Former World War II shipyard worker Mary Torres, 96, jumped to her feet and waved as hundreds of people cheered at the Rosie Rally Home Front Festival in Richmond Saturday.
— Read on sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/08/10/rosie-rally-2019-richmond/
My grandmother “Rosie the Riveter” is still going strong at 96.
Sign up for any 1 week camp for ONLY $200 and your child will also receive:
** A 1 year gold membership to ChessKid.com (a $50 value)
** A copy of Learn Chess the Right Way by Susan Polgar (a $20 value)
** And two online private lessons with Chris Torres (an $80 value) at no extra charge.
That’s an additional $150 worth of educational chess products for no extra charge!
Each weekly chess camp is custom designed to give your child:
* The Valuable tools and skills needed to excel as a chess player.
* An extraordinary chess camp experience with a top-tier chess instructor.
* The confidence and motivation necessary to surpass their chess goals and fast track improvement.
In addition, as part of the camp experience, every child will receive a complimentary copy of Susan Polgar’s book “Learning Chess the Right Way” (a $20 value) as well as a gold membership to ChessKid.com (valued at $50.) In addition, we will also offer two free online lessons (valued at $40/hour) to every registered camp attendee in order to follow up with each child individually and ensure that they are still on track for rapid chess improvement.
For nearly a quarter century, Chris Torres has been teaming up with the biggest names in chess and education to bring top-tier chess instruction to the Bay Area at an incredible value. His meticulous approach has paved the way for the success of his students regardless of their entry skill level. A true leader in California chess, Chris Torres creates unique a curriculum perfectly suited for each and every class he teaches.
View his resume here: https://chessmusings.wordpress.com
| Program | Dates | Times | Address | |||
| P1 $200 | Jun 17-21 | 1:00-4:00 | 36496 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA | |||
| P2 $190 | Jun 24-28 | 1:00-4:00 | Warm Springs Community Park @ Crafts Room | 47300 Fernald St, Fremont, CA | ||
| P3 $200 | Jul 8-12 | 1:00-4:00 | 36496 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA | |||
| P4 $200 | Jul 15-17 | 1:00-4:00 | 36496 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA | |||
| P5 $190 | Jul 22-26 | 8:30-11:30 | Teen Center @ Office | 39770 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont, CA | ||
| P6 $200 | Jul 29- Aug 2 | 1:00-4:00 | 36496 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA | |||
| P7 $200 | Aug 5-9 | 1:00-4:00 | 36496 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA | |||
| P8 $200 | Aug 12-16 | 1:00-4:00 | 36496 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA | |||
| P9 $190 | Aug 19-23 | 9:00-12:00 | Warm Springs Community Park @ Crafts Room | 47300 Fernald St, Fremont, CA |
Please contact Chris Torres at chesslessons@aol.com if you have any questions. Checks should be made payable to the TCAMA 16691 Colonial Trail, Lathrop, CA, 95330, OR visit http://www.fremontchess.com/ to register online.
Chris Torres Raises the Bar for Fremont Summer Chess Camps in 19 | Fremont, CA Patch
Many people know you as the powerful marketing force behind some amazing companies and products. Authoring a parenting book seems to be an interesting career pivot for you. What motivated you to become an author?
Thanks for including me on your blog… and for the compliment. Wow, we’ve known each other for nearly twenty years since my son started chess in elementary school. Time sure flies by quickly!
Writing a book is definitely a career shift from managing marketing teams, working in a fast-paced high-tech environment, and driving revenue for companies. While it seems like a random career move, I decided to fulfill a childhood dream of writing a book and combine it with my love of parenting.
Welcome, Parenting—Let’s Make a Game of It, an entertaining book showing playful ways to stop struggling with your child and start having more fun. Now kids will listen and cooperate-willingly! I’m excited because already it’s been a #1 New Release in 7 Amazon categories.
How is your book different from other parenting book?
