Fantasy Chess

Fantasy Chess for the 2011 U.S. & U.S. Women's Championships is now underway! Go to the St.Louis Chess Club website to create your team for a chance to win great prizes including a one-hour lesson with GM Hikaru Nakamura! The first round starts on April 15th, so be sure to make your picks by then. Best of luck!

April Fools' Day Puzzle

In honor of April Fools' Day, here's a fairy chess puzzle for you:

The upside-down queen is a grasshopper (G). The grasshopper moves along ranks, files, and diagonals, but only by hopping over another piece at any distance from the square immediately closest. If there is no piece to hop over, it cannot move. If the square beyond a piece is occupied by a piece of the opposite color, the grasshopper can capture that piece. The grasshopper may jump over pieces of either color; the piece being jumped over is unaffected.

Can you determine how White can mate the Black king?

Morgantown May Day Tournament

The 2011 May Day Tournament will be held on May 7, 2011 at 100 Cobun Ave, Morgantown WV. The format is 4-SS, G/75. Registration starts at 9 AM and rounds start at 10 AM, 1 PM, 4 PM, and 7 PM. The entry fee is $25 postmarked by 4/25 or $35 onsite. An entry form can be found here.

Four members of the Mid-Ohio Valley Chess Club made the journey to Morgantown for the Spring Open to show our support for the Morgantown club, and we all had a great time.