21.11.16 – A first for Hammer, and one more step on the road to creating a vibrant, learning culture at our Chess Club, as ECF trainer Tony Niccoli gave us an evening of his finest teaching!
It was a brilliant training session last night for 12 members of the Club. The clarity and format of the evening was perfectly pitched, and the subsequent working in pairs to solve the problems set for us by Tony was just right.
There were two themes to the evening. Firstly, the importance of the outside pawn, and Second, the power of the pin. Even a Lombardy and Fischer game ending was brought into the mix!
The former was illustrated by the use of the three problems, and the learning was delivered in a measured way with plenty of audience participation. Having nailed the importance of this concept we were able to transfer these elements to the second theme – the power and use of the pin.
Again, using problems of increasing difficulty we were shown how to exploit the power of the pin to it’s maximum effect. Some important concepts were highlighted, such as:
- Not cashing in & taking the pinned piece too soon
- Using the power of the pin to improve your position
- Using the pin to ensure your opponent runs out of moves and is forced to surrender material (incorporating elements of zugzwang)
- Increasing the pressure of the pin by bringing all your pieces to bear on it
Concepts that were new to some attendees and probably forgotten by the others. This was real eye-opening stuff, delivered in a manner that will stick.
Regardless of your strength, anyone would benefit from the content delivered in a very professional and logical way by Tony. This was borne out with some of the trickier examples proving a significant challenge to our players rated 160+, indeed it’s fair to say not everyone got the right answers first time round.
The evening ended with homework. Tony gave each attendee a puzzle sheet to take away and work on. A definite case of back to school days and a great way to follow-up on the lessons learnt.
On behalf of the club I wish to thank Tony for the huge effort he put into the evening, and his immeasurable patience with us!
To all Hammer members who did not attend, you missed a real treat and an evening that would have improved your game!
Another one will follow!!!
John.
Really enjoyed the lesson given here! Just need to find the time to do the homework! 😉