2008 Dates Announced for the Dean of Chess Academy League

Here are the dates for our 2008 Dean of Chess Academy League: January 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th, February 1st, 15th, 22nd, 29th
We hope to see both our scholastic players as well as their parents this season!
Happy New Year!

Christopher Wu - 2007 All America Team Member

During a ceremony at the Grade School National Championships, Christopher Wu became one of the 37 elite members of the All-America Chess Team. This is Christopher's second, consecutive year.

The All-America Team honor is bestowed upon a handful of the Nation's Top Scholastic players based upon rating and other qualifications.

Congratulations to Christopher on this outstanding achievement!

Christopher Wu with Coach IM Dean Ippolito at the 2007 Grade School National Championship. Please visit World Champion Susan Polgar's blog for more pictures. Susan always has news about scholastic chess.

December 13, 2007 Inclement Weather Cancellations

Due to inclement weather, the following programs will be canceled today, Thursday, December 13, 2007:
Patrick McGaheran - Clinton
Immaculate Conception - Annandale
Milltown- Branchburg
Johnson Park- Princeton
Cherry Hill- River Edge
Dean of Chess Academy Intermediate/Advanced class - Branchburg

Make-up classes will be held at the normally scheduled times on the following days:
Patrick McGahern - December 20th
Immaculate Conception - December 20th
Milltown - December 20th
Johnson Park- December 20th
Cherry Hill - January 10th
Dean of Chess Academy Intermediate/Advanced - TBA

Dean's Students Strike Oil in Texas!

National Champion Scott Lalli with Dean Ippolito

It was a great year for Dean Ippolito, LLC students! The National Grade School Championship was held in Texas from Decebmer 7-9th. Twelve New Jersey players received trophies and two are new National Champions!

Some notable finishes of students that work with us either through our programs or privately are:

Aravind Kumar-National Champion-Kindergarten

Scott Lalli - National Champion - 11th Grade

Christopher Wu-2nd place -3rd Grade

Samritha Palakollu-8th place-1st Gade

Anand Mehta- 20th place - 6th Gade

Congratulations to all!

Friday, December 7th

As I will be coaching at the National's this week, there will be no League or Open Play on Friday, December 7th. Just wanted to remind everyone!

2nd Mt. Horeb Scholastic Postponed

Due to the predicted inclement weather for December 2nd, we have decided to postpone the 2nd Mt. Horeb Scholastic. The safety of our participants and families is our top priority!
We will notify all the participants of the "snow date" as soon as it is scheduled.

5th Holy Family Scholastic Results and Grand Prix Posted

The results from our 5th Holy Family Scholastic Tournament have been posted on our Chess Download page. The current 2007-2008 Grand Prix standings after this event can be viewed on the Grand Prix page.
Our next event will be on December 2nd at the AL Tomaso School in Warren. Please register early for this event!
Happy Thanksgiving!

5th HFA Scholastic Online Registration Closed

Online registration for Saturday's tournament has been closed. We will take on-site registrations between 8:30-9:00 am tomorrow only.
The school is located at:
120 E. Second St.
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
Please call us at 908-966-6285 if you have any questions or will be unable to make the tournament.

And the winner is...

Our Grand Opening was a great success today! We hope that everyone enjoyed the food, games and conversation. The giant chess board was a big hit too. We now have over 50 members!
The winner of our raffle is # 001723. Please contact our office if you have that number. You will get your choice of color chess set.
We would also like to thank Lori Monaghan and Bob Farrigan who helped make this day possible.
Please come back to see pictures from today too!

Open Play Rules

Description:
Open play is casual play and is open to both club members and non-members. It is free to all. The league play will be going on simultaneously so we ask all players to respect the rated league games by playing quietly.
You can come and play as many or as few Friday nights as you’d like.
There will likely be league players looking for a warm-up game before their matches begin.
Whether you’re a casual player or looking to get back into serious tournament play, we welcome you every Friday night from 7pm until closing (which will be shortly after league games finish around 10pm.)

Dates:
November 9th, 16th, 30th, December 14th, 21st, 28th
January dates and beyond to be announced
Times:
Open play begins at 7pm on Friday night. We will begin the league matches by 7:30pm.

Time control:
Please feel free to bring your clocks if you’d like to play timed games.

Equipment:
Boards and sets will be provided. Please bring your own clocks if possible.

New $100 Game of the Year Prize

At the suggestion of one of our tournament participants, we have decided to award a game of the year prize at the end of the tournament season. All games of the tournament will be automatically entered into the Game of the Year prize and the Game of the Year prize will be awarded to one of those games of the tournament. Dean Ippolito will be making the final decision about game of the year after our last event.
A $100 Dean Ippolito, LLC gift card will be awarded after the game is chosen. The gift card can be used on all Dean Ippolito, LLC products, classes, tournaments, etc.
Please record and submit your best games after each tournament!

