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General guidelines: 1.- We will use the private chat for our internal deliberations as a team (and the public chat to greet and encourage the other club and all). 2.- Each player will vote the move that honestly believes best without having to previously consult the opinion of others. 3.- However, we pledge not to be impulsive and think before voting to try to find the strongest move. We also commit ourselves to consult the chat beforehand in case there is any consideration that may be useful before deciding the move (another advantage of not being impulsive is that in case of a tie chess.com takes the last vote cast). 4.- We encourage everyone to comment in the chat what we think is the strongest move (and if possible, explaining why). We can also question the opinions of others, but without ever entering into personal disqualifications (we only discuss chess with absolute respect for the chess player, no matter how crazy was what the player says). 5.- Convinced that the best way to learn is from mistakes, we are willing to learn a lot and never get irritated no matter how big our collective mistake was. (If anyone can think of any further guidance, please leave it in comments). In this link you will find the voting games the Catholic Chess Club are playing: https://www.chess.com/club/votechess/catholic-chess-club. If you can, join them all, the more the merrier!

Please share your lighthearted jokes, funny anecdotes, and amusing experiences that beautifully merge Catholicism and chess. Whether you have a clever chess joke or a respectful and hilarious story that intertwines with Catholicism, this forum eagerly awaits your contributions. Get ready to laugh out loud, engage in witty exchanges, and unravel the delightful fusion of faith and strategy!

Let's work together: This Forum is a tool for collaboration. By sharing your feedback, we can work together to create a better Catholic Chess Club for everyone.

This Forum keeps you updated on our current daily chess tournaments, allowing you to actively engage and strengthen our presence in the chess.com community. In 2024, we're competing in the ONE WORLD League (1WL) in the following categories: Open, under-1600, under-1400, under-1200, and Chess960 open. Additionally, we participate in the 1WL Classic, similar to the leagues but just for a limited number of boards. We play the categories Open, under-1700 and under-1300. Our participation extends to the COPA HISPANA DE CLUBES, honoring our Spanish-speaking members, who specially encouraged to participate! We also participate in the Chess Club Tour (CCT) - Chess, Snakes and Ladders, a creative tournament inspired by the traditional Indian game but played on a chessboard. Through team matches, we progress with the goal of reaching the FINISH square.

CCT Chess, Snakes, and Ladders: 2023 Winner! "Chess, Snakes, and Ladders” is the never-ending tournament organized by the Club Chess Tour (CCT), based on the popular old Indian game of snakes and ladders, but played on a chess board. In 2023, after playing 16 games, the Catholic Chess Club reached the finish square and was awarded this beautiful trophy—the Club's first one!

As you may know, our beloved heavenly father, Pope Francis passed away at 7:35 Easter Monday morning. I hope to use this forum as a center of prayer for his soul's easy passage to heaven. Let us celebrate Pope Francis' life, by remembering him as a true advocate of Love and God. I would like to invite you to pray the rosary with me at 2:45 Pacific Daylight Time Monday the 21st for the soul of Pope Francis.

