Many people still struggle to win a King and Rook against a King ending.

A simple way is “King Opposition”- King opposite King and check with the Rook from a distance. This method is also good for K + Q v  K  ending, just use the Queen as a Rook. Remember HE must step into King Opposition,before you can check him,and drive him back. If he dodges back and forth, play a waiting move with the rook, wait for him to step into King Opposition, then check him. If his King gets too close to your Rook move it ” far away”, but keep him cut off.

White to play

1.Rd5   1st cut off the amount of board he can use. [1.Re1 is also good ,then drive him to the h file] Ke6 2.Kd4 Kf6 3.Ra5 move the Rook “far away”from his King Ke6 4.Rb5 waiting move – allow him the chance to step into King Opposition. Kf6 5.Ke4 follow his King Kg6 6.Kf4 Kh6 7.Kg4 Kg6 – King Opposition 8.Rb6+ Kf7 9.Kg5 follow his King Ke7 10.Kf5 Kd7 11.Ke5 Kc7 12.Rh6 move the Rook “far away” Kd7 13.Rg6 waiting move Kc7 14.Kd5 Kb7 15.Kc5 Ka7 16.Kb5 Kb7 King Opposition 17.Rg7+ Kc8 18.Kb6 follow his King Kd8 19.Kc6 Ke8 20.Kd6 Kf8 21.Ra7 move the Rook “far away” Ke8 22.Rb7 waiting move Kf8 23.Ke6 Kg8 24. Kf6 Kh8 25.Kg6 Kg8 King Opposition 26.Rb8#

John McRae Junior Summer Shield  2013  Ethen Stowers

Russell Metge Junior Rapid Cup  2013  Lucy Massey

Lew Collins Junior Autumn Cup  2013  Arav Gaundar

Hans Gao Junior Handicap Shield  2013  1st = Skyler MacFarlane , Christopher Delport

Graeme Coleman Junior Winter Knight  2013  Ryan Nguyen

Clive Wilson Junior Spring Cup  2013  Rebekah Massey

Nigel Metge Rook  Junior A Grade Champion 2013 –    Lucy  Massey

Graham Banks Cup  Junior B Grade Champion 2013 –   Rebekah Massey

Lew Peti Cup  Junior C Grade Champion 2013 –  Stanford  Colson

Pauline Thomas Trophy  Junior 5min Blitz Champion 2013

Other Prizes –

Russell Metge  B Grade  – Joanna Lee  [ book prize]

 Hans Gao Handicap  –  Green Prize Jasraj Singh

Blue Prize  Andrew Crowsen

Red Prize  Anusha Gaundar

Graeme Coleman Winter Knight  Best Game   1st  Rebekah v Joanna  R1

2nd  Emily v Lucy  R2

Winter Pawn 1st  Robin Han  [ book prize]

Clive Wilson Spring Cup B Grade 1st  Lucy Massey [ Table 2 ]  [ book prize ]

Our Juniors playing for their local schools have done very well again, last year Papatoetoe West Primary placed 3rd in the NZ Schools Finals, this year Papatoetoe Central Primary School came 3rd in the Chess Power National Finals. The team was 1.Arav Gaundar 7/9  2.Henry Wang 6/9  3.Fergus Lee 5.5/9  4.Anusha Gaundar 5.5/9 and Dylan Nguyen 4/9.

Holy Cross Primary came 1st in the Southern Area Primary Finals, and did very well in the Auckland  Primary Finals finishing 2nd to the very strong Hillsborough team and drawing 2-2 friendly against Rosehill Intermediate. From there they went to Tauranga and played in NZ Schools Finals and came 3rd, behind Kings Primary who they had beaten a few days before.   The team was    1. Lucy Massey 2. Conrad Hart     3. Rebekah Massey  4. Stephan Sabu   – Awesome effort by our Juniors – Congrats  all round.

Arul Gaundar won the first 4 Tournaments easily before he graduated to the Club Seniors where he won the  C Grade Cup in the Club Champs.  Well Done Arul. Ashton Calmont-Heketoa another of our good Juniors has moved to Australia,but we have gained 3 new girls who are providing plenty of strong competitons,for everyone. Several others have moved on over the year, and a trickle of new faces have filled the gaps. Welcome to all the new players.

John McRae Junior Summer Shield       2012 Arul Gaundar

Russell Metge Junior Rapid Cup              2012 Arul Gaundar

Lew Collins Junior Autumn Cup              2012 Arul Gaundar

Hans Gao Junior Handicap Shield          2012 Arul Gaundar

Graeme Coleman Junior Winter Knight

2012 Ashton Calmont-Heketoa

PIF [play it forward] Clive Wilson Spring Cup

2012 Ethan Stowers  [B Grade Conrad Hart]

Nigel Metge Rook Junior [A Grade] Champion

2012 Kaea Korewha

Graham Banks [B Grade] Cup

2012 Emily Massey

Lew Peti [C Grade] Cup

2012 Dylan Nguyen

Pauline Thomas Trophy [ 5min Blitz] Champion

2012 Rebekha Massey  [B Grade Stanford Colson]

JUNIORS – CHESS STARTS IN 2013  ON WED 13TH FEB

WITH THE FIRST 2 ROUNDS OF THE SUMMER RAPID

15MIN EACH PER GAME, FOR THE RUSSELL METGE CUP.

