After Denton High School chess club members discussed SuperNationals V and our plans for the rest of the academic year, Austin showed the first half of his round 2 game from SuperNationals V. Dr. Alexey Root distributed copies of the April issue of Chess Life for Kids, which featured Denton High School chess club.

Each group spent about 15 minutes with me. When not with me, each group played chess games supervised by the Chess Program Director.

Basic Endgame Checkmates, part four (part 3 was 4-3-13). White to move.

For Beginners: White: Ke1 + Qd1 + Rh1 vs. Black Ke5 checkmate and also White Ke1 + Ra1 + Rh1 vs. Black Ke5 checkmate.

For Experienced: White Ke1 + Ra1 + Rh1 vs. Black Ke5 checkmate and also White Ke1 + Qa1 vs. Black Kd5 checkmate.

For Advanced: White Ke1 + Qa1 vs. Black Kd5 checkmate and also White Ke1 + Rh1 vs. Black Ke5.

For all groups, I demonstrated the second listed checkmate on the demonstration board. That checkmate is a new checkmate to that group. Then students partnered up to practice and to be tested by me. Students who were proficient moved on to more challenging basic checkmates.

Read about Denton High School chess club in the April and June issues of Chess Life for Kids. Here are the ratings gains by Denton High School chess club members who went to SuperNationals V.
In the Championship section (K-12): William Root went from 1696 to 1716 (a record high rating for him by 1 point). He scored 3.5 of 7 (3 wins, 1 draw).
In the Under 1600 section (K-12): Austin McGregor went from 1385 to 1517. He scored 5 of 7 (4 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss).
Luis Guevara went from 1269 to 1272. He scored 2 of 7 (2 wins, 5 losses).
In the Under 800 section (K-12): Alex Elizalde went from 661 to 679. He scored 4 of 7 (4 wins, 3 losses).
Jason Van Horn went from 675 to 719. He scored 4 of 7 (3 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses).

Each group spent about 15 minutes with me. When not with me, each group played chess games supervised by the Chess Program Director.

Basic Endgame Checkmates, part three (part 2 was 10-16-12). White to move.

For Beginners: White: Ke1 + Qd1 + Rh1 vs. Black Ke5 checkmate.

For Experienced: White Ke1 + Ra1 + Rh1 vs. Black Ke5 checkmate.

For Advanced: White Ke1 + Qa1 vs. Black Kd5 checkmate.

For the Beginner and Experienced groups, I demonstrated the checkmate on the demonstration board first. Since this was the third time this academic year on these basic checkmates (though the first time for newcomers to the spring program), I called on students to play moves for both sides and just gave guiding comments to them. Then students partnered up to practice and to be tested by me. Students who were proficient can move on to more challenging basic checkmates (such as K and R vs. K).