2013 Summer Master Camp Week 1

2013 Summer Master Camp Week 1

Results

Master Camp started with 4 students, and the fifth one, Daniel Obolensky from Moscow joined at the last moment. Emphasis was placed on developing vision for combinations and the ability to calculate variations. There were also lessons on the theory built on the students’ tournament games, including analysis of each student’s opening repertoire and an introduction to different typical positional methods. In addition, students took some tests on endgames that enriched their knowledge in this area.  The odd number of students allowed for a private lesson for the player who was not engaged in the tournament. One part of each day was devoted to individual work, an important skill for every improving chess player. Everyone was asked to analyze their games, marking the turning points and looking for errors from both sides. At the end of each working day students played blitz for fun.

Five-and-a-half hours of intensive training in chess is a serious amount of time for anyone, especially young players. Therefore, it is important to combine studies with other activities to allow the mind to rest. For this purpose, our camp provides a diverse sports program. Each day begins with a half-hour of warm-ups, allowing the students to shake off the morning sleep. After the tournament games the boys went to the park for sporting events, consisting of different types of jumping, running, throwing, elements of soccer and volleyball, etc.

For each event the students received points, which allowed for a “Best in Sports” prize to be awarded at the end of the week.

After the end of the day, from 5.15 PM all the participants had the opportunity to play soccer with the coaches.

And now the results! The hero of the first week was Gilad, winning in all three categories of chess competitions (tournament, problem solving and blitz). This is not surprising, since he was the oldest and most experienced member. Also, this was not his first year in our camp. In the tournament, he lost only half a point (drawing with Ivan) and beat everyone else. With a great lead, Gilad won the problem solving competition. Only in the blitz did he have to endure serious competition from Ivan and Stephen, beating them only at the very end.

Surprisingly, (he is quite athletic guy) Gilad could not win the Sport competition. Vedant showed excellent physical training and became best in Sports.

I have to say that the games and work of Ivan, Stephen and Vedant left a very good impression: they undoubtedly have a very good chess future provided they continue working hard!