Wednesday 30 May 2012

Latest News 30th May 2012.

The Grinder Reports:

Anand retained the title! In the initial four game rapid play he won one and drew the other three.

John



Colin Reports:

We had a decent turnout of seven players for club night. Drew the younger is improving rapidly. There is nothing much happening next week with the two bank holidays, but i have asked the Red Admiral if we could have our Pairs Competition at their place on the Wednesday. This is very short notice, so may not come off, but i will post something here, either way.


Colin.

Saturday 26 May 2012

County Champs 2nd Round

Major

David Reynolds 0.5 - 0.5 John Manger.
I didn't see much of this, despite it taking place at the next table.

Ross,Colin - Phillips,Howard County Champs (Major) Leicester, 24.05.2012


Analysis by Fritz 10 (I have cut out most of the remarks and just left in my favourite bits.)

Closed Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bc4 Bg7 6.0–0 a6 7.d3 e6 8.f5 Nd4 9.fxe6 Bxe6 10.Bd5 Ra7 11.Ng5 Bxd5 12.Nxd5 b5 13.c3 Ne6? 14.Qg4 Nh6 15.Qh4 [15.Nxe6 seems even better 15...Nxg4 16.Nxg7+ Kd7 17.Rxf7+ Kc8 18.Rxa7 Kb8+-] 15...f5?? an oversight. But Black was lost anyway. 16.g3 [16.exf5 secures the point 16...Nxf5 17.Qe4+-] 16...Nc7? [16...Kd7 17.Nb6+! the death sentence 17...Qxb6 18.Nxe6 Kxe6 19.Bxh6 Bxh6 20.exf5+ gxf5 21.Qxh6+ Kd5 22.Rxf5+ Kc6 23.Qe6+-] 17.Bd2 [¹17.Nxc7+ secures the win 17...Rxc7 18.Ne6 Qxh4 19.gxh4+- (19.Nxc7+?! Kd8 20.gxh4 Kxc7+-) ] 17...Nxd5 18.exd5 Qf6? 19.Rae1+ Re7 20.Rxe7+ Kxe7 21.Re1+ Kd7 22.Re6 Qd8 23.Bf4 Bf8 24.Bxd6! Deflection: d6 24...Bxd6 25.Qxh6 Qf8 26.Qxf8 Rxf8 27.Nxh7 Rh8 28.Ng5 Rg8 29.Nf7 Bb8 30.Ne5+ [30.Rxa6 and White can already relax 30...Ke7 31.Ng5 Bd6+-] 30...Bxe5 31.Rxe5 Kd6  32.d4 [32.Re6+ and the result of the game is clear: White will win 32...Kxd5 33.Rxa6+-] 32...cxd4± 33.cxd4 Rc8 34.Re6+ Kxd5 35.Rxa6 Kxd4 36.Rxg6 White has a new passed pawn: h2 36...Rc1+ 37.Kf2 Rc2+ Black forks: b2+f2 38.Kf3 Rxb2 39.Rb6 ½–½

So much for my preparation against the Petroff!

Howard had arrived a bit late anyway and had used a lot of thinking time during the opening. At move 15, Howard had only around three minutes left on his clock and made the next 20 moves under time pressure all the way until the time control at move 35.

I made a bit of a hash of the ending and offered a draw. My best ever result against Howard.


 
Guy Closs 0 - 1 Bob Collins.
This had looked even and the queens had just come off. A mate then appeared from nowhere as a rook swept across to the edge of the board checking Guy's king with the only escape square covered by Bob's bishop.

Minor

Andy Carter 1-0 Dave Ricketts

Back at the Heathcote Arms, we had been planning Andy's defeat for about a week and a half. According to plan, he opened with 1. Nf3. Haka Dave had a system worked out ahead of time. Things were going fine until the endgame where it all went a bit Pete Tong.

Ray had a bye, but showed up and lent support.

I did not see much of anything else and the other results are not up yet on the site, but i know that:

Ben lost to Patrick Reid. Stan lost to Roy Lathwood. I am not sure how Amber got on. I think Sean lost to Jim Bingham in the Open Section.

If anyone else would like to post a report from the Counties - e-mail it to me and i will put it up.

