Videos
Below are examples of videos of past online meetings for you to catch up on.
A schedule of events can be found here: Camberley Chess Club Events
Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and then full versions of the taster videos of this season are available to Online members.
Daniel Shek – some of his games
Young club member and rising star Daniel Shek will talk us through some of his recent games.
Full versions of the taster videos of this season are available to Online members.
GM Jonathan Levitt – chess aesthetics, studies and problems
Jonathan became an IM in 1984 and GM in 1991. He has written several books including “Secrets of Spectacular Chess”. His talk is on on chess aesthetics studies and problems, and also some very general discussions.
Full versions of the taster videos of this season are available to Online members.
GM Jim Plaskett – some of his games
Jim became an IM in 1981 and GM in 1985, tied for second at Hastings in 1984-85 and was British Chess Champion in 1990. He has written several chess books, mainly about openings. He continues to be active in chess from his home in Spain. Outside of chess he is famous for winning £250,000 in the TV quiz “Who Wants to be A Millionaire”.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
FM Shreyas Royal – some of his games
The young and ambitious FM Shreyas Royal joined us and talked through some of his best games. He included quite a few exercises – Strategical, Combinations, Positional and some more.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
James Pratt – Sir George Thomas
This evening we were entertained and informed by our fellow club member James Pratt. He talked about English chess great Sir George Thomas (1881-1972) whose career highlights included being British Champion twice and finishing 1= at Hastings in 1934/5. He was also British Badminton Champion several times.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
IM Cyrus Lakdawala – How to Play in Harmony with our Natural Styles
It was our great pleasure to welcome back Cyrus, who entertained us back in February 2021 with a talk about puzzles and studies from his book “Rewire Your Chess Brain”. This time he talks about how to play in harmony with our natural styles, based on his book “Chess for Hawks”.
Cyrus joined us from San Diego, California. He is an IM, former American Open Champion, chess teacher and prolific author of books covering many aspects of chess.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
Colin Purdon – The Short session
Colin Purdon gave us an insight into Nigel Short and his games.
Nigel David Short MBE (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, commentator and, since October 2018, Vice-President of FIDE. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the world by FIDE from July 1988 to July 1989. In 1993 he became the first English player to play a World Chess Championship match, when he qualified to play Garry Kasparov in the World Chess Championship 1993 in London, where Kasparov won 12½ to 7½.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
Informal Club Night – Chess Books
Club members were invited to contribute to an informal discussion about their favourite books. Members talked about books that you have found useful, inspiring or entertaining and recommendations for books that will help beginners and improving players.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
FM Hamish Olson – Pawnless (and near Pawnless) Endings
Hamish is one of Scotland’s strongest players. He is captain of the Bon Accord Club in Aberdeen, against whom CCC played in an enjoyable online match last year. He joins us fresh from his excellent equal second place at the recent British Championship. Inspired by his game against Louise Head in that tournament, he talks to us about endings with no (or few) pawns, such as 2 Knights vs Pawn, 2 Bishops vs Knight, Rook and Bishop vs Rook, and Bishop and Knight vs King.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
IM Nigel Povah – More Brushing Up of Your Ending Skills
It is our great pleasure to welcome back Nigel, who gave one of the best attended and best received talks during our successful 2020-21 season of meetings. In his last talk Nigel focused on Pawn endings and Rook endings. This time he will return to K&P and R&P endings and also talk about some Queen positions.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
GM Peter Wells – exchange sacrifices
Peter has long been one England’s top players. He became a FIDE Master in 1982, an IM in 1987, and a GM in 1994. He has written many books, both on openings and on improving your chess. The theme for his talk is exchange sacrifices. Peter welcomed as much audience participation as possible and answered questions about the talk and about other topics.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
IM Matthew Wadsworth – Games from the Varsity match
21 year-old Matthew is one of England’s most promising young players. He earned his FM title in 2016 and IM title in 2019 and has a Grandmaster norm from his excellent performance in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). He is currently reading Economics at Cambridge University. Here he presents some games from recent Varsity matches between Cambridge and Oxford.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
Mark Taylor – Boris Spassky, A Selection of Attacking Games
Club member Mark Taylor from Crowthorne CC gave a talk about the life and games of Russian chess legend Boris Spassky. He (Boris, not Mark!) was world champion from 1969-72 and played Bobby Fischer in the most famous match in chess history. In his heyday in the 60’s he was one of the most inventive and exciting players in the world.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
Jim Stayt – some memorable games
Friend of Camberley Chess Club and Reading Chess Club member Jim Stayt will talk us through some of his best and most memorable games.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
Tony Williams – The Portsmouth Gambit
Tony Williams gives us the background to the Portsmouth Gambit and shows some games by the gambit’s players.
