Suffolk Juniors off to solid start in J4NCL

Suffolk Juniors have made a very good start to the new season of the online Junior Four Nations Chess League (J4NCL).

In our first match, we won 5½-2½ against Barnet Knights 2, one of the strongest junior chess clubs in the country. In our second match, Suffolk managed a narrow 4½-3½ victory over our neighbours Colchester Juniors B.

A couple of highlights from the season so far include a fantastic break-through move by Amy John, busting open her opponent’s kingside. Black just moved their pawn from h6 to h5, hoping to keep their King safe while they launch an attack on White’s King with a move like pawn to a4. However, here Amy played 23.g6!, temporarily sacrificing the g-pawn to allow her Queen to venture to g5 where it prevents Black’s King from escaping to the queenside, whilst simultaneously setting up plenty of checkmate threats.

In the second round, Arthur Dannatt played a super-fun game where he ended up demonstrating that no matter how good a Queen is, if you have enough pieces to rival Her Majesty, then it’s often an advantage to have those pieces working together than just having a solo piece running around the board trying to accomplish everything by itself.