AimeeM Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 This fall I'm starting (with help) a chess club/team for homeschoolers. There will be two different "groups" within the same main group - one for elementary aged kiddos, another for middle and high schoolers. We will be competing in age/grade appropriate tournaments, and the kids want t-shirts :P I was able to pull up a ton of cute names for chess clubs on Google, but a good number of there were definitely... adult names, lol. I do NOT want to leave this up to the kids. I've seen the chaos within other local groups when kids get to pick the names, and I'm running on too little sleep these days to patiently sit through "... but I want The Flying Unicorns!" and the inevitable arguing. Nothing gender specific, as the groups are co-ed (well, kind of, since it looks like my daughter will be the only girl on the middle/high school team, but the younger team is much more mixed, gender-wise). Any cute ideas? Strike that - the older kids do not want "cute". *sigh* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 My ten year old things that they should be named the Dragons and the Unicorns. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 I don't know what kinds of names are typical... Are these too cute? Chesscake, strawberry chesscake Chessters, jesters Chessnuts, Jr. chessnuts Chessmongers, apprentice chessmongers Chessburgers, fries 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Knights of the Square Table? hahhaa ok maybe not. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 My daughter wants, printed on the back of the shirts, "It's a knight - not a horsey". She saw it somewhere, on a chess shirt. Lol. I'm not sure that's appropriate, but... meh :P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Maybe you can incorporate a chess term or something. "The Castlers" Like, could you use chess notation to come up with a name? Like "Knight to Pawn 4" or something but make it in notation (oh, gosh, I'm sorry--I've forgotten how to write it out). I'm thinking the first move you make with a pawn in one of the openings. Maybe you could use the name of a famous chessmaster--"Fisher's Folks?" "Fisher's Apprentices" IDK--I don't know who the top chess people are now. Maybe after the levels of competition chess? "The Masters" "The Grandmasters" Just brainstorming! Or name it after a famous opening? "Queen's Gambit" or "The Stonewalls" "The Gambits" 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Here are some names from recent tournaments in my area http://njscf.org/2015-world-amateur-team-prize-winners/ http://njscf.org/2014-world-amateur-team-u-s-team-east-results-and-prizes/ What a great thing you are doing! Did you know that thare are almost always homeschool teams playing at national tournaments? I have a rough idea of what state you live in, and I think you could get to the national grade level championships in Florida in December. They are held every year and are for all levels of players. http://www.uschess.org/content/view/10015/95 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Check Mates? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 My daughter wants, printed on the back of the shirts, "It's a knight - not a horsey". She saw it somewhere, on a chess shirt. Lol. I'm not sure that's appropriate, but... meh :p In that spirit... Knights and Horsies. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 My son likes RookieKings (or RookieKnights) :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Check Mates? FOR THE WIN! lol--this is incredibly clever. I love double meanings! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Here are some names from recent tournaments in my area http://njscf.org/2015-world-amateur-team-prize-winners/ http://njscf.org/2014-world-amateur-team-u-s-team-east-results-and-prizes/ What a great thing you are doing! Did you know that thare are almost always homeschool teams playing at national tournaments? I have a rough idea of what state you live in, and I think you could get to the national grade level championships in Florida in December. They are held every year and are for all levels of players. http://www.uschess.org/content/view/10015/95 We're in SC. Right now I'm trying to fish out whether or not we'd be eligible to play in the scholastic tournaments. There may be a loophole that we would be allowed to participate in the catholic schools' tournament, since I'm registered as a homeschooler with a catholic HS association, but I'm not sure. It reads to me that we wouldn't be allowed to participate in the state's independent schools' tournament, because we aren't with an accredited school. This part (finding tournaments we're eligible to participate in) is giving me a headache, lol. I contacted my own accountability association to ask. I did NOT realize that there were grade level national tournaments open to everyone until you mentioned it - I should have, of course, but we had only ever participated in tournaments with DD's previous schools (an independent private school and a catholic school, which both participated in tournaments within the private school sector). The FL tournament would be fun! Even as just an introduction to actual competition for the kids. The only experienced players are a few in the upper grade levels (my daughter and two others). Thank you for the link!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 I love so many of these names, guys! Thanks! I like them so much, that I would be happy with any of them, so I might copy them all down and let the kids vote on them :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 We're in SC. Right now I'm trying to fish out whether or not we'd be eligible to play in the scholastic tournaments. There may be a loophole that we would be allowed to participate in the catholic schools' tournament, since I'm registered as a homeschooler with a catholic HS association, but I'm not sure. It reads to me that we wouldn't be allowed to participate in the state's independent schools' tournament, because we aren't with an accredited school. This part (finding tournaments we're eligible to participate in) is giving me a headache, lol. I contacted my own accountability association to ask. I did NOT realize that there were grade level national tournaments open to everyone until you mentioned it - I should have, of course, but we had only ever participated in tournaments with DD's previous schools (an independent private school and a catholic school, which both participated in tournaments within the private school sector). The FL tournament would be fun! Even as just an introduction to actual competition for the kids. The only experienced players are a few in the upper grade levels (my daughter and two others). Thank you for the link!!! Well, my experience is in NY and NJ. Tournament organizers want more people playing, not fewer, lol. In the gazillions of tournaments here there is only one I can think of (Mayor's Cup for NYC residents) that is restricted. In chess, scholastic means student (below college) or under 18. Lots of schools in NYC, public and private, have tournaments, and my NJ ds plays in them, no problem. Homeschooling is pretty popular in the chess world, especially among top rated players. Some things you could do -- have kids join the USCF, U.S. Chess Federation, about $17. https://secure2.uschess.org/webstore/member.php -- check out tournaments listed on the USCF website, not as many in SC as my area, but it should pick up in the fall. http://www.uschess.org/tlas/upcoming.php -- check out tournaments that are not listed by clicking on tournaments played in your state and seeing what has been offered in past, get venues, names. 'Look up a tournament.' https://www.uschess.org/msa/ Btw, kids can play in regular tournaments, not just scholastic. But adults, no matter how low rated, cannot play in scholastic. Most tournaments have sections. To start, you would have your students play in the lowest rated sections. Many tournaments have unrated sections, or the entire toyrnament is unrated. We find that it is good to enroll in uscf and get a rating asap. Most kids like to track their records, which can be done online. You may have only a percentage of kids who want to get involved in tournaments, but you will be going them a great service! Btw, some very little kids, early elementary, turn out to be gifted players. http://www.scchess.org OMG, I see that you are close to Nashville. The National Elementary championships are there next year. Btw, Championship does not mean it is a tournament for experts only. Not at all! You can always check out a previous years tournament on the USCF msa website and see the ratings of people who played. The lowest rating is 100, so you are fine if there are players in the 100 to 600 range -- 600 is just an arbitrary number, any three digit number is fine. You will probably have some players who get good very quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 Once A-Pawn a Time 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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