EJCC blog

Dr.Dave's Brain Sharpening Kit

Submitted by DrDave on

Sorry if that sounds a bit alarming!  What I mean is, after the summer break, you might find that your usual tactical sharpness has gone a bit rusty. 

To get back to your normal diamond-honed sharpness, you just need you get your eye back in with some practice.

Some things to practice are:

Eton ruffles

Submitted by DrDave on

A report of the visit of the Devon County U18 Chess Team to compete in the English Junior County Championships.

Exeter Juniors 1-2 Sidmouth B

Submitted by DrDave on

A tale of three discoveries: a discovered attack proved the winning move in all three games.

Unmasked threats - discovered attacks and discovered checks - are the most difficult threats to spot. You pay attention to the piece that moves, but the threat comes from the piece behind.

I've attached a discovered attack training page - get your eye in! In 2010, the Devon U14 team lost an awful lot of points (or a lot of awful points) to discovered attacks, and the puzzles are all things that they missed.

Exeter Juniors 2½-1½ Seaton

Submitted by DrDave on

Our first win! Even without the point from 'super-sub' Ray Shepherd, we had a draw in the bank, and that would have been a good result too.

So, well done all round. In both other games there was a big chance for our side early on - so make sure you think right from the start, don't 'warm up' during the game!

EJCC 1-3 Exeter Gambits 30th March 2012

Submitted by DrDave on

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.}

Solitaire Chess

Submitted by DrDave on

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

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