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 birthday on Wednesday 25th, have a great day both of you!
Todays theme was a mix of ‘removing the guard’ and the ‘french defence’
Removing the Guard
In this lesson, I’ll be talking about the “removing the guard” or “removing the defender” tactic in chess. This tactic involves forcing an opponent’s piece, which is defending another piece or a critical square, to move or be taken. Once the defending piece is moved or removed, the previously defended piece or square becomes vulnerable to attack.
In this example White’s Queen would like to take the Rook but the Black Queen is protecting it, by playing N x e6, forking the two Rooks, the Queen takes the Knight and moves away from defending the Rook, hence Q x R
One other example:-
Black has just played Knight to d4, attacking both Knight and b3, by making the King move away from protecting the Knight, White can play N x N.
so.. 1] pb3+ pxp
2] pxp+ K x p (or Kb3 or d6) either way it moves away from the Knight3] N x N
A Brief look at the French Defence opening
Usually this comes after White opens with e4, Black replies with e6 followed by White’s d4 and Black plays d5. We now have here a couple of options, either push on to e5 or e4 x d5.
[Incidentally, if White opens with d4, Black can still play e6 with the idea of playing the Dutch opening, but we will leave that for another day.]
First the Advanced variation
Black now has the choice to castle long or short after reviewing the position.
Second is the Exchange Variation
White has bought the Queen out too early, it's Bishop and Knight are sadly still on the back row.
Latest Ladder positions after this weeks Quiz and games
Wins today for Michal, Constance, Shlok, Lewis and that epic battle between Gagan V Advik of which Advik became the victor. Only the first game in 10 weeks that Gagan has lost, outstanding performance, I'm sure he'll bounce back from that.
[3 points for a win, 2 for a draw and 1 point for a loss.]
Quiz answers for both Red and Green zones were received by:
Gagan(3 points), Advik(3), Michal(3), Constance(3), Anusas(2), Eden(2) and Lewis(1)
Game notation by Constance, Anusas, Gagan, Advik and Michal - all receive 1 point
Totting up the scores and adjusting the cards, the Ladder now looks a little different with Constance regaining top spot, Advik climbs into second and Michal enters the Red Zone.
A reminder we have just 3 weeks left to complete the ladder board competition as the club closes for the summer on the 12th July.
A chance to make a knockout blow
On the 19th July I will be helping to run a junior competition at the Bournemouth Central Library, of which anyone from this club is welcome to join in. There will be different levels of skill, beginners will play beginners etc etc. and many prizes on offer.
Matches will be 10 minutes each and we hope to have 6 or 7 rounds. It starts at 10 am and will finish by 12pm – followed by prizes for as many as possible and certificates for all.
Please let me know if you'd like to attend.
Meanwhile enjoy the barbecue and the sunny days!
Graham Morris