Another Saturday on a sunny day and we had the enjoyment of 27 Juniors coming along to learn and play chess.
Welcome back Swara who has finished her music exams, we look forward to hearing you play in the local orchestra one day. Also Harry Lee, who joined us for chess lessons as part of the Duke Of Edinburgh scheme and now has now completed all his 4 subjects – we hope you continue with chess.
In the advanced section Finn took the demonstration board showing the group his game played the previous evening vs Brian Curran at Southbourne CC. This was interesting, showed patience, excellent tactics and the ability to see a winning endgame in the heat of the battle and well in advance. This was received well by the group.
In the 2nd advanced section Leo took the group his winning game vs Richard Ursell played earlier in the season. This was an abridged version showing a sound opening, good middle game tactics and giving him an advantage from a relative early part of the game. Chess is so intuitive and can be won and lost with one simple tactical error which may not seem obvious at the time but Leo is showing a high standard of depth and knowledge that he is advancing very well.
A credit to both Finn and Leo where they have the ability to demonstrate and present their games in front of their peers.
Eric took the opportunity to congratulate Nathaniel (1st session) 5/6 scoring and Leo (2nd session) scoring 6/6 on their success in the Junior Megafinals played last week at Winchester College by qualifying for the next stages of the National event at the end of July – well done to both of you.
We have just two weeks left to play in our Saturday ladder event (8/7 and 15/7) before the competition closes with prize giving and on our Final Saturday of the season on the 22/7.
As always many thanks to our support team of Graham Morris/Graham Hillman/ Paul Errington and Dee with whom it would not be possible to provide the level of individual and group teaching that is necessary to accommodate numbers of Juniors coming along for chess.
I need to thank James Comer a 1st year University student who has come along the last few weeks to assist and join in the session who is now going on holiday and we hope to see him again when we return in September. Also to Finn and Leo who stayed behind to help again with the lessons.
Eric Sachs
Latest Ladder positions
Winners today were:-
Nicholas, Yash, Dima, Shriya, Swara, Joey, Woody and Nico.
Also a few good games ending in draws by Leo v Nathaniel, Kehinde v Lathujan, Elias v Marcus and Lewis v Carlos. This caused a little bit of movement in the tables. Noah and Nico remain in control with only two weeks to go.
Larissa played her first game after a only few weeks of tuition, losing, but she was playing a strong player, so full marks for trying.
