Editorial

By Lorin D'Costa, Founder and CEO of She Plays To Win

June marks the end of the school academic year, and with it the close of this year's She Plays To Win activities. We will be back in September — more details on the new academic year launch to come very soon.

Before the summer, we still have two big events this month. July's newsletter will carry full reports of both.

Sunday 21st June — Pairs Invitational, London. Eight of the top male players will pair up with our She Plays To Win Athena Final winners for a unique alternate-moves chess event.

Friday 26th June — She Plays To Win Secondary Schools Series: a chess, maths and STEM day for girls aged 12-14, featuring:

- Chess puzzles and games with She Plays To Win

- Chess-related maths problems with We Solve Problems

- Female STEM leader talks and digital technology with Get With The Program

She Plays To Win is committed to doing more work with schools, particularly around maths and STEM. Just 8% of girls participate in chess — not only in the UK but in most countries worldwide. Low STEM numbers at A level and university are a direct consequence of girls being discouraged from an early age. Using chess as an educational tool, we want to help change that for the future workforce.

Read more about our mission: https://www.sheplaystowin.co.uk/mission

Lorin D'Costa
Founder & CEO, She Plays To Win
Charity Number: 1210171
sheplaystowin.co.uk

She Plays To Win v Rocket Blitz Match — Saturday 30th May

The Otter Chaos board games café in Brixton, South London, was the scene of a very special event on Saturday 30th May.

Seven strong, experienced male players rated 1900–2250 FIDE took on seven selected girls representing She Plays To Win in a blitz match across the afternoon.

The girls rose to the occasion — winning 45 to 39 across 84 games. Well done, girls!

The match in full swing at Otter Chaos, Brixton.

Donny top scored for the Rocket men's team with 11.5/14 games.

Eunice top scored for the She Plays To Win team, also with 11.5/14 games.

Both took home £100 for their outstanding efforts.

Twelve-year-old Lam Vy takes on her Rocket opponent at Otter Chaos.

Girls like 12-year-old Lam Vy got to pit their wits against far more experienced players. Here, Lam Vy survived a difficult opening and middlegame before outplaying her opponent in the blitz finish with just seconds remaining on the clock.

The Otter Chaos board games café is a fantastic venue and the beginning of a new collaboration — it will serve as a new London base for small chess settings for She Plays To Win.

Check out their website: https://www.otterchaos.co.uk/

Diary of a Secret Chess Girl

Dear Diary,

A few days ago, I played in an adult match at my local chess club. My opponent played the Ruy Lopez (Spanish game) and, after analysing the game afterwards, I realised they were an extremely experienced player. They played a solid opening and pushed my pieces back, advanced on my king, opened it up with pawns and eventually checkmated me.

One week later, I played a standard match — but against a junior instead. I played my preferred opening variation and won quickly by checkmate. Playing children is quite different to playing adults. Adults tend to play solid, indestructible openings, while juniors tend to play more risky and aggressive ones. Always look out for sneaky and surprising moves, and if you see a good move, try to find a better one! Fight for the centre, avoid opening traps, look for checks and captures — and you are already off to a good start.

Yesterday, I was helping to solve chess puzzles in my sister's book and came across a very interesting endgame study. It was in the section "Pawn Endings". It is Black to play:

In this position, the best move for Black is pawn to c5. The idea is that after White takes, Black takes the distant opposition. The White king is on the fifth rank behind the pawn — and that is always a draw.

Chess.com, Chesskid and Lichess are great ways to play chess, solve puzzles, and learn about openings, middlegames and endgames.

Thank you for reading — I hope you take my pieces of advice on board!

Chesskid

Well done to the following girls for winning 1-1 lessons by coming 1st and 2nd in the Puzzles and Stars leaderboards for May. These girls all win 1-1 lessons with Woman International Master Coach Cami! https://lichess.org/@/Cami3