Golden Key Russian School Math Mosaic Circles

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During a recent class, the Knights chess kids discussed the new topic of forks in chess. The fork is an extremely common chess tactic in games, it even occurred in our game against the coach, and more than once! This tactic involves attacking two pieces at once, and can be performed by any chess piece, but particularly the knight because of its unique way of moving. We practiced forks in some abstract examples to stay on the lookout for this tactic.

In a recent class in the Knights group, the kids discussed the famous Scholar’s checkmate, also known as the four move checkmate. We talked about the proper way to execute it, but also how to properly defend against it if ever needed. Usually, this trap is played against newer chess players, so this is very important to understand. We played a game with the teacher where he played the Scholar’s mate, and the kids won using the strategy the learned in class!

We are playing with the multiplication table this week! The Archimedes groups are filling out a blank 10x10 table (it's much more exciting than it sounds!), And the Gauss students are playing with mixed multiplication tables. Much more exciting and less tedious than just memorizing "multiplication facts".

Our Gauss math circle students exploring symmetry using mirrors and Qbitz blocks

GKRS hosted the Math Kangaroo for the seventh year this year! It was wonderful to see bright faces in person once again this year!

Good luck to all our students taking the Math Kangaroo this week!

This week is a Math Kangaroo week - over 30,000 US students will celebrate MATH starting this Thursday, March 17!

Register today for GKRS enrichment classes in Math and Chess! The GKRS winter session is wrapping up and registration is currently open for the Spring session, which starts on Sunday, March 20th. All links are in the comments - join us in person or online this spring!

In the Chess classes, the kids have been learning new strategies, studying games played by Chess masters and perfecting their game skills. Here are some photos from the different groups of Chess that we run, however, in this post we will give you a little update on the Knights' groups.

In this week's Knights' group classes, the kids discussed a very rare position in chess called the stalemate. The stalemate is a position where one side has to move, but cannot make a legal move, and is not in check. We discussed how these positions are important to avoid, but also could be possible ways out of a loss, and we saw specific games where these ideas were applied. At the end of the classes, we played a game between two teams, and it came down to the wire, and it was exciting to watch!

Dear GKRS community,

It is hard to believe that we are writing this, but now is not the time to stay silent. Like the majority of the world, we are horrified by the war that Vladimir Putin has launched against Ukraine and we condemn the actions of this tyrannical dictator. We have the word "Russian" in our name and we love the Russian language and culture. Many of our students have family and strong connections to both Russia and Ukraine. We want to express our support and solidarity with everyone who is suffering from this senseless and evil war - first and foremost, of course, the people of Ukraine, but also people of Russia who don't support the actions of their government, everyone who has family and friends in danger.

Dear GKRS community,

It is hard to believe that we are writing this, but now is not the time to stay silent. Like the majority of the world, we are horrified by the war that Vladimir Putin has launched against Ukraine and we condemn the actions of this tyrannical dictator. We have the word "Russian" in our name and we love the Russian language and culture. Many of our students have family and strong connections to both Russia and Ukraine. We want to express our support and solidarity with everyone who is suffering from this senseless and evil war - first and foremost, of course, the people of Ukraine, but also people of Russia who don't support the actions of their government, everyone who has family and friends in danger.

Очень сложно поверить в то, что приходится писать на эту тему, но сейчас не время молчать. Как большинство в мире, мы в ужасе от того, что Владимир Путин военным путем вторгся в независимую Украину, и мы однозначно осуждаем страшные действия агрессивного тирана. В названии нашей школы есть слово "русская", и мы любим и ценим русский язык и русскую культуру. У многих наших учеников есть родственники и друзья на Украине и в России. Мы хотим выразить свою поддержку и солидарность всем, кто страдает от этой ужасной войны - в первую очередь, конечно, жителям Украины, но также и россиянам, которые не поддерживают свое правительство, и всем, кто сегодня волнуется и переживает за родных и близких.