Members in Action
Kirk is awaiting verification for his first norm at the World Open!
Some very warm-heartening feedback from Kirk’s mom: “My son has played 4 OTB tournaments this year, these are the only tournaments since he joined KCT. Almost without an exception after each game he has reminded me of utilizing something he has learned from KCT. In particular, we think that the Attack camp had a profound effect on his play. We definitely are looking forward to further collaboration with KCT.”
Nicolai just played a tournament, scored 6.5/9 and finished 10th.
Arshiya was selected for the online World cadet u12 girls.
You can find the results for Shahil and Manish in their recently finish tournament here.
Volodar finished 30th in the Russian Higher League with a score 4.5/9.
Jonas played an OTB tournament in Strasbourg, in the famous Orangerie Park, in the Pavilion Josephine, a house used by Napoleon’s wife, scoring 5.5/7.
Peter scored his third tournament win in a row with 4.5/5. He will write more about his games on the Forum!
Raluca has 6/9 in Benasque.
Aaron shared his experience with us on the forum: “I’m a much weaker player I joined KCT about 10 weeks ago and have been doing the FH each week. Over the past two days I took part in a 2-day <1900 (really <1800 by rating) classical tournament (60+30) and I took 4/5 and won clear first!”
Brendan replied to Aaron and personally, I found it touching: “We are all friends and colleagues here and share a common love for chess and the desire to improve, no matter what our starting level is. I don’t think this is the kind of academy that is elitist re rating and titles etc. It is obviously good marketing if students do well, but that applies at all levels 
I think homework club is at a reasonably high level (both Friendly and Killer) but by doing them your thinking will improve. Classes such as the fundamentals and the Peter Long one are excellent for us lower rated players. Most people are interested in how everyone else is doing and helping them improve where they can. Keep posting your success stories and also tournaments where things did not work out so well, that way we can help each other improve and get advice from the stronger and professional players.”
Share your tournaments on the forum! We are always happy to cheer for you!
World Cup news
Alexander Motylev won 2-0 against Abobker Elarabi and proceeds to the next round, where he will face Rinat Jumabayev. You can see the game of day 1 here.
Ivan Cheparinov had a bye and he will face in round 2 Rasmus Svane.
Sam Shankland also had a bye and he will face Baadur Jobava in round 2. Had Jobava lost, Sam would face Abhi.
Jacob and I thought that Andre was on the way into play-off after making a draw in a winning position in round 1, but unfortunately he lost against Pavel Ponkratov 0.5-1.5 and is now eliminated.
Elshan Moradiabadi won 2-0 against Helgi Dam Ziska and will face MVL in round 2.
Trainers in action
Tiger finished second in the Swedish championship.
Meanwhile Renier has 6.5/9 in Benasque.
Jacob cannot travel to the USA, that classifies as inaction.
Summer Scheduling
The under1700 Workgroup with Peter Long will be for the next 8 weeks every Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 UK time, for one-hour long classes, after the voting ended yesterday.
Salgado has some internet problems, being on a long summer holiday, but he will host a long weekend on the Theoretical Trends at the World Cup. If his connection is bad, don’t worry, he will record the classes.
Free for all our members, a 10-hour camp with GM Tiger Hillarp Persson.
As we said before, during the summertime, we will leave the recordings for the non-recurring courses (for example, Thinking Aloud and Game of the Week) up for 3 weeks. You can always find older course recordings in the corresponding course page and free classes to share with your friends in the Your Academy page.
A storm was responsible for having to postpone John’s Corner this Saturday on New Stockfish & How to build a computer, but we will reschedule very soon.
Don’t forget to download the PGN from Sam for the course: How to learn a new Opening.
For July and August, we will run the “bring a friend and get a course” campaing
If you are a yearly member and you bring a friend (or as many friends as you’d like) and they get a trial or a monthly membership, you can choose any of the courses: Attacking the opponent effectively by GM Sabino Brunello, Foundation of Positional Play by IM Renier Castellanos, Kasparov’s Chess Evolution by GM Iván Salgado López, Material Imbalances by GM Julen Arizmendi, Thoughts on Strategy by GM Julen Arizmendi, Understanding Weaknesses by GM Julen Arizmendi, or the recordings of the camp Work on and learn from your own games. All your friend has to do is write on the order notes who introduced them and we will put the course of your choice in your account.
If your friend gets a yearly membership at €749 and they pay with a card, you can choose whichever course recording is available on the shop.
Enjoy your summer!
Kallia