Jeffrey Ashton

The 2006 Klein Chess Camp will be held June 5-9. I highly recommend the Klein Chess Camp. This will be my fifth time teaching there. I have to say that this is one of the most well run chess camps that I have taught at, and I am honored to be a part of it. Jim Liptrap puts countless hours volunteering with Texas scholastic chess and he organizes this wonderful camp. For more information, please visit http://chess.jliptrap.us/camp06.htm

I agree with almost everything in this article and I highly suggest you read it! http://www.chessville.com/instruction/instr_gen_path_to_improve.htm

I just finalized my plans to go to Dallas on Friday March 17 and return to Houston late on Monday March 20. To the parents of my students, I will be missing classes for those days. I will remind you again closer to the date. After that, I don't plan on taking any out of town trips until the summer. Thanks!

A Stalemate is type of draw that occurs when the person to move has no legal moves and is not in check. You often see this happen in games between inexperienced players due to one side being a bit careless. Sometimes at more advanced levels of chess you see tactics executed by the losing side that result in a draw by stalemate. One time former World Champion Anatoly Karpov carelessly stalemated Judith Polgar when he was ahead a queen and bishop (he was very low on time). In the following three games you will see some of the most unique stalemates in chess history. These games are "compositions". Both players first memorized these clever moves, then played them out in a game to result in a friendly draw. Click here for the stalemate "compositions". (I also included the game where Karpov stalemated Polgar).

I've shown this game to many of my classes. White plays a somewhat simple game with a very nice attack on Black's king. I hope you enjoy! For the less experienced players: when viewing the games on this website, do not get caught up too much in the "side variations". Concentrate on the main lines (the moves in bold print). Click here for the game! Updated November 4, 2013: There is a broken link above. I will try to find the game. I believe it is Waterman-Pachmann. It is a Ruy Lopez where Waterman plays this exciting Qc6 move.

Congratulations to all of those who played in the State Championship this past weekend. I have the privilege of working with several chess teams and individuals who took home great awards. So many people did well that I don't want to start naming specific teams and players because I know I will accidentally leave someone out. One of my 2nd grade students showed me a great game he played. He won this game in the final round in only 14 moves. This win gave him 5 points out of 7, not only guaranteeing himself a huge trophy, but helping his team become the State Champions. I would post more games that I see, but this is the only one from the tournament that I memorized. If you have a good game you would like posted on this website, feel free to email it to me. My student has the White pieces in this game. Click here to see it!