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Newsletter – 10th October 2026

Welcome Back

Today we hosted 27 young and enthusiastic chess players at Bournemouth Library this morning. It was very good to see they all arrived on time so the sessions could be started promptly.

A warm welcome to Manvik S – we already have another Manvik, who we now refer to as Manvik R.

Eric had taken a well deserved weekend off so it fell to Graham to lead and administer the sessions with assistance from Tony (advanced players session 1), George (intermediates sessions 1 & 2) plus Steve with the newbies in both sessions. Tony continues with his visualisation and puzzle sessions in the 2nd room. George focused on the value of Pins in the opening phase.

Coaching Sessions

Graham ran the juniors through the Bb5 variation for White against the Sicilian, an easy way to play against one of Black’s defences.

Coaching session in progress at Bournemouth Library
Coaching session in progress

It was also great to see Peter assisting with the development of 2 juniors in the 2nd session.

Two players facing each other at the board
Head to head at the board

Ladder Board Results – Round 4

Intermediate session 1 players were given the added incentive of a bonus point if they managed to beat any of the more advanced group (Harvey, Ram & Jake). The only player to achieve this was Nathaniel who played very well to beat Jake. Arini continues to show good progress!

Rafan had a totally won position but lost on time – bad luck to Rafan and well done to Harvey for hanging on.

1st Session

WhiteScoreBlack
Jake0 – 1Nathaniel
Arini0 – 1Ram
Rafan0 – 1Harvey
Alexander0 – 1Kit
Neil1 – 0Nirvan

2nd Session

There were good wins for Milan, Ritha, Leo and Manvik R, with a special mention to Kiara who in her 1st game won with the black pieces – also the last game to finish.

Emmanuel beat Manvik S, who was only playing his 2nd game and put up a hard fight.

In total there were 11 games across both sessions and all but 2 were won by the player with the Black pieces – very unusual, we normally get a 50-50 split!

WhiteScoreBlack
Adelyn0 – 1Kiara
Atlas0 – 1Ritha
Omer0 – 1Leo
Koko0 – 1Manvik R
Erin0 – 1Milan
Emmanuel1 – 0Manvik S
Players deep in concentration at the chess boards
Deep in concentration

Ladder Board Standings – Round 4

1st Session – Advanced/Intermediate

NamePWDLPts
Ram43016
Neil43016
Nathaniel43016
Harvey43016
Kit32105
Sarah31204
Jake31113
Nirvan41123
Rafan41032
Lucas21012
Hektor31022
Alexander41032
Arini40131
Markas10010

2nd Session – Intermediate/Beginners

NamePWDLPts
Manvik R43016
Milan43016
Erin42115
William32105
Leo32105
Omer42024
Emmanuel42024
Ritha31113
Kiara41123
Markas11002
Koko41032
Adelyn20111
Atlas40040
Manvik S10010

Overview of the chess club in action
The club in full swing

See you all next Saturday!