|
|
Andy's chess
log |
|||||||||||
|
The chess diary of a hard-worked club secretary, team captain and ardent player. Current | Jan-July 2008 | Sept-Dec 2007 | April-June 2007 | Jan-Mar 2007 | 200622 December 2007 Unfortunately at this time of the year there is that much going on that not everyone could make it. One of those who didn't enter was last year's winner, Robert. I was sure that he would be there because when I notified him of the event by email I mentioned that if he was unable to attend then it would be easier for me to win this year. His reply contained "over my dead body" or words to that effect. Lucky start
So I put my correspondence games aside for a few hours and registered on the new ECF site :http://ecfclub.chesscube.com Tournament strategy I decided that my strategy for the event would be all out attack and in the first round I played a Four pawns Attack against Gerry's Pirc. This opening is hard for black to handle in quick games because white is able to whip up an attack on either wing or, as in this game, both wings at the same time, forcing black to play accurate, defensive moves. Gerry defended admirably for most of the game, but soon a chink appeared in his armour and I was able to force mate. I drew the white pieces again, against Peter, in the 2nd round. The game was effectively over quite quickly after Peter played an early pawn to b6 allowing a bishop sac on f7 followed by Qd5 checking king and rook. Strategy confirmed I was quietly confident that I would win my third game after Dave Siddall played the King's Gambit against me. He played a line that I know very well but it soon became apparent, when I lost a piece, that it was not going to be as easy as I thought. I was determined not to abandon my "all out attack" strategy and, despite Dave being a couple of moves away from delivering mate, I played my queen to e2 attacking his knight on h5 and threatening mate on g2 and h2. I thought that Dave's only defence was to sacrifice his knight with check and go for a perpetual with his queen but after some thought, he played his knight to a different square and, much to everyone's amusement, allowed me to mate him. Spanner Lewis threw a spanner in the works in the next round when I attacked a little too hard and got my queen into a hole that it couldn't dig itself out of. I played on for quite a while but with limited success and eventually Lewis exchanged off all my remaining pieces, leaving him a with an overwhelming advantage and ending my unbeaten run. The strategy continues In round 5, I played Colin, and although Colin opened quite aggressively I soon gained the advantage and forced him to give up his queen or get mated. With a big material deficit and two of my pawns on his second rank, Colin threw in the towel. I was to play our newest member, James Tennant, in the next round but as he lives at Askham he had arranged for someone to pick him up about 10 pm and so had to leave with two rounds left to play. As it happened, Brian had just arrived. He had intended to enter but had the misfortune of being involved in a traffic accident earlier in the evening. Someone ran into the back of his car when he stopped at a crossing. Luckily, Brian was uninjured and kindly agreed to take over from James. Brian played the Two Knights' Defence and after my 4.Ng5, I was surprised to see 4...d5 as I know that Brian has done a bit of analysis on the Traxler Variation in the past. After 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2!?....I was in familiar territory, and as time wore on Brian was beginning to lose a little ground. The position on the board merited more time than that which was allocated, and just as I felt I was getting the upper hand Brian's flag fell. The strategy falters Fittingly, the last round happened to be the decider. Both Dave McMath and I were on 5 out of 6. Dave, with black, played a Pirc Defence and as I have never known Dave to play any opening on the spur of the moment, I decided to abandon my strategy of kill or be killed and played safer book moves. I was taken aback when Dave sacrificed his bishop on g4 for a mere 2 pawns, early in the opening, although I later learned that he was successful with it against Lewis in an earlier round. But recovers triumphantly Back to plan A. After playing pawn to h4 preventing any embarrassing checks by Dave's queen, I went onto the offence and when it became clear to him that his sacrifice had failed, Dave resigned and settled for second place in the competition. After a brief ceremony in which I was awarded £5 first prize, we retired to the bar and that was the last I saw of that fiver. |
||||||||||
|
15 December 2007
Robert on board 1 Robert got the ball rolling, on board 1. Determined not to suffer a third draw in succession, he pressed hard against Stephen Barnes' solid defence and, although Stephen put up stiff resistance, he seemed powerless to stop Robert.
Dave on board 2 Dave Siddall couldn't make any headway against George Glover on second board. Both players have a very similar style of play, and after about an hour of strategic, positional play it soon became clear that they would share the point.
