Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great Easter and look forward to a lovely new term at school!! who was that at the back booing?
A good turn out today with 10 students, we welcome Philip who joins us for the first time, a new beginner to chess, a lot to learn but he has the ability to become a good player.
A few puzzles to warm up with then we went into ‘Theme for the day’ which today was the “Evans Gambit”, which can be played after an Italian (Giuoco Piano) style opening.
Evans Gambit
The Evans Gambit – named after Captain William Davies Evans, who first played it in 1827 – is a pawn sacrifice. It is an attacking line of the Giuoco Piano. White gambits the b4 pawn to divert the black bishop on c5. If Black accepts, White can follow up with c3 and d4, ripping open the centre, while also opening diagonals to play Ba3 or Qb3 at some point, preventing Black from castling kingside and threatening the f7-pawn, respectively.
Here are 3 examples showing typical games played.
7 simple rules to improve your chess
Get these fixed in your head:-
- Control the centre with Pawn to e4 or d4
- Develop all your minor pieces, Knights before Bishops normally
- Castle early to safeguard your King and activate the Rook
- Ask yourself what is my opponents idea?
- Swap off if you have extra material, example:-
Here White is a Rook and a Pawn up, if we 'swap' off or trade equal pieces from both sides, it could now look like this:-
Now it clearly shows White's advantage being a Rook and Pawn to the good and what should be an easy win for White by using the King and Rook to capture Black's Pawns.
- Don't give away your Queen like it's a Christmas gift
- Push Pawns, they don't go backwards, and they can become Queens
New Ladder Competition
Starting this Saturday and running right through to the end of this summer season, I'll be holding a new competition where each member will have a card with game results updated weekly on it. points will be awarded as follows:-
3 points for a win - 2 points for a draw - 1 point for a loss and if you come along but don't get to play a game, you will get 1 point as a reward for attendance.
The more points you have will help you 'climb' the ladder aiming for the top. Games to be played with a minimum of 10 mins each on the clock.
Each member will have a unique number with his/her name on the card, showing a progressive score and position on the ladder, which will be shown here each week.
There will be this trophy for the winner :-
along with medals
for runners up in 2nd and 3rd places at the end of this summer term.
Results of games played today
Some members managed to play two games-:
Wins for Michal, Rowan, Gagan, Advik, one draw between Anusas and Constance
Early days but after this first week the Ladder table looks like this:-
See you all next week, keep playing and practising your chess, meanwhile enjoy the impending weather!
Graham Morris