When I saw this quick and simple demolition of a game featuring two ladies of Chess from the early 1900s, I had to feature it!
Mary Mills Houlding was a major player in the women’s Chess world. She was British Women’s Champion in 1910, 1911, and 1914. She’s also close to my heart because she lived for a great deal of her life in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales (before this country of mine was even called Australia!)
Her games, despite there not being many recorded, are wonderful and well worth a look.
Focus on…
This is an example of a common but hard to spot checkmate pattern. Listen as the pieces make their way to the positions for the attack, and spot the moments where Black allows it to happen.
Game Audio: Close your eyes and follow along with an entire Chess game using the audio below. On each move, try to clearly picture the position and understand how it has changed. Try to follow the game until the end to stretch the amount of moves you can see ahead.