Thought for the day
“Some part of a mistake is always correct”
Xsawery (Saveilly) Tartakower

Don’t play Old Stodge. A lot of you play Old Stodge. This is Old Stodge. Don’t play Old Stodge Why? It’s usually blocked and difficult and boring, and your Rooks will sulk for a long while about being left out. You need to swap some pawns and (half-)open a file to get your Rooks working….
A bit of a plug for Ray Cheng’s Practical Chess Exercises Puzzles in books, particularly tactics puzzle books, have a flaw: you know the answer is there somewhere. There are some ways to help you find the answer: i. look at every check, every capture, every threat ii. make a list of all the moves…
Chess is a fun game and easy to learn [hmm, maybe!]. You play on a board of 164 [64] squares, which are coloured light and dark, and there are two armies, one black and grey [white] The rows are called ranks and the columns are called officers [files]. The aim of a game of chess is to capture your opponent’s Queen [King] and then they…
1. How to start well in a game of chess 2. Things to avoid: wasting time and 4-move checkmate U9s/U11: Open with a duck! [U14s] DCK = Develop, Centre, King (c) Develop Centre King Develop Send out your pieces one at a time, and move each piece once Don’t waste time (make only 2-3 pawn…
Some to learn, some to test yourself and some just to enjoy Do you know this one? Or can you work it out? White to play and win See the position in the final list for the solution. Here’s the same idea in a real game. Black to move (click E7 to flip). again, answer…