31 juniors today and a total of 7 helpers to keep order, tough but rewarding.
A warm welcome to our newest recruit, six year old Sophia, who incidentally played a very good game to get a draw – one to watch!
Graham Hillman took the advanced groups and talked about Poisoned Pawns within the game of chess and here are a few reminders of what he said:- (highlighted areas will transport you into another world!!)
Poisoned Pawns
A poisoned pawn in chess is a pawn that appears to be hanging, but a player who captures it suffers a positional or material loss in the next few moves.
The best known of these, called the Poisoned Pawn Variation, is a line of the Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation that begins with the moves:1. e4c52. Nf3d63. d4cxd44. Nxd4Nf65. Nc3a66. Bg5e67. f4Qb6
after which 8.Qd2 Qxb2 usually follows, accepting the “poisoned” b2-pawn. White can also play 8.Nb3, protecting the pawn.
One of the pioneers of this line was David Bronstein, who tied the 1951 World Championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik 12–12. Bobby Fischer later became a proponent, playing it with great success.
The line was most famously played in game 7[1] and game 11[2] of the 1972 World Chess Championship match between Fischer and Spassky. In both games Fischer played Black and grabbed the pawn. In the first, he reached a secure position with a comfortable material advantage but only secured a draw. In the second, Spassky surprised Fischer with a theoretical novelty and won the game after Fischer defended poorly, allowing Spassky to trap Fischer’s queen and handing Fischer his only loss in the Poisoned Pawn Variation.
French Defense, Winawer
A Poisoned Pawn Variation also exists in the French Defence, Winawer: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 Nbc6 (or 10.Kd1 Nd7). Like the Poisoned Pawn Variation in the Sicilian Najdorf, this line gives significant weaknesses for both sides and can lead to highly complex lines. White can attack on the kingside and try to exploit the passed h-pawn, while Black destroys the centre.
London System
Within the London System, the Poisoned Pawn Variation follows after: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Qb6 5.Nc3 Qxb2?![4] Black is lost after 6.Nb5 Na6 7.a3 Bf5 8.dxc5 Bxc2 9.Qc1 Qxc1+ 10.Rxc1 and the c-pawn is too strong.
Ladder Latest
Winners today in the Ladder tournament were:-
Leo, Woody, Jesse, Marcel, Nico, Swara, Daisy, Jiya, Alfie, Harry M, Finn, Nathaniel, Lathujan, Kehinde and Harish. Well done to all of you.
The effect on the table means that now Finn leads Harish in the earlier session and Alfie is running away from Rafan in the later slot.
For rules and gradings refer to last weeks posting.