Dean of Chess Academy League Play Information

League Play Rules and Schedule

Description:
The idea of our league play is to give tournament players the chance to play rated games every Friday night in an enjoyable setting that will help the players improve by playing players of similar strength. League play is open to everyone (adults and scholastic players). Each player must become a member of the club ($25 for 1 year) but gets to play every Friday night for fee (in addition to other member benefits).
You can come and play as many or as few Friday nights as you would like.
There will be open play going on at the same time as league play but those games will be played quietly as well in accordance with tournament play so as to not distract the other players.

Dates:
November 9th, 16th, 30th, December 14th, 21st, 28th
January dates and beyond to be announced
Times:
Please arrive by 7pm on Friday night. Soon after, we will be making the pairings and will begin play no later than 7:30pm.

Time control:
Our games will be played with a G/60 (G/60 with no time delay or G/55 with 5 second delay).

Pairings:
We will initially be pairing the players against the players who are closest in rating on that particular Friday night. As the season progresses we will pair the players with players in a similar rating bracket with similar winning percentages. IM Dean Ippolito will be playing the league matches on occasion so you may get a chance to play him in a rated game! There will be special guest title-players who also will be playing from time to time.



Equipment:
Boards and sets will be provided. Please bring your own clocks if possible.

Rating of Events:
As each week, only one game is played, we will be rating the games on a monthly basis. Every fourth week, we will send in the results to the USCF be rated.
Prizes:
We will be giving out plaques to the following players at the end of the league season:
Most points gained from league play throughout the year: This is for the player who gains the most rating points from the league matches throughout the year. An updated list of league leaders in this category will be printed each week.
Best winning percentage: To the player with the highest winning percentage throughout the year. As least 50% of the league matches must be played to qualify for this prize.
Biggest Upset: The player who defeats the opponent the highest above his/her rating. Draws will count as half of the rating difference.
Most matches played: Will go to the player who played the most league matches throughout the year.

End of Year Ceremony:
At the end of the season, we will be hosting an end of year ceremony and party at the center. We will be awarding the prizes from throughout the year at this ceremony. Please come for casual play culminated by a simul given by Dean Ippolito. Winners of the simul game will get prizes!

Dean of Chess Academy Schedule Change

We are very happy to announce that our Special Advanced Class is full! We hope that the students enjoy this intense level of training.
We will also have a change to the schedule for this semester. We will be offering the following classes:

Thursdays:

Intermediate/Advanced - 6:30-7:30pm
November 8, 15, 29, December 6, 13, 20

Fridays:

Rating Improvement class for those rated between USCF 700-1000 - 5:15-6:45pm
Open Play and League Play - 7 pm until close
November 9- 16, 30, December 7, 14, 21

If you are interested in a beginner/young intermediate class, please contact our office at
908-534-4318. We will be adding Monday and Tuesday classes in the Winter.

11th Orchard Scholastic Results

The results from last weekend's tournament are posted on our Chess Downloads page.
Congratulations to all!

Dean of Chess Academy Classes Scheduled

We have set some dates and times for our classes at our new facility. I will be teaching all classes at the center and I am looking forward to working closely with all students. You can register for these classes on our Event Registration Page.

Below is the information:

Thursdays:
Intermediate/Advanced - 6:30-7:30pm
November 8, 15, 29, December 6, 13, 20

Fridays:
Rating Improvement class for those rated between USCF 700-1000 - 5:15-6:45pm
Open Play and League Play - 7 pm until close
November 9- 16, 30, December 7, 14, 21

Saturdays
Special Advanced Classes with Dean
There are only two slots remaining for the first class in our new "Academy". This class will be an advanced class for students rated between 1000 and 1800. It will be an intense six-week training course that will meet for 2.5 hrs each week. It will be taught exclusively by me with the goal that each student improves by a minimum of 200 rating points in under six months. It will include study guidelines and essential knowledge which I have developed for improvement up each rating class.

The Fall semester will be 6 weeks long. We are alternating the times that the ability levels meet so that a time can meet every one's schedule. These classes will allow for much individualized attention.

We are excited about the Open Play and League night too. Any member can come to the Center on Friday nights to play a pick-up game. Annual Memberships are $25 but this entitles members to unlimited play on Fridays as well as other special nights.

The Dean of Chess Academy League will have USCF rated games. At the end of the season, we will host a banquet and exhibition. We will have awards for Best Win Percentage and Most Points Gained in League Play. To be eligible, a player must participate in at least 50% of the dates. To become a member of League, a player must be a member of Dean of Chess Academy and the USCF.

5th HFA Scholastic

Our 5th Holy Family Scholastic Tournament will be held on November 17th.
The school is located at:
120 E. Second Street
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
We hope to see you all there!

11th Orchard Scholastic News

Online registration for the 11th Orchard Scholastic is closed. You may register ON-SITE
from 8:30 am to 9:00 am ONLY!
See you there!

