March 1, 2013 was the last day of the round robin tournament to determine which five Denton High School chess players will travel to SuperNationals V (April 5-7, Nashville). Read the April 2013 issue of Chess Life for Kids to learn who qualified and how Denton High School raised funds to make the trip possible. Also on Friday, March 1, Dr. Alexey Root used 10 fork problems from Bruce Pandolfini, Beginning Chess, 1993, New York: Fireside.

Her directions were to “Number your notebook paper from 1-10. Write your answer in notation (i.e. 1. Ne4) to each problem. After you and your partner have both written answers, you may discuss your answers and modify them as desired. Turn in your notebook paper, making sure your names are on it, to the teacher when you are done. DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAPER!” The reasons to write down an answer before discussing (or touching the board) are so each student in the pair has a chance to figure out the answer and to mimic a game (where one should figure out the correct move before moving). The directive to not write on the paper was so that she could use these problems again with other chess groups. Here is a sample problem, with the page given from Pandolfini (1993) as a reference.

W: Kf1, Qd1

B: Ke8, Ne4, Pe7

White to move. (Answer: p. 205, #1)

After Denton High School chess club members finished all 10 forks, Dr. Root corrected their written answers. If any were missed, the students went back to their chess boards to try again.