With the end of half-term, a very good turnout today with 14 youngsters looking to learn and play some great chess.
There were two themes for the day, tactics and checkmate patterns. With various boards set up with tactical puzzles and simple checkmates, the groups actively got involved in chipping in with their ideas.
The Importance of Tactics
Tactics are in every phase of the game Chess, it doesn’t matter how good your openings are or your Rook and Pawn endings, if you’re not competent in middle game tactics you’ll never be a good chess player. A tactic is a forcing sequence of moves that benefits you in some way. We have discussed many times FORKS, PINS, SKEWERS, DISCOVERED ATTACKS, REMOVING THE GUARD, SACRIFICING A PIECE and DOUBLE ATTACKS, these are the bread and butter of the chess game, these and CHECKS are all FORCING MOVES
There are leaflets available to take home and study should you want to do that. Help your game by helping yourself.
Example 1
Bishop to g4 can be a mistake, yes it pins the Knight against the Queen and looks a solid move, but in this position there is now a tactic.
Bishop takes f7+(a sacrifice), checks are forcing moves, (remember CCT) King takes Bishop, Knight to e5+(forcing move and a fork)
King moves, Knight takes Bishop and White wins a pawn. Also as the King has moved, Black can no longer castle, an advantage to White.
Example 2
White to play:-
What move would you consider here – g6 x p+ with a fork? Bishop x Knight… RxB, then that pawn fork with check? or Queen h3 threatening checkmate?
Lets consider the CCT method – check is a forcing move, but which check is best here?
Well niether of the above:-
Rook to h8+ / King x Rook /Queen to h3+ / King to g8 (forced) Queen h8 mate
The more tactics you learn and recognise in your play, the more games you will win.
Check Mating Patterns
There are many ways to checkmate a King, but there are certain patterns that you need to recognise and apply in your games.
Roller Mate Queen and Bishop 1 Queen and Pawn.
King boxed in Rook and Knight 1 Rook and Knight 2 Queen and Rook.
Queen and Bishop 2 Back Rank Mate with Rook or Queen Rook and Pawn
Not forgetting – Queen and King v Lone King and – Rook and King v lone King, these you should know as I’ve explained these many times, if you need refresher on them, let me know and I’ll gladly go through them with you.
Latest Ladder positions after Quiz and game results are completed.
Wins today for Lewis, Eden, Gagan, Advik, Jacob and Michal all get 3 ladder points
Quiz returns from Constance, Lewis, Anusas, Advik and Gagan each get 3 points, plus a late entry from Gagan of the CCT quiz earns him a further 3 points. All previous quiz sheets are now closed.
Any games played that are recorded with notation get an additional 1 point.
With all that said, Gagan re-takes the lead from Constance after their epic battle, big rises for Lewis and Advik and Eden making good headway. So the Ladder now looks like this:-
As we step into June we only have 6 more weeks of the Ladder / Quiz competition finishing on 12th July before the summer break.
Midweek lessons and quiz give additional opportunities to earn more points on the Ladder, so keep checking the website for details.
Graham Morris