Bolduc Coaches Winning Chess Teams For Warsaw Schools
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Four are from Madison Elementary, two from Washington Elementary and two from Edgewood Middle School. Lincoln Elementary also has two teams going to state, but Bolduc doesn’t coach them.
“A lot of the kids can beat me. I don’t know why I teach!” Bolduc joked.
Bolduc, music teacher at Washington and Madison, will take his teams to Honey Creek Middle School, Terre Haute, for state competition March 23.
To get to state, Bolduc’s teams competed in regionals at Goshen Feb. 16. There are six regional sites around the state.
The top eight teams from the Goshen regional were able to qualify for state competition, Bolduc said in an interview Wednesday at Madison. Only 32 teams are allowed to compete at state.
“All eight teams I took to regionals qualified,” he said. “This is the first year all the teams I took qualified.”
Bolduc said he’s been coaching chess long enough that he knows how to teach his students to play chess. Being the music teacher, he also knows all the students in his schools, so students aren’t afraid to learn from him.
“They’re smart, too. I don’t want to take all the credit,” he said.
Parents are encouraged to work with their kids on the game. Dads enjoy having a way to bond with their kids, and the dads don’t always win.
There are two divisions at the elementary school level, third grade and under and sixth grade and under.
“My third grade and under team basically are the same teams I had as second graders. They came in ninth last year (at state), so I expect them to be better this year, so we’ll see,” Bolduc said.
His sixth grade and under team also is mostly the same as last year’s.
This is the first year Bolduc’s Washington teams have advanced to state, but it’s only the second year Washington has had chess teams. Edgewood competes in the middle school division.
“I’m really excited about that team,” Bolduc said. “They have the ability to win state this year. Again, it depends on the luck of the draw, but they could win it all.”
Edgewood was state runner-up in 2009.
“It’s very hard. It’s a very competitive field,” Bolduc said.
Since he started coaching chess at Madison, Bolduc said the elementary has had a lot of success. Every year they’re one of the top 10 schools in the state.
Madison “MidKnight Riders” won state runner-up in 2008, and took third in 2010.
Schools are allowed to only take one trophy home in each division.
“Most of the schools that go to state are private. Not too many are public schools,” Bolduc said.
Canterbury School, an independent college prepatory school in Fort Wayne, is like the Duke University of chess in Indiana, Bolduc said.
“We don’t have any first-place state trophies because Canterbury is always there,” he said. A couple of years ago, Canterbury placed at national competition.
“There’s just some brutal teams to play (at state), but we go year to year,” Bolduc stated.
During a tournament, there are tables set up with four boards. There are four people on each team. The white and black pieces alternate which sides they are on.
If a student wins, they get one point. A loss is no point, but students get a half point if their game ends in a draw. If a team gets 2-1/2 wins out of four possible, they get one point. A team has to win four out of five matches to win state.
“Only one team ends up being undefeated,” Bolduc explained. “The only way you can have a tie is if two teams end up with a draw at some point of the day,” but there is a tie breaker to determine the winner.
Four or five teams could tie for other places like second, but the tie breakers determine who places where.
Students practice one day a week for 45 minutes before school. Before Bolduc started coaching Washington, he sometimes offered it twice a week to Madison.
“The kids would love to meet every day if they could, but I don’t want to burn out!” he stated with a smile.
He emphasized that he tries to keep it in perspective for the students that it is just a game.
Madison students are really into chess, he said, and Principal Tom Kline is really supportive of the school’s chess program.
For the past two weeks, during lunch, six games of chess are set up for students. Students – even the ones not in chess club – line up to play and sometimes have to be told to eat their lunch. Students compete against faculty as well as each other. So far, students are beating teachers 22 to 8.
“We’ve only been doing it for two weeks, but it’s working out a lot better than we thought it would,” Bolduc said.
The Warsaw Chess Club is the organizational body for the chess clubs at Warsaw schools. Each year it hosts a tournament to raise money to send students to regional and state contests. Parents are responsible for their own costs, but scholarships are provided to families that need help.
“Everybody gets down there, whether through the chess organizational body or very generous people willing to pay for other families to go. It’s kind of like a big family,” Bolduc said. “Everyone is unified and together and the best of friends. The kids develop relationships, too.”
Third-grader Silas Mast said chess is fun and that Bolduc is a good teacher. “He’s funny and he’s serious, and he teaches a lot of good things,” he said.
Benjamin Bolduc, fifth-grader, said chess was exciting and fun. “I like chess because it challenges my mind a lot,” he said.
The best part about chess club, according to third-grader Isaiah Courtois, is “that I get to do it with my friends.”
Third-grader Jonah Reichenbach said he practices “a lot.”
Parent Sonia Mast said the chess club does a lot for her son.
“I like how he strategically thinks. You can tell he’s thinking ahead. He’s always two to three steps ahead,” she said.
While her son first started chess with Bolduc, she said it’s become a way for her husband and son to bond.
