Discovery Bay Intermediate

We looked at forks and pawn endings – doubled pawns, isolated pawns, backwards pawns and advanced pawns – which are good and bad and how to take advantage of them. Important learnings the great Philidor would agree with: pawns are the soul of chess.

 

Discovery Bay Beginners

It is getting crowded in the this group! Nonetheless we warmly welcome our new member Victor.

 

 

The Beginners Group can now be divided into two groups and after some introduction about tactics and strategy we played a small practice tournament.

In group A with Joshua, Wo Han, Max and Alex the differences were not so big. Joshua ended first (1.5 points) , Max (1 point) and Alex (1 point) both had a draw twice and Wo Han (0.5) had one draw. Interestingly, Max had a winning position twice but allowed his opponents to escape into the dark catacombs of stalemate. As mentioned in various earlier entries, this is quite normal and surely this won’t happen that often anymore with Max.

In group B it was Roshan who ended first with 1.5 points, followed by Gaurie (1 point), Julien (0.5 points) and the newest members Victor and Kevin did not score a point yet. No worries. These boys’ talents did not go unnoticed. It’s the clock (that countdown looks so fast), have to press it with the same hand you move pieces with, background (or is it foreground?) noise from fellow chess enthusiasts slamming on their clocks, coach David who keeps on talking (out loud) about “develop center pawns, minor pieces towards the center, castle …”. The first time at our chess club is an intense experience!

 

Discovery Bay Advanced

Having arrived right in time before an enormous rainfall all players were bringing thunder in on the boards.

In group A, Koji, Richard, Miguel Angel and David played a double blitz (first round 5 minutes, second 10 minutes) and it was somehow David who won all games …

The double blitz (10 minutes) in group B with Bryant, Wilson, Chor Wei and Mei Jing turned into a win of the tournament for Bryant this time who only had to concede a loss against Mei Jing.

 

Kennedy Town

The group is growing steadily and we are glad to see some regulars coming back as well as new players visiting the club for a try on Sundays. Aditya had a good match with Regis (1-2) and the youngest players Hannah and Ritvik played the longest game of the day (1.5 hours!). Matthew L showed his talent to solve chess puzzles as did the two new visitors Matthew C and Adiya. There is lot of potential in this group.

The afternoon ended with a nice simul given by Miguel Angel which due to time constraints could not be finished. If players here take 1.5 hours to play one game we must soon think of extending the opening hours!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Next week, 8 September, no chess in Kennedy Town due to unavailable room. Locations for remainder of September as follows:

• 15 September: 11F Room 7
• 22 September: 2F Room 3
• 29 September: 2F Room 4