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IM Andrew Martin – Pawn Structure: How and Why it Matters
Popular author, commentator and International Master Andrew Martin is our special guest. He talked to us about pawn structure and its importance.
To get email invites to online meetings and watch all the seasons videos, please become an Online Member on our Membership page.
Some of My Memorable Games by Louise Head
Louise won the English Women’s Chess Championship (in 2017 and 2019) and was a member of the England Women’s team at the 2018 World Chess Olympiad.
Louise will take us through three of her most memorable and important games of her career so far. These games are from the Czech Open 2018 (where she had a performance rating 2380 and achieved a WIM norm) and from the English women’s championship 2017 which was her ticket into the England women’s team for the 2018 Olympiad!
The Queen Sacrifice in Games and Studies by Mark Taylor
The Queen Sacrifice in Games and Studies by Mark Taylor. You have heard of “The Queens Gambit” – now Mark Taylor will show us some games and studies which have Queen sacrifices! Also some games and studies with other sacrifices as well.
If you would like to view all the moves in the games that these studies came from, you can do so by downloading this pgn here
How to prepare your openings with Opening Tree by Rob Hammond
Have you ever wanted to feel like a grandmaster, preparing for a world-class match against a specific opponent? What if there was a way for you to understand your opponent’s openings, or even their game style – before you even sat down at the board…this video takes a look behind the curtain of game preparation, using tools such as OpeningTree.com and Aimchess to effectively understand our opponents better.
Adventures in the French Winawer by Colin Purdon
Colin Purdon will take us through some of his games with the French Defence and the Winawer variation.
The Grünfeld Defence with Richard Webb
Our guest speaker Richard Webb from Crowthorne Chess Club is a very experienced Fide Master and has been one of the strongest players in our local leagues for many years. He talks about the popular Grünfeld Defence against 1. d4, illustrated with a couple of interesting games of his against titled players.
Some recent games from Aberdeen and IOW matches
We reviewed some interesting games from our recent online matches against Woodpushers Isle of Wight and Bon Accord Aberdeen, with comments, explanations (and perhaps excuses!) from some of the players involved.
An Evening with GM David Howell
We were excited to have Grandmaster David Howell as our star guest on 18th May. David is the UK number 2, was this country’s youngest GM at the age of 16, and has been British champion 3 times. He talk us through some positions requiring careful calculations, some games and also left time for some an interesting Q&A session.
Brush up your Endings skills with IM Nigel Povah
We were delighted that Nigel Povah from Guildford Chess Club joined us. Nigel is a very experienced International Master, Correspondence Grandmaster and respected author. He gave a lecture about endings, including some key concepts, illustrative games and problems for the audience to solve.
Camberley vs Bon Accord Aberdeen Match
On Tuesday 4th May Camberley played Bon Accord Chess Club of Aberdeen in a friendly match on Chess.com. It was only our second online match, after the one against Isle of Wight in April. Camberley captain Paul Sloane did a good job of fielding a strong team, and we were very pleased to see Neil Bridge back after a lockdown lay-off.
Other Camberley members viewed the live games (admittedly after some teething troubles seeing the live games) and commentary was provided by John Upham, Colin Purdon and others. There were some very exciting games and the 20min/10sec increment time limit kept it brief whilst also allowing some quality chess.
Overall Camberley won the match 12.5 -7.5; it was very even on the top boards but Camberley outgraded Bon Accord considerably on the lower boards and this was reflected in the scores. But the main result was that it was a fun match played in a good spirit.
It was great to welcome some of the Bon Accord team onto the Zoom meeting after their games finished, especially their captain Hamish, who we thank for taking up our challenge and for being a fun opponent.
Match versus Isle of Wight with Live Commentary
On Tuesday 20th April a team of 6 from Camberley Chess Club played an online match versus Isle of Wight Chess Club on Chess.com. Each player had two games against the same opponent at a time limit of 20 mins plus 5 sec increment. In parallel there was a Zoom meeting where a running commentary on the games was given by experienced club members. The commentary was pitched at beginners and intermediate players to help them understand the games.
An Evening with Michael Adams GM
We were excited to announce that Grandmaster Michael Adams will be our star guest. Michael is the long-time UK number 1, former world number 4, candidates finalist and has been British champion 7 times. He talked us through some games and there was a Q&A session where members asked questions.