While I love reading parenting books, my book is very different. First, Parenting—Let’s Make a Game of It entertains as well as inspires. The “how to” lessons are shown through entertaining, light-hearted stories. People say that reading my book is like sitting with a friend over coffee. Second, many parenting books focus on babies, toddlers, or teens. I focus primarily on elementary school-age kids (as well as toddlers). There aren’t many books for this demographic. Lastly, parents don’t have time. My gosh, there’s barely enough time in the day to tackle parts of the formidable To-Do list, nevermind read a book. So, I organized my book into short, easy to read chapters that stand-alone. Now whenever parents have a spare moment, they can easily flip to a chapter on a specific parenting challenge. My goal is to have these fictional, whimsical stories spark the reader’s own playfulness. It’s very touching hearing how stories inspire people’s own creativity for handling frustrating parenting situations.
Why did you choose to write a parenting book and specifically, Parenting—Let’s Make a Game of It?
Parenting is incredibly rewarding, but it’s also stressful. Even the best kids fuss, don’t listen, and misbehave. With the never-ending power struggles, parenting can be overwhelming. My parents had a trick. They embraced a “can do!” spirit, used their imagination, and created games to turn around frustrating moments. It was like magic! Goodbye nagging and yelling. Life became more enjoyable for our entire family.
When I became a mom, I experienced first-hand the benefits of this playful attitude and positive parenting style. I wrote Parenting—Let’s Make a Game of It to help other families because this playful approach helped me as a stressed-out single parent. By creating games to deal with frustrating moments, you make parenting more fun, you empower your children, and you spend quality time connecting with your family.
This playful approach is in contrast to that stereotypically serious Silicon Valley parenting style. What are the greatest advantages of making a game out of parenting for families that live in such a competitive environment?
I know, parenting playfully seems counterintuitive, especially when your kids aren’t cooperating and you’re about to scream. Being playful is the last thing you want to do! Luckily, being playful doesn’t have to be hard, You can adopt a fun attitude in less than a minute as shown in my blog, “How to be a Fun Mom (Like Mary Poppins Not “Monster Mom”). I also wrote a blog outlining 46 Tips on How To Be a Playful, Positive Parent. While it may seem like another task to conquer, being positive and playful reduces your stress… and YOUR child’s stress. You’ll spend more quality time connecting with your family, which makes parenting more fun and empowers your child.
Whether or not you live in a competitive area like Silicon Valley, adopting this playful approach has many benefits.
Being a Chess Mom/Dad presents unique challenges for parenting. Could you describe some of these challenges and how you handled them?
The biggest challenge was making time to attend chess tournaments. These are so important and part of the chess experience, so I made sure that my son participated in as many as possible. We even flew to several national events. If you’re going to encourage your child to play chess, realize from the get-go that this is a time commitment. However, there’s plenty of “down” time during each chess round. I recommend bringing work to keep you busy. Most importantly, have a positive, supportive attitude and consider this as time to sit and catch up on whatever.
I learned at the first national tournament, that we were there for one reason: chess. During the first break, I dragged us to the local aquarium and had plans to squeeze in fun activities throughout the weekend. Woo-hoo, we’d get to explore a new city! I quickly realized that competing is exhausting, so my ten-year old son needed to simply rest in the hotel room. These national chess tournament trips are now highlights because they provided special, connecting opportunities that also empowered my son.
How did your son choose and benefit from chess?
While visiting a relative’s house, our cousin taught my five-year-old son some basic chess. Boom! That was the catalyst. This passion continued and grew since the elementary school offered chess (which is where we met Chris!). At seven, he participated in his first tournament, second tournament, and so forth, all the way through high school. Now in his early twenties, he continues playing chess online.
Chess is VERY beneficial! It teaches patience, emphasizes discipline, develops problem-solving skills, trains a logical mind, improves memory, builds confidence, and provides a life-long hobby. I’m impressed how my son can focus and tune out any noise. He’s also great at math, was a stats major, and is now an actuary. Chess gave him an opportunity to be a leader when he started a chess club in high school. But the most important benefit is that chess provided countless hours of fun!
