Control the Center - Meeting #2

Our second meeting went well - I'm glad everyone came back! Alex joined us, making attendance 100%.

We went over the "opening" (the first 8-10 moves in the game). The three points to remember are:

1. Control the center (with pawns, supported by pieces)
2. Develop pieces quickly (ie, bishops, knights, then rooks)
3. Castle early (to protect the King and develop a rook)

Most students took the lesson to heart, and fought harder games. They also slowed down their play quite a bit (which is good)...no one finished more than one game, one pair didn't even finish their first game, while last time some played three full games.

Next meeting, we plan to cover scorekeeping, and (if we have time) mating with a King and Queen vs. a King, and the Queen and Rook Roller Mate.

We will also revisit etiquette (shaking hands after a game).

Pickup will be at the front doors next week.

Standings update ("Change" means movement up or down the list):

	Games Played	Average	Change
Nick	2	1.00
Croix	1	1.00
Mitchell	3	0.83	-1
Christian	3	0.83
James	2	0.75
Jacob	4	0.50	+1
Connor	2	0.50
Jonathan	3	0.17	+1
Audrey	3	0.00
Alex	1	0.00

Here's who has played each other to date:

Jake vs. Audrey, Alex, Mitchell, and Croix
Nick vs. Christian and Jonathan
Christian vs. James, Audrey and Nick
Audrey vs. Connor, Christian, and Jake
Mitchell vs. Connor, Jake, and Jonathan
James vs. Jonathan and Christian
Conner vs. Audrey and Mitchell
Jonathan vs. James, Mitchell, and Nick
Alex vs. Jake