Month: August 2021

August 29, 2021

Congratulations to Paul Bielby who won the QGA Exchange Variation themed blitz with a clean sweep 6/6. Well done too, to Dave Patterson, 5/6, and Michael Allen, 4/6, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Full details here.

All three are playing in the Northumbria Masters tournaments this weekend, so good luck to them there. Looking forward to hearing tales of their successes on Thursday!

Next Thursday’s theme is the accelerated dragon in the Sicilian Defence. Play will start with white to move after the moves 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6.

Here are two YouTube videos to help with your preparation. First, a very slow but thorough introduction from the excellent Yasser Seirawan on the St. Louis Chess Club channel. In complete contrast the second video covers twice the theory in half the time and obviously a fraction of the explanation from “Hanging Pawns”.

August 15, 2021

Well done to Anthony Sweeting and Dave Patterson who finished equal first in last week’s ‘Grand Prix Attack’ themed blitz with 4/6. Equal third were Michael Allen and Brian Towers on 3.5/6. Full details here.

Next Thursday’s theme is the exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Play will begin with white to move after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd exd.

The first video is from St Louis Chess Club’s “Chess Openings Explained” series. The second video is from “Hanging Pawns”.

August 4, 2021

Well done to Michael Allen who hammered the field in last week’s Leonhardt Gambit themed blitz with 5/5. Congratulations also to Dave Patterson who finished second with 4/5. Full details here.

Next Thursday’s theme is the Grand Prix Attack against the Sicilian. To give black maximum flexibility play will start with black to play after 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3.

For the first video we go back to the St Louis Chess Club and Eric Rosen. Another favourite YouTube channel, that of Miodrag “The Butcher” Perunovic has several videos on this opening. The first comes in at a reasonable 45 minutes. For those with more time on their hands he has a longer video which comes in at about 90 minutes.