The BSB Journal 2023-2024 Issue 5

The Young Journalists Club is made up of students from Years 5 and 6. Our aim is to report on events and points of interest within the school community.

Please click here to see The BSB Journal 2023-2024 Issue 1 on why we chose Young Journalist Club as our Co-Curricular Activities (CCA).

Chess hints and Interview with Mr. Karl Raine

By Alistair and Adam

As members of the chess team, we wanted to find out some tips and hints about chess and also interviewed Mr. Karl Raine in the process.

Adam: Hello Mr. Rein may we interview you?

Mr. Raine: That would be a lovely honour thank you very much.

Adam: How long have you been playing chess for?

Mr. Raine: I started playing chess back in London when I was 16 years old with my best friend. I wasn’t very good, it took me a long time to get better. In my mid 20’s it was hard to find people to play with so I decide to play online, and when I came to this school I thought it would be a great opportunity to open a chess club.

Adam: Did you use a chess website to help you develop you chess-playing?

Mr. Raine: I used chess.com.

Adam: Ahh, still the most popular website!

Mr. Raine: Yes, but I also preferred chesskids.com which is a little easier then chess.com.

Adam: Do you recommend that for beginners?

Mr. Raine: I would recommend that for beginners and intermediates yes.

Alistair: Would you recommend any tactics for beginners?

Mr. Raine: For beginners you just need to learn the pieces and make sure that you’re moving the pieces. You also need to understand the difference between check and checkmate. And one very simple technique is always try and control the middle and use your Pawns as often as can.

Adam: Best strategy ever!

Mr. Raine: Exactly.

Alistair: How long have you been teaching chess at BSB?

Mr. Raine: I think I started organizing the chess club around January last year or should I say this year at least.

Adam: That is very big surprise because you are a very good player.

Mr. Raine: I wouldn’t say I’m that good. However, I’m good at teaching it. I actually have to admit something to you:  I’m a bit nervous teaching the advanced team because I’m scared that I will make a mistake.

Alistair: What’s your favourite chess piece?

Mr. Raine: I think my favourite chess piece is the pawn because I think they have the potential to be very powerful pieces because there is so many of them. But recently I’ve come to love the Assassin which is the Bishop because I really enjoy trying to trick those who can see it happening. I would have to say horses are pretty good as well because they’re a bit like the Assassin because you can’t see what they are going to do because of their strange shape, and you can do a lot of horse forks which is one of my best strategies.

Adam+Alistair: Thank you for your time!

Chess Tips:

If you’re new to chess or you haven’t even played chess before, you probably don’t know a lot about chess, that’s why we made this, The chess advice (for beginners). One thing to know about chess and in my opinion is the most important thing to know is the pieces and how they move, so that’s what we’re going to talk about this week.

Number one is the Pawn - a small piece with a circular head and a very curved body, looks like this:

Now whatever side you are the on the Pawn will be the same, only with a different colour. The Pawn can move forward only except for when it is taking another piece, in which it will move diagonally, and for your first move you can move two steps, as for anytime else only one (including taking another piece). There are 8 Pawns on each side and they go on the second row, in front of all the other pieces.

Number two is the Bishop it has a little dot on its head and has a cut on its head, like a mouth. This is what it looks like:

The Bishop is very simple, it can move diagonally as much as it wants as long as nothing blocks it’s way. It kills diagonally in an infinite range and is placed besides the King and Queen. 

Number three is the Knight. The knight looks like a horse. This is it:

The Knight is not that simple, but also not that complex. It can jump over pieces in its way except for if they are blocking it’s destination when it will kill them. The Knight moves in a r/l shape moving 3 steps forward/back and one step right/left. The Knight is very unique because it is the only one that can move it that way making it impossible to kill when it is about to kill you. It is placed next to the Bishop. 

Number four - the Rook. The Rook looks like a castle tower, it looks like this:

The Rook is very simple it can move forward, backwards and sideways in a straight line and like the bishop, it stops if it comes across something and kills it. It is placed next to the knight.

Number five - the Queen. The Queen is a very powerful piece, it looks like this:

The Queen is the most powerful piece asit can move in anyway, forever unless it meets another piece, it can move diagonally, forwards, sideways, and backwards, except for the way the Knight moves. It is placed next to the King, in the middle on its own colour.

Number 6 - the King. The King looks like this:

The King moves pretty similar to the queen the only thing is the King can only move 1 square but in any direction. The King is the most valuable piece which you should protect with everything you can because if the other side traps your King, you lose, that is called checkmate (more about that another time). The King is placed in the middle on its opposite colour next to the Queen.

Written up by Alistair – Year 6.

Click here to read more about the Primary Chess Club