Keverel Chess

Archive for April, 2014

There was still much to play for at the outset of play on this final morning, especially with McMichael ineligible for the title and the QP. However, that didn’t prevent the top 4 boards finishing in draws. This worked in McMichael’s favour as he remained in clear 1st place with a cheque for £340. Also in Boyne’s favour as he remained in clear 2nd, netting £180 and the title of West of England Champion. Thus a new name on the cup - when we get it back from the previous winner. The offer of a QP for the British Championship is currently with him and he has 2 weeks to think about it. If he is unable to play, there’s a posse of other local players who might be interested.

Of the 2 clear leaders in the Major, Brusey lost and Annetts drew to bring him to 5 pts, but he was caught by Ingham and Bass to create a triple tie. Howver, on tie break, Annetts took the Wilkinson Cup.

There were no such complications in the Minor where stormin’ Norman Tidy only needed a draw to be clear 1st, which he duly got. However, it was still a remarkable achievement. He was 13th seed, lost his Rd. 1 game to the lowest grade but one, Terry Dengler (95), but proceeded to win 5 on the trot. He was a popular winner at the prizegiving. I offer the following headline to anyone who can use it … “Tidy Wins Neat Cup“.

The summary of the prizewinners is as follows:-

There’s a little-appreciated connection between the 3 main prizewinners, Boyne, Annetts and Tidy. The first club of both Boyne and Annetts was Teignmouth, where Tidy is currently a member.

Gillian Moore, the former joint British Ladies Champion and current joint British Seniors Ladies Champion, kindly agreed to hand out the prizes, and here are the ones who stayed behind.

Edmund Kelly (Exeter Juniors) Grading prize winner in the Minor

Ken Alexander 2nd = in the Minor

Norman Tidy - popular winner of the Minor, after an early setback.

Martin Worrall (Taunton) U-146 Grading Prize in the Major.

Ivor Annetts (Tiverton) winner of the Major on tie break.

Bill Ingham may have missed out on tie break, but he made up it in being the only winner to sneek a kiss from Gillian, which the photographer was too slow to catch on record.

Robert Thompson (Bristol Uni) U-177 Grading Prize winner

Andrew Boyne (Exeter) new West of England Champion.

Richard McMichael (King's Head) clear 1st on 5.5/7

Overall, it has to be admitted that the Manor was not quite as good a venue as the Beacon for a congress of this stature, though it was very good of their management to offer the place at short notice, after the Beacon got their wires crossed over the bookings. However, they may be wary of Easter weddings in future, and they were more than happy to book us in for next year (2015). At least they know we won’t call the whole thing off for no good reason.

The entries and cash were smoothly administered by the new Secretary, Meyrick Shaw, while the Arbiters, Tony Tatam and John Ariss were a model of calm authority throughout. Many thanks are due to them and anyone else who aided and abetted.

The day dawned as bad as the first two days were good - i.e. cold, wet and windy. Probably a good time to stay inside and concentrate on getting into position for the final furlong tomorrow morning.

The morning round went as follows:-

The afternoon round went like this:-

Saturday dawned with the brightest of sunshine and a renewed spirit of optimism in the minds of yesterday’s losers. One of those was certainly not David Toms, the lowest graded player in the Open by some margin, yet starting today in joint 2nd place after a fine win the previous evening against the redoubtable Simon Bartlett. This morning he was paired against another local player, David Regis of Exeter, while on Bd. 1 we saw the two top grades facing up at a relatively early stage in the proceedings.

The results of all sections were as follows:-

The afternoon’s Rd. 4 games ended like this:-

Rd. 3: The two Dr. Daves on Bd. 2, with the two top seeds nearest wall.

Rd. 3: Top Bds in the Major.

Rd. 4: Bds. 1 & 2 (nearest)

Rd 4 Open: Fraser vs Bartlett (nearest) & Stephens vs Stephenson

Rd. 4: Top bds in the Major

This year the venue had to be moved from the Royal Beacon Hotel, where the event had been held for the previous15 years, on account of a wedding having been booked for our usualk playing hall. So the nearby Manor Hotel, kindly moved in and made an offer we couldn’t refuse, and for the past year this has been the focus of attention - new circumstances, new staff, what can possibly go wrong etc.

However, this did not prevent a number of players booking their accommodation at the Beacon. One of them, who shall be nameless, expressed the hope that the wedding festivities would not prove too noisy for other guests, only to be told the wedding had long since been cancelled!

The Manor’s function room, although somewhat smaller than the Beacon’s, managed to accommodate all the games asked of it, the entry being a little down on recent years and probably just as well in the circumstances.

After a few words of welcome, White clocks were started at exactly 10.00. Rd. 1 results were as follows;-

Round 1 was completed by 2 p.m. and 90 minutes was allowed between rounds, the afternoon rounds all starting at 3.30. However, it became apparent that modern arbiters are now so efficient at making the draws using specialised software, that this task could easily be done in an hour, making it possible to re-start at 3 p.m. Although it’s too late to change for this year, the committee will certainly be considering this change for next year.

