Jayden's Chess Journal Edition #15

Your guide to learn about the wonderful world of chess!

Joke of the Week

A girl comes across a guy playing chess against a dog. She's very impressed with what she sees and says:

"What a clever dog!"

To which the man responds:

"No, no, he isn't that clever. I'm leading three games to one!"

đź’ˇPuzzle #

Where should Black play now?

âś…Solution

Black has checkmate with the move Qh2#. It is checkmate because the two Kings are in line with each other. With only one square between them, the White king has no escape.

♟️Tip of the Week

If you are ever trying to checkmate with just a king and a rook, try to get the opponent’s king on one of the sides of the board and get it in line with your King.

World Championship Segment

Gukesh D is the new World Chess Champion! He is the youngest to ever win at 18 years old. He won dramatically in the tournament's last game, with Ding making a catastrophic blunder. Let’s look at the move that crowned the newest World Champion.

It was the blunder Rf2 that led to the unraveling of Ding’s position. The reason it is a blunder is that Gukesh is up a pawn. After Black trades rooks and White recaptures, Black has Bd5! This directly traps White’s bishop, and Black has a winning endgame after a trade.

 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!