Prize Giving after games on WED  27th Feb 2013.

http://www.viewchess.com/scripts/gameuploadisapi.dll?showreader?y=2012&m=9&d=25&id=Game15342953   click to replay – drag notation window towards board to expand.

Thorben Koop  young man who “scooped”the pool at the North Shore Open with a very impressive display of 5 out of 5.

His game against Mike Steadman finished in a position very much like a game we were discussing with the Juniors last week. It was one of theirs where both players missed the best moves.                                                             Click on Diagram for Answer

Maximus – Josh

Ossip Bernstein  v  Jose Raul Capablanca    Moscow  1914.

Queen’s Gambit Declined  Orthodox Variation.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Rc1 b6

[ 7. …c6 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nd5 is common in this line] 8.cxd5 exd5

9.Qa4 Bb7 10.Ba6 Bxa6 11.Qxa6 c5 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.0-0 Qb6

15.Qe2 c4 16.Rfd1 Rfd8 17.Nd4 Bb4 18.b3 Rac8 19.bxc4 dxc4 20.Rc2 Bxc3

21.Rxc3 Nd5 22.Rc2 c3 23.Rdc1 Rc5 24.Nb3 Rc6 25.Nd4 Rc7 26.Nb5 Rc5

27.Nxc3 Nxc3 28.Rxc3 Rxc3 29.Rxc3 …….find the best move for Black 29. …Qb2!

  here Bernstein resigned …. ” to play one

  more  move would be an anticlimax “

    Note that several of the possible lines require a    precise winning move from Black because of the danger of being mated on his own back rank.

if 30.Qxb2 Rd1#

if 30.Qe1 Qxc3 wins a Rook [ 31.Qxc3 Rd1+ 32.Qe1 Rxe1# ]

if 30.Qd3 Qa1+ 31.Qf1 Qxc3 wins a Rook. 

 if 30.Rc2 Qb1+ 31.Qf1 Qxc2 wins a Rook.  

if 30.Rd3 Qb1+[31.Rd1 Rxd1+ 32.Qxd1 Qxd1#31.Qd1 Qxd1+ 32. Rxd1 Rxd1#] 31.Qf1 Qxd3 wins a Rook. 

if 30.Rc8 Qb1+ 31.Qf1 Qxf1+ 32.Kxf1 Rxc8 wins a Rook.

 if 30.Qc2 Qxc2 31.Rxc2 Rd1# and if 30.Rb3 Qxe2 wins a Queen    

Jose Raul Capablanca    World Chess Champion  1921-1927

  White to Play

Arul [ Club Rating 546] continues to dominate the Junior events by

winning the Hans Gao Junior Handicap Shield for 2012 with 7 out of 7.

Anusha [CR 482] shared 2nd place on 6 points with the two big

surprises Dylan [ CR 347] and Andy [ CR 317].

Dylan or Andy only had to win their last 2 games to equal Arul and

topple him from 1st place because in this event “Lowest Rated Player

Wins if scores tied”, but sadly it was not to be, both could only manage

one win each.

The first 2 Rounds used diagrams of positions from the Lew Collins Cup

where players missed easy wins or misplayed the ending,however even

with a “2nd bite of the apple” some still got it wrong.

More use needs to be made of ideachess.com 1 move checkmate tests.

Try to get 20 in a row right with no mistakes,before trying 2 moves.

The Lew Collins Junior Autumn Cup  was won this year by Arul Gaundar on 5.5 points out of 6.

2nd = was Basant Singh and Kaea Korewha on 5 points followed by Anusha Gaundar on 4.5

Work needs to be done on MATE in ONE recognition  and 2 ROOKS & KING v KING endings.

Here’s what our Papatoetoe junior chess players have to say about coming to Chess Club each week:

“Great mood, great people, great time”    Ethan

“From learners to winners!”   Keanu

“Chess is the best, never forget”    Kaea

“Where you experience chess”   Ujinder

“Come here.  Be winners!”    Marquese

“Welcome to the chess club, enjoy the game of chess, deserve awards, there are lots of trophies you could win”   Anusha

“Chess Club is about having fun when you play people”   Jershan

“Chess Club is the best in the world”    Benjamin

“The kingdom of chess”   Ryan

“A great place to learn and play chess”   Arul

“Chess is the name of the game”   Arul

“Where learning begins”    Daniel

“If you want to learn chess come to the chess club”    Arav

“Not many people have learnt this fun and brain-challenging game, now is your chance”    Ashton

These are their entries in the Junior Motto Competition which was held in November 2011.

The winning mottos were those of Keanu (1st) and Ethan and Daniel (=2nd), who each received a chocolatey prize.

A big thank you  to all juniors who submitted an entry!!