On this final Saturday before Easter, I was truly delighted and pleased to see a total of 22 enthusiastic juniors come along to enjoy a fun and engaging session of Chess.
A very warm welcome to Miles, who made the journey all the way from Wareham to be here with us today. He is genuinely an outstanding and exceptional player, especially considering his young age and impressive skills. Also Zeke, who really got involved with the tutorial of the Queens Gambit, there’ll be no holding him back I can see!
Everyone who joined us today received a unique and special Easter certificate of participation as a memorable keepsake to celebrate their involvement in the club.
A few of our members with their certificates.
With the valuable assistance of Jon Catchpole and John Heath, we successfully managed to engage and teach those individuals who listened attentively and were genuinely eager to improve their skills and knowledge.
Queen’s Gambit
The theme of the day centred around the Queen’s Gambit, offering a concise yet insightful overview of the various strategic options available to Black after either accepting or declining the gambit. We explored the key responses and possible continuations for Black, highlighting the tactical ideas and potential plans that arise in each case. This brief examination aimed to provide players with a clearer understanding of how to approach the opening from Black’s perspective, whether they choose to engage directly by accepting the gambit or to maintain a more solid position by declining it.
Similar to the London system, the Queens Gambit opens with d4, but the similarity stops there as White strives to control the centre quickly with c4 played on move 2 – if Black allows. It’s important to develop and castle before attacking.
These short examples are the declined version, Black can of course take c4 on move 2, which is known as the accepted gambit, in which case play e3 or e4 and win back the c4 pawn.
This is a similar set up to the London opening with some subtle differences:-
School Winner
Our very own Lewis Green recently entered his school's chess competition and impressively won it outright, showcasing his exceptional skills and dedication. Unfortunately, despite his outstanding achievement, the school did not provide him with any form of recognition or reward for his success. Feeling that this was unfair and wanting to properly acknowledge his accomplishment, I decided to take matters into my own hands and ensure that Lewis received the recognition he truly deserves.
So Ferndown Junior Chess Club presented to him a prestigious Gold Medal along with a Special certificate as a lasting and permanent reminder of his outstanding success and remarkable achievement.
Lewis (centre) with close friends Eden and Gagan either side.
Ladder Tournament - Final Listings
The winner of the competition is Wyatt, who performed exceptionally well. Second place has been awarded to Constance, who also showed great skill and determination. Third place goes to Michal, who deserves recognition for his strong effort. Well done to all three of them for their outstanding achievements. We also want to extend our commiserations to those who narrowly missed out this time around.
Top 16 places after all of today's games played in the Ladder competition
New Ladder competitions will start after Easter, this time there will be 3 groups:- Beginners / Intermediates / Advanced players. A fair chance for everyone to win.
We are open next week
Trophies and Medals to presented to our Ladder and 'Climb the Mountain' competition, also a fun round or two of Handicap chess!
For those who can't be with us next Saturday :-