Michael also did a post of this event on his website http://www.michaeladamschess.co.uk/2021/04/camberley-chess-club-talk/
GO – An introduction to the ancient game by Mark Payne
This week our talk will not be about chess! Instead, club member Mark Payne will introduce us to the ancient Chinese game of Go, which is renowned for being extremely profound and complex despite its relatively simple rules. Mark is an experienced Go player and was introduced to the game by the British champion.
A summary and some games from the 2021 Magnus Carlsen Invitational
This week’s meeting featured a talk by Colin Lyne – A summary and some games from the 2021 Magnus Carlsen Invitational.
The Morra Gambit – A Free Pawn by Ken Coates
Following on from our last session with Andrew Martin on various gambits, this week’s meeting will feature a talk by Ken Coates from Crowthorne Chess Club about the Morra Gambit.
This is an ambitious plan for white against the Sicilian and has a long history. Ken is a good friend of CCC and an excellent coach, and his lecture is sure to be entertaining and informative.
Gambit to Victory by IM Andrew Martin
Respected Author and International Master Andrew Martin presents a number of gambits to be aware of.
Some games from The Keith Richardson Tournament 2020 by Clive Frostick
Clive Frostick, from Farnham Chess Club, will talk us through some of his games from our recent 2020 Keith Richardson Memorial Tournament. This also doubled as the Camberley Chess Club’s annual championship, which was won by Julien Shepley. It was played on-line for the first time, on the Lichess platform.
The Candidates 2020-21 Part 1 – some of the games by Colin Lyne
Colin Lyne shows us some of the games from the 2020–21 Candidates Tournament. The tournament is an eight-player chess double round-robin tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2021. The winner will earn the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
The first half of the tournament was played in Yekaterinburg, Russia, from 17 March to 25 March 2020. It was suspended at the halfway point due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Ian Nepomniachtchi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave sharing the lead. The tournament was initially scheduled to resume in November 2020, but later it was postponed to the spring of 2021.
Rewire Your Chess Brain by IM Cyrus Lakdawala
Prolific author and International Master Cyrus Lakdawala presented selected material from his new Everyman Chess book “Rewire your Chess Brain”..
Some games and quotes from Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen was one of the world’s best players during the 1960’s and 70’s, and was also a notable author. Mark Taylor from Crowthorne Chess Club will talk us through some of the Great Dane’s best games with some entertaining quotes included along the way.
Christmas 2020 – Quiz Event
This year the Christmas Quiz Event was held online:
The Queens Gambit – the games of Beth Harmon by Paul Sloane
The recent Netflix series “The Queens Gambit” has boosted the public’s interest in chess. If you enjoyed the series and would like to find out more about the games played by Beth Harmon then join Camberley Chess Club’s weekly Zoom meeting. Club treasurer and former club champion Paul Sloane will talk us through some of the games, all of which are based on real Grandmaster encounters, and which were selected for the series by legendary former world champion Gary Kasparov.
3 great games from Colin Lyne, Bobby Fischer & Gary Kasparov
Our weekly Zoom meeting presented by Colin Lyne, showing us 3 great games from Colin Lyne, Bobby Fischer & Gary Kasparov!
Tony Williams on Tigran Petrosian
Our weekly Zoom meeting presented by Tony Williams on the subject of the 9th World Chess Champion, Tigran Petrosian
Colin Purdon discussing games from the recent Altibox tournament
Our weekly Zoom meeting presented by Colin Purdon discussing games from the recent Altibox tournament
Attacking the King with IM Andrew Martin
International Master and Camberley Chess Club member, Andrew Martin presents “Attacking the King”
Chess by Postcard with Colin Lyne
Once upon a time, before the days of strong analysis engines, correspondence chess was a worthy activity for players to learn openings, practice middlegame and endings.
Strong correspondence players tended to be potentially strong OTB players.
Colin Lyne will take us through some of his earliest postal games.
The Nimzo-Indian Defence with Colin Lyne
On Tuesday, October 13th 2020, noted correspondence chess and openings expert Colin Lyne demonstrated plans, strategies and ideas in the popular Nimzo-Indian Defence and the related Bogo-Indian and Queen’s Indian Defences.
Grandmaster Keith Arkell guests at a weekly Zoom session
Grandmaster Keith Arkell guests at a weekly Zoom session for Camberley Chess Club to discuss two games in detail. First a very technical double rook ending from a Smyslov Caro-Kann and secondly a win against GM Julian Hodgson from the Sutton Congress.
