KML Chess Places 5th at USM Meet

KML Chess placed fifth out of 11 schools participating in the Milwaukee League meet hosted by University School Milwaukee Thursday. KML scored two wins from Ted Molkentin and Olivia Schaenzer and a draw from Luke Eisner. The Chargers will play three conference matches on Saturday. Results are:

TEAM RESULTS

MEGAMEET 2 at USM

1st REAGAN    5315

2nd Wisconsin Lutheran   5019

3rd  Tosa East  4986

4th  RUHS    4274

5th  KMLHS  4122

6th  Brookfield East  3837

7th  USM    3819

8th   MSL  3141

9th   KING  2873

10th  Wash  989

11th  MKE EX  0

Two KML seniors, Ted Molkentin and Olivia Schaenzer, played on the meet's top boards. 

 The meet included more than 100 players ranging from beginner to USCF rating 1700.

 Josh Weber reviews his game with his opponent and learns from the experience.

Olivia Schaenzer picked up her hardware from the WI Junior Open - second best performance of all the 1100 rated players in the Open Division.

KML Chess Kicks Off Season at WI Junior Open

Ten KML chess players and one helpful alum spent the weekend at UW-Oshkosh for the WI Junior Open. The KML Chargers played great games and met other players from around the state.

The purpose of this event is to get us ready for the season ahead, revealing strengths and where we need to work.

• Our seven players in the Reserve Section (under 1100 rating) – three players gained rating points, meaning they played higher rated players:
• Melissa picked up rating points (615-630) with 2 quality wins
• Ben picked up rating points (581-587) with 2 quality wins
• Dylan picked up rating points (446-506) with 2 quality wins (and a bye for the SAT)
• Xander achieved 3 wins (and a bye for the SAT) but his opponents were not rated higher so he didn’t gain rating points.
• Luke had 3 wins (but no rating points increase)

• Our three players in the Open Section played with the best junior players in Wisconsin!
• Isaac played the eventual champion (rated 2100) in his first game – great experience – finished with one win and a draw overall.
• Ted gained rating points (1399 to 1435) and finished with 1 win, 1 loss and 3 draws.
• Olivia gained rating points (1189 to 1244) and finished with 2 wins and 1 draw.

We begin our league play soon. Go Chargers!

2017-18 Chess Season Begins at KML

KML Chess meets Wednesdays in Room 1166 (that's the chemistry room) from 3:30 - 5 p.m. You may also find open chess in the cafeteria on Mondays after school (pending students' schedules). Drop in any time to learn, play a game, or to find out about competing for KML in matches and scrimmages against other schools.

Students in grades 7 & 8 are welcome to join us on Wednesdays and are eligible to compete with the KML team if they so choose.

See our schedule posted here in this blog. If you have questions, email advisor Angie Molkentin at chess@kmlhs.org.

2017 KML Chess Campers

Intermediate Group with Instructors

Beginner Group with Instructors

2017 KML Chess Camp - A Growing Number of Experienced Players

The 4th annual KML Chess Camp is under way, and we're seeing players return to camp with more experience and eager to take their games to new levels. With so many returning campers, the intermediate session has more than twice the number of campers than our beginner section. That is outstanding growth, both in numbers and in quality. Here are some scenes from this year's camp:

Beginners learn from experienced players.

High school players instruct.

Future Chargers!

One-on-one instruction helps players advance quickly.

Learning notation!

Time to Sign Up for 2017 KML Chess Camp!

The popular KML Chess Camp is back June 5-8! Chess is both fun and good for the brain! Why not give it a try? Here’s your chance to learn from members of the KML Chess Club. All ages welcome! Sign up for either the Beginner session (learn basic strategy and tactics) or Intermediate session (for players who understand basic strategy and want to take their game to the next level). Registration is open now by going to www.kmlhs.org and clicking on E3 Summer Academy. Register by May 26 to receive a KML Chess Club t-shirt! Questions? Email Angie Molkentin at amolkentin@gmail.com.

2017 Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Results

KML Chess brought two Varsity teams and one JV player to the State Chess Tournament this weekend. In the Varsity section, 38 teams were divided into three divisions. 

• Our Varsity 1 team was seeded 13^th of 14 teams in Division 1 and could not climb higher. 
• Our Division 3 team also finished as expected in the seedings, 6^th of 12 teams in Division 3, winning 3 of 5 matches. 

In individual results, Joe Polheber scored a perfect 5 wins and is Division 3 Board 3 State Champ! Ashley Braker and Olivia Schaenzer each medaled with 3 of 5 wins on the weekend and Dylan Schulz medaled with 3.5 wins. 

