Exeter Chess Club

{A terrific scrap where both sides took and missed their chances. In the end
the struggle with the 32 pieces on the board was decided as much by the clock
as by the moves.}

[pgn]
[Event "Exeter Juniors vs Tiverton"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.05.02"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Knowles, John"]
[Black "Keat, Sam"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D40"]
[PlyCount "106"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 {
No threat to Black's survival, of course, but solid enough.} 4... Nc6 5. Nc3
Nf6 6. Bd3 {An invitation to play an IQP game.} 6... Bd6 (6... cxd4 7. exd4
dxc4 8. Bxc4 8... Be7 {

{White avoided an early Queen swap, which might have been a nuisance, but it
was a move leading out of the frying pan into the fire.}

[pgn]
[Event "Exeter Juniors vs Sidmouth"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.04.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Keat, Sam"]
[Black "Martin, Steve"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B30"]
[PlyCount "52"]

1. e4 1... c5 2. Nf3
Nc6 3. c3 d5 4. d3 $6 (4. exd5 $1 4... Qxd5 5. d4 cxd4 (5... e5 $5) 6. cxd4
6... Bg4 {with pressure on the d-pawn, but it's actually safe because of} 7.
Be2 Bxf3 8. Bxf3 8... Qxd4 $4 9. Bxc6+) 4... dxe4 5. Nfd2 $4 (5. dxe4 Qxd1+ 6.

After this quick loss, Black was not sure what he did that was so bad. Come and look for clues with me...

[pgn autoplaymode=none]
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rutland, William"]
[Black "Stuart, Ben"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C55"]
[PlyCount "29"]

{After this quick loss, Black was not sure what he did that was so bad. Come
and look for clues with me...} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 3... Nf6 {
Nothing wrong with any of that - this is the fine Two Knights' Defence.} 4. Nc3

A close match ended in a 1-3 defeat for the youngsters. As so often in
chess, it wouldn't have taken much to reverse the score!

The juniors, unusually, fielded a team which had a majority of girls.

{1. A well-fought game: White got some attacking ideas muddled and lost a piece,
but pressure won the exchange leaving an exciting RvNN endgame.}

[pgn autoplaymode=none]
[Event "EJCC vs Exeter Gambits"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.03.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Trott, Tomas"]
[Black "Scholes, Richard"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C41"]
[PlyCount "91"]

Visiting the hospital recently I spotted a nice new game. You'll know the game Solitaire, where you reduce a set of pegs by capturing to a single survivor.(Peg Solitaire to the Yanks [what they call Solitaire, played with cards, we call Patience]).
http://www.web-games-online.com/peg-solitaire/

ThinkFun have produced a chess version, available as a physical set, or a mobile phone app that you can try for free.
http://www.thinkfun.com/solitairechess

You're given a position, and have to make a series of captures to reduce the number of pieces to one.

A fairly easy one:

Oliver and Leo had a go at this one, a favourite of mine:

Over to you!

Need some help?

Read on...

Some points for starters:

If the Knight and Bishop move, that's checkmate, and in fact, no other mate in two seems possible.

Those are 8 black Pawns about to Queen, however.

So, move the Bishop somewhere, say, 1. Be6, to prevent the black King escaping.

Now, 1...a1Q 2.Na6#

And even 1...c1Q 2.Nc6# and 1...e1Q 2.N any #

But if Black promotes another pawn, it might be mate, but not in two.

A well-fought match which could have gone either way, with lots of good ideas shown by the players. I think in most games the advantage changed hands a couple of times - exciting stuff!

I've added the PGN file so you can play through the games and variations on your own computer.

[pgn autoplaymode=none]
[Event "EJCC vs TBGS"]
[Site "Palm Handheld"]
[Date "2012.02.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Trott, Tomas"]
[Black "Worsley, Elliott"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[PlyCount "45"]

{White's home-made opening was good enough to get into a fair fight, and both

One of the best and best-contested matches I've had the pleasure to watch. Well done to all players!

W Royle ½-½ Fraser
B Trott ½-½ Whitehead
W Keat 1-0 Ramesh
B Terrill 0-1 Chornenkyy

A tough game fought in the jungles of a hypermodern opening, in the end Black's
exchange was enough to balance an advanced passed pawn - or maybe the
other way around!

[pgn autoplaymode=none]
[Event "EJCC vs. Newton Abbot Juniors"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.12.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Royle, James"]
[Black "Fraser, John"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B20"]
[PlyCount "83"]