name is ProfessorChess.com, and you can find a lot more resoucers on this website.  Just click on the downloads section. I will make use of this website a lot in the near future.  Click on the logo below to go to this website.


BACK TO THE PUZZLE:


The main idea in this puzzle, as in the game of Scrabble, is to connect letters together to form words.  A letter can be connected with any other letter that’s a knight’s move away.  Add the listed point values of letters you've connected to form a word, and try to find words worth as many points as possible.



The following 'rules' apply:
Words can be started on any square.  

Squares may be used more than once.

BLANK SQUARES:  You choose the letters for the squares b3 and g6!  Write the letters you wish to use for the game directly in these squares.  These will always be worth 6 points.

SCRATCH PAPER: A good thing to have on hand!

PUZZLE #16 (I'm using their numbering)
For example:
In the space below, write the 5 words you found that were worth the most point.  Also write the squares from the chess board, and the total points for each word.








Below each letter, write the name of its square on the board.  In this example, the letter C is worth 4 points, H is worth 3, E is 3, the first S is one point and the second S worth 4 - for a total of 15 points.  

Now, its your turn to make ANY words worth the most value points.  I suggest you print out the puzzle and the blank page each time to fill out the words.  The next five posts will have 5 different puzzles (including the one on top used to illustrate the example).  There will be a link back to this post on each.

I'm going to call it: A Knights Tour Scrabble Puzzle, with the puzzle number they provide.

Enjoy!

:-)

If you like these puzzles, please comment or go to the feedback page and tell me please.

Saturday 16 June 2012

Puzzles

Time for some puzzles again.

Remember, if it seems that I am not putting up puzzles any more, you have not been to the puzzles page.

Click here to go to the page directly, or follow the page links to the right.

Here is one of today's, as I found it on the chesspuzzles.com website.


1)                      ___________

2) _________   ___________#

Also, I'm not going to put up the function for you to enter the moves any more.  I will just make a place where you can write in the answers.  You can print out the puzzles from the website and make your own flip-file or workbook for yourself, to put in all these puzzles.

Enjoy!
:-)

Important dates for the 3rd Term

I have added a calender to the right hand side to assist with the following.
Unfortunately I don't know how to make links in the calender yet.

Week 1
July, 2012:
Monday 16 - The school starts for the third term
Tuesday 17 - First practise
Wednesday 18 - Special practise for the team playing the weekend
Thursday 19 - Practise for everyone
Friday 20 - Our own league game - 14:15 till 16:00

Saturday 21 - District Play Off's see previous post.

Week 2
July, 2012:
Tuesday 24 - Practise
Thursday 26 - Practise
Friday 27 - Our own league game - 14:15 till 16:00

Week 3
July / August, 2012:
Tuesday 31 - Practise
Wednesday 1 - Special practise for team members only - if we qualify at the playoffs
Thursday 2 - Practise
Friday 3 - Our own league game - 14:15 till 16:00

Saturday 4 - WP Top Schools tournament


Week 4
August, 2012:
Tuesday 7 - Practise
Wednesday - school closes for long weekend
Thursday - Woman's Day - Public Holiday
Friday - School holiday

Week 5
August, 2012:
Tuesday 14 - Practise
Wednesday 15 - Special practise for team members only - if we qualify at the WP Top schools

Thursday 16 - Practise
Friday 17 - Our own league game - 14:15 till 16:00

Saturday 18 - Western Cape Top Schools tournament hosted by WP


Friday 28 September 2012 - School closes
Sunday 30 September till Wednesday 4 October 2012 - National Top schools

I will keep you posted on the latest news as we go along.

:-)

League information: The 3rd Term

Good day to all.


I am very excited and so proud to share the following news with you.  Yesterday I got an email regarding the league games that we played and what we are going to play the next term:

"Dear principal/chess organiser/teacher
Your team/s have been selected for the District North Top School Play Offs on 21 July 2012 (first weekend of 3rd term)"

This means that our chess team is going to participate in a tournament, against other teams, to see which has the best team in district North.  


I will announce the team on Monday, when I will get everyone together and share the good news with them. I can tell you that if you haven't played in the league games, that you will not be allowed to play in this tournament. 


If you have played in the league, that means that you must play a lot of chess during the holiday!!  We will have 3 practises the first week of the next term - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and our own league games that Friday.


Teams must play at the District Play off in the same rank order (1 – 6) as they played during the league. Only minor adjustments would be allowed.


You can bring a reserve player, but according to the National rules for teams :"it is optional to select a reserve player. One reserve player will be allowed. If a player, due to illness or otherwise must withdrawn from the team the player will be replaced permanently (on the same board) by reserve player.”

