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Bournemouth Junior Chess Update – 9th May 2026

It was another good day of chess with the kids as 26 came along to learn and play chess.

1st Session Lessons

Tony went through a lesson of tactics – trying to find mates and winning positions coupled with end games. He has a strong group of 7/8 players at the Advanced level and we are always looking to promote intermediate players to join his group.

Chess session at Bournemouth Junior Chess

Graham had a group of 4 players where he set out puzzles – see below from his lesson.

Graham Hillman’s lesson from Saturday
Graham's group working on puzzles

Steve had his usual group of Erin, Omer, Atlas and Arini.

Eric went through mating positions with Jack from the John Nunn book of 1001 Memorable Checkmates.

We also had 3 new beginners during the 1st session and we will see if they are interested in continuing – I hope so!

Junior chess players in action

Ladder Board Games

All players joined in to play their ladder board games and we had a full room of 9 competitive games in progress – 18 players, all on a 15 minute time control.

Ladder board games in full swing

2nd Session

The 2nd session was equally enjoyable with fewer numbers. Graham repeated his 1st session lesson with the Intermediate group. Eric continued mating positions with Jack, and Steve taught Connor who came for the first time.

2nd session chess lesson

Ladder Board Results – 9th May

Peter 1 – Nicolas 0, Jake 0 – Nathaniel 1, Harvey 0 – Neil 1, Hektor 0 – Rafan 1, Nirvan ½ – Sarah ½, Kit 1 – Markas 0, Jack 0 – Arini 1, Omer 1 – Atlas 0, Erin 1 – Moti 0.

Manvik 0 – Ram 1, Koko ½ – William ½, Nilay 1 – Cooper 0.

Advanced (1st Session)

NamePlayedWDLTotal
Nicolas12110111
Peter127328.5
Nathaniel116328.5
Neil127147.5
Hektor105236
Harvey134365.5
Jake124265
Rafan102444

Intermediate (1st Session)

NamePlayedWDLTotal
Kit117137.5
Nirvan125346.5
Markas75236
Jack74124.5
Milan73224
Pavina112363.5
Sarah52213

Beginners (1st Session)

NamePlayedWDLTotal
Omer116237
Arini124446
Atlas124355.5
Erin92253
Amaury31021

2nd Session – Inter/Beginners

NamePlayedWDLTotal
Nilay135356.5
Manvik144556.5
Koko114345.5
William84225
Mariusz102444
Ram22002
Cooper21011

Table Talk

In the top match Nicolas had his 1st defeat – from Peter – but still leads by a good margin from Peter and Nathaniel. Kit, despite not being available for a couple of weeks, has a 1 point lead over Nirvan with Markas a half point less.

Omer is the leader in the beginner section but Arini is now coming hot on his heels and is only 1 point behind.

In the 2nd session Nilay and Manvik are equal on 6.5 with Koko only 1 point behind.

All the games are played with good chess etiquette – how to win and how to lose. All the players’ behaviour is really good and it’s a pleasure seeing this.

There are 5 weeks to go to the end of the ladder board competition so all to play for!

Bournemouth Junior Chess players

Many thanks to our loyal and dedicated team of Steve, Tony and Graham.

See you all next week!