With an average weekly attendance this term of 40, the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club continues to thrive. Lately, more attention has been paid to coaching. Last week the top group (Division 1) received an hour's coaching, whilst this evening it was the turn of Division 2.
Each 'division' at the Bury Knights contains between 10 and 15 children, according to ability. Each month, members are promoted or relegated based on their performance against others in their division.
In the top group, all but three players have Elo ratings in excess of 1000, with Alex Sheerin currently top on 1575. Division 2 ranges from 635 to 820, but there are some highly promising players included who are anxious to attain the heights of Division 1 as soon as possible!
Coaching today was based mainly on rook endings, with the emphasis on K & R v K. Some pawns were then introduced, with the classic Lucena and Philidor positions demonstrated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A team from the Bury Knights will be playing this weekend in the Junior 4NCL, in Hinckley. All four players (Alex Sheerin, Alan and Adam John, and Tom Roy) performed well at the recent Bury St Edmunds Congress, so should do well against the other teams in their division.
The kids might as well know that it is not really the 'Lucena' position (he never included it). It is attributed to Scipione Genovino and was first published by Salvio in 1634 (having appeared earlier in a manuscript). Details here: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/lucena.html
ReplyDelete