EJCC blog

Wales and West of England Junior Championships 2014 - U14 jamboree

Submitted by DrDave on

Photo and game notes attached

Dear Team

Well done! We won the Eustis U14 cup for the first time since 2006, and
did so with a thumping score.

The Welsh were very sporting to spread their considerable strength over
two teams (Glamorgan and Gwent) so we stood a much better chance this
year, but I was enormously pleased with the eventual score (23½/30) and
the style of our victory. I think our boards 2,3 and 4 were outgraded
in every game, and yet over 9 games the dropped just one point between
them - fantastic results!

Exeter Juniors 3-1 Torquay Boys Friday 2nd May 2014

Submitted by DrDave on

Exeter Juniors 3-1 Torquay Boys Friday 2nd May 2014

Edmund Kelly (B) 1-0 Yul Lee (W) Taylor Finch 1-0 Alex Lee Leif Hafstad 1-0 Ben Sturt Codie Finch 0-1 Jakub Kubiak

The home side scored a quick win when Taylor Finch picked up the black Queen using an ancient trap in the French Defence, but the visitors equalised soon after when Jakub Kubiak's threat to the enemy King was ignored.

Leif Hafstad was never in trouble with his own French Defence, and was happy to collect one pawn after another in a game where White never looked comfortable.

Games that are almost but not entirely unlike chess

Submitted by DrDave on

The replacement of pieces in Exchange Chess reminds me of the game of
Japanese Chess, properly called Shogi, the generals' game. The flat
pieces are marked with kanji characters that are confusing for most people
brought up with the Roman alphabet, but I do own a German-made version
of the game which uses pieces marked with their powers of movement.
http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/portable-shogi-set

Yes2Chess

Submitted by DrDave on

Players in secondary schools can struggle to practise. Your computer or smartphone can be a sparring partner, but that's not the same as playing real people. You can play online but the behaviour and language of some adults is pretty terrible.

But now...

Exeter Juniors 4-0 Newton Abbot Juniors 9th Jan 2014 (AWAY)

Submitted by DrDave on

A cracking start to the season, with Newton Abbot blooding some new talent. I hope this result doesn't discourage them! In fact, the opposition board 1 scored ahead of the entire Exeter team at the Devon Championships, so as is often the case, the result is more lop-sided than the games.

Reece Whittington 1-0 Jim Knott Taylor Finch 1-0 Ben Sanders-Wyatt Edmund Kelly 1-0 Toby Donaghue Leif Hafstad 1-0 Calum Germain

Haste

Submitted by DrDave on

Exeter 4-2 Teignmouth 15th March 2014 (W) Paulsen (186) 1-0 (181) Brusey (B) Regis (176) 1-0 (160) Ingham Waters (165) 1-0 (139) Gorodi Frangleton (153) ½-½ (133) Doidge Marjoram (146) 0-1 (123) Tidy Dobber (136) ½-½ (119) Ariss Exeter, away and fielding a stronger team than of late, beat a rather less highly graded team from Teignmouth on Saturday, but the match looked like it was going to be a victory for the home side for most of the afternoon. The normally solid Will Marjoram handed his opponent a Rook early on and

Games from the English County Junior Chess Championships 2013

Submitted by DrDave on 

[Event "English County U18"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.06.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Sudhakar, Ragul"]
[Black "Keat, Sam"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C55"]
[PlyCount "65"]
{Some natural moves by White led to the win of a piece, almost by accident.} 1.
e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. c3 d5 (4... Nxe4 {
This central pawn is OK to take.}) 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. d3 Be6 (6... Bg4 $5) (6...
Be7 $1) 7. Ng5 Qd6 (7... Bf5) 8. Qf3 $14 8... Be7 9. Nd2 h6 (9... Bxg5 10. Ne4

Hopes and fears

Submitted by DrDave on

I'm going to have to wind into this one from a distance...

Mostly I play chess, but I know how to play some other games, and I'm sort of generally interested in games in general.

http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/slideshow2

Game theory was much discussed from a mathematical angle when I was in college, but what interests me more is the thoughts and feelings of game players, which are usually far from mathematical.

EJCC 2-2 Newton Abbot Juniors

Submitted by DrDave on

A match of mostly short games, where the outgraded Newton Abbot team must have been pleased to hold us off. There are some lessons about how to win a game here:

1. Recognise when you are playing in a risky way - and do so only if you have to.
2. Don't be afraid of ghosts!
3. If you like open games, then don't close the position.

You can download the games&notes in the PGN file.

(1)

{A shame to miss a win at the end, but you had the more promising position throughout, so don't regret the missed win, take some pride in the good game! }

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