A League All His Own

Weibel B Team
First Place Finish at UPSCL

A League All His Own
By Alan M. Kirshner, Ph.D.

Two years ago Steve Cohen, while teaching mathematics and chess at the Music Art School in Foster City, realized a hunger existed among the area children for chess. With the support and funding from the owner of the Music Art School, Yoram Tamir, he began the United Peninsula Scholastic Chess League (U.P.S.C.L.).

Eleven elementary schools presently constitute the U.P.S.C.L. They compete with each other during the year. Steve also holds all-star competitions for the best players in the league. He has developed his own rating system for anyone who plays in a U.P.S.C.L. sanctioned match. More controversial was his decision to develop his own tournament rules. About 90 % of these parallel the United States Chess FederationÌs regulations. Steve told me that he felt his rule changes are fairer to the young players. He also stated that he believed that his rule modification forced the scholastic player to be more careful. Steve indicated that he does inform members of the U.P.S.C.L. what the U.S.C.F. rules are. He admits that at times the young players do not listen and this might cause confusion if they enter a U.S.C.F. tournament.

At the Young PeopleÌs Tournament, held in Berkeley on February 17, 1997, one of his students proceeded to voice count the 50 moves to a possible draw. The verbal count disturbed a few adults who participated in the PeopleÌs Tournament in the same room. After the game, when I spoke to the boy and his mother, explaining that all claims to draws had to be recorded, they expressed surprise. In the U.P.S.C.L., touch move is joined by touch a square and you must place the piece there if legally possible. Some confusion also arose over U.P.S.C.L. students claiming Ïtouch square.Ó Steve holds that despite the minor confusion his rules are more productive for the game of chess among juniors.

Steve has even developed his own P.C. pairing program. His system seems to follow the U.S.C.F. rules in this case. I, candidly, do not know why he desires to reinvent the wheel when SwisSys and other computer pairing programs exist. He seems to enjoy working things out for himself and in long run this may bode well for the expansion of chess in the West San Francisco Bay region.
Every other month, Steve produces a newsletter for the 120 members of his U.P.S.C.L. He writes numerous articles, reports on U.P.S.C.L. tournaments, analyzes student games and provides helpful hints for beginning chess players.

I first learned of SteveÌs league when he called me to invite me to bring some of my Weibel Elementary School players to his first open tournament last year. Since the tournament was classed by grades and offered two team trophies, I could not resist bringing a few players. He held the Second Annual U.P.S.C.L. Tournament on February 15, 1997 in the Foster City Council Chambers--a much improved venue from the first tournament. We had been crowded into a very small, hot and humid area in the Music Art School.

Fifty-five players competed in the six grade divisions this year. Steve combined kindergarten and first grade into one section. Twenty-six of these competitors came from schools outside the U.P.S.C.L. Fearful of the possibility of ties, Steve decided to let the players vote on whether to use his system of tie-breaks or to play a blitz game for the first place trophy--tie-breaks would be used for the other positions. The young voters selected the blitz game as the method they would prefer in case of a tie. Luckily, a clear winner emerged in each division.

Feeling that most of the U.P.S.C.L. players would be beginners, I encourage my higher rated players to compete in the adult People's Tournament in Berkeley on the same day. I went with my "B" team. Well, was I in for a surprise. The competition this year was far superior to last year. None of the Weibel students had a perfect score in the four games. However, they did well enough to win four of the six sections and to come away with the first place team trophy for the second year. Belmont Oaks Academy took second place in the team competition. Steve awards team points for the top six places in each section.

Weibel's "B" team players felt great about their victory. One week previously the "A" team lost a one on one match against the Berkeley Bishops. In that competition, held in Berkeley, thirteen players confronted their counter parts playing one game with white and the other with black. The Bishops scored 14 1/2 points to WeibelÌs 11 1/2. The only consolation Weibel players had was the realization that the Bishops, coached by Elizabeth Shaughnessy drew from eleven different schools. WeibelÌs team, except for one player who receives home schooling, attend the same school.
To be fair, Steve considers this tournament an individual competition, and throws in the team trophies as an extra incentive. So let me describe the action in each of the sections. The ratings are U.P.S.C.L. Steve assigned U.P.S.C.L. ratings to the players who came from outside his league. They are about 200 points above the U.S.C.F. ratings.

In the Kindergarten/First Grade section Sharon Tseung (806) drew Evan Boucher (835), a new young dynamo to chess, in the second round. In the last round it appeared that they would tie for first. Evan was up a Queen, two rocks and a few other pieces when Sharon won her game. Since Sharon had never played blitz, she decided to practice while Evan continued his quest for a mate. Poor Sharon, her flag kept falling and tears began to appear in her eyes. She hung in there and began to win. By her seventh game she defeated the girl who was to become the fifth grade winner. Sharon was ready. However, as is often the case when a young play has too much material strength, Evan drew his game against Phillip Tang (810). Sharon was the clear winner with 3 1/2 out of 4 points. Evan took second with three points on tie-breakers over Alexander Siegel (690). Phillip Tang (810) won the fourth place medal with 2.5 points.

In the second grade section, Alex Wu (1006) won first place with 3.5. Alex Foster (921) came in second with 3 points. Marcus Tong(1013) brought home a third place trophy with 2.5 points and Kevin Greene (933) received the fourth place medal.

Matthew Ho (1374), in third grade, was the only player in the tournament to obtain a perfect score. The February 1997 U.S.C.F. Rating List ranked Matthew eighth in the nation for players under 8. His actual rating is 1223. He far outclassed his opponents. In the last round I thought that Timothy Ma (995) would give him a bit of opposition, but Matthew chopped him up fairly rapidly. Second place went to Cameron Tacklind (956) with Timothy Ma getting third place. Saurabh Sanghvi received the fourth place medal.

Alexander Tseung (1024), in fourth grade, was up material in his second game against Dan Merala (1085), but Alex flubbed his endgame. He refused to concede a draw in King-Queen versus King-Queen. Steve insisted that they play it out and after about fifty moves the game turned into King against King. I was happy that they shook hands because I was fearful that Steve might feel they ought to continue play until they both agreed to a draw. Alex left in tears, but came back to win. He did with 3.5 points. A three way tie ensued for second place with each player getting 3 points. SteveÌs tie-break system gave Zach Karnazes (1019) a second, Boris Lipkin (1207) a third and Eduard Shamilov (964) a fourth. Zach Karnazes might have won the first place trophy if he had not been forced to move a piece due to the touch square rule in his game against Alex Tseung.
Judy Kuo(1053) won the fifth grade division with 3.5 points. Andrew Fleury (1385), whom Judy never had to face, took a second on tie-breaks after winning three games. Tomas Bandong (1204) received third place and Ben Bullock (1183) obtained the fourth place medal.

In the sixth grade, Matthew Huang (1125) confronted his teammate Brian Toy (882) in the final round. After a few moves they agreed to a draw. This ensured a first place for Matthew and gave Brian the third place trophy. Daniel Barclay (1269) took second place and a three way tie with two wins each saw Anuraag Agrawal (928) win the fourth place medal as Carey Shelton (899) and Jayodita Sanghvi (755) looked on.

Steve Cohen indicated that he will be expanding his league next year to include children from Middle Schools. For the sake of the other scholastic tournaments in Northern California, I hope he brings his rules in line with the United States Chess Federation. But, even if he does not, I know his love for children and chess will aid the growth of our sport. Steve will introduce Cassia to hundreds of young people who, if not for him, would have missed the opportunity to play the game of Kings.