Round 2 saw McMichael, a last minute entry, moving into the sole lead , with 4 players a half point behind. Perhaps the most remarkable of these is the veteran David Toms, who has been in declining health for a number of years, yet opted for the Open as he thought “It might be my last congress and I might as well give it a go”. He’s certainly doing that.

Rd. 1 The top players' side - Simons vs Bartlett nearest.

Martin Simons waits patiently on Bd. 4

Nearest: Jim Robertson of E. Kilbride, the furthest travellor to the event.

Former Junior International, David Toms, plays current Junior international John Fraser. Game drawn.

Rd 2 - Bd 4: Littlejohns vs Simons

Minor Section Rd. 2: Top 3 boards.

The Teignmouth RapidPlay tournament on Sunday was won outright by Steve Homer (182 - Newton Abbot) with 5/6 points. 2^nd= were Graham Bolt (176 - Exeter), Alan Brusey (174 - Teignmouth) and Stephen Piper (183 - Salisbury). The Minor Section for players graded Under 140 was won jointly by Ray Hunt (125 - Bognor) and Vignesh Ramesh (106 - Newton Abbot) on 5/6 points.

These games are played too quickly to record the moves, so here are two wins by Homer from last year’s WECU Championship that show how dangerous he can be given half a chance to attack.

White: S. J. Homer Black: A. W. Brusey. French Defence – Tarrasch Var. [C07]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Ne4 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.Ng5 cxd4 8.Nxe4 Qa5+ 9.Bd2 Qxe5 A nice manoeuvre to win a pawn, but it leaves his queen in the centre, vulnerable to harassment. 10.Bd3 Nc6 11.0–0 Bd7 12.f4 As the position opens up, Black’s tardy development proves fatal. 12…Qc7 13.Ng5 g6 14.f5! It’s time to break open the centre before Black has time to get organised. 14…exf5 15.Bc4 Nd8 16.Qe2+ Ne6 17.Bxe6 Bxe6 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Qxe6+ Qe7 20.Qc4 Threatening Re1 while preventing castling to avoid it. 20…Qc5 Now the Black king is really exposed. 21.Rae1+ Kd7. If 21…Be7?? 22.Qxc5. 22.Qe6+ Kc7 23.Bf4+ Bd6 24.Qe7+ Kc6 25.Bxd6 Qxd6 26.Re6 and the Black queen falls. 1–0

White: T. Paulden. Black: S. J. Homer. Nimzo-Larsen Opening [A01]

1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Qc7 5.f4 a6 6.Bxc6+ Qxc6 7.Nf3 f6 8.0–0 e6 9.d3 Nh6 10.Qe2 Bd6 11.e4 d4 12.e5 Be7 13.c3 dxc3 14.Nxc3 Bd7 15.exf6 gxf6 16.Ne4 Rf8 17.Ne5 fxe5 18.Qh5+ Nf7 19.fxe5 0–0–0 20.Qxf7. Not 20.Rxf7?? Be8. 20…Rxf7 21.Rxf7 Re8 22.Rxh7 In this skirmish White just about got material equality for his queen, but had already sacrificed a knight to no clear purpose, so is left with a rook and 2 passed pawns for his queen. 22…Qd5 23.Rg7 Qxd3 24.Nf6! Now Black has a problem to solve. 24…Kd8 25.Nxe8 Bxe8 26.Rf1 The balance of forces is roughly level, provided Black can free up his bishop pair. 26…c4 27.Re1 Bb4 28.Rc1 c3 29.Rg3 Qxg3 30.hxg3 cxb2 31.Rb1 Bc3 32.Rd1+ Ke7 33.Kf2 Bg6 Suddenly the bishops hold sway. 34.Ke2 b1Q 35.Rxb1 Bxb1 36.a4 Bc2 0–1

This year’s event starts on Friday morning. Details regarding late entries to M. Shaw on 01395-275494.

Last week’s position gave rise to a familiar old combination that never fails to amuse everyone - except the victim. Black played 1…Nh3 double check, forcing 2.Kh1. Then 2…Qg1+ forcing Rxg1 and then the knight jumps back to f2+ – what is called a “smothered mate”.

Here is another recent game ending. How does White finish off smartly?

White to play and win.

Barnstaple made the long trip to Exmouth knowing that a drawn match would secure them the Div. 2 championship. With International Master Jack Rudd and England Junior International Theo Slade on board, this was always a distinct possibility. However, in any grade-limited tournament like this one (639 max) the price has to be paid on the lower boards where players of a more modest grade have to be played. On this occasion, Exmouth chose to play 4 middle-range grades in the hope that 2 points could be rescued on Bds. 3 & 4. And this is exactly how it played out, although all 4 games were tense and well-contested affairs by both players.

