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Two Strong Weeks Kick Off the Fall
League weeks 1 and 2 recap, plus how to avoid the Scholar's mate!
Hello Rookly students, parents, teachers, and administrators! Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Rookly Newsletter, where you can find updates on Rookly League standings, mini-lessons to sharpen your skills, and news about upcoming events, classes, and goings-on in the wider chess world. Thanks for reading and for being a part of the Rookly community!
The Rookly Leagues kicked off the week of September 23, with nine different leagues running at various weekly times Monday through Thursday. A total of 75 schools are participating so far, with more schools soon to join in. League matches follow the “arena” format, where players who finish their game get paired back up with other available players, instead of having to wait for everyone to finish their games before the next game starts. This means that different players end up playing different numbers of games throughout the match - three or four completed games per match is average, but some players have managed to play nine games in a single match! Of course it’s totally fine to slow down and take as much time as you need to in order to play your best.
CONGRATS TO ALL OF THE WINNERS
Scholar’s Mate
In the Rookly classes I’ve taught so far this school year, I’ve seen many instances of students getting checkmated by the Scholar’s Mate. This is an opening trap that usually occurs in the first four moves of the game, although similar forms of the trap can occur throughout the opening.
Here is the standard version of the Scholar’s Mate:
1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6?
Black’s last move 3…Nf6? was a big mistake, and now White delivers checkmate with 4.Qxf7#:
The Scholar’s Mate is a type of helper mate, in which one piece (in this case the queen) gives check to the king while a second piece (in this case the bishop) helps by guarding the checking piece so it can’t be captured by the king.
This trap wins suddenly when the game has only just begun! Every chessplayer has fallen for Scholar’s Mate at some point, but here are two ways you can prevent it:
Stopping Scholar’s Mate at the last moment: 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6!
Instead of the mistake 3…Nf6?, a better move is 3…g6! blocking the queen’s access to f7, and also attacking the queen so that it has to retreat. Note that after 4.Qf3 White is again threatening Qxf7#, so we will again need to block with 4…Nf6.
Stopping Scholar’s Mate at the earliest moment: 1.e4 e6!? or 1.e4 d5!?
There are a few ways you can prevent the Scholar’s Mate before White can even set it up. After 1.e4, the French Defense 1…e6 and the Scandinavian Defense 1…d5 are both good openings which prevent the Scholar’s Mate by blocking the c4-f7 diagonal that White’s bishop wants to occupy. There’s nothing wrong with 1…e5, but if you want to take extra precaution against the Scholar’s Mate, the French or Scandinavian are perfectly good ways to do so.
Forewarned is forearmed! Now that you know what the Scholar’s Mate is, you’re much less likely to fall into it in the future. Best of luck to you in your games!
MONDAY BISHOP LEAGUE
School | Points | Location |
|---|---|---|
Cardinal Kung Academy | 33 | Stamford, CT |
Newman School | 26 | Boston, MA |
De La Salle Academy | 25 | New York, NY |
The Sep 30 match saw 67 players competing, the most of any league match so far!
MONDAY EARLY WEST COAST LEAGUE
School | Points | Location |
|---|---|---|
Westside Neighborhood School | 38 | Los Angeles, CA |
Oregon Episcopal School | 24 | Portland, OR |
Legacy Christian Academy | 22 | San Jose, CA |
MONDAY LATE WEST COAST LEAGUE
School | Points | Location |
|---|---|---|
The Lawrenceville School | 22 | Lawrenceville, NJ |
Discovery Prep School | 8 | Newport Beach, CA |
The Bush School | 6 | Seattle, WA |
Pacifica Christian High School | 6 | Newport Beach, CA |
TUESDAY PAWN LEAGUE
School | Points | Location |
|---|---|---|
Nativity Preparatory School | 23 | New Bedford, MA |
Gwynedd-Mercy Academy | 17 | Lower Gwynedd Township, PA |
Marvin Academy | 16 | Waxhaw, NC |
TUESDAY ROOK LEAGUE
School | Points | Location |
|---|---|---|
The John Carroll School | 25 | Bel Air, MD |
St. Joseph’s Prep | 16 | Philadelphia, PA |
Francis Parker School | 16 | Louisville, KY |
THURSDAY 3:30 PM LEAGUE
School | Points | Location |
|---|---|---|
Lakeside School District | 41 | Garland County, AR |
Christian Brothers High School | 22 | Memphis, TN |
Veritas Christian Academy | 15 | Texarkana, AR |
THURSDAY 4:00 PM LEAGUE
School | Points | Location |
|---|---|---|
Rectory School | 21 | Pomfret, CT |
Cristo Rey Jesuit | 15 | Minneapolis, MN |
Cristo Rey Jesuit | 12 | Seattle, WA |
THURSDAY DAY SCHOOL LEAGUE
School | Points | Location |
|---|---|---|
Hannah Senesh Community Day School | 14 | Brooklyn, NY |
Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy | 13 | Stamford, CT |
Columbus Torah Academy | 6 | Columbus, OH |
Milwaukee Jewish Day School | 6 | MilwaukeeWI |
Monday October 14 is Columbus Day - most schools are closed, and Rookly Leagues will not be held on this day.
The 2024 U.S. Chess Championship and U.S. Women’s Chess Championship takes place Oct 11-24 in Saint Louis MO. The top seed in the open section is Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana (rated 2796 FIDE) and the top seed in the women’s section is Grandmaster Irina Krush (2458 FIDE).
The 2024 World Chess Championship takes place Nov 25-Dec 13 in Singapore. It is a 14-game one-on-one match between reigning World Champion Grandmaster Ding Liren of China (rated 2728) and the challenger Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju of India (rated 2794). Many people, including myself, believe that Gukesh is the favorite despite being only 18 years old. If he does indeed win the match to become World Champion, he will shatter the record for youngest World Champion set by Garry Kasparov at age 22 in 1985.
- FIDE Master Alex King and the Rookly team