The first meeting of chess-letes occurred on Thursday and coach, Mr Zac Windsor, began by putting up the end of a game and asked why this was a "stalemate". A very interesting discussion ensued and now I know that a stalemate can be declared if a pawn has not been moved in the last 50 moves (thanks Daniel!) We then played some games and learnt some important conventions that occur during competitions:
- Always begin by shaking hands with your opponent
- Need to play quietly as we cannot do anything that may distract our opponent
- Set up the board again when play is finished.
Our first training session ended with Mr Windsor posing a chess problem where white would check black in three moves. Several moves were suggested and hotly defended which left me in awe of the talent in the room.
#RedlandsChess #thoughtsport