Finally, how can all the chess parents who read this blog obtain a copy of your book?
They can visit my “Parenting—Let’s Make a Game of It” website and also visit Amazon directly.
Thanks for all of your wonderful work inspiring students in chess! And thanks for interviewing me for your Chess Chat blog.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a photographic memory to be proficient at blindfold chess. The basic visualization required is really not all that different from the kind of mental exercise chess players commonly experience while calculating long endgame variations. In fact, if you’ve ever had a vivid chess dream while sleeping (quite common among my friends), you have already played blindfold chess!
Playing a chess game blindfolded (or at least facing opposite the chess board) against a class of young chess players is a sure fire way to raise the excitement level of the classroom or camp. Generally, I save such exhibitions for midway through a long camp or series of difficult lessons to add a little spice to the curriculum. In addition to adding energy to the room, a blindfold chess performance might just inspire a student to pick up the skill for his/herself which will greatly benefit their chess in the long run.
Below is my best ever such game played during the Fremont Summer Chess Camp in 2016. Enjoy…
[Event “Blindfold Game”]
[Site “Fremont, California (USA)”]
[Date “2016.7.13”]
[Round “”]
[White “Chris Torres”]
[Black “Intermediate Students”]
[Result “1-0”]
[Eco “C50”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]
[Source “”]
{[ ITALIAN GAME & HUNGARIAN def.,C50] [ ITALIAN GAME & HUNGARIAN def.,C50]}
1.e4 {I practice what I preach: “Open With a Center Pawn.”} e5
2.Nf3 {Knights Before Bishops.} Nc6 3.Bc4 {For a blindfold game, I chose my most comfortable structure (The Italian.)}
Qe7 {Perhaps my opponents were trying to confuse me by choosing the rare Qe7 sideline.}
4.Nc3 Nd4 {
My students have already broken two opening rules. They brought their queen out
early and now they have moved the same piece twice. Normally punishing these
mistakes wouldn’t be too difficult. But playing foreign positions with no view of the board is stressful.}
( 4…Nf6 5.Ng5 d5 6.exd5 Na5 7.d6 cxd6 8.Bxf7+ Kd8 9.Bb3 Nxb3
10.axb3 d5 11.O-O h6 12.Nf3 Bg4 13.d3 a6 14.Re1 Rc8 15.Bf4 Nd7
16.h3 Bh5 17.g4 Bf7 18.Nxe5 Nxe5 19.Bxe5 Qh4 20.Qf3 Bg8 21.Qxf8+
{1-0, Zhotev Jasen (BUL) 2086 – Ivanov Oleg (RUS) 2425 , Sofia 8/ 8/2009 It “Hemus Open” (3)}
) 5.Nd5 {In order to punish mistakes you must attack. Here, I know that their queen must
retreat to d8 in order to stop the knight from capturing on c7 with a fork.}
Qc5 {?!} {Honestly, I did not anticipate this move at all and was forced to repeat all the moves to myself outloud and calculate.}
6.Nxe5 {!} {“Whenever you’re aggressive, you’re at the edge of mistakes.”-Mario Andretti}
d6 {I hear excited chatter from my students about “winning a piece.”}
7.b4 {!} {Even when blindfolded, it’s hard to miss this obvious threat!}
Nxc2+ {Black had no choice that did not involve losing a piece or more.}
8.Qxc2 {I gain a knight without losing the initiative.} Qd4 {The queen may look threatening, but, really, she is all alone against an army.}
9.Bb5+ {At this point I couldn’t quite see the forced mate in 4 but this check seemed very promising.}
c6 10.Bxc6+ {!} {Looks impressive but really it is just the result of analyzing checks, captures and threats.}
bxc6 11.Qxc6+ {Forcing black’s king to d8 and a nice finish.}
Kd8 12.Nxf7# 1-0
Dear Parents,
It is my great pleasure to invite your children to participate in the 2019 Lathrop Mayor’s Cup chess tournament at River Islands Technology Academy. Many of your children enjoy chess and will be excited to compete against other young chess players from around our region.