Board 3 and me My game against Paul Rivers, on board 3, was a totally different type of game. Paul with white tried to play the same opening that he played against me a year ago, a kind of cross between a Scotch Gambit and a Danish Gambit. This time, though, I was a little better prepared and played d5 on move 4, giving me a much better game.I was determined to try all out for a win and decided to leave a piece en prise on the queen's side in order to bring another piece into action on the king's side. Paul thought for ages but finally decided to take the piece after calculating that his king could escape my attack. I knew I would pick up a couple of pawns for the piece and if Paul was not very careful then I would mate him, so the sac seemed quite justified to me. Eventually, though, Paul got his forces co-ordinated and set about attacking me but by this time he was down to his last three minutes and I still had about an hour. I had a strong defensive position and was confident that I would not lose but I didn't feel that I should win the game so, rather than let Paul run out of time, I offered a draw, which was accepted.
Steve on board 4 Board 4 finished, less than a minute later, after Steve lost a pawn to Daniel O'Dowd. Steve didn't realise that Daniel was attacking his pawn because it was obscured from view by his own bishop.So the match was drawn. Not the result we were hoping for, especially after learning that our B team lost 4-0 to Austin Friars A and, even worse, Cockermouth beat Austin Friars B 4-0. Cockermouth now have an almost unassailable lead but as we all know, anything can happen in chess. |
|||||||||||
|
11 December 2007 The pub The King's Head is a very pleasant old pub with a good selection of beers and a large room upstairs that made it a perfect venue for a chess match. The landlord is a keen chess player himself and gave Dave Siddall a few friendly games and actually managed to beat him an odd time. The match - board 2 Dave Siddall, on board 2, looked to be struggling after Syd Cassidy won a rook and forced Dave to keep his king in the centre. Fortunately for Dave, Syd placed his queen on the same diagonal as his king and Dave was able to pin it with his bishop. 1-0 to Penrith. Board 4 Dave McMath played Ben Spedding, on board 4, one of the many up and coming youngsters from Austin Friars chess club. Dave managed to win the game but admitted that he was fortunate as Ben was in a winning position after the opening. 2-0 to Penrith. Board 3 I had yet another encounter with Ian Mackay on board 3 and, as usual, Ian replied to my 1.e4 with 1...c6; the Caro-Kann Defence. In our earlier games Ian had placed his queen's bishop on f5 but this never seemed to work out in his favour. In our last game, at the Cumbria Championships in February, he played it to g4 and got a good game, although I did manage to win after 60 odd moves. This time he played 6...Bg4 again but varied from last time with 7...e6 instead of 7...Nd7. In theory this should yield better results for black but not in this game. I always seemed to have the upper hand and when Ian made the same mistake as Syd and allowed the pin of his queen to his king, it was all over. 3-0 to Penrith. Board 1 The game between Robert and Colin Costello was very close. Although Robert had a rook against Colin's bishop, he only had two pawns to Colin's five, and when they started to roll Robert had to play very accurately to avoid losing. Colin was getting very short of time and although he knew that he was winning in theory, he was unsure if he could win before his flag fell and so offered a draw, which was accepted. Not quite 4-0 to Penrith as we had hoped, but not a bad result either. Next we play Carlisle A at home. We must get a good result in that one as Cockermouth took all four points from them. |
|||||||||||
|
