Here at Hammer HQ we’re excited to announce a new initiative: Opening of the Month!
Each month of the chess season will be devoted to a separate opening: with that month including lectures, themed tournaments, and high level analysis of members’ games played in that opening.
September’s opening of choice will be the Sicilian Defense!
This Monday 5th September, Christof Brixel will be giving an introductory lecture to the opening. This will be followed by a Sicilian-themed tournament, where every game must begin 1.e4 c5.
If you’re unsure about whether to attend, here’s a quick pitch from Christof himself!
New to the Sicilian? Confused between the Dragon, the Accelerated Dragon and the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon, the English Attack and the Grand-Prix Attack? We provide a brief guidance. Not so much how to play but what you can play, what suits your style. We structure the Sicilian jungle into systems for the more tactical, the more positional and the flexible players. It gives a map for further study at home. There is endless free material on the internet, but you have to know what you are looking for.
The exact openings schedule for the rest of the year is still being discussed. Please get in touch if you want to throw your favourite line into the hat!
Junior Hour Returns!
The start of the school year marks the first junior hour of the season. The junior subcommittee have been hard at work to put together a structured, educational and fun programme.
I look forward to seeing lots of juniors at 6pm, and plenty more for Christof’s lecture at 7:30pm!
Adam