The 2024 March Tournament was another successful event with almost 80 players! Fun Fact: The biggest section this time was not Section C, but Section A with over 30 people! The fun fact is that there were 4 major scholastic chess tournaments in the Portland metro area on this day and…
After our Feburary newsletter was sent out, we received many questions from parents and players regarding the National K-6 Elementary Championship. Here are a few of the most common ones; let me know if there’s anything else you’re curious about! 1) Can anyone attend Nationals? I thought only state winners qualify. …
When I started playing chess, each medal and trophy I won was treasured dearly. I started a little trophy cabinet that I was immensely proud of. Yet fast forward a few years, and the little trophy cabinet had become a big trophy cabinet that was taking up a lot of space.…
90 players joined us in our February Winter Wonderland tournament (which would have been a more suitable name for last month's tournament, but oh well). Of these players, 19 were playing their first-ever tournament, 22 received free entries as female players, and 9 others received free entries as low-income/rural-area players. Congratulations…
Hi everyone, this is Neev - I am one of the founders at Puddletown and I am teaching Level 2B class this Winter term. Have you ever wanted to help your community more? Well, now you can hear my story of how I helped out today and how you can help…
Many beginner parents and kids ask me about the standard algebraic notation used for chess. Let me tell you, chess notation is so much fun and easy to learn. I can guarantee that you can learn in 30 minutes, and will be an expert in 2-3 days. It is that easy!!…
In spite of the winter storm, we successfully held our Hello 2024 tournament! Unfortunately, 37 players had to cancel at the last minute due to challenging road conditions. Nonetheless, we were pleased to see 75 players participate in the event. Of the 75 players, 18 played their first tournament, there were…
We are so excited to unveil our newest event at Puddletown - Casual Chess Nights. At Casual Chess Nights (every Thursday, starting January 11th from 6:30pm to 8:00pm PT): You can play tournaments in the lichess.org arena... with other friends and classmates you know and have met! You can play with accomplished local…
The Lichess arena allows users to participate in real-time online tournaments. Arenas are open tournaments with a specified time duration. During this time, players can join and leave whenever they want. After the tournament concludes, you can review your games, analyze them, and learn from your games. Accessing the arena: Go…
Up until this year, whenever someone asked me how I balanced school and chess, I gave a principally correct answer (school first, try to study chess every day, etc.), but I never really understood the question. Middle school and even freshman-year coursework barely required time outside of school, after all—still lots…
We had another amazing turnout to the December Tournament of over 50 players! Of the 50 players, 5 played their first tournament, 10 were girls who received a free entry to the event and 2 free entries to players with low-income or from a rural-area. Now, for our prizes (even score medals…
Puddletown had another amazing turnout to the November Tournament with over 60 players! Unfortunately we had a smaller play venue this time and have to set a limit to total number of players. Of the 60 players, 8 played their first tournament, 20 were girls who received free entry for the…
Puddletown had another amazing turnout to the October Tournament with over 60 players! Huge shoutout to the Sherman County School chess team, who had to wake up at 5 a.m. (again!) to drive for almost 3 hours just to play in this tournament. Of the 60 players, 3 played their first…
It was just one year ago when Puddletown had its first event at a pizza parlor with 20 players. Now, one year later, we had almost 100 players at our first-anniversary tournament. We'd like to thank everyone who has been supporting us. In the past year, Puddletown Chess provided over 100…
This year, for the first time ever, the annual Pan-American Youth Chess Championship was held in the United States. This was also my first time playing in the popular youth event. I missed the opportunity to travel to a new country, but at least flying to Chicago was much easier logistically.…