More #chess success for Devon juniors

ByDrDave

Congratulations to Caleb Caleshu who has won through to the U14 Terafinal of the UK Chess Challenge. Best of luck in the final from all at Devon Junior Chess!

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  • Two puzzles

    ByDrDave


    (Black pawns coming down the board)

    (Black pawns going up the board)
    Bennett, Frederick — The Australasian

    Solutions:

    1.Bc6!

    1.Kf3!

  • National Success for Devon #chess junior

    ByDrDave

    Pengxiao Zhu took part in the British Online Chess Championships in August, winning the U10 Blitz trophy and a Performance Prize for the U10 Rapidplay competition.

    Many congratulations to Pengxiao from everyone at Devon Junior Chess!

  • |

    Oct 6

    ByDrDave

    A different sort of puzzle today from Mr Lees: you are given the first move, but why is it clever?

  • A good start

    ByDrDave

    Great to see faces old and new this evening — welcome to Ernie, Leo N, Orestes and Sophie.

  • The chess family tree

    ByDrDave

    Last week the juniors saw the game of Shogi played. It’s the sort of chess played in Japan, and by our new friends Kaz and Hatzune. How is Shogi related to the sort of chess that we normally play?

    When I first looked at the history of Western Chess, I thought that the original game was Chaturanga, a game played in India before 600AD. Chess as played in other countries seems to come from the Arab form of Chess called Shatranj. And that is what I used to tell people.

    Chaturanga --> Shatranj --> Medieval chess --> Modern Western chess
                        ---------------------> Chinese Chess (Xiang-Chi)
                        ---------------------> Japanese Chess (Shogi)

    But I now believe that the best picture that fits what we know says that Chaturanga and Shatranj were both later forms of an original game, which we don’t know much about.

    Sort-of-Chess --> Chaturanga 
                  --> Shatranj --> Medieval chess --> Modern Western chess
                               ---------------------> Chinese Chess (Xiang-Chi)
                               ---------------------> Japanese Chess (Shogi)

    There are lots of different sorts of chess around the world that seem to come from the same stock, including:

    Shatar (Mongolian Chess)
    Sittuyin (Burmese Chess)
    Makruk (Thai Chess)

    Each form of chess seems to have its own special rule that makes the game come alive. Burmese chess is the only sort of chess where you can decide where to put your pieces at the start of the game; Japanese chess is the only sort of chess that uses the ‘drops’ that we see in Exchange Chess; Chinese Chess is the only sort of chess that has the Cannon piece; modern Western Chess is the only sort of chess that has the super-duper Queen. (In fact, our game used to be called le Jeu de la Dame enragée — the game with the Mad Queen.)

    You can read about all these different sorts of chess here:
    http://chessvariants.org/
    http://www.ancientchess.com/page/free-downloads.htm

  • EJCC 2-2 Newton Abbot Juniors

    ByDrDave

    A match of mostly short games, where the outgraded Newton Abbot team
    must have been pleased to hold us off. There are some lessons about how
    to win a game here:

    1. Recognise when you are playing in a risky way – and do so only if you
    have to.
    2. Don’t be afraid of ghosts!
    3. If you like open games, then don’t close the position.

    You can download the games&notes in the PGN file.

    (1)

    {A shame to miss a win at the end, but you had the more promising
    position throughout, so don’t regret the missed win, take some pride in
    the good game! }

    {A short and cautious game, where both players found themselves in a strange
    part of town.}

    {I expect by now you have read Chess for Tigers and know what I meant! But
    just to be clear: If you think you’re the better player, don’t try and force
    the issue, let the chances come to you. If you take risks, you are giving your
    opponent chances. That may mean that you play in a different style to usual –
    often, you have to take some risks to beat someone your own strength.}

    {Both sides took and landed punches in this short but eventful game.}