Last night I played my first game of chess with my son. We played for 15 minutes and the image shows how well it went for me : I am “white” – and I’ve already lost a knight!

I’m hoping for some improvement tonight, having watched a really helpful YouTube video. Now I know a key strategic principle which I should avoid violating at all costs. (I also stumbled across the term “castling” in this video. Further investigation reveals this to be even more complicated than the off-side rule in football, so I don’t think I’m going to take that move any further at the moment!)

I’ll be playing again tonight and I’ll be keeping my top tip to myself to until after we’ve gone head-to-head 🙂 . I wonder if he’ll notice any difference …..

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT