Williamsburg Chess Club

meets every monday at 8p at lucky cat cafe, 245 grand st in williamsburg.

The Williamsburg Chess and Go Club for Wayward Men and Ladies

dionnechess.jpg

dionne avery decides how best to avoid getting her *ss kicked.


the williamsburg chess and go club for wayward men and ladies meets every monday evening at 8p. we meet at lucky cat cafe in the williamsburg section of brooklyn. lucky cat is at 245 Grand (near Roebling).


about us
we meet at 8p and play until about 10p or until everyone is tired. games are social and casual. all levels are welcome and instruction is available. please bring a chess or go board if you have one. sign up for our regular mailing list.

directions
from the L train, get off at the bedford ave station. you will exit at north 7th street and either bedford ave or driggs ave. walk south on either bedford ave or driggs ave, towards the williamsburg bridge (you should notice the street numbers getting smaller, i.e. north 6th, north 5th, etc). cross metropolitan ave. grand st is next. turn right on grand st. (away from the east river). 245 grand is on the left hand side of the street. if you come to roebling, you have gone a bit too far.

2004.03.17 | Permalink | Comments (3)

chess variants

the focus of the williamsburg chess club for wayward men and ladies is obviously standard chess and attendant strategic theories. but in the service of understanding the game better, we've adopted several chess variants. these variants are fun to play and can be less intimidating for newer players. all these variants can be played with a standard regulation chess set.

most of these variants were taught to the chess club by alex trotter, a faithful regular and shogi expert.

Suicide Chess
this game is exciting to play and moves very quickly. i find that a few rounds of suicide chess improves my chess game immensely.

  • pieces are set up on the board as in standard chess
  • the object of the game is to lose all your pieces first.
  • captures are compulsory. if you have a capture available, you must take the piece.
  • if more than one capture is available, you can choose which piece to capture.
  • kings are treated as any other piece. there is no castling or checking.
  • when a pawn reaches the opposite side of the board, it must be promoted. the promotion can be to any piece which has already been captured.
  • when no move is possible, a player can 'pass'.

Maharaja and Sepoys
this game is harder to win than it seems. it helped me think about how to use my queen more effectively.

  • the object is the same as standard chess, to deliver checkmate.
  • white sets up the pieces on the white side as normal, the black side is limited to a single queen.
  • the black queen is a super-queen: she can also move as a knight. this piece is capable of delivering checkmate all by herself.
  • white's objective is to deliver checkmate to the black queen.

Hostage Chess
this game applies some of the principles of shogi (a japanese game) to standard chess.

  • pieces are set up on the board as in standard chess.
  • the object of the game is as in standard chess: to deliver checkmate.
  • pieces move exactly as in standard chess.
  • a captured piece can be returned to the board if it is 'ransomed'.
  • a piece can be 'ransomed' from your opponent by exchanging a captured piece of equal or lesser value. for example: if your opponent has captured your knight, you can trade your opponent's captured knight or bishop for your knight and return that knight to the board. if you have captured only pawns from your opponent, you cannot ransom your knight.
  • when you ransom a piece, it must be returned to the board during that same turn.
  • when your opponent ransoms a piece from you and returns a piece of equal value, you have the option of returning that piece to the board at any time. for example, if your opponent ransoms a rook from you and returns your rook, you can choose to wait a turn or three before returning that rook to the board.
  • when any ransomed piece is returned to the board, it can be placed in any free square.
  • pawns are not promoted.

2004.05.05 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jennifer Shahade in US Chess Championship

Jennifer Shahade has regained the title of US Women's Champion. By placing first in the field, she won a seat on the US Olympic Chess Team.

link here to last year's championship games: http://www.thechessdrum.net/tournaments/USchess2003/finalreport.html

2004.06.29 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chess In The Parks Rapid Open

Sign up now for the Chess In The Parks Rapid Open, taking place on Saturday, October 2, 2004 at Bethesda Fountain.

More information at http://www.chessintheschools.org or email name, phone, and UCSF rating to [email protected] .

sections: Adult Unrated (unrated players over age 16), Novice (players rated under 1000), Intermediate (players rated 1000 - 1399), Championship (open to all)

2004.09.13 | Permalink | Comments (0)

more chess variants

first installment of chess variants

avalanche chess
pieces are set up and moved as normal. after each move, a player then moves an opposing pawn. for example, white moves a knight to e5, then moves a black pawn to b3.

  • an opposing pawn move *must* be made unless no moves are possible.
  • the pawn move must be the second move, unless...
  • a checking move must be the last move. for example, if the queen delivers check in the first move of the sequence, no pawn move is made.
  • pawn promotion as normal
  • no move may put the king in jeopardy, even if the following pawn move would negate the check.

alice chess
this variant is extra challenging! two chess boards are used, but only one set of pieces. set up the pieces as normal on one board. the second board is empty at the start of the game. play proceeds as normal, excpet that as a move is made on the first board, the piece is transferred to the same square on the second board. during each turn, pieces on either board may be moved. a piece moved on the second board transfers that move to the same square on the first board. each move made transfers a piece from one board to the other.

  • a move must be possible on both boards. a piece cannot move to an occupied square on either board.
  • a king cannot be transferred into jeopardy.

2004.10.22 | Permalink | Comments (5)

chessplayers for kerry

Playersforkerry

a little chess humor, courtesy chessplayers for kerry!

pictured is most of the US Women's Team, silver medalists at the Chess Olympiad in Majorca.

2004.11.02 | Permalink | Comments (1)

jennifer shahade in US Chess Championship 2005

Shahadeshabalovbonehp
jennifer and alexander shabalov split the wishbone to decide who takes white.

our friend and neighbor jennifer shahade is competing this week for the 2005 title in san diego. follow her games from here: http://www.uschesschampionship.com/


2004.11.24 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Recent Posts

  • jennifer shahade in US Chess Championship 2005
  • chessplayers for kerry
  • more chess variants
  • Chess In The Parks Rapid Open
  • Jennifer Shahade in US Chess Championship
  • chess variants
  • The Williamsburg Chess and Go Club for Wayward Men and Ladies

informative links

  • The New York Times Chess Columns
    assortment of Robert Byrne's excellent weekly column
  • human scale chess project
    is a project sponsored by the chess club. a conceptual perfomance on urban streets.
  • Jennifer Shahade in US Chess Championship
    play through some of jennifer shahade's games
  • Stan's NetChess
    correspondence chess via the internet
  • Yahoo! Chess
    review the rules and strategies of chess