“Mr. Bolduc always makes it fun for the kids. That keeps (my son) going. He really has fun with it. It’s good, too, for their minds,” she said.[[In-content Ad]]
Four are from Madison Elementary, two from Washington Elementary and two from Edgewood Middle School. Lincoln Elementary also has two teams going to state, but Bolduc doesn’t coach them.
“A lot of the kids can beat me. I don’t know why I teach!” Bolduc joked.
Bolduc, music teacher at Washington and Madison, will take his teams to Honey Creek Middle School, Terre Haute, for state competition March 23.
To get to state, Bolduc’s teams competed in regionals at Goshen Feb. 16. There are six regional sites around the state.
The top eight teams from the Goshen regional were able to qualify for state competition, Bolduc said in an interview Wednesday at Madison. Only 32 teams are allowed to compete at state.
“All eight teams I took to regionals qualified,” he said. “This is the first year all the teams I took qualified.”
Bolduc said he’s been coaching chess long enough that he knows how to teach his students to play chess. Being the music teacher, he also knows all the students in his schools, so students aren’t afraid to learn from him.
“They’re smart, too. I don’t want to take all the credit,” he said.
Parents are encouraged to work with their kids on the game. Dads enjoy having a way to bond with their kids, and the dads don’t always win.
There are two divisions at the elementary school level, third grade and under and sixth grade and under.
“My third grade and under team basically are the same teams I had as second graders. They came in ninth last year (at state), so I expect them to be better this year, so we’ll see,” Bolduc said.
His sixth grade and under team also is mostly the same as last year’s.
This is the first year Bolduc’s Washington teams have advanced to state, but it’s only the second year Washington has had chess teams. Edgewood competes in the middle school division.
“I’m really excited about that team,” Bolduc said. “They have the ability to win state this year. Again, it depends on the luck of the draw, but they could win it all.”
Edgewood was state runner-up in 2009.
“It’s very hard. It’s a very competitive field,” Bolduc said.
Since he started coaching chess at Madison, Bolduc said the elementary has had a lot of success. Every year they’re one of the top 10 schools in the state.
Madison “MidKnight Riders” won state runner-up in 2008, and took third in 2010.
Schools are allowed to only take one trophy home in each division.
“Most of the schools that go to state are private. Not too many are public schools,” Bolduc said.
Canterbury School, an independent college prepatory school in Fort Wayne, is like the Duke University of chess in Indiana, Bolduc said.
“We don’t have any first-place state trophies because Canterbury is always there,” he said. A couple of years ago, Canterbury placed at national competition.
“There’s just some brutal teams to play (at state), but we go year to year,” Bolduc stated.
During a tournament, there are tables set up with four boards. There are four people on each team. The white and black pieces alternate which sides they are on.
If a student wins, they get one point. A loss is no point, but students get a half point if their game ends in a draw. If a team gets 2-1/2 wins out of four possible, they get one point. A team has to win four out of five matches to win state.
“Only one team ends up being undefeated,” Bolduc explained. “The only way you can have a tie is if two teams end up with a draw at some point of the day,” but there is a tie breaker to determine the winner.
Four or five teams could tie for other places like second, but the tie breakers determine who places where.
Students practice one day a week for 45 minutes before school. Before Bolduc started coaching Washington, he sometimes offered it twice a week to Madison.
“The kids would love to meet every day if they could, but I don’t want to burn out!” he stated with a smile.
He emphasized that he tries to keep it in perspective for the students that it is just a game.
Madison students are really into chess, he said, and Principal Tom Kline is really supportive of the school’s chess program.
For the past two weeks, during lunch, six games of chess are set up for students. Students – even the ones not in chess club – line up to play and sometimes have to be told to eat their lunch. Students compete against faculty as well as each other. So far, students are beating teachers 22 to 8.
“We’ve only been doing it for two weeks, but it’s working out a lot better than we thought it would,” Bolduc said.
The Warsaw Chess Club is the organizational body for the chess clubs at Warsaw schools. Each year it hosts a tournament to raise money to send students to regional and state contests. Parents are responsible for their own costs, but scholarships are provided to families that need help.
“Everybody gets down there, whether through the chess organizational body or very generous people willing to pay for other families to go. It’s kind of like a big family,” Bolduc said. “Everyone is unified and together and the best of friends. The kids develop relationships, too.”
Third-grader Silas Mast said chess is fun and that Bolduc is a good teacher. “He’s funny and he’s serious, and he teaches a lot of good things,” he said.
Benjamin Bolduc, fifth-grader, said chess was exciting and fun. “I like chess because it challenges my mind a lot,” he said.
The best part about chess club, according to third-grader Isaiah Courtois, is “that I get to do it with my friends.”
Third-grader Jonah Reichenbach said he practices “a lot.”
Parent Sonia Mast said the chess club does a lot for her son.
“I like how he strategically thinks. You can tell he’s thinking ahead. He’s always two to three steps ahead,” she said.
While her son first started chess with Bolduc, she said it’s become a way for her husband and son to bond.
“Mr. Bolduc always makes it fun for the kids. That keeps (my son) going. He really has fun with it. It’s good, too, for their minds,” she said.[[In-content Ad]]
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