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Andy's chess
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The chess diary of a hard-worked club secretary, team captain and ardent player. Current | Jan-July 2008 | Sept-Dec 2007 | April-June 07 | Jan-Mar 2007 | 200624 June Round 4 - my game My fourth round game was against yet another 130 graded player, David Boulden. My 1.e4 was met with 1...c5. Last year I was white against the Sicilian twice and won both games. This year I had decided that I would play 2.f4 if I got the opportunity. I had looked at a few games where white sacrifices his queen in the opening and quite fancied a go at it myself. Alas, to my horror, I found myself instinctively picking up my king's knight and so any preparation had just gone out the window. I ended up in a Sveshnikov Variation and played the inferior move 12.Nxe7 instead of the more popular 12.Bxf6 (better as white's knight retains its outpost on d5). The most annoying thing about that move was that I knew that 12.Bxf6 was the correct move to make. It was almost as if someone else was in my head, forcing me to make moves I didn't want to play. Mind you, by move 15 I don't think anybody was in my head as I sacrificed my knight on b5. My only explanation for this gift was that my position was already bad and somehow, I managed to convince myself that I would get enough compensation, in the form of passed a and b pawns. Needless to say, I had miscalculated. I had worked out that after 19...Qh4 attacking my e4 pawn twice, I could play 20.f3 and still be in the game. David's queen was actually on f6 when I thought of this brilliant defence. Now however it was on h4 pinning my f pawn to my king. Actually, while trying to come up with a way to stay in the game, I wondered why he had not played 19...Qg6! hitting my g2 pawn as well and probably prompting me to resign. It was only this that encouraged me to play on. Maybe, if he didn't make the best moves and I did, I might scrape a draw but after my blunder on move 23, where I gave a rook away for nothing, I had to face reality and resigned. Round 4 - clubmates Lewis also happened to face a Sicilian in his match with Patrick Coleman. He played rather more conservatively than I did however and it ended even after 26 moves. It was as though he had not yet got over the shock of his third round defeat. Not a single pawn did he sacrifice. So unlike Lewis' first game. Dave McMath's encounter with Peter Shaw of Windermere also ended in a draw, which meant that at least one of us had achieved their goal for the day. Dave Siddall broke his run of defeats with a draw against Jim Nicolson from Manchester. Interval One good thing about an early finish is a longer lunch break. So Lewis and I headed for the town in search of food and a couple of pints of beer. We sat in the Commodore and tried to convince ourselves that it was not winning but taking part that was the most important aspect of chess, but that depression didn't last long. Soon we were talking about how we were going to win the final round and headed back more determined than ever. Round 5 When I saw who my opponent was for the last game, I was pleased to see that he was actually graded less than me and commented to Trevor Blower (the South Lakes Congress organiser for as long as anyone can remember) that he must have run out of 130 graded players to pit against me. My opponent, Ian Biddick (108 ECF), opened with 1.Nf3 and after 2.c4 we were in a kind of English opening which I unsuccessfully tried to turn into a kind of Grunfeld Defence. I knew I was not exactly on form for this tournament but I didn't think that I would be completely outplayed by a player of his grade. By move 17 I was in an almost hopeless position (no hope of winning anyway) and was rather taken aback when he offered a draw. OK, I was determined to win but this was one time when my head was working right and I took his kind offer. His reason for offering a draw was that he had better things to do with his afternoon than sitting at a chess board. I found his explanation a bit odd as we spent the next hour or so in the analysis room, where he pointed out where I went wrong in the opening. It turned out that he had been graded much higher in the past but had not played much for a few years and that a friend had persuaded him to enter this competition. Lewis had the white side of yet another Sicilian, against Clifford Hansen. This time Lewis was playing in his usual aggressive style but pushed a bit too hard and had to endure a fierce counter attack. He managed to defend and the ensuing endgame was agreed drawn when all that remained were a few pawns each and opposite colour bishops. Dave McMath tried to hold out against Andrew Price of Leamington after losing a pawn but to no avail. Outcomes So no prize money for any of us this year. Only one win between us. Well done Lewis. By the way, the little girl that Lewis played in round 2, Rachel Cass, never lost a game and took 2nd prize. Could be a name to look out for in the future. We didn't hang around for the prize giving ceremony as it was still two hours away. So we left for home leaving Dave Siddall still battling it out against Gordon Christie, who I managed to beat last year in the second round. We later learned that Dave had indeed won, so we managed two wins between four of us. Not the best tournament result I've ever had but I don't think it will put me off entering again next year. Ben Morgan, of Windermere CC and Cumbria Individual Champion, had an excellent tournament, coming second in the open after holding an on-form Stuart Haslinger to a draw in the last round. I must also congratulate Neil Jones of Cockermouth CC, and one of the heroes of our latest county match, on his performance in the Minor 1, where he came equal first. For the results table, click on the link in the right hand column. |