Details regarding the play off's is as follows:


District North Top Schools Chess Trials

Event: District North Top Schools Chess Trials

Date:  Saturday, 21 July 2012

Venue: The Settlers High School Bellville

Dress:  School Uniform

Program:
 Teams report:  8:15 - 8:30

 All players seated 8:45

 Announcements/welcome 8:50

 Round 1 - (30/30)             09:00 - 10:00

 Round 2 - (30/30)             10:30 – 11:30

 Round 3 - (30/30)             12:00 - 13:00

 Round 4 - (30/30)             13: 30 - 14:30

 Round 5 - (30/30)             15:00 - 16:00

Announcement of top teams for WP Play offs: 16:15

- - - o o 0 o o - - -

This will have an effect on all the other players that did not play in the league games, and that is that there will be even MORE chess to play!  

We are going to play our own league games on a Friday afternoon, after school.

There will be three divisions to choose from: 
Only last terms' league players  (3 rounds / games)
The up-and-comers (4 rounds / games)
Beginners  (4 rounds / games)

Each Friday afternoon, from 14:15 to 16:00 (like the league games we played).

Keep an eye out for more important dates of what happens when.

Kind chess regards,

Mr. R. Bekker   

Saturday 9 June 2012

The Knights Tour

A puzzle of a different kind:


The "Knight's Tour" is an ancient puzzle in which the object is to move a knight, starting from any square on a chessboard, to every other square, landing on each square only once. This is usually considered to be a very challenging puzzle. Try completing the tour in 63 moves. Make legal knight moves on the chessboard below by clicking on each square, starting from the upper left square. Press the "F5" key to start over. To learn more about Knight Tours, explore the links below.


Click on the board below to go to the website, and try to see if you can beat my score of 62!
Want proof to my 62?
See for yourself:
:-)

The ARISTEA Open Results

We had a very successful tournament on Friday, the 8th of June 2012.

We had 28 players from Aristea Primary, 13 players from Hoofweg Primary and 8 players from De Kuilen Primary, making it a total of 49 players.  Unfortunately due to illness and absence, 4 of our players could not participate. Thus making it a total of 45 players taking part.

Everyone had so much fun and I could see throughout the afternoon that they were enjoying themselves.

We had a very interesting draw, a few upsets, but the results came down to the following winners:
Congratulations to (f.l.t.r) Ravian, Chad and David!


In the first place, in the middle:  Chad Mckenzie, grade 5E2
In second place, to the right:  David Combrinck, grade 5E1
In third place, to the left:  Ravian Daniels, grade 6E1

All three of them, only lost one match, but due to the tie-break system that is build into the Swiss Arbiter IA program, they were classified into the above mentioned positions.

The Rademeyer brothers, both with the caps on their heads.
Wouter playing on the left, and Trevor in front to the right.

Other names that must be mentioned, are the Rademeyer brothers, Wouter and Trevor Rademeyer.  Wouter also scoring 5.0 out of 6 (in fourth position) and Wouter 4.5 out of 6 (in fifth posistion).  Then I must also mention the only player to score 100% - 4.0 out of the 4 games he played - JJ Oosthuizen.  When the tournament started, he wasn't feeling well and couldn't play the first two rounds.  He finished in 15th place overall.

The full results can be seen at the bottom of the page.  The last four columns is an indication of the tie-break systems that were used.

For more information on the tie-break systems, click here on the following link to read more about them.

More pictures to follow.  Look on the right hand side of our blog.

:-)

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Puzzle #17 - Checkmate in 3 moves.

Print out the page perhaps and fill in the moves at the bottom.


1) _____________                   ________________

2) _____________                   ________________

3) _____________ #

Puzzle #15 & 16

The following puzzle, I once again get on the puzzles.com website.  For more of their puzzles you are welcome to click on their link on the right hand side of our blog.  You can also download puzzle worksheets from one of their links.


And another:
This is a tricky one, look closely.

A brilliant win for black if you have a look at the points difference between them.

Time for some more puzzles!

Hi there all!

I finally have my internet connection back at home!  That was the main reason it seamed like there was nothing going on on the blog.  From now on end, it will be updated much more frequently.

I can proudly say that we have had 398 hits on the blog since the 22nd of April, that is just about 45 days! Absolutely amazing.  Thanks for all the support, the feedback is still a bit slow.  If you have any hick-ups trying to comment or anything else, please let me know.

Time for some more puzzles:
The following puzzle comes directly from one of our practices - Clint van Rooyen playing Black against Enrico Davids.

Black to move and put white in checkmate.


The next one, also from the practice class:
Unfortunately I didn't write down who played against whom.

Black to move and checkmate in one move: