2024 is the Chinese ‘Year of the Dragon’, so breathe out some FIRE in your chess !
Happy New Year to Everyone including Mum’s and Dad’s
After the Xmas and New Year break it was great to see a return of Junior chess lessons at Bournemouth Library.
We thought we might have a sleepy start to the 1st class of 2024, however, 22 Juniors came to learn and play chess including 2 new players. It was so good to see so many players returning after the break.
We welcomed new players, Joshua and Rowley who both showed promise and plan to continue. Also a very warm welcome to our new tutor Azhar, who will be helping Steve and Graham with the beginners and intermediates.
Birthday greetings this week go to Sameer on the 8th and Filip on the 11th, have a lovely day, each of you.
Lessons
Eric took the advances sessions and went through the Rosseau Gambit as presented by Igor Smirnov from the Remote Chess Academy (YouTube). This opening which is the Kings Gambit in reverse for Black can lead to a quick and dramatic outcome if white does not reply accurately. The video is featured on our website under ‘chess openings’ and we hope all our players will use it in future games. We plan to go through it again to ensure all are comfortable.
Graham/Azhar/Steve between them covered Tatics, Openings, Endgame techniques and some puzzles.
For our beginners we have a special page on our website to cover lots of hints and tips to get started on your way, so follow the yellow brick road to “Beginners Page” there are also videos to watch and learn.
Don’t forget the very important ‘Chess Skills – Your bucket list’ page which again has relevant videos to refresh what’s been taught, with the aim of making you a much better Chess player.
Reminder
The new Ladder tournament starts next week for a duration of the next 10 weeks, with medals to be won. Everyone is entitled to participate, 3 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 point for a loss. (an indication and appreciation that you attended the morning session) there will be 4 sections,
1) Advance and 2) beginners and intermediates for 10am sessions
3) Advance and 4) beginners and intermediates for 11.30am sessions
Games will be played on the clock with 15 mins per player, 1 game only per session for the ladder competition. Notation of games is important for analysis and is compulsory for advanced/intermediate players.
Those of you who attended on Saturday 6th will start with 1 point for attendance.
Many thanks to those juniors and parents that gifted the team with presents and cards over Christmas, it was very much appreciated.
Finally
Can we remind all parents/guardians of our website – www.bournemouthjuniorchess.com which is updated weekly and has all the features and tips to help you improve and progress in chess. It is hoped that you use the site during the week in between the lessons to understand any aspects you wish to improve on.