The date of this tournament is May 11 and round 1 will begin at 9:30am. All participants will play four rounds and Lathrop’s Mayor, Sonny Dhaliwal, will arrive at 2:00pm to hand out awards. Because of a generous donation from the River Islands Development Team and our tournament staff donating their time, there is no cost to register for this exciting event. Additionally, we will be selling lots of tasty treats and pizza slices to raise funds for the Torres Chess and Music Academy’s other projects in the area.
Sincerely,
Chris Torres
President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy
Register online at
Reasons to try an Online Lesson with Chris:
1. Follow up to in-person chess lessons to check on your child’s understanding.
2. Live too far away to come often for private instruction.
3. Preparing for a major tournament with a coach who has taught numerous national champions!
4. Very cost effective. For $40 per online lesson, you can have your child learn chess from one of California’s most sought after chess coaches.
How it Works
1. Chris Torres harnesses the power of Chess.com and Wyzant to create the ultimate 21st century chess classroom.
2. After each lesson, Chris Torres will provide you with customized feedback and a study plan to take your child’s game to the next level!
3. All of Chris’ students are welcome to play slow paced (1 move per day) games with him during the week at no extra charge.
Sign up today
Or by emailing Chris Torres (chesslessons@aol.com)
In today’s chess lesson, we examine GM Julio Becerra Rivero’s egg-citing victory over IM Justin Sarkar played on Easter Sunday, 2009.
[Event “Foxwoods Open”]
[Site “Mashantucket, CT”]
[Date “2009.4.12”]
[Round “9”]
[White “Justin Sarkar”]
[Black “Julio Becerra Rivero”]
[Result “0-1”]
[Eco “D17”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]
{[ QUEEN’S gam. SLAV def.,D17]}
1.d4 d5
2.c4 c6 {The Queen Gambit Declined, Slav.}
3.Nf3 Nf6
4.Nc3 dxc4
5.a4 {White interferes with black’s plan to play pawn to b5.}
Position after 5. a4
5… Bf5 {The Czech Defence line of the Slav.}
6.Ne5
{Here white had two major choices. 6. e3 is the popular and solid Dutch
Variation. However, Sarkar chose the more egg-streme Krause Attack (6. Ne5).}
Position after 6. Ne5
6… e6
7.f3 Bb4
8.e4 Bxe4
9.fxe4 Nxe4
10.Qf3 {?}
{10. Qf3 move is overly ambitious. Better is 10. Bd2.}
( 10.Bd2 Qxd4 11.Nxe4 Qxe4+ 12.Qe2 Bxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Qd5+ 14.Kc3
O-O 15.Qe3 b5 16.Be2 Nd7 17.Nxd7 Qxd7 18.Rhd1 Qe7 19.Kc2 a5 20.Bf3
Rac8 21.Qe5 g6 22.axb5 cxb5 23.Qxb5 Rc5 24.Qd7 Qg5 25.Qd4 Rfc8
26.Ra3 Rb5 27.Rd2 Rb4 28.Kd1 Rcb8 29.Ke2 Qb5 {…1-0, Bacrot Etienne (FRA) 2716 – Anand Viswanathan (IND) 2800 , Nanjing 10/23/2010 It “Pearl Spring” (cat.21)})
Position after 10. Qf3
10… Qxd4
11.Qxf7+ Kd8 {What an egg-citing position!}
Position after 11… Kd8
12.Qxg7 {??} {For peeps sake!}
( 12.Bg5+ Nxg5 ( 12…Kc8 13.Qxe6+ Nd7 14.Qxd7+ Qxd7 15.Nxd7
Nxc3 16.bxc3 Bxc3+ 17.Kd1 Bxa1 18.Nc5 b6 19.Ne6 b5 20.Be2 Be5
21.Re1 {-0.15 CAP} ) 13.Qxg7 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Qxc3+ 15.Ke2 Qc2+
16.Ke1 Qc3+ {1/2-1/2, Ftacnik Lubomir (SVK) 2608 – Khalifman Alexander (RUS) 2667 , Istanbul 2000 Olympiad})
Bxc3+ {!} {Punishing white’s mistake is easy like Sunday Morning}
13.bxc3 Qf2+ {White resigns.}
0-1
Dear Chess Parents,
As many of you are aware, in 2015 I helped to bring the prestigious Susan Polgar National Open for Girls and Boys to California. I may no longer be the organizer for this event, but I still support its mission 100%. Because of this, I strongly encourage all of my fellow California chess families to attend this wonderful tournament.
