Darlington Junior Chess Competition

 

Darlington Junior Chess Competition

 

Saturday 8th October 10:00 - 15:30

 

Elm Ridge Methodist Church hall (DL3 8DJ)

 

4 age graded sections for all school children

 

Trophy for first, second and third in each section!!

 

 

All participants will play 5 games, this is not a knockout tournament.

 

There will be a tuck shop available on-site, but recommend to bring a packed lunch.

 

Entry fee is £7 in all sections.

To enter contact darlingtonchessclub@gmail.com stating
- Name
- Age
- Parent / Carer contact details

Durham County Junior CHESS Championships

Sunday 3rd April 2022, 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm 

Open to all juniors attending school or living in the former Durham County 

Which apart from Co. Durham includes 

    Darlington, 

    Hartlepool, 

    Stockton, 

    Gateshead, 

    Sunderland and 

    South Tyneside. 

All juniors are welcome – no previous tournament experience is required.

Registration from 12.45 pm and Round 1 will start at 1.00 pm. 

There will be 5 or 6 rounds.  (It is not a knock-out event.) The event, including prize-giving, should finish by 5.00 pm.

Light refreshments including snacks, tea & coffee will be available.

Five age group trophies: 

    under-9, 

    under-11, 

    under-13, 

    under-15 and 

    under-18. 

Ages on 31st August 2021, as for normal current school year. E.g. Under-9 includes current Year 4.

The winner of each section will receive a medal and trophy. 

There will also be a medal and trophy for the best performance by a girl aged under 15. Other medals may be awarded based on number of entries. (All trophies to be returned next year.)

Entry fee £6 per player. Pay on the day, but you must register in advance.

Closing Date – Wednesday 30th March.

Email: junior.tournaments@durhamcitychess.co.uk

Please give 

    name, 

    date of birth, 

    telephone  

    age group you wish to enter, 

    name of school and/or chess club.

For full details about this tournament and reports on previous events, visit the website

http://www.durhamcitychess.co.uk/tournaments.php

Return of the Junior Section

 The Junior section will return Monday 25th April.

If you want more info email us darlingtonchessclub@gmail.com

Otherwise come down and play some chess.  club starts 18:00....

Still Open & World Championship

We are still open!  Juniors Six pm to 7 pm and Adults after 7 Monday nights.

This year is an exciting year in the chess world.  The candidates tournament to decide who will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World championship crown begins March the 15th.  The match for the title will be played later this year, details are still to be finalised.

I'm a big fan of Magnus Carlsen and his right to be known as a deserving world champion would be hard to argue against.  His last 2 title defences though have been a little underwhelming with his match against Fabiano Caruana ending with every game drawn.  Magnus retained his crown in the rapid tie-break.  Perhaps to be regarded as one of the game's titans he will need a more convincing defence in the next match.  Watching Magnus over the last year nobody has beaten him in classical chess.  He seems to either destroys his opponent with elegant ease or mysteriously play sub-par, get into difficulties, but find robust defence to find a draw.

Whoever emerges from the bear-pit of the candidates knows they have an even tougher task to wrest the crown from the champ. 

Kill the monster

Imagine you are a weaker player facing a much higher rated oppenent.  First round of a knockout tournament.  You have White, there is a chance right?

Play through the game to see if the all seeing calculation monster was defeated

Click here for the game

How to read a chess book

I was browsing the internet at work the other day and came across an article called "How to read a chess book".  The author advised taking notes after each chapter, playing through every annotation and ensuring you understand each point that is been made.  I don't disagree with this approach and it may even be the best way to absorb knowledge.

Its just a little on the dull side for my taste. 

I work, have a family and a healthy running obsession, so time to 'study' is limited.  I do, however really enjoy playing through really well anotated games.  Not too many variations, just enough explanation so that I can understand the game.  I have just finished reading "The most exciting games of 2016" by Balogh, Maze & Naiditsch, published by Chess evolution.

In that book my favourite game was between Topalov and Carlsen.  Carlsen plays a beautiful strategic master piece and wins a nice game.  Balogh does a good job explaining the key ideas.

Below you can play through the game with my notes, I can't claim I understood all the points on my own and I have quoted the GM where he did most of the work, but I didn't want to just copy out what he had written, so I have tried to incorporate my own understanding.

Click the link below, for the chessbase viewer, or play through the Gameknott app.

Enjoy



Play through the game

Play online chess

A Recent Game

Here is a recent game that I played at Wakefield.  I lost a piece very early, which my opponent kindly returned a few moves later.  There then followed some 'normal' chess before my opponent found a nice idea swapping knight, bishop and rook for 3 pawns and my queen.  Leaving an interesting unbalanced postilion.

Play chess online