Friday 30 July 2010

Club Night / Ross Vs Ensor & Closs Vs Ross

On Tuesday, i lost to Rob, with the white pieces, in our second game of the CCs Major Section. At 62 moves, however, i made him work for it. I had prepared the Austrian attack against his Pirc Defence.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. dxc5
dxc5 8. h3 Nc6 9. e5 Nd5 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. c4 Qd8 12. O-O f5 13. Re1 Nb4 14.
Bb1 Be6 15. a3 Qxd1 16. Rxd1 Nc6 17. b3 Rfd8 18. Rxd8+ Rxd8 19. Bc2 Nd4 20.
Nxd4 cxd4 21. Bd3 b5 22. Bb2 bxc4 23. bxc4 Bh6 24. g3 g5 25. Rf1 a5 26. c5 gxf4
27. gxf4 Bc8 28. Kg2 Bb7+ 29. Kg3 e6 30. Bc4 Bd5 31. Bxd5 Rxd5 32. c6 Rd8 33.
c7 Rc8 34. Rc1 d3 35. Rd1 Rxc7 36. Rxd3 Rc4 37. Rd4 Rxd4 38. Bxd4 a4 39. Kf3
Kf7 40. Ke3 Ke7 41. Bb2 Kd7 42. Bc1 Kc6 43. Kd3 Kb5 44. Kc3 Bf8 45. Bb2 Bc5 46.
Bc1 Bf2 47. Bd2 Kc5 48. Kd3 Bd4 49. Bb4+ Kd5 50. Bf8 h5 51. Bb4 Bf2 52. Bd2 Bc5
53. Bc1 Bd4 54. Bd2 Bb2 55. Bb4 Bc1 56. Bd2 Bxd2 57. Kxd2 Ke4 58. Kc3 Kxf4 59.
Kb4 Kxe5 60. Kxa4 f4 61. Kb4 f3 62. a4 f2 0-1

Gary and Pete were also around, but lots of people are away at the moment.

I have taken a bit of stick in recent weeks for not posting my dreadful and very short game against Guy Closs. Here it is with annotation and as few excuses as i could manage:

Guy Closs Vs Colin Ross 15.07.10
1. e4 e6 (The first move of the French Defence. Black's intention is to build a solid wall of pawns behind which it can develop pieces. Black allows White to occupy the dark squares d4 and e5 and by the pawn breaks c5 (which attacks the base of White's pawn chain on d4) and then f6, Black will attack White's centre). 2. d4 (occupying the centre with a second pawn) d5 3. exd5 (Removing the tension. The exchange variation ruins Black's plans, but also leads to a symmetrical and sterile position with the most likely result being a draw)  exd5 (Black reaches equality by move 3) 4. Nf3 Nf6 (sensible development) 5. Be2 Bd6 (Black attempting to be more aggressive) 6. c4 O-O 7. Nc3 dxc4 (Forcing white to move his bishop for a second time. Fritz has Black with a slight edge here) 8. Bxc4 Re8+ (going on the offensive) 9. Be3 Bf4 (Mistake. Moving an already developed piece with the idea of setting up some tactics instead of developing my Queenside pieces) 10. Qb3 (danger for Black) Qd7 (Mistake. Queen blocking in Bishop on C8. Be6 is better, but White still would have had an advantage) 11. Nd1 (Letting up the pressure a bit. Guy was obviously worried about exchanges on e3) Ng4 (Stupidly ignoring the threats against f7, and moving an already developed piece in the hope of creating some threats against White) 12. O-O (Solving any problems that White had)  Nxe3 (???) 13. fxe3 (Retaking the piece, but also opening the f file for White) Bd6 (Its all gone a bit Pete Tong) 14. Ng5 (Black is now lost. The pressure against the f7 square is too great)  h6 (hoping for a miracle) 15. Rxf7 Bxh2+ (desperation) 6. Kh1 Qd6 (more desperation) 17. Rd7+
(that's enough torture) 1-0

Well played Guy.

Now Dave, let's see your defeat against Ray.

Lots of people are still away next week - including yours truly, but Dave and Guy will be playing at the Heathcote on Tuesday 3rd. There are CCs games at Wigston on Thursday 5th.

The following week, we have Brian, a new player (to us anyway), coming down to Club Night on Tuesday 10th, and HA2 play away at Wigston on Thursday 12th in the Semi-final of the Chapman Cup.