In Matthew 1:23, the virgin birth of Jesus is described, stating that it fulfills the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." I want to discuss this here! In the original Hebrew verse, it is written as follows: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin (הָעַלְמָה֙ - ha·al·mah) is with child and will give birth to a son, and will call his name Immanuel." Matthew translates the word "עלמה" (almah) as "virgin" and thus claims that the Messiah is supposed to be born of a virgin. This is what we are going to examine! To examine this, it is important to understand a bit about Hebrew grammar. In Hebrew, there is a difference in addressing a male and addressing a female, not only in nouns like "bachur" (young man) and "bachura" (young woman) but in every address, such as "bo le'po" (come here - to a male) and "bo'i le'po" (come here - to a female). Another thing is that in Hebrew, there are words composed of a certain "root," meaning the letters that are the basis of the word, to which other letters are added that express the context, etc. The word "עלמה" (almah) appears many times in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), sometimes in the context of a virgin girl, but the question is whether this is the literal meaning or not. In 1 Samuel 17:55, it is said about David, "Whose son is this youth (הַֽנַּעַר֙ - ha·na·ar)?" In verse 56 it says "Inquired Abner, 'Whose son is that young man (הָעֶלֶם֙ - hā·‘e·lem)?" The word "עלם" ('elem) is the root of the word "עלמה" ('almah) with a "ה-" (ha-) added to express that it is feminine. That is, the word is exactly the same word, only in a male and female form. Now, it is important to understand that there is no word that describes a male virgin in Hebrew, and there is no meaning for male virginity in Hebrew. So, to know what the root "עלם" ('elem) means in the female form, we simply have to check what it means in the male form! And since in the male form the meaning cannot be "virgin" because there is no such concept in Hebrew, it must be that even when it is in the female form, "עלמה" ('almah) does not mean virgin (it might be that she is a virgin, but that is not the meaning of the word). So why does Matthew write "virgin"? And even Christian translations translate the root "עלם" ('elem) in every place it appears in the male form as "young man" and not "virgin," so why is it different here? The obvious answer is that indeed, this is not necessarily the meaning of the word, but Matthew copied from the Septuagint, which translates it that way, and the reason it translates it that way is because of the context of the "sign." For if she is a regular young woman, then there is no "sign" here, therefore it must be that she is a virgin. There are several problems with this claim. First, the unfairness of quoting a verse through interpretation instead of quoting the exact verse. Another thing is the claim that if she is a regular young woman, then there is no "sign." The problem is that in Hebrew, there is a difference between "אות" ('ot) - sign, and "מופת" (mofet) - wonder, supernatural sign. A "mofet" is something supernatural, and an "אות" ('ot) is a sign, not necessarily supernatural. Therefore, the young woman can be regular, and it will still be a sign because it doesn't have to be supernatural. Moreover, what exactly is the sign of a virgin birth that no one can see and prove? It might be supernatural, but "אות" ('ot) is not! Third, this creates an absurdity because it is clear that the verse comes to give a "sign," and if we translate the verse literally without any interpretation, the verse said that a young woman will give birth and did not say a virgin, while the whole sign is that she is a virgin? It's like I would say I'm giving you a sign that tomorrow you will meet a person! And I expect you to understand by yourself that it's a person 100 meters tall because otherwise, what's the sign...? And the sign can be anything supernatural (according to the understanding that it must be supernatural), it doesn't have to be a virgin! So here the question arises, why did the Jewish Septuagint really translate it that way? The answer is that the Jewish Septuagint was originally written only for the five books of the Torah, and until about 300 CE, all the books of the Tanakh were translated by Christians. The Septuagint we have is not the original; the oldest copy is from the 4th-5th century CE, completely Christian! And why would Matthew copy from the Septuagint and not copy from the original? All this leads to the more logical conclusion that Matthew did not copy from the Septuagint but changed the verse to make it look like it was talking about a virgin, and then the Septuagint translated the word as Matthew wrote it!!!

I recently had a debate with a buddy from my church about the new immigration laws and the morality of them. This letter from the pope really helped me if anyone here also runs into that trouble. https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2025/02/11/0127/00261.pdf

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I pray and hope all is well. I thought about starting a new Forum where we can include instances where saints or Catholicism have connections with chess. If anyone else finds any others, feel free to include them on this post. On October 15th, the Catholic Church remembers St. Theresa of Avila, who is the patron saint of chess. Here is an article I found and how she used chess in one of her writings and even taught the game to a soldier. http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/St%20Teresa.htm#:~:text=Teresa%20(Teresa%20Sanchez%20de%20Cepeda,the%20patron%20saint%20of%20headaches.  On November 4th, The Catholic Church remembers St. Charles Borromeo. He also enjoyed playing chess. Here is an article with a story in which he was playing a game of chess and was asked what he would do if he knew he would die in an hour, he said that he would continue with his game of chess. Here is the article below. https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/audio/play-games-god/  Another saint I learned about (from SanctiFranciscus) was that St. Maximilian Kolbe (August 14th is his memorial) was a good chess player too. Here is an article from a priest who was in seminary with Kolbe, and he mentioned briefly about him playing chess.  https://www.ncregister.com/news/the-priest-who-knew-st-maximilian-kolbe-dkl8sxwi Finally (for now), the Ruy Lopez is a very popular opening. That opening is named from a 16th century Spanish priest named Ruy López de Segura. He also wrote the first ever chess book in 1561 and was an opening theorist. Here is an article on him and his life and all his works. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruy_L%C3%B3pez_de_Segura Any other contributions are welcome!  Pax et Bonum Deus Meus et Omnia, Br. Austin Cambon, O.F.M. Cap.

