Bourne Chess Club hosts a Junior’s Club on Tuesday evenings at Wake House (6.30-7.30pm).
To give an idea of how the junior sessions go, the following is a breakdown of the hour on 27/05/2025.
“The Danish Gambit.” The juniors were provided with a written record of a game involving this gambit and in pairs played the 15 moves to the checkmate. This was helping them to practice reading notation of moves and playing the moves. Once they had done this, they rotated the board around and played the same game from the opposing colour’s point of view. Alternative, better moves were considered by the more able.
The juniors were then shown how a typical chess game is started and concluded with a handshake, wishing the opponent good luck, and on conclusion thanking the opponent for the game and saying ‘well played’. The juniors practised this together, with eye contact and handshakes.
Next up was a guest speaker, a very able teenage member from the Club who plays competitive league chess on Thursday evenings. He gave a 10 minute presentation on the subject of developing pieces from the opening. Key words and phrases that were introduced and explained included:
Scope of pieces, knights on the rim are dim, sacrifices, checks captures and attacks, minor pieces controlling the centre, material, fianchetto, blocking in pieces, the Kings Indian, castling short and long, connecting up the rooks, paying attention to being efficient with tempo.
When the talk was completed, many questions were asked. One junior wanted to demonstrate an example of sacrificing a Queen to lead to a ‘smothered mate’, and showed the other junior’s it on a chess board.
There was a discussion about grades and measuring ability. Then a question was asked to the presenter about how he learns lines, and move order. This question sparked off an interesting discussion about the options available to help chess players learn; a topic that most chess players of all ability would be interested in.
To conclude the session, a parent offered another child in the group a superb chess book that helps learning: “Chess for Kids – How to Play and Win” by Richard James.
This demonstrates a variety of methods for learning chess; of facilitating learning.
