On May 31st we made our next stop on the “Chess for Life” promotion tour – this time at the Ashtead Chess Club. We started off with an impromptu demonstration of Paul Morphy’s famous game against Count Isouard for the benefit of the juniors still present. We were both very impressed at how many of Morphy’s moves were guessed correctly by the audience!
After that it was down to serious business! Natasha kicked off with another “Play like Keith Arkell” lecture, using completely different games to illustrate the theme for the 3rd lecture in succession! It never ceases to amaze how many good games Keith has played using the same techniques!
Matthew then took over the baton with a lecture on the amazing similarities between the classic game Lasker-Rubinstein and a game that he played in 2015 against the Dutch Grandmaster David Kleijn… although unfortunately Matthew wasn’t quite as adept at winning a won game as Lasker was!
After a break for coffee, biscuits and a chat (and of course some selling of books!) we rounded off with a look at the influence that Paul Morphy’s play had on Bobby Fischer.
We’d like to thank Bertie Barlow for his help in organising the event and the members of Ashtead Chess Club for receiving us so warmly. The next chance to follow the roadshow is at Gerard’s Cross Chess Club on 8th June. See you there!
Don’t forget to check out our “Chess for Life” You Tube channel with 20 videos so far related to themes from Chess for Life!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0pQR9jhWhWRhAA9v49kurw
And if you fancy seeing Morphy’s game against Count Isouard again, take a look at the earlier blog post
http://matthewsadler.me.uk/chess-for-life/alekhines-themes-move-like-morphy/
for the score of this wonderful attack!