Still half term but 12 juniors turn up to enjoy some Saturday morning chess, we welcome two new starters, Archie and Lishanth who although new beginners, picked up the pace very quickly.
Many thanks to our guest tutor Steve who travelled out from Bournemouth and took the new beginners through the basics.
There were Puzzles for the more advanced players, concentrating on ‘winning advantages’ which covers tactics in ‘removing the guard’.
The main storyline today was the ‘Crooked Path’ technique with examples as shown below.
The crooked path is useful when manoeuvring your king towards a pawn or an important square. Unlike straight-line movement, the crooked path allows your king to influence more squares and control the opponent’s king’s movement. For example, if your king takes a zigzag path towards a pawn, it can cut off the opposing king’s route, forcing them to waste moves and allowing your king to gain a crucial tempo. This technique is especially helpful in preventing your opponent from trapping your king or stopping your pawn from promoting.
Notice that all routes taken from e1 to e8 are 7 only moves each
In this first example White tries to capture the Black pawn by taking a straight line approach, but the Black King has time and saves the day with a draw.
This time the White King takes a 'crooked path' approach which blocks the Black King and forces it to take a side step resulting in the White King gaining a Tempo and going on to win.
In the Round Robin competition,
Good wins for Shlok, Thomas, Maria, Reyan, Gagan, Archie and Eden.
Latest table looks like this, I hope I got all the results in, some games finish late.
Dorset Junior Competition
A good oppertunity to experience a real competition, enjoy the day and have some fun!
Dorset Junior Chess Championships 9th March, see link below:-
https://www.dorsetchess.co.uk/2025-dorset-junior-chess-championships-sunday-9th-march-enter-now
Graham Morris