Chess Team

Coaches
Parents

Please mark your calendar for next year's dates:

Click here for the Volunteer Schedule
Download the Tournament Rules of Conduct
  
Contact the Chess Team
If you have questions about tournaments please email us at villagechess@yahoo.com.

Coaches
Coach Bill Reuter learned to play chess in the early 70's about the time Bobby Fisher was at his peak of popularity. Although Coach Reuter's brother, Fritz, taught him the basic chess moves, most of Coach Reuter's tactical and strategic skills are self-taught. He has studied over 100 chess books and games of the old great masters and contemporary champions like Kasparov. In 1976 Coach Reuter won the Texas Junior Championship with a perfect score of 5-0. He obtained his Experts Rating and then put chess aside to complete his formal education. After college Coach Reuter earned the titles of United States National Master and United States Senior Master. He is knowledgeable in state of the art chess strategies and still competes in USCF tournaments occasionally. Coach Reuter won first place in the Houston Absolute Open Tournament in November, 2002.

Coach Larry Englebretson learned to play chess at the age of seven. He started playing in tournaments when he was a senior in high school. He was born in Oklahoma, lived in Dallas, then moved to Houston where he attended Rice University. He worked as a computer analyst, then decided to pursue his chess career. He obtained his title of USCF National Master in 1981, and his title of USCF Life Master shortly thereafter. Coach Larry is a director at the Houston Chess Club. He is the 2002 City of Houston co-champion and has achieved this title for 3 years. During his chess career, Coach Larry has tied for the state championship twice. Coach Larry's chess philosophy is that chess is an art, and every game is an opportunity to both teach and learn.

Coach Jeffrey Ashton learned the rules of chess when he was in elementary school. He started competing in major tournaments in the 7th grade. Three years later he became a USCF National Master. He attended University of Texas at Dallas on a full-ride scholarship to play for their chess team. He helped the team win several National and Pan American championships. After graduating from the University of Texas at Dallas he moved to Houston to become a professional chess teacher. Jeffery Ashton has experience playing chess in several countries and most of the United States. He has worked with children in schools throughout Dallas and Houston. He has toured the U.S. training students at summer camps. Outside of chess he has many interests such as reading, playing basketball, martial arts, and traveling.

Coach Justin Gardner grew up playing chess in Mississippi and was able to attain more than a dozen Mississippi State Chess Titles. Some of his biggest accomplishments include becoming the 1999 Southern K-9 Champion, tieing for 2nd place for 10th Grade in the National Grade Championship in 2000, and the 2000 US G/30 Co-Champion. In 2001he won the Pan-American Championship, and got the 4-year scholarship to UTD (University of Texas at Dallas, also the #1 team in the country). He graduated in Dec. 2006 with a degree in Business Administration.He moved to Houston in January of this year and has been teaching at T.H.Rogers and the Village School. He has been teaching for 8-9 years now and has taught from beginners upto Top-100 ranking players. As a student at UTD, he founded a chess instructional company www.bgschess.com in the Dallas area, which has trained at more than 20 area schools for the past 2 years, also holding tournaments and camp.His United States Chess Federation (USCF) rating is 2115 and my International Rating (FIDE) is 2166.

Parents
Thank you parents for all your support this year!  Our Chess Team has achieved another wonderful year of fun-filled positive chess!  Congratulations to all those graduating members!

Thank you especially for the Ong's family, who have been with us for the past 8 years!  Carol's dedication to our Chess Team and William's legacy will ALWAYS be treasured in our hearts!  Good luck to the Ong's for their next challenge!

We would like to give our heartiest thanks to Joyce Eng for her 9 years and Gina Cheung for her 3 years of dedicated volunteer work and hardship in running the Village Chess team successfully and smoothly.They are a great inspiration for all other parents.