The Tale Of Two Scoresheets

 

In my first article I wrote about how important it is to teach your students how to take accurate notation, and here is a recent anecdote to emphasize just how critical this skill is.

It is September and Aaron just finished his third-round game. This is not only the first tournament of the year for my team, but for 15 of my students it was the first tournament of their lives. As soon as the game ended he marched into our team room with a huge smile and reported his result as a win. I recorded it on my team results tracker, and continued to analyze with the student in front of me.

It wasn't until the next round that I realized something wasn't right. Aaron's win was actually recorded as a loss, and I had no idea why. 

Thankfully, Aaron confirmed his win and immediately showed me his scoresheet. Here is a picture of it (Aaron had white).

 I've got to say that this is impressive notation for his first tournament. Other than 5. e6 (it should be d6) this is a perfect record of the game! However, to get the full story I found the other player's coach and snapped a pic of her scoresheet.

That was all she had, and upon further investigation it was clear that for whatever reason the wrong result was recorded. The TD gave Aaron the full point.

I told this same story to my own students, and it really drove home the point of how important notation is. It is your proof, your evidence, of what exactly happened in the game, and had Aaron's scoresheet not been as complete as it was his "loss" wouldn't have been overturned.

 

So, this begs the question, "How do I get my students to take accurate notation?" In my opinion, taking notation, along with managing a clock, and thinking of moves is a nerve-racking task. The only solution is to practice these routines until children are comfortable with the process. I had my students:

1) Play friendly games where a pair of students created a single scoresheet for the game. With two people working the scoresheets under peer review, the inaccuracies were caught and corrected. Students were less likely to forget to notate.

2) Play through miniatures in small groups or pairs. I created worksheets in which students had to play through the moves, and then solve the mate at the end. There weren't any diagrams, so by solving the final position I knew that they were accurately getting to the end of the game.

3) Norm how you want your students to notate. Write (your opponent's move), think, move, clock, write. I modeled how I wanted it to look and then let them try. For the first practice game I synchronized the class: everyone moved at the same time, hit the clock at the same time, and recorded at the same time until they got in the habit of doing it themselves.

I hope your wins make it to the wall chart as wins, but in case they don't you can always rely on accurate notation to save the point. Best of luck at your next tournament!