Sixteen juniors attended today, our first week back after the summer break. We are pleased to welcome seven new recruits:- Jake, Jacob, George, Alex, Finn and Austin + he who should not be named!, some of whom previously attended the Wimborne club, which has now closed.
So where exactly do you start? Well, the opening is always a great place to begin because it gets you right into the heart of the game. However, there are so many different types of openings, and learning about all of them can quickly become quite confusing and overwhelming!
THE OPENING TREE
As a chess player, you have to know your openings but not necessarily to any great depth .
Not only is it possible to lose a game in less than 10 moves (think of Scholar’s Mate), but the moves you make in the opening set the course for the rest of the game. You don’t want to enter the middlegame with some handicap you incurred in the opening, only to be cursed with it for the rest of the game!
The nice thing about chess openings is that with some study and practice, it’s not too difficult to play the first few moves of a game exactly like a grandmaster would – giving up zero advantages to your opponent and heading into the rest of the game completely equal or better.
Learn the basics of an opening and the ‘Tree’ will look like this
Take any opening and learn the first ‘book’ 3 to 5 moves
TREE ONE
For example an e4 opening followed by Nf3 and Bd4 – controlling the centre, would look like this:-
Your next move depends on what your opponent plays, leading to more possibilities and branching strategies.
TREE TWO
You might find that developing your pieces thoughtfully is more effective than launching an immediate attack, such as the Fried Liver.
Castling early is good.
As the game progresses, more options and ideas (branches of the tree) come to mind. Depending on what your opponent plays, this leads to increasing complexity in the game. See how the tree grows:
TREE THREE TREE FOUR
TREE FIVE
More and more different lines enter the game. At the beginner level, this is becoming far too complicated to learn or comprehend. Now it is time to adopt the tactics you should know: Pins, Forks, Skewers, Discovered Attacks, Checks, and of course, Checkmate! etc.
My advice is not to waste time memorizing every possible line in an opening.
Instead, concentrate on learning the first few moves of the specific openings you have chosen and make an effort to deeply understand the key ideas and strategic concepts behind those essential foundational moves. Once you have a solid grasp of these basics, you can then begin to effectively apply various tactics, which are critical to improving your play. Over the coming weeks, we will be exploring and examining these tactics in detail to help you enhance your skills.
Popular Chess Openings
Click on the opening you would like to learn about:-
New Ladder competion
Next week will mark the beginning of a brand new Ladder competition, where players will earn 3 points for every win, 2 points for a draw, and even if you lose, you will still receive 1 point as a reward simply for showing up and participating. This system encourages consistent involvement and effort from all competitors. Please note that only one official ‘Ladder’ game will be permitted per session to keep the competition fair and manageable, but there will be no restrictions on the number of friendly matches you can play outside of the Ladder games.
Quiz Master Competition
Another exciting and distinct competition set to begin is based on a ‘MID WEEK’ quiz challenge. Every week, either on Tuesday or Wednesday, an engaging ‘online’ quiz sheet will be posted right here on this website. Participants will have the opportunity to earn various points by answering the questions correctly. More detailed information, including rules and scoring, will be provided each time the quiz is posted, so stay tuned for updates and prepare to test your knowledge midweek.
Both competitions will continue to run until December, giving participants the exciting opportunity to win prizes. Throughout this period, entrants will have multiple chances to demonstrate their skills and competitive spirit. The contests are designed to engage and motivate participants.
