Great turnout today of 12 juniors, we welcome new beginner Jake who with Mum is learning from scratch, I hope he learnt enough today to encourage him to return in the future. On Thursday afternoon(2 – 4pm) we had 3 juniors and 5 adults enjoying some banter and chess in Ferndown Library. If you have the time, pop along, as a bonus the Library serve Tea, Coffee and biscuits all afternoon free of charge! Birthday Read more
A quick reminder of Ladder positions:- Quiz for Red Zone Players Question 1 – The Battery One point for all 3 correct answers:- a) What is meant by a ‘Battery’ in chess? b) Which pieces can form a Battery? c) Which pieces cannot form a Battery? Question 2 – Overworked Pieces One point for the correct answer:- Here the pawn on c2 is ‘overworked’ as it has to protect both Queen and Bishop. Black to Read more
This first game was played between Constance and Anusas, yes, a few mistakes and oversights as to be expected, I have added my comments on certain moves throughout the game, it might help to run through it and try to avoid such mistakes in future. Remember, you can learn a lot from analysing your games, which is why it’s good to notate the moves. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This second game was played between Advik and Gagan, a Read more
On this longest day of the year we had 10 juniors trying their luck at chess and we did get one very long game between Advik and Gagan, 60 mins of hard concentration, with thanks to both sets of parents for staying and allowing the game to come to a conclusion after almost 60 moves. More of that later. Birthday greetings go to Thomas – whose birthday it is today (21st) and Eden for his Read more
RED ZONE Intermediates A three part Quiz, 1 Ladder point for each correct answer, all these examples have been shown over the last few weeks, so how’s your memory? Question 1:- Name the opening ???????????????????????????????????? Question 2:- White to move, how does WHITE queen a pawn? ????????????????????????????????????? Question 3:- Black has just castled, White can seize the opportunity to execute the ‘Greek Gift Sacrifice’, what are the sequence of moves to do this? White to Read more
8 juniors today, a good mix of ages and abilities, always enjoyable for all. Theme of the day was all about being careful where to place your pieces. Why do we loose games? We don’t pay enough attention to those dangerous squares that we move pieces on to! For this posting, I’m calling them Landmines and Ticking Bombs. What are landmines? Squares which are protected and explosive to tread on, other words losing a piece Read more
The closing date for this Midweek Quiz is Saturday June 14th Beginners Ladder Bonus points to be won 3 points for all 12 correct, 2 points for 8 correct and 1 point for 4 correct. Download a PDF if you want to submit a copy or copy and paste. Intermediates Rook and Pawn Ending Quiz 3 points for six correct, 2 points for four correct and 1 point for two correct answers. Download an answer Read more
10 youngsters today came along to enjoy a bit of chess, we welcomed Edith, a new recruit to the beginners section, she managed to play a couple of games with 50% success, well done! Main topic today was the debate on which is best, Knight or Bishop. I think the jury is still out on that one! but a good group discussion took place. Although they are each worth 3 pawns in the Chess world, Read more
I can see that a few members are progressing well enough to be called ‘intermediates’ as opposed to ‘beginners’, the midweek quiz was aimed primarily at beginners and could now be too easy for those ‘intermediate’ members. So from next week [week commencing 9th June] I will have two different sets of midweek quiz, one for beginners and one slightly harder for the intermediates. Who will be in which group? To identify who the intermediates Read more
Bonus points for the Ladder time, 12 questions, get all of them correct for 3 Points, 8 correct for 2 points and 4 or more for 1 point. Copy and paste the image or download the PDF shown below, either send me your answers by email:- graham7morris@gmail.com or bring your answer sheet to me next Saturday. Quiz closes on Saturday 7th June. Download PDF