Colin

Monday 26 July 2010

New Grades

These are gradually starting to appear. Check out the gradings page on this site.

Colin

Saturday 24 July 2010

HA LOSE CLOSE MATCH IN HORRID CUP AT WIGSTON

Despite some strife in getting a side together to play this match, a full team was fielded on Thursday evening at Wigston.

Due to a quirk in the League's allocated grading Alan Goodwin's grade was 85 and hence he was on Board 3, above Ray.

Graham Booley won his first game against Neil Beasley playing White, and although I sitting next to him I couldn't tell what happened, although it was over fairly quickly. Playing Black on 2 I gave up an exchange to ease the pressure, and then made rather a stupid move (placing my Queen in front of a Rook) and so I lost. On Board 3 Alan was in serious attack mode, but by the time his flag dropped he was material down. On the bottom board Ray won on time, although his position was also better. For the reverse games Graham won again. I initially went a piece up, but then allowed a Knight check which forked my Queen, so I lost in pretty rapid order. Alan lost to his much higher graded opponent. Everything then hung on Ray's game - at this stage he was in a two Rooks & Pawn versus Rook, Bishop & Pawn endgame, with the same number of pawns. Somehow Ray's Rooks didn't get connected, and then one was pinned to Ray's King by the Bishop, and lost. In the end Ray's opponent ran out of time, but by this stage Ray only had a King, so the game was drawn.

Neil Beasley (123) - Graham Booley (136) 0-1, 0-1
Barrie Cooper (118) - Dave Ricketts (95) 1-0, 1-0
Charles Eastlake (117) - Alan Goodwin (85) 1-0, 1-0
Frank Hulford (114) - Ray Beach (77) 0-1, 0.5-0.5.

So we lost 4.5 - 3.5. Thanks to Graham & Alan for stepping in at short notice to ensure we got a side out, and congratulations to Ray on an outstanding performance against a higher graded opponent.

Realistically, given that we've lost two matches, it is reasonable to say that the Harrod Cup won't be coming to the Heathcote Arms this season.

On another issue, it seems a strange statistical quirk that seven of the eight players playing had surnames starting with the first eight letters of the alphabet. Is there a correlation between the initial letter of surnames and chess playing?

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Club Night / Ensor Vs Ross

On Tuesday, Ray, Dave, Pete, Rob and myself were at the Heathcote. Welcome to Gary who looked at our website and still came down anyway. Gary has recently taken up chess and has so far been playing online. With our decision to enter a third team in the league, his timing is perfect.

The evening started off when Dave insisted that we play through my game from last week against Guy. This provided a lot of amusement. Despite what i said about not posting this game on the site, however, I will if Dave puts on his recent game against Ray.

Whilst Dave and Gary, and Pete and Ray played some friendlies, Rob and i got down to our first of two County Championship games against each other.

We were playing the Nimzo-Indian defence when Rob played the unusual move 4. Bd2. Fortunately, i had been reading about this variation the night before. The book i had been reading said that it was rarely played and suggested 4... c5,d5, or 0-0. This helped me survive the opening. Later, although a pawn up, my position looked less good after 40...a6 (Fritz gave Ke6 as the far better move). And soon after Rob accepted my offer of a draw.

Rob Ensor Vs Colin Ross - County Champs (Major) 20.07.10
E46: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein: 4 e3 0-0 5 Ne2 without early Bd3}

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 d5 5. e3 O-O 6. a3 Bxc3 7. bxc3 b6 8. Nf3 Ba6 9. Ne5 Ne4 10. Qg4 Nxd2 1. Kxd2 dxc4 12. Bxc4 Bxc4 13. Nxc4 c5 14. Qe4 Qd5 15. Qxd5 exd5 16. Ne5 Na6 17. Nc6 Rfe8 18. h4 f6 19. dxc5 Nxc5 20. Kc2 Re6 21. Nd4 Re7 22. Rhe1 Rc8 23. f3 Na4 24. Kb3 Nxc3 25. Rac1 Rec7 26. Ne6 Rc6 27. Nd4 R6c7 28. Nf5 Kf8 29. Nd6 Rd8 30. Rxc3 Rxc3+ 31. Kxc3 Rxd6 32. Rd1 Ke7 33. Rd4 Rc6+ 34. Kd3 Ke6 35. Rg4 Kf7 36. e4 dxe4+ 37. Rxe4 Rd6+ 38. Kc3 Re6 39. Kc4 Rxe4+ 40. fxe4 a6 41. Kd5 Ke7 1/2-1/2

On Thursday 22nd, Dave captains our Harrod Cup team away at Wigston. Good luck, chaps.