2 December 2007 Board 3 When I got there, about 4 pm, Peter on board 3 was already down to an endgame against Neil Jones but it was a bit one sided as Neil had two rooks to Peter's rook and knight. Peter resisted as long as he could but to no avail. Neil admitted later that he was lucky because Peter could have won a piece earlier in the game. Board 4 Our board 4 was in a similar situation, with Gerry having a knight and bishop against Bill Henderson's rook and bishop. It began to look a little better when Bill slipped up and allowed Gerry to win a pawn but it was short lived. Gerry naturally played his king to defend a pawn but that allowed Bill to pin a piece to Gerry's king and Gerry, unable to further protect the piece, was obliged to resign. Board 1 Dave McMath, although not behind in material, had a very passive position against Roger Hart on board 1. His pawn structure was such that he could not get any play for his rooks and bishops. Roger took full advantage and eventually, the full point. Board 2 Things were looking much better for us on board 2. Kevin had managed to win a rook against Philippe Gleizon but, as usual, was getting short of time. Philippe sensed this and offered a draw. Kevin, a whole rook ahead, naturally decided to play on. Kevin was having to come up with good moves very quickly. Philippe had a fairly solid position and was moving quickly in order to deprive Kevin of any free thinking time but when Kevin, now down to about four minutes, pinned a piece to his remaining rook, forcing the win of at least a piece, Philippe, sportingly, resigned. Well played Kevin! Our A team now has a lot to do to catch Cockermouth. Even if we win 4-0 next weekend we will still be two points behind them. |
|||||||||||
|
23 November 2007 Email from Steve M to Andy, Friday, 5.28am I've kept a space free for a game of chess tomorrow afternoon, if necessary. Have you heard if I'm needed? Nobody has said anything about it. I won't be upset if I'm dropped, but I'd like to know what's happening.Andy to Steve, 11.43am I got back from Germany at 2am yesterday, so I didn't know what was going on either but I talked to Robert [A team captain] on Gameknot and he said he thought about playing himself, Dave S, me and you.I pointed out that Dave S had said that he would be away so Robert asked me to ask Lewis. Then it seems Dave S had got his weekends mixed up and he was available after all and as Robert had already asked for Lewis he decided to keep the team as himself, Dave S, me and Lewis. I gave Robert your e-mail address so he could contact you more easily, but obviously he hasn't. Shortly after that, I spoke to Dave Mc [B team captain] on the 'phone, and he said that he had only three players but had left a message for Bob to contact him. I said to ring Robert and ask him if Lewis could play for the B team but as Robert was not yet sure whether or not you would be available, he decided to stick with the team he had. Then last night the Austin Friars B team captain rang saying that he was a man short because Ian Mackay would be going to watch the Carlisle match and, knowing that our Peter H. would be too, wondered if Ian and Peter could play a game earlier instead of 2 pm with everyone else. I told him that he should ring Dave Mc. I spoke to Dave Mc this morning and he said that he was still waiting for a reply from Bob so had rejected Syd's suggestion and Syd told him that he now had a full team without Ian. I then pointed out that you were available and that Bob would not be offended as he had asked not to be picked unless absolutely necessary. Our call was interrupted by Bob trying to get through to Dave and when Dave rang me back, he said that Bob was rather busy and would prefer not to play. So Dave asked me to ask you if you could play board 2 for the B team tomorrow, 2pm at the RAFA. Steve to Andy, 5.55pm …yes! |
|||||||||||
|
17 November 2007 The overall result was Penrith A&B 4.5 - Austin Friars A&B 3.5. This might suggest that both matches were very close, but when you consider that our B team beat their B team by 4 - 0 then you begin to realise that our A team had a bit of a disaster. A falters Dave Siddall, on board 2 for Penrith A, seemed to have a decent position against John Ellwood but a few moves later John had won the exchange and had all his heavy pieces lined up against Dave's king. Dave was powerless to defend and was forced to resign. B gallops away Meanwhile Gerry had picked up a piece against Drew Millar, on board 4 in the B match, and won a few moves later. Shortly after that, Kevin, on board 3 against Sam McStay, picked up another point for our B team. A plummets I was playing Stephen Cunningham again, on board 3 in the A match. Although I didn't exactly blunder, I made the fatal mistake of keeping the position closed, Stephen's forte. I was gradually crushed in a similar fashion to the last time we played each other.
