The chessboard strikes back

  AndThis evening saw the latest installment of the SJC tournaments on ChessKid.  Once again, we ran two events - and U1350 event and an Open event.

The next events take place on Tuesday and, following a few requests, we are trialing a slightly earlier start time.  The easier event will start at 6.15pm with registration on ChessKid from 6pm, and an Open event starting at 6.20pm with registration from 6.05pm.  The easier event will also have a slightly lower rating limit.  Let's see how it goes.  If you have any comments, please email suffolkjuniorchess@gmail.com.


​The Results...

The Open
What a topsy-turvy event!  Several players could have won this evening, but everyone contrived to lose at least one game to theie competitors.  It seemed like no-one wanted to win!  So, we have 4 players who all finished on 3 points from 4 games.

rafcalum and Rowantree came joint first on Tiebreak, while ZanyHummingBook and FlatUpbeatFalcon, while also scoring 3 points, finished in joint third place on tiebreak - all played extremely well.

U1350
This event was less topsy-turvy, but still saw a very close finish with the tournament being completed by the players in the top two positions playing each other in the final round and agreeing a draw that saw ORichards win the competition on tiebreak from LeftGroovyUnicorn, with both scoring 3.5 points out of 4.

AbleLopsidedGiraffe and RichAquaDonkey came in joint 3rd position, with both on 3 points out of 4 and equal on tiebreak, with both only losing one game each, and that being to the players in the top two places.

Congratulations
However - congratulations and thanks to all the players who took part.  I would like to write something about everyone, but there is not space here.  We are proud of every one of the players and our thanks to all of you.


Game of the Night
​Our game of the night is taken from the game between RowanTree and LoudLeanMustang.  LoudLeanMustang played a beautiful game and every time Rowantree thought he had his opponent under control, LoudLeanMustang re-took the initiative - great play.  If you have a login on ChessKid, you can see this game here: https://www.chesskid.com/fastchess/game/24489019.  All the more impressive is that this was LoudLeanMustang's very first game in the SJC club on ChessKid - well played indeed!

Our Position of the Night is taken from this game.  In the position to the right, which is after Move 21 for white, white has moved his Bishop to b3 to try to block in Black's Rook.  Why can Black take Whites Bishop without losing out?


Answer: Once the rook has taken the Bishop, if you take the Rook with either of your pawns, the Black Queen will take the White Rook on a1 and also put the King into Check.  Once white has moved his King, the Black Queen can take White's other Rook - a very nice combination.

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