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BLOG NEWS:
Important messages / Latest News:

Click on the Aristea Chess Tournament banner (flyer) on the right,
to enter online, or the Tournament News tab above for more information on the 2018 tournament at Aristea.

Latest blog links:

How chess helps your brain - 10 Big Brain Benefits of playing Chess.


Upcoming events:

The Aristea Friendly chess tournament, sponsored by Harcourts Cape Gate, will take place on the 15th of September 2018.

Click on the Tournament news tab above, or on the small flyer on the right hand side. The online entries are open. Click on the small flyer below, on the right to enter.

Read more on the blog!

Sunday 29 April 2012

Chess notation - The basics

Here I just want to post some of the basics in chess notation:


*  A square is a combination of a letter and a number.
    The four most central squares are d4, d5, e4, e5.


*  The pieces names, as displayed below, we write with CAPITAL LETTERS.
    The square letters, we always write in small letters.


K = King 
Q = Queen
R = Rook
B = Bishop
N = Knight
x = capture
+ = check
++ = double check
# = checkmate
O-O = castles short on the King's side
O-O-O = castles long on the Queen's side 


NOTE: There is no letter we use for the Pawn. For example, if you want to record that a Black pawn moves from e7 to e5,  you would write it only as e5.

Examples:

1)  The move is that the Knight takes the pawn on e5.  
      We would write it as, Nxe5.

2)  The move is that the Bishop takes the Rook on c3.
      Bxc3.

3)  The move is that the White pawn on e5 takes Black's pawn on f6.
      exf6.

4)  Lets say both Rooks are open on the rank, one is on a8 and the other is on h8. We want to move the one on a8 to e8.
This we would write as Rae8.  (Rook on 'a' moves to e8)

Play the following game on a chess board at home:
1)  e4          c5
2) Bc4        d6
3) Qf3        Nc6
4) Qxf7 #
Result: 1-0  (White wins)

This game is commonly known as the "Four-move".  There are lots of variations to this game.

Click on this sentence to open a pdf page with an even shorter chess games - win for black.
At the bottom of the page, see how you write this result as a win for Black.

Click here for a clean WP Chess notation page for you to write on.

I hope this helps.  If you go through this page before you go to the next practice (see important messages at the top) on Thursday the 3rd of May, you will definitely have an advantage!

:-)


Saturday 28 April 2012

Chess Notation




On WP Schools Chess website, they have a link to a website that teaches chess notation.

On that website, they start with the following:

"Why is it important to know chess notation? Because it helps you read chess books and analyze your own games. And if you want to improve, it is important to know it.  Although it is relatively easy to learn the chess notation, you need to keep practicing and remember that it takes a few tries to master it. And don't give up, it will become easier! "


Please click here or on the picture below to go to that website.



Puzzle #7

This puzzle I wrote down after my game against Zukhanye, after a game during break.

The board ended in the following way:


In this puzzle, white is to move and put black in checkmate.

I want to see how the comments on the blog works.  If you know the answer, comment on the post and when I receive your answer, I will comment back to say whether or not you are correct.

:-)

Chess puzzle #6

The first puzzle to checkmate in 3 moves.

Think clearly on this one... I suggest you write down the moves and then click on the answer link.
On that page, I show how you should enter the answer




















Click here to enter your answer.

:-)

Blog update

As you can see, it has been a while since the blog has been updated.

The reason for this, is the fact that I'm busy with other chess work at the moment.  WP Schools Chess asked me to be a computer official at the WP Closed tournament, on the weekend of 4 and 5 May 2012.  This means that I have to enter all the players' names in each category, using the same software that I used setting up our own mini-tournament.  I have 5 high school sections, with more than a 130 players' names I have to enter.

Thus, please excuse the fact that the blog has been a bit quiet the last couple of days.

Thank you.
:-)


Mr. Bekker vs Mr. Palvi result

The results of Thursdays game between Mr. Bekker and Mr. Palvi.

Mr. Palvi won 2-0!

I'm proud to admit that Mr. Palvi played better chess on the day than I did. We played two games, each a different colour and Mr. Palvi won both games.

There were a couple of mistakes on each side, mine was on the board playing, leaving pieces unprotected and giving my Queen away for a Bishop, and his was with the clock that he wasn't use to. 

Congratulations Mr. Palvi, I'm sure this won't be the last challenge.
We will keep this score and continue playing more games.

:-)

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Mr. Bekker vs Mr. Palvi

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Mr. Bekker challenged Mr. Palvi to a 5/5 chess match. (5 minutes each side)

Date: Thursday 26 April 2012
Venue: School Hall Foyer
Time: First break

Come and see your two favorite* teachers playing against each other.

See you there!

:-)

Chess puzzle, #5



:-)


Chess puzzle, Nr. 4 (easy!)



This is an easy one.
:-)

Monday 23 April 2012

Puzzles 2 and 3.

More puzzles...

Some of you will recognize the following 2 puzzles - they were on the 3/2012 newsletter, but didn't come out  properly - all the black pieces on the black blocks, didn't come out!  I didn't realize that when I photocopied the newsletters.

Nr.2



Nr. 3



To fill in the answers, click here on this link:

Remember, I will appreciate any and all comments on the blog and on the mini-tournament.  Just have a look at the posts at the right hand side, find the feedback post.

Thank you!

:-)

Chess puzzle Nr.1 (more to follow!)

Chess puzzles!

I found these puzzles on the following website: http://chesspuzzles.com

Click on the picture below to enlarge.

This is Nr.1)

To answer:
Click on the following link to give the answer to the chess puzzle.


Enjoy!


More puzzles will follow soon!
:-)

Mini Tournament Results (first 3 places)

The beginners section:

1st place: Tyler Pretorius, Gr.5E2  -  4.5 / 5
2nd place: Trevor Rademeyer, Gr. 6A1  -  4.5 / 5
3rd place: Chad Mckenzie, Gr. 5E2  -  3.5 / 5

The advanced section:

1st place: Mambesi Mnana, Gr.6E1 -  4 / 5
2nd place: Clint van Rooyen, Gr.7E1 -  4 / 5
3rd place: JJ Oosthuizen, Gr.4A1 -  3.5 / 5

Congratualtions to all these players.  We are very proud of you!

Keep an eye out on our notice board for when our next tournament takes place!

Sunday 22 April 2012

Photos of tournaments (more at the bottom)

We had 7 tables in the advanced section.

And we had 8 tables in the beginners section.



 All of us together afterwards.



Feedback on the tournament

I would love to get your feedback - what you or your child thought of the mini-tournament held on Friday.
Any positive or negative comments would be much appreciated.

Dit kan in Afrikaans of Engels wees. :-)

Click on this sentence to go to the feedback form.

Mini-tournament Final Results

On the 20th of April 2012, we held our first mini-tournament at our school.  With lots of excitement and anticipation, we had 32 players participating, in two sections - BEGINNERS and ADVANCED players.

Click on the following links to see the final results for each section:

Click on the photo below to see the final results for the Advanced section.


Click on the photo below to see the final results for the Beginners section.

Baie welkom by ons Blog! / Welcome to our blog!

I want to keep you informed and up to date electronically, with whats going on with Chess at Aristea Primary!