Friday 20 October 2017

Atkins Rapidplay


On Sunday 15.10.17 Ray, John and I competed in the latest version of the Atkins. This was a six round Rapid Play Swiss held at Leicester Grammar School in Great Glen. This was a nice venue and there was a decent turnout. Time control was 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from the start.

One of the highlights was Hebden (with White) K+Q+P winning against Dong K+Q in a game that lasted around 50 minutes.

I was very pleased to jointly win the Minor with 5/6.

Sorry, no games recorded.

Results available at: https://leicestershirejuniorchess.com/chess/Atkins/2017/Open/

Colin.

Thursday 12 October 2017

Syston 1 (4.5-0.5) HA1

On Tuesday, I was drafted in as a sub for HA1 against a seriously strong Syston 1 team.

I opened with the Ruy Lopez. Black played 8...d5, a move known as the Marshall Attack. The idea of the Marshall is that black sacrifices a pawn for development and then throws everything at White's kingside. This was the first time that I had faced it. My queenside pieces became trapped and I did not get time to untangle them and bring them into the game. Some homework required.



Graham B was a pawn up, but running short on time. He had at least a draw, but then made an error (I made the same mistake as I played along in my head).

10 OctSyston 1vHeathcote Arms 1
½
1B242Hebden, Mark10Sharpe, Graham177
2W186Galligan, Brian½½Bray, Dave177
3B178Taylor, Robert10Booley, Graham149
4W181Naylor, John10Manger, John139
5B167Robinson, John10Ross, Colin122

Market Harborough were also playing Syston 3. I watched a very exciting finish between Ian Clarke and Ben Pourmozafari. Ben had over 30 minutes in hand to Ian's 2 minutes, and eventually seconds. Both sides were pushing pawns towards the end of the board. It ended with Ben's King jumping around six squares into a corner out of harm's way.

It is the Atkins Rapidplay Tournament this Sunday.

Colin.

Wednesday 4 October 2017

Braunstone 2 (3.5 - 0.5) HA3


03 OctBraunstone 2vHeathcote Arms 3
½
1B120Closs, Guy½½Ross, Colin122
2W124Reid, Patrick10Maconnachie, Richard94
3B105Gulab, Vijay10Harbidge, Drew90
4W96Barlow, Steve10Milner, Gordon39

Ray was also present as a supporter. The match was perhaps not as one sided as the score suggests. Gordon played well on board 4 and he and Steve were the last to finish.



Against me, Guy missed a win with 42...Qe1+ picking up the Bishop. I was so relieved that he missed this, that I offered a draw following my next move. My best hope was Qf8 followed by Qg7#, but getting the time to make these moves was far from certain. 



Colin