Third win for B Dave McMath took another point for the B team in a close game against Syd Cassidy on board 1. Syd resigned when he failed to spot a resource, pointed out to him after the event by Stephen Lowis, which may well have allowed him to share the point. Third loss for A On board 4 in the A match, Lewis was a pawn down against Alan Hiatt but had good compensation for this, in that his rooks were well placed. Realising this, Alan offered a draw. Lewis, aware that the team were two points adrift, elected to play on. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the strength of Alan's a and b pawns until it was too late to stop them from promoting. Clean sweep for B Steve put the final nail in the coffin of Austin Friars B, after beating Stephen Lowis in a game where Steve always seemed to be in control. And a draw for A When I first looked at Robert's game against Michael Green, I was surprised to see that he had both bishops on his first rank and both rooks on his third. For the life of me, I couldn't work out what the opening might have been, but he seemed to be defying all the principles of piece development. I remember thinking that while Robert was away from the board Michael must have swapped his rooks and bishops around. Michael had all his pieces clustered around his king, which made an impenetrable fortress while at the same time giving him good attacking potential. When Michael started to play his h pawn forward to break up Robert's defensive pawns around his king, I wondered how Robert would be able to defend but then, inexplicably, Michael offered a draw. Robert, understandably in my opinion, didn't hesitate to accept. Our B team's impressive performance has put them on top of the division. On the other hand, our A team's dismal result has left a lot of hard work to be done to achieve anything like last season. Next week we play Austin Friars yet again! Our C team play their D team in the 2nd division. |
|||||||||||
|
9 November 2007 I wanted to put Lewis on board 4, but due to the nature of the competition it was essential that all players had an official grade, even if it was only estimated. I contacted Tony Baker, Cumbria Chess Association Grading Officer, about a week before the match, stating Lewis' last published grade of 87 ECF and submitted all of his results since then. About an hour before the match was due to start, I got a call from Tony saying that he had estimated his grade at 60 ECF. I queried his estimate as I had worked it out at about 80 ECF but Tony said that Lewis was now officially estimated at 60. Grading disagreement Lewis didn't arrive at the club before Steve had filled out a match score sheet depicting Lewis' grade as 87, and when Lewis informed him of his new official grade, Kendal would not accept it. Unfortunately I was not there to point out that if we had intended to cheat them out of a half point advantage, then I would just simply have claimed the match the week before, when Kendal could not raise a team! However, not wanting to get into an argument, it was agreed that Lewis would play at 87 ECF. So, with a Penrith handicap of 1 point, the match began. About 4 pm, I got a call from Lewis informing me that he had already won and telling me about the fuss that Kendal had made regarding his grade. Although pleased with Lewis' result, I was rather annoyed that Kendal felt that they could override a decision made by the Grading Officer, so I decided that I'd better get myself down there. Board 3 win When I arrived, I saw that Peter on board 3 against Peter Johnson was in a strong position, as the latter had just played his rook behind his queen supporting a passed pawn. This move, however, was to be his downfall, as our Peter was already attacking the square that he played his rook to, allowing freedom of movement for white. Not noticing this, Peter Johnson took a pawn with his queen, leaving his rook undefended, and resigned as it left the board.And board 4 Lewis had played the Grand Prix Attack against Geoff Phillips' Sicilian, on board 4. After beating off a ferocious attack, Lewis won a piece and created a dangerous passed pawn. Geoff was forced to resign after Lewis produced a knight fork on his rook and king which left him powerless to stop the pawn promoting. Remaining games One more point out of the remaining two games was all we needed. Robert on board 1 found that David Shaw, although graded 40 ECF points below him, was no pushover. David's opening of 1. d4 followed by 2. Nc3 has caught many by surprise, including yours truly, and Robert was having to defend accurately. Steve on board 2, although the exchange down, had a promising position, poised with his queen and knight ready to attack John Dobson's king. Board 1 Looking good, I thought, as I went to the bar for a pint. Robert came through to the bar for a drink. "This guy try to beat me!" exclaimed Robert, which made me wonder if that was not the general idea. Then he left to continue his game, only to return a few minutes later, shaking his head and pointing his thumb to the floor, but before I could imagine how he would react to losing his first ever game in the Cumbria League, a wide grin appeared on his face.Board 2 The result of the remaining game would not now affect the result of the match. Steve was at a crucial point in the game and starting to get short of time. John had just taken a pawn on b3 and was now attacking Steve's rook with his rook supported by his queen. Not actually needing his rook to win the game, Steve played his knight to h5 to carry on with his planned assault on John's king. John took Steve's rook as Steve had probably predicted. Unfortunately for Steve, John took it with check and after Steve's forced king move John was able to bring his queen into an attacking position denying Steve the time to carry out his own attack, and so Kendal pulled one back.The final result, after deducting the handicap of 1 point from Penrith, was 2 - 1 in our favour, so I decided it was not worth the bother to confront Kendal regarding their refusal to accept Lewis' official grade. Our next victims are to be Carlisle in a few weeks time. |