Division 1 Players

Board 1: Ted Molkentin

Board 2: Olivia Schaenzer

Board 3: Xander Neuwirth

Board 4: Isaac Helwig

Board 5: Luke Eisner

Division 3 Players

Board 1: Ben Polheber

Board 2: Dylan Schulz

Board 3: Joe Polheber

Board 4: Josh Weber

Board 5: Ashley Braker

JV Player: Eric Rodell

Individual award winners:

Ashley Braker, Olivia Schaenzer, Joe Polheber, Dylan Schulz.

Milwaukee League Results

On March 3, the KML Chargers finished Milwaukee league play at the City Championships. Strong play all season earned the Chargers Division 1 seeding and opportunity to play for the overall championship. We were seeded 4th in D1, and after playing tough games, came away in 4th place out of 11 schools, 23 teams in all. The tough games helped prepare us for the State meet March 18-19 in Oshkosh.

RESULTS

Division 1      Seed       Place

KING A          (2)         1

USM A           (1)          2

MSL A            (3)         3

KMLHS          (4)         4

Division 2      Seed       Place

MSL B            (7)         1

Reagan A        (4)         2

RaLake            (1)        3

USM B            (5)        4

WISCO A        (2)        5

TosaEast A      (6)        6

KING B           (8)       7

BradTech A     (3)       8

Division 3       Seed      Place

Reagan B         (2)         1

TosaEa B         (3)         2

Reagan Mix     (8)        3

Wash A            (4)        4

MSL Mix        (11)       5

KING C           (5)        6

RUHS A          (1)        7

Tech Mix         (7)        8

RUHS B           (9)       9

WLHS B          (6)       10

USM Mix        (10)     10

Chargers Earn All-Conference Honors

In Scenic Moraine Chess Conference action Saturday, the KML Chargers posted a win vs. Hartford and losses to New Berlin Eisenhower and New Berlin West to finish 3-3 in conference play and fourth overall. Three Chargers were voted by the conference coaches to receive all-conference honors:

• Olivia Schaenzer: Honorable Mention
• Isaac Helwig: 2nd Team All-Conference
• Ted Molkentin: 1st Team All-Conference and Coaches' Choice Award for team leadership

With regular season play complete, the Chargers will prep for the Milwaukee City Championships March 3 and the Wisconsin State Tournament March 18-19.

Brookfield Academy Defeats Chargers

Brookfield Academy came to KML and took wins on four of five Varsity boards and all four JV boards. The Chargers were rated significantly lower on nearly every board, so the one win by Luke Eisner on Varsity Board 5 was an upset. Eric Rodell and Taylor Draheim played in their first interscholastic matches. The Chargers are 2 and 1 in conference play and travel to USM for a multi-school meet on February 2.

The biggest victory is that nearly everyone took notation, including Eric! Notation helps us replay games with the goal of eliminating mistakes and learning.

Lutheran Chess Tradition Continues with KML vs. Wisco

KML Chess fell to the Wisconsin Lutheran Chess Team in Wednesday's meet. Olivia Schaenzer won on Board 2 and Ben Polheber won on Board 5, but losses on boards 1, 3 and 4 sealed the Chargers' fate. In JV, Josh Weber brought home a win. The tradition of Lutheran chess fellowship continued with both teams enjoying pizza together after the match.

Reviewing the game afterward: Critical to learning!

A Taste of Our Grade School Chess Clinic

KML Chess Club hosted a winter chess clinic for federation grade school players on Saturday, January 7. Grade schoolers and even some parents came to KML to learn from our high school players. Here’s a taste of what one little grade school player learned at camp:

KML is putting the final touches on the 2017 E3 Summer Academy schedule and registration forms, including our popular Chess Camp. Watch for that announcement coming soon!

Chargers come in 5th at January USM Meet

Three Chargers won their matches at the January 5 chess meet at University School Milwaukee. Ashley Braker, Melissa Schmidt and Luke Eisner scored wins and Xander Neuwirth achieved a draw, but it was not enough for the team to climb to the top of the standings at the multi-school meet. The Chargers placed 5th out of 10 teams.

Results of Megameet 3 on Thursday Jan 5 2017 at USM

1.   MSL  6586

2.   King   6249

3.   Tosa East  5972

4.   Reagan    4406

5.   KMLHS    3471

6.   USM    3424

7.   Wash   2598

8.   DMNCN   2502

9.   RaLake    2474

10.  RUHS   776

Results from the previous two meets:

KML Federation Grade School Chess Clinic on January 7

On Saturday, January 7, the KML Chess Club will host a Grade School Chess Clinic from 10-11:30 a.m. at KML, Room 1166. All ages welcome. Come and learn to play or sharpen your skills with a lesson and play against others.

Any questions? Contact:
Katrina Janz, Grade School Chess Coordinator, at katrinajanz@gmail.com
Angie Molkentin, KML Chess Club Advisor, at amolkentin@gmail.com.