Next week:
  • Club night on Tuesday.
  • On Thursday, it is the Open and Major sections of the County Champs at Wigston. Rob and i are due to play our second game, but i could be convinced to play this on the Tuesday at our place.
Cheers,

Colin

Friday 16 July 2010

County Champs (Minor)

On Thursday, Ray had a bye.

I played with the black pieces against Guy Closs. It did not work out well, however, as i was in serious trouble by move 14 and resigned on move 17. Andy Morley, who had been watching, accurately described my game as a car crash. On this occasion, i cannot bring myself to post the moves, or even just the Fritz comments.

Haka Dave had a far nicer time with a well won endgame victory against Stan ' the man' Parsons.

Next Tuesday, we have a new player coming down (Gary, who saw the website).

On Thursday, HA2 will play in the Harrod. Dave is struggling for players so please contact him if you are available to play and are eligible.

Colin

Annual General Meeting

I will get the minutes out in the next few days. The main points agreed at the AGM on Tuesday were:
  • A decision not to merge with the Red Admiral.
  • An increase in annual membership subscriptions to £30 for adults and £20 for juniors with a £5 discount for both if paid before the end of August.
  • Committee members  to remain the same.
  • To enter a third team (in the bottom division).
  • To enter one team in the Major League Cup, and one Team in the Minor League Cup.
  • Team Captains to be Graham B (HA1 in Division 1), Pete Harrison (HA2 in Division 4), and Colin Ross (HA3 in Division 5).
  • A change in the name of the Club to Blaby District Chess Club at the Heathcote Arms for the purposes of the website - still to be the Heathcote Arms in the fixtures pages of the handbook.
  • To perform an audit of our equipment so that we can establish what we have and what we need.
Colin

Thursday 8 July 2010

HA2 Succeeds in 2nd Round of Chapman Cup.

Having had a bye in round 1, we were drawn away against Market Harborough for the second round.
A grade difference of 67 meant that we had a bonus of 0.5 points - this would have been 1.5 points if the differential had been 75 or over. MH won the toss and chose white on even boards.

The first result was a draw between Pete and Romily, this was followed by a draw between Haka Dave and Robert King. I had been in a very drawish position against Charles Oppenheim and entered into a knights and pawns endgame - i blundered a pawn and attempted to set up blockades against my opponents queenside pawns with my knights. Meanwhile Ray had been involved in a streetfight with Sean Kennedy - Sean had turned down Ray's offer of a draw and shortly afterwards Ray mated him. Afterwards, Dave summed up Ray's performance rather well: 'He is like something from a horror movie. He keeps coming at you because he doesn't realise he is dead'.

Ray's win put the match out of Market Harborough's reach and so Charles offered me a draw which i accepted.

Market Harborough (1.5 - 3) Heathcote Arms 2
board 1 Ilersic, Romilly (163) Drawn (140) Harrison, Peter
board 2 Oppenheim, Charles (139) Drawn (112) Ross, Colin
board 3 King, Robert (111) Drawn (104) Ricketts, Dave
board 4 Kennedy, Sean (100) 0-1 (90) Beach, Ray
handicap 0-0.5
Final Score 1.5 - 3

No losses and a won match against the team that put us out of the Chapman Cup in the Semi-finals two years ago.

Bloody well done everyone.

Colin

Saturday 3 July 2010

Annual General Meeting

The AGM will be held at the Heathcote Arms at 7.30PM on Tuesday 13th July. Please forward any items for the agenda to me.

In the coming week, HA1 will be playing a Wylie Cup match, at home on the Tuesday 6th. On Wednesday 7th, HA2 play away against Market Harborough in the Chapman Cup.

Colin

Reynolds Vs Ross (County Champs - Major)

After 28 moves, thinking that i had a slight advantage, i offered David a draw. He considered for a while, but then played 29 Nxe6. Play then continued 29...Ng5 (which seemed to take David by surprise), 30 Qg4 Rf7, 31 h4 Nxe6, 32 Rxe6 Qc8 and then white resigned faced with the prospect of losing his rook. The was my first ever non-loss against David.

Colin