Historically, there may have been evidence to question the efficacy and strength of American schools in teaching math and science - especially at the elementary level. The Russians have not been well known for making that mistake. Please see the story below as to their findings and recommendations:

http://www.moscowchessopen.ru/press/press_6_eng.php

MONTCLAIR SCHOLASTIC REGISTRATIONS

entries as of 3/10 5:10 PM.... 179 registered next update will occur shortly after 6 pm Thursday, so check back and email again before 9 pm if you sent registration BEFORE 6 pm and don't see child's name listed by 7 pm Thursday.

as before, NO entries after 6 pm Thursday. no exceptions. For those who say "that is harsh", think of this: better the kids learn to observe requirements early in life than miss their job interview later on.

PRIMARY 

No.	Name	Local	Team
1	AANDERUD, Jacob	600	Victor

Some of you may know about my mentioning that Loudoun County has been a dearth of rated scholastic competitors. It appears that things are changing. Two VA State Scholastics ago, there were only 10 from the county. This past March there were 15 in Charlottesville. Yesterday, at the C.D. Hylton High School, where Brian Dickerson of Spotsy Chess was holding his season opener we had a great showing from Loudoun County.

Primary

Folks I am very happy to reveal that we have three new and capable chess players in Loudoun County. Oh, and they happen to be quite young too because they played in the Primary section. I didn't get to meet them personally but I did catch a glimpse of two of them as I called out their names in roll call at the beginning of the tournament. The three are Bryant, Nathan and Gideon Lohr from Leesburg. If you're reading this Lohr family, please give me me a wave next time! Welcome to Loudoun County! The three of them (plus one more older sibling in a different section) made up Lohr Academy as a team and took clear first place ahead of local primary school historical powerhouses!

Kenneth Culvert Elementary made up of the Marvil children came in 6th team with one of them playing in their very first tournament.

OK.

This is an open invite to Loudoun County school teachers, parents of students in Loudoun County (both public and home schooled) and yes, even those interested in chess for kids and the benefits of chess for kids.

I am forming a roundtable of all interested parties on facilitating communication and planning for those of us that want to leverage chess and related activites. Some of the topics that I have heard from several are:

1. How best to use/leverage chess in schools.
2. Learning how to organize tournaments within a school.

OK, ok, I know this isn't about chess but I thought it was worthwhile reading anyway. IMO, it is relevant because of pattern recognition.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/nurtureshock/archive/2009/08/30/a-5-minut...