On Bd. 1 the position soon developed into a complex one with pieces of both colours all over the board, but with only 3 pawns each. Rudd, of course, is known to play only at express speed, and he made his 35 moves in 35 minutes, but such were the comlications that Shaw ran out of time and his flag fell 5 moves short.

On Bd. 2 Oliver Wensley orchestrated a kingside attack based on the rock of having a knight posted immovably on his 5th rank. However, his massed pieces left the other wing vulnerable, and Slade countered down the a-file with doubled rooks. This won material and with it the game.

Gosling’s position looked relatively even until Smith put his king into trouble and lost out to a Q+K fork, and resigned on move 28.

Scott won a piece in a series of exchanges around move 30, but still had the tricky job of finding the best lines to exploit this advantage to a winning one. A Q+R knight fork settled the outcome.

Thus the drawn match was what Barnstaple came for and they were duly delighted, whereas Exmouth had nothing to play for in this tournament except pride in a good perfomance on the day, and this they achieved.

The games may be found on the chessdevon website.

General view of the match - Exmouth on the right.

Exmouth settle into the match - Shaw; Wensley; Gosling & Scott.

Rudd (nearest); Slade; Smith & Dow.

As reported last week, Somerset won the WECU Championship by beating Hampshire 8½-6½ in a close match at Mere. The details were as follows (Hants names first in each pairing). 1. I. Thompson (217) 1-0 D. Buckley (212). 2. J. Tambini (198) 0-1 J. Rudd (211). 3. D. Tunks (188) ½-½ P. Krzyzanowski (199). C. Bellers (186) 1-0 B. Edgell (198). 5. P. Cooper (182) 1-0 M. Payne (193). 6. D. Fowler (181) 0-1 P. Chaplin (189). 7. S. Knox (167) 0-1 A. Footner (183). 8. D. F. Thompson (160) ½-½ D. Littlejohns (182). 9. T. Davis (159) ½-½ B. Morris (174). 10. C. Priest (158) ½-½ G. Jepps (158). 11. G. Jones (158) ½-½ C. Purry (165). 12. Miss G. Moore (147) 0-1 J. Byrne (161). 13. R. Davenport (140) 0-1 D. Peters (158). 14. J. Chilton (139) ½-½ W. Taylor (157). 15. R. Ashmore (137) ½-½ J. Fewkes (152). Somerset also won an U-160 match by 3½-2½ the details of which are:- 1. T. Chapman (135) ½-½ A. Champion (154). 2. D. Culliford (131) ½-½ D. Freeman (148). 3. M. Pope (119) ½-½ U. Effiong (142). 4. S. Murphy (113) 0-1 P. Wojcik (141). 5. J. Barnett (111) 1-0 T. West (137). 6. T. Cutter (109) 0-1 S. Pickard (111).

The next big event is the Bristol Spring Congress on the weekend of 11^th – 13^th April. Details from G. Mill-Wilson on 0779 0167415 or e-mail [email protected]. This is followed by the WECU Championship and congress in Exmouth. Details from Meyrick Shaw on 01395-275494 or e-mail: [email protected].

In this game from last year’s event, a former WECU Champion loses out in a lively game.

White: Paul Helbig (180). Black: John Stephens (191).

Closed Sicilian Defence [B26]

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Be3 Rb8 7.Qd2 b5 8.Nge2 Nd4 9.0–0 e6 10.Nc1 b4 White usually tries to get in a quick kingside attack, with Black countering later on the queenside, but here it is the other way round. 11.Nd1 Qa5 12.c3 bxc3 13.bxc3 Nc6 14.f4 Now White’s attack gets under way.Nge7 15.Ne2 Ba6 16.f5 exf5 17.exf5 gxf5 18.Bh6 Be5 19.Ne3 Nd4 20.Rab1 Kd7 21.Nf4 Bxf4 22.Bxf4 Qxc3! Black cleverly wins another pawn. 23.Qxc3 Ne2+ 24.Kh1 Nxc3 25.Rxb8 Rxb8 26.Nc4 Bxc4 27.dxc4 Rb2 28.Bg5 Rxa2 29.Bf3 Rb2 30.g4 a5 31.gxf5 Nc6 32.Bf6 Ne5 33.Bxe5 dxe5 34.f6 Rb1 35.Rxb1 Nxb1 36.Bg4+ Kd6 37.Bf5 Nc3 38.Bxh7 a4 0–1.

Last week’s 3-mover was solved by 1.Bb1 threatening 2.Qxa2 mate, so Black must play 1…Nb4 and then 2.Kb7 leaving Black the option of either taking the bishop or moving the defending knight.

In this position, White last played h5 to which Black played the natural-looking counter Re4. What did White now play to earn a double !! and the full point?

White to play a "Magic Move".