Junior Chess @ Didcot

Chess for junior players (U16) runs on Wednesdays, 7pm at The Marlborough Club in Didcot.

Please send a txt to 0747 3307 370 to be added to the Whatsapp group, where notifications of upcoming sessions will be posted.

Useful Chess Resources

• https://www.chesskid.com/
  Games, puzzles, and challenges specifically aimed at young players.
  
  
• https://lichess.org/
  Free site with a great selection of puzzles. Enable ‘kid mode’ in the profile for safety.
  
  
• https://chesstempo.com/opening-training/
  A good place to enter your favourite openings, or openings from a YouTube lesson, to train and remember them.
  
  
• https://aimchess.com/
  Lots of different training resources to try out.
  
  
• YouTube
  There are lots of great chess videos on YouTube, and most of them are innocuous, but it would be best for an adult to check the channel content first.

General Tips for Younger Players

• Openings
  Try to move most of your pieces once, before moving any of them a second time.
  Try to make sure that your pieces are guarded, and that any checks on your King are not dangerous.
  
  
• Practice
  Puzzles are very good for improving chess ability. Do them with no time limit so you can think about the right answer, try not to guess.
  
  
• Time
  Avoid playing fast games. Try to play 10 minute games at a minimum, to make sure you have time to think about each move.
  It is a good idea to sit on your hands until you think of the best move, so that you don’t quickly move and make a mistake.
  
  
• Rating
  Rating is only a number. As long as we learn something with every loss, then our rating will start to go up eventually.
  Remember that when you start playing online, you might lose a lot to begin with because you are given hard opponents. Eventually you will get to the right level and start winning some games.