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11 June 2007 The South Lakes Congress was held as usual at the Cumbria Grand Hotel in Grange-over-Sands. The first round was at 6.30 pm on Friday, June 1st. Dave Siddall, having booked a room at the hotel, was Penrith's only representative in this round. Playing in the Major (160 ECF and under), Dave had White against Richard Collins of Lancaster but didn't manage to find his form and lost the game. Dave McMath, myself and my son, Lewis, joined the competition on Saturday morning, having taken byes in the first round. Dave McMath was in the Major, I was in the Intermediate ( 130 ECF and below) and Lewis in the Minor II ( 90 ECF and below). Round 2 Round 2 started at 9.30 am, which proved to be a little too early for yours truly, as I managed to lose a knight after only 14 moves! I was playing the black side of a Scotch Gambit, essayed by Thomas Whitaker (130 ECF), who was, no doubt, looking to avenge his defeat of round 4 last year, when his queen sacrifice worked out in my favour. After wasting a lot of tempi by moving my queen's bishop four times by move 11, I was, quite rightly, punished and should have lost the game, but for reasons only he can explain Thomas placed his queen on e2, occupying a vital square needed by his king to avoid the perpetual check, which would have occurred if Thomas had not offered a draw immediately upon realising his blunder. Dave McMath lost to Edward Keogh of Preston after going a pawn down. Dave struggled on valiantly but eventually had to concede defeat. Dave Siddall again had no luck, going down to Michael Connor. Lewis fared rather better. Having not played an over-the-board game for about three years, he was not too confident of his prospects but won very convincingly after sacrificing his way to his opponent's king. Lunch As it was a warm, sunny day, Lewis and I walked the short distance to the village for fish and chips at the local chippy and a pint in the Commodore. By now Lewis was already working out what he would spend his £300 winnings on. The fact that he had three more games to play did nothing to dampen his confidence. Round 3 The result of his next game did, however. When he sat down for round 3, he found that sitting opposite him was a little girl aged about 10. Lewis made the mistake of not giving every opponent the respect they deserve. Rachel Cass (56 ECF) played a sensible opening and Lewis, sure that she would eventually slip up, played a careless 11th move which Rachel calmly exploited to the full, forcing resignation on move 15. Lewis was gutted but, hopefully, he will have learned something from that brevity. I managed to play the opening rather better in my encounter with Mike Haslinger (130 ECF). With white, I sac'd a pawn against what seemed like a cross between a Pirc and a Caro-Kann, in order to hinder his development. I managed to get a good position for my pawn but the game fizzled out and I accepted his draw offer on move 41. Dave Siddall got an easy full point after he was given a forced bye. Dave McMath looked to be heading for a win with rook and knight against rook, with Robert Everson's king restricted to his first rank. The last time he looked, he was ten minutes ahead on time with 20 minutes left on his clock, and with the win in sight was shocked when Robert pointed out that his flag had fallen. Dave was so sure that time would not be an issue that he had forgotten to watch the clock! Evening I think I managed to cheer Dave up, on the way home, at Lewis' expense, and we all ended up looking forward to the next day and the last two rounds. |
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23 May 2007 Three Penrith players represented Cumbria in the Inter County quarter final against Nottinghamshire. Phillippe Gleizon of Cockermouth CC had agreed to pick us up at 12 o'clock for a 2 pm start at Leeds. He arrived, just 10 minutes late, with Neil Jones, a replacement for one of Barrow's players who had to drop out at the last minute. Fortunately, Dave Siddall, Neil and myself, probably weigh less than 30 stone between us and so were able to fit, quite comfortably, in the back of Phillippe's small car. With Dave McMath sitting up front, we set off. Getting there Phillippe was very confident that we would find the venue, as he had a satellite navigation device which was nattering away, in French, for the duration of the two hour journey. I don't actually speak French but it would seem that left and right must sound very similar and "Tournez autour, vous idiot: vous allez la manière fausse." must be a common French phrase. Surprisingly, we made good time and were not the last to arrive at our destination, a small community centre in the middle of a large suburb which appeared to have few other amenities. The nearest shop was about 20 minutes walk away and not a pub in sight! Early finishers The match got under way at about 2.15 pm and Dave McMath's game was one of the first three to finish. Dave, played a French Defence, on board 5, against Kevin