Dean of Chess Hires the Current US Woman's Champion!~

We are very excited about our most recent addition to our staff. International Master Irina Krush will be teaching at some of our programs. Below is Irina's biography, which I think you will all agree is very impressive! You can also find Irina on this month's issue of Chess Life.

Please join us in welcoming Irina to our staff!

US Woman's Champion International Master Irina Krush

Irina is the 2007 U.S. Women’s Chess Champion, a title that she first won in 1998, at the age of 14. Since 1998, Irina has been one of the top female players in the country, representing the U.S. Women’s team in four Olympiads and helping them capture an unprecedented silver medal in 2004. As of October 2007, Irina is the 13th ranked female chess player in the world.

In addition to being the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Women’s Championship (a record she still holds), Irina was also the first (at age 16) American woman to earn the International Master title, the second highest title in chess. She has one grandmaster norm, and since graduating summa cum laude from New YorkUniversity in May 2006 with a degree in International Relations, she has been pursuing the other two norms needed for that title.

In 1999, Irina was the most prominent analyst for the World team in the historic “Kasparov versus the World” game on MSN. She has been profiled in publications ranging from Teen People to The Village Voice, and just this year has graced the cover of Chess Life twice.

Irina enjoys sharing her passion for chess. From 2002 to 2007, she taught part-time at Chess-in-the-Schools, a nonprofit organization that brings chess to inner city public school children. She was a coach at I.S. 318, which won the 2007 National Junior High School Championship. Irina has also taught at many summer chess camps around the country, from Wisconsin to Florida.

This will be Irina’s first year teaching for Dean Ippolito, LLC. She is also available for private lessons with highly motivated students seeking to take their game to the next level.

Some of Irina’s interests outside of chess include writing, reading, traveling, and playing tennis. She is a frequent contributor to Chess Life magazine and its online counterpart, uschess.org.

Irina can be reached at irina@deanofchess.com .

Big Week in Chess: New Champion, New President?

Viswanathan Anand of India has become the 15th official World Chess Champion. He won the World Championship held in Mexico City over the past several weeks. He beat out the 7 other contenders including defending World Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Anand first challenged for the World Championships in 1995, but showed that persistence is the key to winning after losing that match against then World Champion Garry Kasparov.

And speaking of Garry Kasparov, after retiring from chess in 2004 with the reputation as the greatest chess player who ever lived, Kasparov is now turning his attention to politics. Kasparov was overwhelmingly elected as a candidate for President of Russia as The Other Russia candidate which is a coalition opposed to Vladimir Putin.

There should be more about these big chess stories in the news in the coming week.

New Dean of Chess Center

Dawn and I are very excited about our new venture. Coming in October, the Dean of Chess Center will be located in Branchburg, NJ. This center will allow for more specialized class, invitational classes, birthday parties and other special events. We will also offer our regular program classes daily and on weekends for those of you who can not attend one of our after-school programs.
We hope this center will be more convenient and offer a wide range of services to fit all your needs.
Please check back with us for more information about our Grand Opening and our Center's schedule!

More Schools Added Daily

We hope you have been checking for your school on our registration page. But if not, here are the most recently added ones:

Johnson Park
Patrick McGaheran
Roosevelt (which will meet at Cherry Hill for this semester only)
Mt. Horeb
Center Grove
Cherry Hill- River Edge, NJ
Sicomac
Copper Hill

Is your school online yet?

We will be updating this blog as schools are approved and added to our registration page.
So far we have the following schools up and ready to go:
Angelo L. Tomaso
Holy Family Academy
Round Valley
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
Travell
Wilson School
Woodland School
Orchard School
Fernbrook
George Washington Middle School
Milltown
Rutgers Prep
Immaculate Conception - Clinton
Ridge
Warren MS
Hamilton

Dean Makes His First Grandmaster Norm Performance!

We are very proud to announce that Dean had his first grandmaster norm performance
this past week at the New England Masters near Boston, Massachusetts. He tied for
second in this strong event and defeated 4-time and reigning
US Champion Alexander Shabalov in the penultimate game of the event.
All nine of his games can be viewed at http://www.monroi.com/. He has plans to
annotate at least one of his wins for our new website.
In order to achieve the grandmaster title, the highest in chess, three such norms
are needed. While there may be a technicality which voids this Grandmaster norm
(there were not enough foreign players in the event), this result will push Dean
well up the national ranking list.
Full coverage can be viewed at http://www.newenglandmasters.com/ and Dean was interviewed for the US Chess Federation's website after the success of this event. You can also read about the tournament in the Metro Section of the New York Times or at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/crosswords/chess/26CHESS.html.

How do you like it?

Well, if you have had a chance to view our new website, we'd like to hear from you!
We hope you find the site easier to navigate.

We're There!

We wanted to thank everyone for their patience while we were creating our
new website. We hope that you find it useful and easy to navigate.
We also wanted to thank Russ Buchmann for creating the new site and all
his hard work involved with that.

Remember that Fall registration for our classes will begin shortly.
We hope to see you all soon!