Lincoln-Douglas debate rules. No strawmanning. Attack ideas, not people. Remember that the vast majority of ideas are wrong in some way, and this is an aid to refine ideas, not to score points. Make your criticisms as gently as you can.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I pray and hope all is well. I found a really interesting king and pawn endgame from YouTube that I thought was worth sharing. In this endgame, there are many things you need to understand regarding king and pawn endgames. In this position, there are 2 questions I want to leave you with. It is White to move in this position. What is the result? A) White wins; B) Draw; C) Black wins Once the question is answered, explain why and provide the best analysis possible and assume the best moves played.

As Catholics, are we all rooting for Notre Dame in the college football playoffs?

Dear members / Queridos miembros, We want everyone to enjoy and grow as a strong club on Chess.com. However, for tournament matches where we still have chances to do good, we may need to remove players with a rating difference of 200-300 points or more, depending on the overall lineup, as scoring for the club becomes highly unlikely in such pairings (though not impossible). This helps the club stay competitive and avoid overwhelming challenges and defeats. In friendly matches, all rating differences are welcome—even if the difference is 1000 points (though it may be a tough battle!). Thank you for your understanding and continued support! --- Queremos que todos disfruten y crezcamos como un club fuerte en Chess.com. Sin embargo, en los encuentros de torneo donde aún tengamos posibilidades de hacer un buen papel, puede que tengamos que excluir a jugadores con una diferencia de rating de 200-300 puntos o más, dependiendo de cómo vaya nuestra alineación, ya que las probabilidades de puntuar para el club en estos casos es bajísima (aunque no imposible). Esto nos ayudará a mantenernos competitivos y evitar derrotas abrumadores. En los encuentros amistosos, todas las diferencias de rating son bienvenidas, ¡incluso si es de 1000 puntos (aunque resulte una partida muy difícil)! ¡Gracias por vuestra comprensión y apoyo continuo!

Dear All, Wishing you all a blessed new year! I wanted to ask for your help in an interesting research project we are conducting at our university in the personality types and chess. More details and link to the survey are in my blog below: https://www.chess.com/blog/nfogaras/research-into-how-gms-differ-from-other-chess-players Thank you! Norbert

As Catholics, are we all rooting for Notre Dame in the college football playoffs?

Mine is St. Ignatius of Loyola, because of his awesome conversion story.

Hey guys, I am trying to pray a bit more and all. Are there any intentions that you might have, that I could dedicate some of my prayers too? 

Hello, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am currently discerning my calling in life and feel strongly called to the priesthood. There are two topics, however, which I have been focusing my study on for the last few weeks. The New Mass vs. The Latin Mass seems to be a pretty big difference in every way. I was honestly surprised to learn that the Latin Mass is not just a Latin translation - it is so much more! It has all the traditional prayers and everything which Vatican 2 said was not exactly required and therefore established Novus Ordo. My questions for you is: Is Novus Ordo still worthy of the praise God deserves/ is it really correct? Is it just inferior to the Latin Mass? And was Vatican 2 really just a terrible decision in Catholic history? Thank you, ChristoRedemptor (soon to be seminarian hopefully)

For those who like to do novenas, the Feast Day for Our Lady of Sorrows is on the 15th of September. Many groups are starting their Our Lady of Sorrows Novena on the 6th, so I figured I would give you all a heads-up. Here's the novena that I will be using, if you're looking for one. 

https://medium.com/@aboutsoutheastasiaandbeyond/out-of-topics-the-blessing-of-pok%C3%A9mon-by-pope-john-paul-ii-in-2000-dcdc26fc85ef