Club night at the Heathcote Arms on Tuesday.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Thursday 17 May 2012

First Round Harrod Cup Win

Harrod Cup

At 492 points, and with a maximum of 500 points allowed, i thought we were fielding a strong team, but then Kirby show up with a team totalling 499 points.

In the first round, Dave was first to finish. His opponent, Eddie, plays very quickly anyway, but made a few mistakes and Dave punished him. Ray played very well to come back from a deficit of a pawn and the exchange to draw. John went a piece up and was able to grind out the win. Pete made some mistakes in time trouble and his flag dropped, but by that time it was over anyway.

So, 2.5 points to 1.5 points after the first round was a good start.

After the break, Dave was first to finish again. Eddie had left a knight en pris. Dave was happy to force a draw. Ray found himself in trouble this time, but went down fighting. John and Pete both went a piece up and were able to convert.

5-3 to us was a seriously good result.


15 MayHeathcote Arms 1W - BB - WKirby Muxloe 1
5 - 3
1149Peter the President1 - 00 - 1Gray, Paul135
2130The Grinder1 - 01 - 0Townsend, Ray130
3105The player formerly known as Raymondov0 - 1½ - ½Walker, John128
494Haka Dave1 - 0½ - ½Hill, Eddie106


Next Week

Next Tuesday, no club night as several of us will be at Wigston on Thursday 24th to take part in the second rounds of the County Championship. Come and watch us if you are free:

Colin Ross Vs Howard Phillips
David Reynolds Vs John Manger
Andy Carter Vs Dave Ricketts
Ray has a bye


Leicester Junior Training Day

26th July. This looks really good. Please find more information from the link.

http://www.braunstonechessclub.org.uk/Flyers%20etc/Flyer%20for%20Junior%20Training%20Day.pdf



The World Chess Championship

Four draws so far.

http://www.anand-gelfand.com/



On Monday, there was a rather amusing piece on the Steve Giddins Blog.

Check out 'Rinky Dink' at

http://stevegiddinschessblog.blogspot.co.uk/



Well done everyone,

Colin.

Thursday 10 May 2012

Oh Dear

It happened again. Since we only entered one team in the Chapman Cup this year, Braunstone assumed that it would be a strong one... Not really. We were heavily outgunned by the home team.

The same thing happened last year when we played Wigston. At that time, Alan Byron, the reigning County Champion really wasn't expecting to be playing me.

Next year, if we are only running one team, we probably ought to call ourselves Heathcote Arms 2 (or even 3) from the outset to save confusion.

Anyway, we were outgraded by a little over 300 points.

We began the match with a 3.5 point handicap bonus and needed a single draw from four games to win the match.

The outcome was predictable. Michael the younger held out until about 8.20PM. I think Gordon managed to hang on a bit longer.

I had been playing black against John Robinson (one of our regular readers it transpires) and allowed his central pawns to advance onto my half of the board. My position was cramped and, then John's knights and queen came in and lay waste to all before them. Fritz gave John a double exclamation mark on move 24 and another exclamation mark on move 31. At this point, i had had enough.

(178) Robinson,John - Ross,Colin [A34]