|||||||||||
|
26 October 2007 Robert played Philippe Gleizon on board 1 and managed to win a piece in the opening. Philippe battled on valiantly but Robert was never likely to let such an advantage slip. On board 2, I managed to ruin a promising position against Nigel South by capturing a pawn on move 32 which compromised my king's position and opened up an attack on my queen. Had I just moved my queen back to h7 instead, then I would have maintained a good advantage but, as it was, I now had to give up a piece for a pawn, which only delayed the inevitable by about 10 moves. Steve had a good position against Bill Henderson, who had offered Steve a draw quite early in the game. Steve, quite rightly, elected to play on. Sadly his good position suffered a similar fate to mine and Bill managed to turn the game around and draw the match for Cockermouth. I suppose we can't grumble. At least we came away from Cockermouth with half a point more than we did last year! |
|||||||||||
|
19 October 2007
Bad start Graham agreed to pick up Dave McMath and myself at 1pm outside the club but arrived, with Vicky, about 15 minutes late. He had been clocked by a policeman wielding a radar gun on the road between Appleby and Penrith, where the speed limit is a frustratingly low 40 mph for most of the way. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, we arrived at Carlisle Liberal Club to play last year's winners, Austin Friars A, less than 15 minutes late.The match The Whitaker Trophy is a handicap event, based on the difference of grades between the two competing teams. As Graham and Vicky were heavily outgraded on boards 3 and 4, we only needed one point to win the match. Penrith won the toss and I played with white against Stephen Cunningham, on board 1. Unfortunately I lost a pawn on move 12, which put me on the back foot for the remainder of the game. Dave on board 2 played a sharp game of tactics against Syd Cassidy. Graham's day was not getting any better on board 3, as he had to give up a piece to Stephen Lowis to avoid being mated. Vicky looked to be holding her own against the young but talented Thomas Collier, only to lose her queen to a cleverly devised trap. Thomas soon won and they set about playing another game. This time Vicky didn't fall for any traps and got her revenge, but, sadly, no points for Penrith.Graham held out the best he could but the piece deficit soon took its toll and so it was up to myself and Dave. The pieces left the table at a phenomenal rate on board 2, and soon Dave and Syd had only a minor piece and several pawns each. Syd was sure he had won a pawn but had overlooked Dave's reply which meant he had give one back in return and with it any advantage he thought he had. The game was soon agreed drawn. In my game I was already theoretically lost, but needing to draw to win the match I played on, hoping against hope that Stephen would not find the correct plan. I have managed to draw in much worse positions than this in the past. Sadly not today. Eventually Stephen had it all worked out, and when his king penetrated my defences and forced the loss of a second pawn I had to throw in the towel.
Bad finish Like I said, Graham was not having the best of days and went to get the car from Sands car park, which closes at 5.30 pm. It was now about 6pm so it was no surprise when Graham returned minus his car. Luckily Graham had a mate's number on his mobile and he came through and picked us up about ten minutes later.So we lost by the narrowest of margins. Never mind - I'm sure our 1st team will make amends against Kendal in a fortnight's time. |
|||||||||||
|
12 October 2007 Board 1 Gerry, playing with the black pieces on board 1, was up against it, as he faced Phil Almond, who at 176 ECF must be the highest graded player ever to play in the 2nd division. Phil quickly demonstrated why he has such a high grade by winning the exchange early in the game. Gerry fought on bravely but to no avail, and soon succumbed to the inevitable. Board 2 There were a few firsts in this first match of the season. Lewis, in his first league game since finishing university, played Mark Mallard on board 2. Mark played his usual French Defence, which, incidentally, Lewis was expecting as I had forewarned him that SASRA players almost invariably play the French as black. Mark quickly exchanged queens and was obviously hoping to reach an endgame when his experience should make the difference. It all seemed to be going to plan except for one thing: Lewis was, actually, in a slightly better position when it came down to king and pawns. At move 50 it was obvious that there was no progress to be made for either side and Mark offered a draw. Lewis seemed a little disappointed, as he had missed a chance to get a strong advantage a few moves earlier, but now it was a draw. Board 3 On board 3 Graham was playing his first ever league game. It was an interesting tussle against Wes Bell, who was applying the pressure but appeared to be getting nowhere until he came up with a clever tactic which threatened to win a rook. Graham weighed the situation up and decided, quite rightly, to give up his queen for a rook and a knight. The rook was saved but, sadly, not the game. Wes deftly sidestepped Graham's two knights which were threatening nasty forks and eventually won the game.Board 4 Vicky, too, played in her first league game. Her opponent, Fiona Wright, was also making her debut in the Cumbria League. I wonder if there is another first here: two ladies playing each other in a league match. The game was an exciting, open game with chances for both players. It was difficult to tell who was winning until Fiona came up with a skewer of Vicky's king and rook. Vicky played on but never got a chance to get back into the game.Oh well, at least it wasn't a whitewash, and I think our team put up a good show, all things taken into consideration. My game While the match was going on, I was playing Dave McMath in a club championship game.
