Interestingly, the final move we’re referring to isn’t Checkmate! This Sunday, 8thof July 2018, Crobs’ Chess will be moving back to Dome Midland. Permanently – which explains the blog’s title. Unfortunately, Café Di Mondo has closed for business yet again. Although the café has been home to Crobs’ for years, venue uncertainty is not something we wish to constantly address. Nor do we want our group members to be…
The long and the short of it for the Crobs’ team is that chess is a great game. Interestingly, those terms can be applied to chess in quite a few other ways … SHORT A checkmate in only two moves… is that possible? It sure is! “Fool’s mate” is a sequence where Black achieves this in two short moves: Move 1 – g4 e5 Move 2 – f4 Qh4…
Six months ago, as competitors in the London Chess Classic prepared for their matches, rumours began circling amongst the international chess community that the best chess program in the world, Stockfish, had just been beaten. By an A.I. system that had taught itself chess in only four hours with no access to opening books or endgame tables.
Jay-Z only had 99 problems but he may have had more if he was a Chess960 player. Originally named Fischer Random Chess and occasionally referred to as New Chess by its creator and former world chess champion, Bobby Fischer; Chess960 is one of the more well known variants of the game. In February, we blogged about chess variants and revealed our intention to explore a different one each month beginning…
As many readers of our blog will know, the Crobs’ ethos is to cultivate community connection and reduce the prevalence of social isolation amongst Perth residents. Whilst we love bringing people together through chess, the Crobs’ team is also passionate about fostering a culture of greater inclusion to ensure people with disability feel kinship with their local community and to improve their accessibility to community activities and events. Last December,…
In our March blog, we were excited to announce the news of our nomination in two categories of the 2018 WA Disability Support Awards. So we’re twice as excited to reveal the Crobs’ team was selected as one of the three finalists in the category of Excellence in Home & Family Support. A huge surprise and an accolade we are humbled by, as we know what an amazingly talented, passionate and…
Fostering community connection has always been our ethos, so we are extremely grateful when others connect with Crobs’ and use their resources to help us achieve our vision. This blog post is a small token of our appreciation for the many people and organisations that assist us in keeping Crobs’ functioning whether through attendance, provision of venue, partnership, press coverage or promotion. A massive thank you to the Crobs’ members and…
It’s no secret that chess is a complex game. Many attendees of Crobs’ social chess meetings have played for years and quite a few members have clocked over a decade of experience at the chessboard yet none would claim mastery. Despite the challenge chess poses for the average person, the Crobs’ team were surprised to discover the existence of over 2000 published variations, according to the estimate given by David…
As some of you may know, I jump on a train every Wednesday morning to St Bartholomew’s House, a homeless shelter in East Perth, and provide residents with the opportunity to learn or play chess. During this week’s session, just as I had gotten myself settled in front of the chessboard with a coffee and about to make my first move, a monotone voice cut through the silence of the room…