Chapman Cup Leicester, 08.05.2012
A34: Symmetrical English: 2 Nc3, lines with ...d5 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 c5 4.Nc3 Nc6 last book move 5.d5 exd5 6.cxd5 Ne7 [6...Nb4 7.e4 d6 8.a3+-] 7.e4 [7.d6 Nf5 8.e4 Nxd6+-] 7...d6 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.a4 [9.Bxd7+ Nxd7 10.Qb3 Rb8±] 9...Qa5 [9...Ng6!?²] 10.Bd2 [10.0–0 Ng6+-] 10...Bxb5 [10...Qc7 11.Nh4±] 11.axb5 Qb6 12.Qe2 [¹12.Qa4±] 12...g6?? cause more grief [12...Ng6 13.Nd1 Qd8 14.Bc3±] 13.0–0 [¹13.e5!? and White can already relax 13...dxe5 14.Nxe5 Qd8+-] 13...Nd7? [¹13...Bg7±] 14.Na4+- Qc7 15.Bc3 White prepares e5 15...Rg8 16.Rfd1 [16.e5 might be the shorter path 16...Bg7 17.e6 fxe6 18.dxe6 Nf8+-] 16...b6 17.e5 0–0–0?? a blunder in a bad position [17...Bg7+-] 18.e6 [¹18.exd6 secures the point 18...Qxd6 19.Ne5 Nf5 20.Nxf7 Qe7+-] 18...fxe6 19.Qxe6 [¹19.dxe6 keeps an even firmer grip 19...Nb8 20.b4+-] 19...Re8?? Black has lost his nerve... understandable when you consider his position [19...g5 20.b4 Rg6 21.Qe2+-] 20.b3 [¹20.Ne5! and White has reached his goal 20...dxe5 21.d6+-] 20...Bg7± 21.Bxg7 Rxg7? [21...Nf5!? 22.Qf7 Nxg7±] 22.Nb2 [22.b4 seems even better 22...Kb7 23.bxc5 bxc5+-] 22...Kd8? [¹22...Rf8 23.Ne5! surprise! 23...dxe5+-] 23.Ng5 Ne5 [23...Nf5 the only chance to get some counterplay 24.Nf7+ Rxf7 25.Qxf7 Rf8 26.Qxh7 Nd4+-] 24.Qxe5!! Double attack: c7/d8 24...dxe5 25.Ne6+ Kd7 26.Nxc7 [26.Nxg7?! is a useless try 26...Rg8 27.Ne6 Qb7=] 26...Kxc7 27.d6+ [¹27.Rxa7+ makes it even easier for White 27...Kb8 28.Rda1 Reg8 29.Ra8+ Kc7 30.R1a7+ Kd6 31.Rxg8 Rxg8 32.Nc4+ Kxd5 33.Rxe7 Kd4 34.Nxb6 Kc3+-] 27...Kb7 28.dxe7 Rgxe7 29.Nc4 Rf8 [29...Kb8 does not improve anything 30.Ra2+-] 30.Re1 e4 31.Rxe4! Decoy: e4. . . . . [31.Rxe4 Rxe4 32.Nd6+ Kb8 33.Nxe4+-] 1–0


Raymondov and the Grinder showed up at around this point to lend support.

Mike C just would not give up, making Paul Colburn mate his lone King, with Queen and King (and he also had a spare pawn).

 

08 MayBraunstone 1vHeathcote Arms 1GD
4 - 0-176
Handicap0 - 3½
4 - 3½
1B180Colburn, Paul1 - 0Cowley, Michael154-26
2W170Robinson, John1 - 0Ross, Colin120-50
3B168Hanscombe, Richard1 - 0Bubb, Michael41-50
4W160Bingham, James1 - 0Milner, Gordon60-50


On Tuesday, 15th May, we will be playing in the Harrod Cup at home, and there should also be a decent sized club night.

Gordon and Michael, bring your score sheets from this week down on Tueday and we will see if we can find someone stronger than me to look at them.

Well Done Braunstone,

Colin.

Sunday 6 May 2012

HA1 Suffer Loss in Wylie Cup First Round


The Wylie Cup is a Rapidplay Competition where each player plays once as white and once as black against the same opponent. There is no handicap, but there is a 700 grading points cap on each side.

01 MayLoughborough 1W - BB - WHeathcote Arms 1
6½ - 1½
1172Mitchell, John½ - ½0 - 1Sharpe, Graham192
2163Eagleton, Greg1 - 01 - 0Cowley, Michael160
3157Miller, James1 - 01 - 0Harrison, Peter149
4?**NEW PLAYER**1 - 01 - 0Booley, Graham141


On Thursday, there was the first round of the Open Section of the County Championship:

Graham Sharpe 1-0 Sean Hewitt
Karl Potter 1-0 Rajan Ganger
Chino Nwachukwu 1-0 Graham Booley

On Tuesday 8th May, our Chapman Cup side will be playing away against Braunstone, and on Tuesday 15th May, we will be playing at home against Kirby Muxloe in the Harrod Cup.

There may also be some small club nights on the 8th and 15th.

We have a few other things to fit in to our schedule in the near future:

  • our Club AGM - we normally have this in May, but it may be worth putting this off until after the LRCA AGM in the last week of May as there may be some decisions that have implications for us next season.

  • a Club Championship,

  • and we are due a sausage and chip night with a Pairs Competition at the Red Admiral.

Colin.