English Chess Forum

I enjoyed it, found the final very exciting maybe because of the exciting and music plus the fact it was the first decent hard fought game in the series (There was a quite hard fought 3pawns each game too between Kel and the Engineer from Iraq ). The different chess based puzzles and games were quit...

I thought Richie and Thalia had the correct strategy in the Simul vs David. Kel’s decision to sacrifice a pawn very early seems a quite impulsive decision.
I would have liked to have seen the other puzzles. 30 seconds was a long time to take in order to see Qg6ch in the puzzle playoff

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 12, 2025 10:10 am

5q99.jpg

Whole board in this time.

Have anyone seen the similar 7 Queens puzzle that is in the Radio Times each week

There are five puzzles seen in the preview of the final at the end of Episode 7. I doubt the camera will pause long enough I'm the final for viewers to solve them though... You see some of the players attempting the puzzles, but not all. Maybe these puzzles follow an initial elimination round? Sure...

I would bet on Thalia but it’s pretty open. Kel gets a lot of camera time but he has made mistakes though his antics may put off the other players.Richie may be the solid one , Lula seems too weak in the opening to win the whole thing . I wonder if it will be classical chess and semis and a final fo...

I think to have a lot of knights is good as at that level with a fast time limit the opponent will fall for a bunch of knight forks.
The Thalia v Lula match up tested that out as Thalia chose 3 bishops and won, but theoretically I’m not convinced that having multiple same coloured bishops is good.

Was interested in the game where they had to pick pieces totalling up to 24 points. Think it might be best to have Q B B N N N at a fast time limit like here.
What do you think I read somewhere that 2 Queens duplicate some squares ?

I was thinking in the 2 player consultation game it would be best to just have the stronger player choose all the moves, the consultation just wastes time and gives your teams ideas away to the opponents. Kel was lucky to win the play off game as he’d chosen the move to get the Queen trapped in the ...

Thalia did well on the memory test I thought the memory test a little easier for those who see positions as recognisable chunks as it was a bit more normal than the previous Carlsen position. Yes, good point I thought it was a less irrational so easier position than the first memory test, was surpr...

My guess is they will play the 3 qualifiers from the first group versus the 3 from the second group then the 3 remaining will play a Simul against Bodhana and the one who either wins or draws (unlikely but not impossible ) or lasts the longest while losing will be the champion. Thalia did well on th...

It occurs to me that the puzzles add a bit of variability and excitement to who survives to the next round. If it was just based on playing standard chess games then the results would’ve been quite predictable especially if one is aware of the Elo ratings of the players.

One more point. The weirdness in the pawn race was the following: [Variant "From Position"] [FEN "8/3k4/P7/1P6/6p1/5p1p/2P4K/8 w - - 0 1"] 1. a7 f2 2. a8=Q f1=Q 3. Qc6+ Ke7 4. Qe4+ Kf7 5. Qh7+ Kf6 6. Qh8+ Kg5 7. Qg8+ Kh5 8. Qh8+ Kg6 9. Qg8+ Kh6 10. Qe6+ Kg7 11. Qxg4+ Kf8 12. Qb4+ Ke8 13. Qe4+ Kd7 1...

When did Thalia play for England B team as a junior as Thalia mentioned in the most recent episode?

The events Christopher lists sound great

James Delingpole not impressed in his Spectator review, but I don't sense he knows anything about chess. Tbh "anything about anything" is arguably more appropriate in his case :) I’ve met some very able Old Etonians but on trying to read one of Delingpoles’s novels did get the impression it would n...