Harvey. Kevin played for a Milner-Barry Gambit but Dave declined to take the second pawn. Sadly, Dave soon regretted this, as he went down to a king's side attack. The other early finishers were also in Nottinghamshire's favour. Already 3-0 down, out of sixteen boards, it looked like we were going to get a real stuffing. Then Neil Jones pulled one back for us. After losing a pawn to John Tassi, graded 25 points higher, Neil managed to win with his trusty Sicilian Defence. The next four or five games all ended in draws. Then we lost another, but an excellent win in the endgame by Ian Mackay cancelled that one out. My game My game, on board 11 against Notts' captain, Neil Grahame, was quite interesting. After Neil's 1. d4 Nf6 2. f3!? I was out of book. I tried to steer it into a kind of Saemisch Variation of the King's Indian but my opponent refused to castle, so I thought I'd best delay the thematic king's side pawn thrust until I knew what I was attacking. This ploy, however, allowed Neil to attack with his pawns against my castled king's position. It soon became clear to me that I needed to disrupt Neil's carefully planned attack, so I sacrificed a bishop in return for two pawns and a few complications. When the dust had settled, I was a piece down but had connected passed pawns on the g and h files and managed to get my king over to the relative safety of the queen's side. At the first time control, I offered a draw, hoping that Neil would not notice that he could give up his queen, which was attacked by my pawn, by playing knight takes rook followed by a royal fork, winning material. With the clocks now turned back half an hour, Neil had plenty of time to work this out and decided to play on. Of course, I didn't allow the queens to come off and had to settle instead for the loss of rook for knight. Eventually, the queens did come off but now I had an f pawn to go with my g and h pawns. With only a rook and bishop against my knight and three passed pawns, Neil decided to give up his bishop in return for all three pawns and eventually all my other pawns as well. Resignation? So let's take stock. I have a king and a knight. Neil has a king, a rook and two connected passed pawns, one of which is a square away from becoming a queen. If I were not playing for a team, or if the bar was open, I would consider resigning. One thing in my favour was that Neil was desperately short of time and having difficulty avoiding forks from my knight, so he took the wretched thing off with his rook but managed to lose a pawn in the process. With seconds left, Neil pushed his remaining pawn to the sixth instead of his king and stalemated me as his flag fell! I'm sure that the burst of laughter from onlookers must have disturbed the remaining participants but it seemed to work in our favour. Dave Siddall, on board 4, demonstrated how to wield a rook, by winning an evenly balanced endgame. Phillippe was the exchange up on board 6 and converted his advantage to win the last game of the match. Result Sadly it was not enough to win the match, but considering we were out-graded on every board, I think we gave them a fright, as they won by only one point! If only I'd managed to win with my lone knight and king...well, maybe next time. Best of luck to Nottinghamshire in the next round. |
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13 May 2007
Guest log by Bob Challis. The B team's county decider against Barrow C, the winners from the south, had some interesting moments. In the lead Gerry Rowan, on board 3 against Derrick Millar, was the first to finish. He had a good position and was a pawn up, so move 21 was an unfortunate moment to leave a rook en prise. 1-0 to Barrow. On board 4 Kevin opened with e4 against Derrick Miller and met a Philidor's Defence. Black did not come well out of the opening, allowed a knight to become trapped on move 18, and resigned on move 26. 1-1. Peter did equally well against Neil Foxcroft on board 2, where he too went a piece up and then after a knight fork won the exchange as well, so giving him a whole rook. 2-1 to Penrith. And my game My own game, against Tony Kirby, was...less satisfactory. The opening was the Advance Variation of the French (3.e5) and it wasn't long before White was trying to work up an attack on the King side and I was looking hard at his weak pawns on c3 and a3. On move 24, when Fritz later agreed the game was dead even, I noticed that we were about to go 2-1 up and offered a draw. But Tony had noticed the same thing and turned the offer down. Ten moves later we still had a King side versus Queen side battle, and it was still even, but I was running very short of time. Then I moved Re8 rather than b8 - and White, quite unforeseen, was able to crash through on the Queen side. That was enough to finish it, but another weak move ended it immediately (Fritz: "The pressure is too much. Black crumbles." Possibly). It was Alekhine who said that time trouble was no more an excuse for a chess player than drunkenness was for a criminal, and as a dipsomaniac given to urinating on the floor in exhibition matches he should know. Result The match was therefore drawn 2-2, at which point an exasperating rule came into play: to arrive at a definite outcome the result of bottom board was disregarded. So the county divisional winners were Barrow C, whom we congratulate. |
