Cumnor Chess Club

When is the London Social

On Saturday, 29th August, from 10.00 a.m. till late!

Where is the social?

We are returning to the Wargrave Arms, 40-42 Brendon Street, MaryleboneW1H 5HE, where our April social was held. Click here for details:

Details of the Wargrave Arms

This pub is used regularly by the Kings Head Chess Club. It is within easy reach of Edgeware Road, Marble Arch and Paddington stations.

Who can attend?

The social is open to all members (whether full or guest members) and to their families and friends.

Also, please message me if you have any additional needs, such as mobility or sensory needs, so that we can do our best to ensure that everything goes smoothly for you. We want to make everyone feel equally welcome.

People of all ages are welcome to attend; however, anyone under 18 must be accompanied at all times by a responsible adult.

What does it cost?

There is no charge for coming along to the social. Those attending are,of course, responsible for purchasing their own food and drink.

So, what actually happens at a social?

Chessworld socials are friendly, informal events. Some people come mainly to play chess, others prefer to socialise and play the occasional game. Some non-playing friends or relatives like to spend the time visiting the sights or doing a bit of shopping.

You can drop in whenever you like, and stay for as long or as short a time as you want to.

What about the chess?

There is plenty of that! Most games are informal, just ask someone if they would like a game. It doesn't matter if they're much stronger or much weaker than you! Some people like to use clocks, but most games have no time limits. There is no competition, and games played at the social will not, of course, have any effect on your chessworld rating.

If you are new to socials, I will personally greet you, and will also find your first opponent for you if you wish.

Anything Else?

Yes ? there will also be a quiz and some puzzles for those quiet moments between games (these are of course optional!)

Do I need to bring anything?

Yourself! Plus a chess set if you have one that you can carry easily.But if you don't, please do still come; there will be quite a few spare sets around that anyone can use.

I'm coming from a long way off. Where can I stay?

There is, of course, plenty of accommodation in London. We are not able to recommend a particular place, but try typing "London hotels", "cheap accommodation in London", etc. etc. into your favourite search engine for some ideas.

I have another question

Excellent! Please message me directly with any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer.

If you've never been to a social before, please do consider coming along. A lot of people naturally feel nervous meeting for the first time people they've only ever spoken to online; but we are very friendly, and always like to see new faces!

I look forward to seeing you on 29th August!

Kevin

Contact me via the comments.

The London Chess Centre

Chess Strategy for Club Players - Herman Grooten £22.50

First find the right plan, then the good moves will follow!

Paperback, 400 pages

Every club player knows the problem: the opening has ended, and now what? With this book, International Master Herman Grooten presents to amateur players a complete and structured course on:

* how to recognize key characteristics in all types of positions

* how to make use of those characteristics to choose the right plan.

His teachings are based on the famous "Elements" of  Wilhelm Steinitz, but Grooten has significantly expanded and updated the work of the first World Champion. He supplies many modern examples, tested in his own practice as a coach of talented youngsters.

In Chess Strategy for Club Players you will learn the basic elements of positional understanding:

* pawn structure

* piece placement

* lead in development

* open files

* weaknesses

space advantage

king safety.

You will master the art of converting a temporary plus into other,more permanent advantages. The author also explains what to do when, in a given position, the basic principles seem to point in different directions. Each chapter of this fundamental primer ends with a set of highly instructive exercises.

Herman Grooten is an International Master and a chess coach with over 25 years of experience. Quite a few of his pupils have gone on to become grandmasters, among them Loek van Wely and Jan Werle.

Every chess player grows up learning combinations that work. As a kid, you learn to ’spot the combo’ quickly and you’re told that you will profit from this knowledge ever after. There’s hundreds of books that are written according to this method. But in real life, sadly, combinations often do not work at all. Where are the books written about this phenomenon? Now, we have one. Read more

Sometimes the best books get the worst treatment. It took more than 25 years before an edition of Mikhail Bulgakov’s great novel The Master and Margarita was first published. But this is nothing compared to the 52(!) years it took before Questions of Modern Chess Theory by Isaac Lipnitsky was translated into English. It is now published in a modern edition by Quality Chess. Without exaggeration it’s fair to say that Western chess would have looked totally different, had this book been available earlier. Read more

John Watson is one of the best chess authors around. Currently, he’s writing a series of high-quality opening books, focussing (as always) on understanding and framing the opening in its proper context. I will take a look at the latest volume in his ‘Mastering the Chess Openings’ series, published by Gambit Books, which is about the English Opening. I was especially interested in this part, because I have almost no experience with this opening, yet have always found it extremely fascinating. So what’s in it for people like me? Read more

Kasparov vs Karpov

Contrary to what many people will tell you, the “chess match of the 20th century” was not Fischer-Spassky, Reykjavik 1972. It was Karpov-Kasparov, Moscow 1984. No wait, make that Karpov-Kasparov, Moscow 1984 and 1985. Of course, Fischer’s brilliancy and eccentricity, as well as the political situation between America and the Soviet Union made the Reykjavik match extremely sensational, but from a ”classical drama” point of view, the fight in ‘72 was really too much of a one-man-show. Read more

FIDE is failing terribly in dealing with the Topalov-Kamsky match in a correct and transparent way. It’s also clear to virtually everyone that the FIDE President and his staff have generally ruined the whole system in the past ten years or more, despite their efforts to organize a lot of events. Things have gone horribly wrong – it reminded me of the the war in Iraq. In FIDE, too, we need change. But how can we make it a change we can believe in? Read more

It’s well-known that chess is not only a game, not only art, but also science. I myself became fascinated by chess not because you could beat your granddad with it, or because you could play beautiful attacking games, but because you could look things up afterwards. Read more

I was selling books in the windy hallway of De Moriaan in Wijk aan Zee for Chess and Go Shop Het Paard. It was quiet, a regular week day. Read more

Chess and math have always slept side by side. But are they a happy couple? I think every chess player has had the experience of someone asking you, in high school, if your math grades were as good as your chess results. Sadly, for me the answer was often ‘no’. Read more