Sincerely,
Chris Torres
The prestigious annual Susan Polgar National Open Championship for Girls and Boys (SPFNO) was created in 2006 and is sponsored by the Susan Polgar Foundation (SPF) to give more opportunities to young chess players in the United States.
The top player of each championship section in the SPFNO will be awarded:
• Qualifications for the Prominent Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (Girls sections only.)
• $100,000 in prizes and scholarships to Webster University (U16/18 sections only.)
• $250 cash scholarship to the winner of each section if they go to the World Youth / Cadet (issued upon receipt of their flight ticket.)
14th SPF Nationwide Open for Girls and Boys – APR 27-28, 2019
$100,000+ in Prizes (lots of trophies, chess prizes & scholarships)
CHAMPIONSHIP SECTIONS: U8, U10, U12, U14, U16/18 in separate sections for Girls and Boys. 2 day event!
•$1,000 Triple Crown Bonus!
•PRIZES: Trophies to Top 15 players, Top 3 School Teams & Club Teams.
•TIME CONTROL: G/60;d5
•ROUND TIMES: Sat 9:30am, 12:30am, 3:30pm, Sun 9:30am, 12pm, 2:30pm
RESERVE SECTIONS: K-Gr4 u500, K-Gr8 u800. Saturday only event.
•PRIZES: Trophies to Top 10 players, Top 3 School Teams & Club Teams.
•TIME CONTROL: G/30;d5
•ROUND TIMES: Sat ONLY 9:30am, 11am, Lunch, 12:30pm, 2pm, & 3:30pm.
Event Venue: Santa Clara Convention Center
Address: 5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA 95045 (map)
Free Parking!
Sign up at http://www.spfno.com
Recently I had an opportunity to catch up with my friend and former student, Aamir Azhar. I first met an elementary school aged Aamir at my Saturday chess class in Milpitas during the Summer of 2003. Since then I have had the pleasure of watching Aamir mature into a strong chess player and an impressive young man. A recent Duke graduate, Aamir is now a data engineer at Capital One. As you will see from our conversation below, Aamir sports a wisdom beyond his years and will no doubt have many more successes in the near future.
How old were you when you first learned how to play chess? Who taught you?
I was 6 when I learned to play chess (which is considered late in the competitive scholastic chess world). My cousin taught me one evening during a family dinner party. I picked up the rules fairly quickly and started playing more. In addition, my dad used to play quite a bit of chess in his teens, so we started playing together too (after his 20 year hiatus).
How has chess effected your decision making process off the board?
Chess has taught me how to become a meticulous critical thinker, always looking into the future and observing how things unfold several steps ahead. It’s a gift and a curse.
How did your earlier career choices lead you to where you are now?
I took an interest in computer science fairly early in my childhood because both my parents were computer science majors. I pursued it further career-wise, though I was always interested in the arts and humanities since I was a kid. I’ve been writing since I was young, and I continue to write on the side during my engineering day job, hoping to turn it into something bigger down the line.
The Azhar family.
How would you define your chess style?
When I was a kid, playing competitively, I was the overly analytical type. I would examine every possible viable move several moves in advance and spend lots of time trying to find the ideal move. I relied on my intuition heavily to tell me if a move looked good or probable, but I would also deeply analyze and quadruple check the move to make sure it was the best one.
I’m still largely like that, though I’ve grown less patient over time. Now I only double or triple check, and I tend to take a leap of faith with my intuition more frequently when moving.
