We welcome two new members today, Toshika and Louie, or chalk and cheese, as Toshika is new to the game whereas Louie proved to be a more experienced player, which is great for the club.
The theme for the day was to get the idea home about thinking more about defence and what to do when being attacked.
A simple method to help you defend your pieces when being attacked is the TRIP method, just ask yourself four questions:-
Black to move in this example, white’s knight attacks b6 pawn, so ask yourself
1) Can I take the attacking piece? – YES
2) can the attacked pawn Run? – NO
3) Can I block the attack – NO (you can never block a Knight)
4) Can I protect the pawn? – NO
So review your answers and act on the best defence, in this case, Bishop takes Knight.
In another quick lesson, a technique was explained about how to win an endgame situation, when each side had a King and a pawn racing to Queen.
King and Queen Endgame sequence
When both sides can Queen a pawn with their next moves, it’s important for the one who Queens first stops the other one getting a Queen. This example demonstrates how it can be done, but only if the opponents pawn is on Knight, King or Queen files, otherwise a draw can be forced if played correctly.
Latest Round Robin results and chart
Wins today for Constance, Mikal, Louie, Shlok and a stalemate draw between Jacob and Lishanth.
With 4 more weeks to go before a Easter break, it's all to play for with Constance, Gagan, Shlok and Michal all on 4 points each. Although Shlok is now off to India for a month so he will probably be out of the running, but have a great holiday!
Graham Morris
