Chess

Four members from our weekly Chess Club attended their first (the school’s first) Chess Tournament, held at Mordialloc College.  On the day, the team travelled a total of 4 hours via 4 trains and walking to get there and back.

Year 10s Lucas, Ian, Ashton and Year 11 Brody were 4 out of 110 competitors who played on the day, where the Cranbourne Secondary College Team came equal 17th with 8.5 points out of 20 teams, from 12 different schools. Throughout the day, our four students had a few losses, some wins, some draws and one nail-biting game that one member almost won, but their clock ran out.  All competitors were able to learn new skills, meet new like-minded peers and show great sportsmanship throughout the entire day. Mr. Taylor, Elijah and I are immensely proud of their commitment to chess throughout the year and during the day of the tournament.  

This tournament is only the beginning of our future endeavours to play and represent Cranbourne Secondary College at competition level.

Chess Club happens every Tuesday at lunch in LIBM – all are welcome, whether you are a rook(ie) to being a King/Queen of the chess board. 

Any questions, please see/contact Mr. Taylor or Ms. Brasacchio for more information.

CHESS PUZZLE

Recognising checkmate patterns is an important skill in chess. In the Dovetail checkmate (Diagram 1), the white queen checkmates the opposing king on the nearest square on the diagonal (the c6 square). Using this checkmate pattern, can you solve the chess puzzle (Diagram 2)? 

It is White to move and checkmate in four.

Solutions are somewhere in this newsletter.