I was playing quite well and was a pawn ahead with a passed pawn on the queen's rook file. I played 25. c5 and left the room to have a chat with Graham whose game had just finished. Upon my return, a few minutes later, I saw that Dave had played his knight to d5 attacking a pawn. I instantly pushed a pawn to a5 then noticed his real reason for playing his knight to d5: 26...Nf4 forking queen and bishop with a discovered attack on my bishop by his rook. Unable to defend the bishop my position crumbled and I resigned on move 30. I reckon I'm going to have to stop treating 2 hour games as rapid-play but I think that it may be down to playing too many correspondence games. |
|||||||||||
|
1 October 2007 Robert, board 1 for the A team, was late due to work commitments. By the time he arrived he had already used up 15 minutes on the clock. Could Dave McMath make his extra time count? Meanwhile, the other games were well into the opening. On board 2, Dave Siddall set up a solid defensive position against Kevin and challenged him to find a weakness. My game on board 3 In my game, against Peter Harrington on board 3, I found myself in unfamiliar territory after only four moves of a Four Knights Game, when Peter played 4.d3. But after a couple of exchanges I was happy that my pawn structure was much better than Peter's, who had doubled pawns on the c and e files. Possibly due to my inadequacy or, as I would prefer to think, Peter's accurate moves, I was unable to gain an advantage until about move 25. Peter was targeting my weak, backward b pawn with his queen and so I was tied down to the defence of this, but when he played his knight to b5, blocking his queen, I was no longer committed to defence and began an all out assault on his king. By move 33 his king's position was a shambles and all his pieces were on the queen's side, unable to offer any assistance to his beleaguered king. 33....Rf8 check would have brought about a swift end. Of course, I didn't play it. Instead, I played 33...Nd3 check allowing his king to flee to the safety of his well defended queen's side. When my attack began to run out of steam, Peter resumed his attack on my b pawn, which by now could not be adequately defended, and so Peter took the full point along with my b pawn. Board 4 By this time Steve Murdoch on board 4 had whipped up a strong attack against Gerry, who was unable to shake Steve's knight from its excellent outpost on g5. Gerry decided that attack was the best form of defence but Steve had it all worked out. After his queen check was blocked by Steve's rook, Gerry was in the unenviable, position of having to defend both his queen and his king. Gerry chose to keep his queen and Steve delivered mate with his queen and knight. Board 2 Meanwhile, very little had changed on board 2. Kevin had a ferocious attack going against Dave Siddall's king but had used up most of his time in the process. Dave knew that all he had to do was hang on. He played calmly, confident that his position was as solid now as it was in the opening. Desperately trying to find a way through, Kevin dropped a piece and with seconds left on his clock he resigned. Board 1 On board 1, Dave McMath and Robert were even on the board, with a light-squared bishop, a queen and a few pawns each. Robert had made up his 15 minute deficit so they were even on time as well. With about five minutes left each, Dave played his pawn from g2 to g3, opening up a diagonal to his own king. Robert seized the initiative, forcing Dave to find accurate moves with very little time to think. Sure he could hang on, Dave offered a draw, but Robert played on with a check to Dave's king. Dave blocked with his queen, another check again blocked by the queen, and another. It was surely a draw. This time, though, Robert exchanged queens, forcing Dave to retake with his king, which was now one square too far away to stop Robert's h pawn from queening. In desperation, Dave sacrificed his bishop, but to no avail. Robert had worked out the win and still had nearly a minute left to finish the game. As it happened Dave's flag fell before Robert could queen his pawn. Dave commented that had Robert been another five minutes late, then he might have won the game. Well that's the first one over with and although the result may not depict it, there were four very close and exciting games. |
|||||||||||
|