Does your chess style transfer over into your business decisions as well?
I would say so. Again, I think through each decision several steps into the future, though at the end of the day my intuition makes the final decision.
What has been your worst chess mistake which has given you the biggest lesson?
I think my worst mistake happened when I was competing for the 3rd grade California chess championship. I had an upset against someone 300 rating points above me which led me to the championship match, where I faced the only other person with a perfect score in the last round. During that game, I was winning, and had a clear path to victory, but crippled by a combination of greed and fear, I offered a draw. That draw led me to tie for 1st place in the championship. We played a tiebreaker game and he got to take home the 1st place trophy.
I had a similar experience in 6th grade when I was competing for the California grades 4-6 championship. I was the only one with a perfect score, and going into the last round, I was facing someone with half a point less than me. I played the whole game looking for a draw (as a draw would give me first place). However, this led to me playing too passively that game — My opponent didn’t accept my constant draw requests, played for the win, and I and lost the championship in an upset.
The lesson here is fairly obvious. Play the game, and play to win. All the glitz and glamour are nothing but distractions.
What has been your worst career mistake that has given you the biggest lesson?
I’m still fairly young, so I can’t say I have many horrible career mistakes. However, I do remember after my SWE internship at Google, I was so sure I was to return to Google that I didn’t look into other internship opportunities. I wanted something different, but was too lazy to interview for other companies, so I listed 3-4 teams at Google I wanted to get on for the next summer. I got positive internship feedback, but unfortunately, none of those teams reached out to me.
Since I didn’t want to do the same SWE work I did the last summer at Google, I had to find an internship last minute. I was both picky and didn’t plan correctly. Luckily, I found a good internship, but it taught me a valuable lesson to not get cocky or entitled, and to always plan for different possibilities.
Do you think chess has helped you to become more resilient in life?
Yes, definitely. Being in that competitive of an environment that early on in my life taught me a lot of lessons, and made me into a tougher, more determined person overall. Though it did come with its fair share of insecurities and stress.
What do you hope to achieve professionally during the next couple of years?
I generally am looking for an impactful, interesting way to apply my CS background to answer big questions about society. I hope to further explore tech and data, learn as much as I can, and build up a writing career on the side as well. My dream is to either become a writer or an engineer-journalist (like a writer/reporter who uses in-depth data analytics for their stories). If none of that works, I’ll go back to grad school in the social sciences (like economics). I’m sure I can utilize my CS/data background there as well.
Amir with his father Salman Azhar.
What is the biggest challenge to achieving that goal?
The biggest challenge is really just figuring out where to start, and how to make a plan moving forward. My interests are still a bit abstract, and the path I’m looking to go down isn’t particularly clear or easy. It’s also a matter of meeting the right people and finding the right opportunities.
How would you relate these goals and challenges to the chessboard?
It’s more often that chess teaches me lessons about life, but occasionally life teaches me about chess. For example, right now, I’m giving myself some time and space to explore my interests and experiment with my career. That kind of mentality applies to chess too. Let yourself experiment, let yourself have fun. Don’t rush in trying to figure out all the big questions. My chess style nowadays reflects that. I play a lot more loosely, and I’m more willing to take risks. Not everything has to have a 20-step plan behind it.
Could you please leave us with a favorite piece of chess wisdom to conclude this interview?
My favorite quote, which rings true to me (and is apparent in my previous answers), is by Capablanca.
“You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.” – José Raúl Capablanca
The vast majority of my memories and lessons in playing competitive chess are heartbreaking losses. Very few are wins. I’ll say, and this applies to chess as well as life, embrace the losses. Play your best, try hard, plan appropriately, but accept that at the end of the day, we don’t know what will happen.
Don’t try to plan every single thing out and then get disappointed when they don’t unwind the way you want them to. Embrace the unknown, and when we experience loss, embrace it, learn from it, and even be grateful for it. At the end of the day, experiences will teach us more than thinking and planning ever will. So experience!
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