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Devon Junior Chess Association

Devon Junior Chess Association

  • NEWS
  • EventsExpand
    • Getting started
    • About our eventsExpand
      • List of DJCA eventsExpand
        • Notes for Room monitors / Board Stewards
      • List of non-DJCA events
    • List of Training events
    • County matches
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  • Merch
  • TrainingExpand
    • Getting started
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      • List of Training events
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Devon Junior Chess Association
Devon Junior Chess Association

Training

Chess training for Devon juniors comes in a few forms:

  • Feedback from County matches
  • DJCA training events, materials from which often become:
  • Advice on this website
  • DJCA YouTube channel
  • Mallison Trust training events

There is of course a world of alternative training resources online e.g. on Lichess.org and YouTube

Upcoming Events

Nov 28
9:30 am - 5:00 pm

DJCA Individual Championships and Schools’ Team Competition 2026

View Calendar

Latest content

  • Play like Paul MorphyOctober 24, 2026
  • Tactics adviceOctober 22, 2026
  • Openings adviceOctober 22, 2026
  • U9/U11 Skills and linksOctober 22, 2026
  • ENDGAME TIPS: tip175October 22, 2026

Categories

  • Level (120)
    • Basics (37)
    • Experts (60)
    • Improvers (41)
  • News (29)
  • Training (307)
    • Attack and defence (10)
    • Champions (25)
    • Endgames (10)
    • Masters (6)
    • Openings (14)
    • Strategy (63)
    • Tactics (10)
    • Thinking (10)

CHESSBOARD HELP: click [...] to see a list of games, click on the g8 square to see all commands

MIDDLEGAME TIPS: tip079

* PAWNS: You will have to move some to get your pieces out, and you can try to dominate the centre with pawns on e4 and d4 ( perhaps with c4 and/or f4). But the pawns in front of your castled King form a solid wall on f2/g2/h2, and those on a2/b2/c2 are probably OK where they are too. So, oddly, pawns are often well-placed where they are at the start of the game. “Every pawn move loosens the position”, says Tarrasch: if you move the pawn on g2 to g3, you immediately get holes at f3 and h3. Moving a pawn from f2 to f3 not only takes away the best square for your Knight, which is a good defender of the pawn on h2, but also opens up a check to your King from c5. When the endgame appears, one side or the other will have to win material to win – by queening a Pawn, or at least threatening to. Then Pawns can be moved more freely, to block opposing Pawns, to create and support extra or passed Pawns of their own side, and to keep out the opponent’s pieces – including their King.

Browse all tips

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  • NEWS
  • Events
    • Getting started
    • About our events
      • List of DJCA events
        • Notes for Room monitors / Board Stewards
      • List of non-DJCA events
    • List of Training events
    • County matches
  • About
    • About
    • Officers
    • Gallery
      • Prizewinners
      • Teams and players
      • Odd photos
    • DJCA YouTube channel
    • Safeguarding
    • Privacy Notice
  • Merch
  • Training
    • Getting started
    • Advice
    • Training
      • List of Training events
      • DJCA YouTube channel
      • Lichess Studies
    • County matches
    • World Chess Champions
  • Contact
    • Feedback
    • Devon Chess Clubs