More Club Photos 24th November 2015

Here are some more photos of today’s meeting. Welcome to Lucas, Cameron, Alex, Luke, Francesca and Erin who came along for the first time. Francesca and Erin had not played before but guided by first Wolfie (4) and his mum and then Leon (thank you– you did a great job) picked up how some of the pieces moved and had a good time playing as a team.

One of our members – Tommy – is in hospital with a broken leg. Hope you are feeling better soon Tommy and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Daniel's Simul

Thank you to Daniel Gallagher (British Under 15 Champion) for coming along to play a simul against the club today. He took on 9 players at once and as they finished others took their place. Perhaps not surprisingly Daniel won all the games but some were pretty close and it was a really fun event. Daniel picked out Olga, Vera and Stewart as the players who impressed him the most.

Below are some photos of the simul. Once again we had 30+ players along and used all our sets. Thank you to Writtle Chess Club for a timely donation of two chess sets to the club this week.

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Delancey UK Schools' Chess Challenge

The UK Schools’ Chess Challenge (now sponsored by Delancey) has been running for many years. In 2015 48,200 children from 1,400 schools took part in tournaments in their own schools and clubs. In 2016 CJCC will be participating.

We’ll be running the tournament in the club over Spring Term. Players who score enough points in the different age groups will qualify for the Essex Megafinal. Some of our players will also be competing in their own schools and it is no problem to compete in separate tournaments at school and at the club.

Please ask your own school to enter if they do not do so because it is an excellent way to boost chess interest at school and (as a CJCC player) you should do well and perhaps even win it!

http://www.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

Next Tuesday British Under 15 Champion Daniel Gallagher has kindly agreed to come along to the club to take on a number of our players in a simultaneous match. It is rare to have the opportunity to take on a national champion and should be a challenging and fun afternoon.

Last week we had a competition to win a copy of Spiderman 2 which turned up unexpectedly inside a chess book I’d got on ebay. We have a growing collection of chess books written for juniors at the club which everyone is welcome to borrow.

The puzzle was to find the square to put the black king on to allow a checkmate in one move for white (see below). Congratulations for Stewart for picking d3 (now find the checkmate!) but other players honed in on c6. It turned out the original puzzle was misprinted to allow 2 solutions so Stewart got the dvd and everyone else got drinks and biscuits. I think a white bishop on a8 would fix it.

Congratulations to everyone who played at Basildon the previous weekend. Full results will appear at www.ejca.co.uk. Harry (our youngest competitor from the club age 5) was our best scorer and qualified for the London Junior Chess Championships with 4/6 in the Under 8 section.

This week I’ve been to coach at Springfield Primary and Moulsham Primary in Chelmsford and visited KEGS where 30+ boys from Years 7 and 8 took part in an after school tournament to try and get a place on the school team. In lieu of any photos from our club this week (I had the camera – just didn’t get a chance to turn it on) check out the photo on the KEGS twitter feed. It is great to see chess doing so well in some of our schools in Chelmsford.

https://twitter.com/KEGS_Chelmsford?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Best Wishes

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com

This Sunday is the Basildon Junior Chess Congress (one of a series that make up the Essex Grand Prix). Players from our club will be competing in all the sections from Under 6 to Under 18. Best of luck to everyone and results will appear at www.ejca.co.uk

Some players (juniors and adults) enjoy the competition of tournament chess and others prefer to play purely socially. Some enjoy solving puzzles and others enjoy looking at famous games and trying to work out the moves. One of the great things about chess is that you choose your own path.

Last week at the club the players in Year 5 and above looked at the first part of a game that will end in a fatal assault on the black king and debated the moves they would play at different stages. Points were awarded for choices and explanation. We’ll see the end of the game in a future week. Link below to the game.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1075558&kpage=1

Next week the younger players will be looking at dangers at the start of a game.

We’ll be using this puzzle soon as it is a favourite of mine. Devised by the rich imagination of English problem composer Thomas Dawson it invites you to find a checkmate in one move for white. No problem there but then you put the mating piece (and any captured piece) in the box and find a fresh checkmate. And again. And again. In total there are 12 consecutive checkmates to find. Enjoy!

Best Wishes
Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com
 

First Meeting

What a great first meeting for CJCC. It is difficult to guess how successful any new club will be in advance. I knew what we should be – a club that would welcome any young player of any level and provide a pleasant atmosphere for them to enjoy playing and improving their chess. But what about numbers?

As it turned out we had 30 children come along between 4 and 14. Some were experienced players, some almost completely new to the game. Some knew many of the other players, some didn’t know anyone. None of that mattered. There was a lovely buzz and everyone seemed to enjoy being surrounded by other children who enjoyed the game.

Thanks in particular to Scott (Year 10) who came along purely to coach and help the club run more smoothly and Josh (Year 5) who did such a good job organising the refreshments (his fellow biscuit guru Sebastian will be there next week).

A few parents asked me yesterday so in case I forget to mention it again the club is open from about 4.30pm to 6pm. There is no need to get there by 4.30pm or stay until 6pm and no need to commit to coming on particular weeks. Simply come along at the times and in the weeks it fits in with the rest of your life.

Below are some photos I took which I hope show a full and happy looking hall.

Roll on next week!

Robin
chelmsfordjuniorchess@gmail.com