SEPTEMBER 25, 1994

Exeter Juniors successful in Dawlish chess contest

This weekend the Dawlish Junior Chess Championships were held under

the able leadership of Victor Cross, Peter Lodge and Tim Onions. Over 100 young players, mostly from local towns, played over the two days. Championship titles were awarded for each tournament in different age categories:

 Under 9: David Butler (Exeter Prep) 5 1/2 points out of 6

 Under 12: Kennedy (Emanuel) & Statham tied on 5 1/2 out of 6

 Under 14: Andrew Morgan (St. Peter's) & Robbie Scott (John Stocker) tied on../p>

 Prizes were also awarded for best Under-10 and best girl in the U12 tournament.

 Andrew Morgan beat four players graded over 100 in a row on his way to the last round but fell foul of zugzwang against Robbie Scott who went from 3/4 to 4/5 to tie. "Zugzwang"? An old German chess term, meaning 'forced move' - it doesn't mean a forced reply, rather it refers to situations where one side is perfectly well placed for the moment, but is forced to take their turn and move, thus disturbing their balance.

-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-
x+x+-J-+
+-+x+x+x
pP-P-K-P
+-+-+-P-
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+-

 This is the position which arose after some 30 moves of a French Defence. White played a5! announcing the zugzwang. Black must go to one side or the other and let the White King in - ...Ke6, Kg4 or ...Kg6, Ke4. White then won a pawn or two and could promote one of his own pawns to Queen.

Back to Exeter Chess Club home page [cool blue cat]
Dr. Dave
Back to Chess Coaching Page

This document (ECC\eccp17.html) was last modified on 13 Aug 2005 by [cool blue cat]

Dr. Dave