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7 May 2007 In the final match of the Cumbria League Division 1, Penrith A played Windermere A in the annual North vs. South play-off. Boards 3 and 4 Our bottom three boards were all out-graded by over 40 points, and in my game, on board 4 against David Phillips, I was given a lesson on how to reach the endgame without bothering with the middlegame. I didn't really mind this except that I was a pawn down and in an inferior position which, with David's help, I was able to convert into a lost position. Dave McMath on board 3 suffered a similar fate against John Toothill. John managed to steer Dave's Scotch Gambit into a more closed position than Dave would have liked, by avoiding such lines as the Max Lange or the Fried Liver Attack, and eventually got the upper hand. Boards 1 and 2 At this time the top two boards looked to be fairly even. Dave Siddall, our second board against Bartlomiej Kaszynski, played himself into an excellent position after sacrificing material to open up Bartlomiej's king's position. Unfortunately Dave couldn't find a way to win the game and, with his time ebbing away, offered a draw which was gratefully accepted. With the match result now beyond any doubt, one could have expected Robert Patla to offer a draw to Jaroslav Szczerbak on board 1. No chance! Robert seemed more determined than ever and, as both players got down to 5 minutes each, Robert discarded his score sheet and the moves rattled out at a phenomenal pace. They were so fast that I couldn't keep track of them and had no idea who was winning until Jaroslav held out his hand in resignation. Result So we lost but, bearing in mind the total grading difference of 143 points in Windermere's favour, I don't think we did too bad. Anyway, there's always next year! B team decider Our B team did better, in their North-South Division 2 clash with Barrow C, with a 2 - 2 draw. Unfortunately, as there needs to be a winner, Barrow won after elimination of the bottom board result. |
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30 April 2007 We had no problems with transport this time. We arrived half an hour early for an early start: 10.30 am. The reason for this was partly that Austin Friars had to play in the Whitaker Trophy Final against Barrow A that afternoon, and partly because Carlisle United were playing at home in a match almost as important as our own. We calculated that all we needed to do was win the match to win the division. Two wins Dave Siddall got us off to a flying start, on board 2, when Steve Cunningham made a positional error which Dave exploited to the full. Actually, I should have been first to finish, on board 4 against Stephen Lowis' French Defence. After exploiting an opening error by Stephen, I reached one of those positions, on move 20, where you know that there is something but the longer you look for it, the more elusive it gets. I decided to bail out and settle for the exchange of knight for rook and a two pawn advantage, when in fact I had a forced mate in three. After this, Stephen put up stiff resistance but eventually I did deliver mate - on move 58. One more win This left us needing only one draw from the remaining two boards. Dave McMath, on board 3, seemed to be having the better game against Ian Mackay and decided to exchange off into a favourable rook and pawn ending. Meanwhile, on top board, Robert Patla was a pawn up against John Elwood but even with this advantage didn't appear to have anything better than a draw. Of course, Robert knew that a draw would be enough but then he saw a sacrificial combination that, at worse, won another pawn. John soon resigned and we had won the match and Division 1 North. Dave McMath, realising now that the match was effectively over, pressed on. Sadly, he pushed a pawn one square too far and was unable to protect it, leaving himself in a bad position. He could see that Ian was able to force a pawn through to the queening square and so resigned. I'm sure Dave was not too bothered, as he has delivered the goods for the team in previous matches. County decider Now we face the formidable Windermere A who won the Division 1 South title. Our B team face the equally formidable Barrow C but, whatever the results of those encounters, I think I can be justified in saying "Well done!!" to all Penrith players. |
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25 April 2007 Dave Siddall made his own way to this match as he was hoping to get away early. Dave McMath volunteered to take Robert and myself so everything was sorted. Wasn't it ? Unfortunately, Robert was nowhere to be seen when Dave went to pick him up at 1 o'clock. He waited until quarter past before coming to pick me up. We then went back to the club to see if Robert had arrived but to no avail. There was no one at his house, but a neighbour said that he had just left in his car like a bat out of hell. It was now about 1.30 pm so we decided to go without him and hoped he would find his own way to Austin Friars school. The traffic in Carlisle is usually very busy on Saturdays and this day there just so happened to be a very important football match for Carlisle United so my heart went out to Robert when he arrived, just two minutes late, as he had driven through the town centre, having just passed his driving test! Not the best preparation for a chess match. Draw on Board 1 As it happened, Robert's English opening was soon transformed into a very passive Semi-Slav Defence by Mike Green and a draw was agreed quite early in the game. Win and a