Jayden's Chess Journal Edition #7

Joke of the Week

Why did the chess player get arrested?

He was caught trying to pawn off a fake queen.

💡Puzzle #7

What is the best move for Black to play here?

✅Solution

The solution is the very simple Rh4#, with the Black queen controlling the back rank and our rook controlling the G-file, it can only mean checkmate for the White King.

♟️Tip of the Week

Try to involve as many pieces as possible in your attack, by doing this you create more initiative and pressure on your opponent.

🪶Chess History

In the last edition we looked at Frank Marshall, today we are going to look at a player who Frank Marshall helped rise to stardom. Who else but Jose Raul Capablanca? Capablanca was born in Cuba in 1888, and his chess talent was discovered by his father when Capablanca pointed out an illegal move at the age of 8. Capablanca won the World Chess Championship in 1921, defeating Emmanuel Lasker. Capablanca went on an 8-year unbeaten run from 1916 to 1924, including his World Championship matches. He is remembered for his playing style of making complex positions seem simple. Let’s take a look at a position from one of the greatest of all time.

Here Capablanca just played the move Be4, masterfully trapping the Black queen leaving it no space to move without being captured. Capablanca was playing against a 2400-rated player in this position, which just shows how he was able to create such brilliant moves at the highest level.

Correction: The puzzle solution in Edition #6 contained an error. Instead of Qf1#, the correct solution is, in fact, Qc1#. We appreciate the subscriber who brought this to our attention.

 That wraps up this edition of Jayden’s Chess Journal

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and if you know anyone looking for more chess knowledge, send them this link so they can access this awesome newsletter.

Thank you so much for reading this edition, until next time!