THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

When examining games of junior players, I see that many do not know what to do when the position in front of them is without any captures or threats to make. They are then left to think of a move, often one that takes a piece backwards into their own territory.  Can anyone blame them? Indeed, it is hardest to teach a junior player strategy when their grasp of tactics is still not strong. To bridge this gap, it is not pertinent to introduce the materials from Nimzowitsch's MY SYSTEM. I would consider using a simpler book, Bruce Pandolfini's WEAPONS OF CHESS.   What I like about this book is that Mr Pandolfini outlines the basic elements of positional chess like the open file, passed pawns, pawn structure weaknesses etc in simple language for the child to understand, then gives explanations on how to play with these elements. He has also given fairly good advice on how one should think when quiet positions with no tactics is reached. Most P3-4 students should have no problems u...

Please note that the Thomson Chess Club practices on Fridays will be suspended from this Friday and next. We shall resume on May 13. We are ready to receive entries for the Thomson Cup International now so do sign up early as we will cut off at 150 participants.

TCA stands for Uncle Tay Cheong Ann, our oldest living chessplayer in Serangoon Gardens, is organised by the Serangoon Gardens Country Club in his honour. About 240 players competed in the Pre-School, Primary and Open Sections, with the bulk vying for trophies ranging from the Primary 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 categories. L participated with his sister HL. Though he had no problems with those ranked 20th and below, the crux came in facing the tops Inexperience and knowledge took its toll and caused the 2 losses, leaving him with 5 pts but still he got 10th place in the P5-6 category and in the winner's circle. His 21st placing out of 182 players is most commendable. Sister HL started well, finished 4/7 in 52nd place beating some boys along the way but the long day drained her of a good finish. Losing the last game caused her a place in the winner's circle but I'm extremely proud of her regardless. She's grown to accept losses and no longer breaks down each time a 0 is handed to her...

Please submit only page 2 of the document below. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18282504/5th%20Thomson%20Chess%20%202011.pdf Some explanation. If you are not a Chess Club member and would like to join, you (or your parent) will need to have a valid PassionCard. Chess Club membership is then $10 for those aged 12 and under, $18 all others. You are only eligible to pay $15 as a Chess Club member after your membership is complete. For those who do not own a Passioncard, it would be easier to join the tournament and pay $30 as it would be more economical. I shall be distributing some forms at the TCA Junior Chess Tournament at Serangoon Gardens tomorrow. We are ready to receive entries from Monday April 28. Do sign up early as we have a limit of 150 entries.

There are generally 2 main schools of thought when it comes to choosing openings. The mainstream school believes that you should start to learn the main lines of theory, accumulate the experience gained over tournament games and then emerge with a better understanding of the game. The other school's main emphasis is on practicality - to be able to enjoy chess without spending too much time. Hence the main idea is to adopt off-beat gambit lines, learn them well and work on the element of surprise.   In my opinion, both schools have their points and merits. For an interested student of the game wanting to grow into a player of international standing, the mainstream school should be the way to go - however, it does amount to spending lots of time in gatherting the information about the history of the opening line, studying the key ideas from playing over the key games on which theory has evolved, then checking through the current state of theory. In addition, there's also the nee...

7 students took part in the just concluded Queenstown Age-Group with varying results. There were 2 prize winners, Nicholas Low who was 5th in the U10 and Matthew Sim who was 4th. The Primary Section was won by Ashvin Sivakumar while Ting JinYao won the Secondary Section.  WIth my prize-winning students Both got 4/7 pts. Dan Peng lost his last game to finish at 4/7, which is already great improvement considering that he did only 2.5pts at the National Schools Individual in March. I was pleasantly surprised when my first-time participant student T  had Gregory Loh on the ropes on her first major chess game! She was totally winning but stalemated. T showed great composure, taking her time and diligently followed my instructions in recording her moves and looking at threats. She certainly has the temperament for chess if she pursues it with more fervour.  For those who did not achieve the desired 4pts, they would need to examine the games to reflect on the typical mistakes ...

            5 TH     THOMSON CUP      INTERNATIONAL      CHESS   CHAMPIONSHIP   2011 1.       The tournament is organized by the Thomson CCMC and the games shall be played according to the FIDE Laws of Chess for Rapid Chess (G/60). 2.       ELIGIBILITY : This tournament is open to members of the public. Players may enroll in one of the 2 sections,     GOLD    (Rating >= 1600)   or   SILVER    (Rating between 0 and 1599) upon payment of entry fee. Players can choose to play in the section above their rating category but not in categories below. 3.       VENUE : Thomson Community Club Hall, 194 Upper Thomson Road Singapore 574339 4.       PAIRING : Swiss System of   7 Rounds,   time control   1 h...

In view of the looming Singapore 2011 General Election date which has yet to be announced, our organisers have decided that it would be best to move the tournament to 4-5 June to avoid any rescheduling should it be necessary. The entry forms shall be posted soon.

I noticed several readers are keen on the topic of Board Orientation, or Examination by some authors. To examine the roles of each piece in play is indeed something that's so important in determining one's decision that it is not much mentioned in chessbooks. So far, only Dan Heisman's Everyone's Second Chess Book has delved into this topic. The other source of board vision drills that I would advocate is Michael De La Maza's Concentric Square exercise. Start by placing a Black King on a centre square say  d5 Then place a piece that is the target on d4. Move the piece anti-clockwise, ie e4-e5-e6-d6-c6-c5-c4. It will complete 1 full square. For each move of the piece (say a Rook), use a White piece (say Queen) and place it on a square such that it can attack both the Black King and the piece without being captured. Work out all the possible squares before moving the Black piece to the next square.  The main purpose is to associate the mind with the various attack pat...