draw Terence Nabbs, on board 3 for Austin Friars, decided that he would try out a new variation of the Sicilian Defence. He soon got into serious trouble against Dave McMath, not to mention club secretary Syd Cassidy, who, quite rightly, considered his timing - it was a top-of-the-table match - to be somewhat suspect, if not the variation itself. Dave's win put us a point ahead so, having had a look at Dave Siddall's game against Max Brown, which looked to be in Dave's favour, I decided to offer a draw in my game against Steve Cunningham as I could see no prospects for either of us. Steve, however said that he was enjoying the game so much that he'd rather play on. Dave was forced to take a draw after losing his advantage. Blunders and a loss I was certain that my game was drawn but Steve kept up the pressure. Oddly enough, it was Steve who made a mistake and allowed me to get a free pawn. I could sense his disappointment and, of course, my own elation but, as so often happens in these situations, I blundered right back and was forced to lose a piece or get checkmated. I played on with a couple of passed pawns against a bishop for a while, as Steve now had only about 3 minutes on his clock but when it was obvious that I was lost, I resigned. Had my opponent not given me a pawn, I'm sure that it would have ended in a draw. As it happened it was also the match that ended in a draw, which means that we need to win 3 - 1 against their B team this Saturday to be sure of top place. |
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16 April 2007 I've just about caught up with my moves in my correspondence games, after my internet down time. I postponed most of them so as not to lose on time. Unfortunately, some sites have a limit on the number of days off you can get in any one year, so, if the wife wants a holiday this year, we'll have to go to somewhere that has an internet cafe nearby. Somehow I don't think that will be very high on her list of priorities when choosing a destination, though. Another downside to postponing games is that all your opponents have made a move by the time you get back and it takes ages to catch up, especially if you have, like me, over a hundred games on the go. As our B team are in the North - South Cumbria playoffs against Barrow C, on the 5th of May, I thought I might check out some of their players' games. Unfortunately, since the North and South were divided in 2003, there are very few of their recent games available to me. Against Barrow board 3 I had a very interesting game against Martin Gawne, (Barrow C, board 3 usually), in last year's Cumbria Individual Championships at Askham, in which I sacrificed two minor pieces for a very strong attack. Martin defended well but had to give back material and ended up with Queen + 2 pawns against my Queen + 5 pawns. Against board 2 Neil Foxcroft (Barrow C, board 2) and I have played four times in the past, the first of which was a 2nd division match in April 1995, when I misplayed the white side of a Philidor Defence and lost in 49 moves. In January 1997 we met again, this time in the Whitaker Cup. I played a King's Indian and was doing OK until move 34, when I blundered and lost a pawn. In a "bishop of same colour" ending, a pawn down, I had to resign 13 moves later. Almost four years were to pass before our next encounter, a first division match in December 2000. This time I played a Nimzo-Indian and, after a Queen sac on move 36, I won 12 moves later. I was quite proud of my Queen sac until Fritz told me I could have won five moves sooner if I had kept my Queen on the board. I last played Neil in Feb 2003, when the Cumbria Individuals were held at Barrow. This time I had white and played a King's Gambit. I soon had a good position after Neil brought his Queen out too early and had to move it a further three times in succession before he considered it to be safe from my marauding Knights. Sadly, for Neil, this was not the case and he resigned after one of those Knights produced a Royal fork on move 15. Neil did well to recover from that game as he went on to get equal first place. Against board 1 I've played or rather been outplayed by Tony Kirby (Barrow C, board 1) twice in the past. The first time was in 1998 when I found myself about to go three pawns adrift and resigned on move 24. The last game we had was in the last round of the Cumbria Individuals held at Ulverston in February 2000. In both games I was white and after my usual 1. e4 he replied 1....Nc6. I did much better this time and lasted 30 moves longer but the result didn't really seem to be in much doubt. Although I lost that game, I still won the Keswick Knight trophy, as I had won my previous 4 games. And board 4 I've played Derrick Millar (Barrow C, board 4) twice in the past. The first time was my fifth ever graded game, Div 2 against Barrow B. I played the advance variation against a French Defence and after a Knight sac on g6, chased his King to a5 where it was mated on move 25. Our second game was in the Whitaker Cup Final, Barrow, May 1998. Here I played a Sicilian as black and could only manage a draw in 46 moves after going a pawn down. I think, at this point in the match, Barrow had already done enough to win the cup, so a draw was offered by Derrick and I was in no position to refuse his offer. I'm not really sure if any conclusions can be drawn from looking through those past games other than that I seem to like sacrificing material. |
