Tonight we looked at the chaotic game Stock v Flear 1991 in the 2 Knights and used this as a "How Good Is Your Chess" test.
The idea was to demonstrate to the group that when a game gets as crazy as this was then King safety becomes even more important but deep calculation is the order of the day.
Tonight we looked at 12 positions to demonstrate the power of Rooks in chess. This included the control of an open file, the Rook on the 7th and Rooks working together. As an old fri end of mine Mike Langfield used to say a Rook on the 7th is always worth a pawn but with both Rooks on the 7th I can go to sleep as I'm definitely winning.
Tonight I showed Bobby Fischer at age 15 already showing how he had mastered how to play the Ruy Lopez as White which was to serve him well in his glittering career.
Tonight as we had a 1st team match I took the opportunity to show our intermediate players the classic Fischer v Fine game from 1963.
The point of the exercise was to show the balance between time and material in the opening and some brilliant deflection tactics.
Tonight we had a depleted coaching team of just me.
Firstly I talked to the beginners about developing pieces rather than moving lots of pawns and the importance of King safety. After that I reshowed how to checkmate with Queen and Rook and then Queen on her own.
Secondly, our intermediate group looked with me at a game I played over 40 years ago which demonstrated how to keep assessing every few moves how well or otherwise a position stands for you in a game. The game also showed that if your op
Tonight we hosted our friends from Meltham and Denby Dale for our first match against their club. Well done to everyone from both clubs who played! Both clubs had lots of players making their tournament debut, which was brilliant to be a part of - the score was 3.5-3.5 in the standard games, and 11-3 to us in the rapid games.
Despite the mainly inexperienced players not one illegal move was claimed!
The return match is on 29 May so get signed up asap
Tonight we looked at a game of my good friend Phil which showed why too many pawn moves, lack of space for your pieces and King safety are such important factors to master in order to be a good player.
Last night we looked at the Four Knights as a start point for how many junior games go and explained the problems for White after the fork trick on e4.
We then played some training games from the start position using these examples as to how to play this position as White.
Tonight we explored the tricky subject of King and pawn endgames. Players explored these in pairs.
The conclusion being that to win the player with the extra pawn the King needs to be in front of the pawn and if the King is on the 5th rank then it depends who's move it is and if on the 6th rank it is always a win. We then looked at the special case of Rook pawns which mostly end in stalemate.
Some great discussions within our pairs.
Tonight we looked at Paul's masterclass on the White side of an Advance French. He found a beautiful line opening sacrifice aided by the fact that his opponent neglected his King safety and moved too many pawns in the opening.
Tonight I was away playing football in Spain. The fort was held brillainly by Pete, Paul. Sacha and Tuck Man Steve although as usual they did their best to make the cupboard as untidy as possible just to upset me. Back to normal lessons next week in the Hall.
In honour of the 10th World Champion Boris Spassky who passed away recently I showed his positional masterpiece from when he was a mere 11 years old. I also gave the audience a brief overview as to what made him a chess legend.
Tonight we tried a "How Good is your Chess" where players were given 4 alternate moves in the game Pytel v Lenk played in Poland in 1967.and then had to decide which was the best. Top scorer was Nathanael with 30 although everyone ended with a positive score!
Tonight we looked at the famous "Pipe" game from Paris 1900 played by Frank Marshall against the British player Amos Burn. A great example of attack against the enemy King.
Tonight after our tactics puzzles we looked at the game Liu v Donner from the 1978 Olympiad which featured a stunning attacking display in a game where it was the first time a Chinese player had beaten a Western GM.
Tonight we looked at an enterprising gambit against the Sicilian when Black plays an early d6 featuring a game of mine from the Manchester Summer League in 2015. From the main start position White scores about 70% so it's well worth a look at.
Tonight we looked at a model game by the late Mark Dvoretsky in the King's Indian attack showing how the cramping move e5 can lead to a devastating attack on the Black King.
Tonight we split the room and I showed our less experienced players Morphy's Opera game which they did very well with. After that the advanced players were treated to Fischer's demolition of Bolbochan from the 1962 Interzonal in Curacao which shows how a Knight outpost can bring the rewards of a successful Kingside attack.
Tonight we looked at a classic game of Fischer's from the Sousse Interzonal in which he launches a brutal attack using the King's Indian attack which he used from time to time from the late 50s to his rise to become World Champion in 1972.
Last night we got back into the swing of things with some social chess whilst our match v Chorlton in the Rapidplay League took place - back to coaching next week.