18 September 2007 Five players represented Penrith: Dave Siddall, Steve Murdoch, myself and my son Lewis, and of course Robert Patla, the current champion. Syd Cassidy, tournament organiser, asked me to remind Robert to return the trophy. Robert thought it was a bit pointless, as it was coming back home with him. Robert was accompanied by his little daughter who sat quietly at his side through every game like a little mascot. Round 1 After the first round, it was quite clear that I was not going to win any prizes this year. I was well beaten by Paul Bielby of Jesmond. I was a little disappointed, as I was white against the Two Knights Defence, an opening that I thought I knew quite well. Steve, Dave and Lewis fared no better. I watched the end of Robert's game against Richard Bennett. Robert had two bishops against bishop and knight but was a pawn down. I was unsure who was winning, as the clock was facing away from me and both players were moving very fast. Robert exchanged a pair of bishops and Richard moved his king over to protect his passed pawn and looked to be better. After Richard's last move, Robert stopped the clock and said "Good game" and the beaming smile on Richard's face convinced me that he had actually won.It was only after I had told some of the other players that they may be in with a chance this year that someone pointed out to me that Richard's flag had fallen and it was Robert who had won. Round 2 I had black against Phillippe Gleizon in round 2. I was not surprised that Phillippe avoided the King's Indian like the plague after our last three encounters. After 1.Nf3 he turned the game into an English Opening and got the better of me on the queenside and created a passed pawn that was decisive. Lewis did better this time, beating Ian Mackay in an endgame. Steve gave Richard Bennett his first point and Dave shared a point with Stephen Barnes. Robert won again, this time with white against Max Brown.Round 3 After a quick pint in the Redfern it was time for round 3. I lost to Stephen Barnes after falling into a mating net. Steve and Dave played each other with the latter coming out the victor. Lewis was on a roll and won again, this time against Don Garford from Dumfries. Robert's game against David Brown went to a time scramble, which impressed everyone who saw it, with Robert, once again, emerging the winner.Round 4 Round 4 saw yet another Penrith vs. Penrith match in the form of Steve against me. Steve embarked on a combination which looked, at first sight, to be in his favour so I offered a draw, which was accepted and we went for a pint. It was then that Steve informed me that he had given me the full point, as he had miscalculated his combination. Lewis' run came to an end at the hands of Alan Hiatt. Dave's comeback also suffered a blow after losing to Colin Costello. Robert kept on track with a win against Paul Bielby. Round 5 The last round did not see any improvement in my play as I had to throw in the towel early when Colin Costello forced the win of a piece. Steve failed to get off first base after losing to Roger Hart. Phillippe claimed another Penrith scalp, this time beating Dave. Lewis lost to Daniel O'Dowd, who had found his form in the later stages of the competition. Robert, aware that a draw against Stephen Barnes would suffice, was happy to share the point as it was time for his daughter’s afternoon nap. So another impressive performance by Robert. I think I'm getting too used to 14 days per move to play in these rapid competitions. No prizes for the rest of Penrith's entrants, but it was a very enjoyable day and our thanks go to Syd for all his efforts. Results table will be found soon on the Cumbria Chess web site. |
|||||||||||
|
After months of over-the-board inactivity, my biggest concern is to get through the first game without losing in the opening. The Carlisle Rapidplay ( Saturday 15th Sept.), held just two weeks before the league's first fixture, is ideal for blowing away a few cobwebs. This event was won last year by Penrith's Robert Patla, with a perfect 5/5 score. This year, I'll be in the Open section, having failed to keep my grade lower than the optimal 120 ECF. I did actually manage to win the trophy one year with 4/5. Going into the last round with 4/4, all I needed was a draw against Jim Woodburn of Barrow. I worked out that if I were to exchange all the pieces then, with the pawn structure and with the Kings where they were, the position would be a dead draw. Unfortunately I overlooked that my last capture was with my King, which put me in a lost pawn endgame. The moral of that story is: only play for a draw if you are losing. So I shared first place with Paul Bielby from Sunderland, but as I had beaten Paul in the first round I got my name on the trophy. Another drawback of my new "high" grade (127 ECF) is that I won't be eligible to play for all our league teams this season, so fulfilling all the fixtures is going to be tougher than the games. It seems I'll have to be a "nominated player" for our A team which, according to the rules, means that I "can not play for a lower team". As we now have two teams in the 1st Division, I wonder if our B team is still considered to be lower than our A team? Anyway, I'm sure it will all get sorted out in the wash. It is going to be difficult to top last season's performance but I can assure all our opponents we will be trying to do just that. |
