Chess at the 4NCL Div 4 took up where it had left off from the previous year at the Paragon Hotel, Birmingham - see left, for a view of its former glories, when for a mere £0 / 0s / 6d (or 2 ½ pence to the younger Disinfomorion), you had access to a dining hall, reading room, smoking room ("with newspapers, chess, draughts, etc"), and a variety of other amenities, including washing, lavatory, and scullery. Nowadays, you pay about £40 for a small cell-like room, the like of which is common in many motels. For the chessplayer who dreams of nothing better than going to bed with Fritz, it's fairly ideal. Others have been known to grumble, however.
Round 1
| LONDON MASTERS AND OTHERS 1 | 1½ - 4½ | OXFORD 2 | ||||
| 1 | w | Poobalasingam, Peter | 2068 | ½ - ½ | Shaw, David A | 2201 |
| 2 | b | Graham, Nick | 2060 | 0 - 1 | Dickinson, Timothy R | 2206 |
| 3 | w | Gaudeau, Valentin | 1933 | 0 - 1 | Starkie, Ray | 2150 |
| 4 | b | Schlesinger, Noah W | 1935 | 0 - 1 | Scott, David A | 2110 |
| 5 | w | Walker, Colin M | 1910 | 1 - 0 | Ludbrook, Matt | 2058 |
| 6 | b | Dinenis, George | 1830 | 0 - 1 | Bruce, Dave | 2025 |
| OXFORD 3 | 1½ - 4½ | CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 2 | ||||
| 1 | w | Burt, Will | 2060 | 1 - 0 | Cooley, Oliver | 2101 |
| 2 | b | Terry, Sean | 2040 | 0 - 1 | Gooding, Ian | 2013 |
| 3 | w | Morris, Graham | 2035 | 0 - 1 | Gallagher, Ian G | 2005 |
| 4 | b | Chen, Ti | 2010 | 0 - 1 | Kreuzer, Christopher | 1990 |
| 5 | w | Zhang, Marco | 1890 | ½ - ½ | Campbell, Mark | 1975 |
| 6 | b | Henbest, Kevin B | 1800 | 0 - 1 | Gibbs, Dominic | 1964 |
Both sides kick off with results reflecting the ratings differential, although Oxford 3's result might have been better were it not for Graham being ground down in a long ending, while Sean's play suggested he'd been given a bung some time before his opening moves.
Oxford 2:
The main action was fought over the top three boards, with a real humdinger being staged on top board: Dave Shaw finding himself an exchange adrift in a post-Dutch ending with play if not exactly prospects against the currently undergraded Peter Poobalasingam (certainly, his post-mortem from a later round with me was an impressive demonstration of his understanding of play with the White pieces, notwithstanding my poverty-stricken play). Here's a moment I found with Fritz:
Poobalasingam- Shaw
Black has been struggling an exchange down for a while after a sharp Dutch, and seems to have control of the position (if not the result). Here White played 31.Ne3 with the obvious and clever point that if it's captured the binding effect of the black knight pair will be broken, and the play will be simplified in his favour. Play continued: 31…Rc5 - reasonable enough, although at this point Fritz immediately opts to play 31…b5 with advantage to Black! If 32.Nxc4 bxc4 white's rooks are dominated and one of them must sacrifice itself for a lowly pawn. Meanwhile, if White doesn't capture on c5 then Black has been able to improve his position significantly by the first advance of his queen-side pawns.
The sort of thing that Bronstein would have seen in his sleep, we feel.
Highlights from boards 2 and 3 follow, and the match win was ensured by Dave Scott, who took advantage of an openings inaccuracy by his opponent to get to an ending with a large spatial advantage on the queen side, which duly resulted in the win / blunder of a piece. Icing was provided by a dubious looking win by Dave Bruce on board 6, but hey - you take 'em when they're on offer.
Dickinson - Graham
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7 4.0-0 g6 5.c3 Bg7 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 0-0 8.d5 Ne5 9.Nxe5 Bxe5 10.f4 Bg7 11.d6 cxd6 12.Qxd6 a6
Fritz prefers the quiet Bd3 from the diagram position, as she reckons 13…axb5 14.f6 Nf5 15.Rxf5 gxf5 16.fxg7 Re8 to be in Black's favour. It's certainly better than the game continuation…
13.f5 Nc6 14.f6 Qb6+ 15.Rf2 Bh8 16.Nc3 axb5 17.Nd5 Qd8 18.Ne7+ Nxe7 19.fxe7 Qe8 20.Bh6 Bg7 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Raf1 1-0
Gaudeau - Starkie
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 a5 8.0-0 Na6 9.Be3 Nc5 10.Bxc5 dxc5 11.h3 Ne8 12.a3 Nd6 13.Nd2 Bd7 14.Bd3 Qg5 15.Kh2 f5 16.Rb1 b6 17.Qe2 Qh4 18.f3 Bh6 19.Rbd1 Bf4+ 20.Kg1 Qg3
All roads lead to Rome from move 20 on as long as ...e4 features: e.g. 21…Qh2+ 22.Kf2 gxf5 23.Rg1 e4 wins a piece while the torrent continues to rage or 22…e4 and if 23.Bb1 e3…
21.exf5 gxf5 22.Nb3 Rf6 23.Qc2 Be3+ 24.Kh1 Rh6 25.f4 e4 26.Qe2 Bxf4 27.Rxf4 Qxf4 28.Bc2 Re8 29.Rf1 Qg3 0-1
Oxford 3:
Notwithstanding their draw against the same opposition in Round 10 of last year's competition, Cambridge always stood stronger and more likely to win this game, particularly as Sean was at the post-enrolment races (70 hour weeks are no fun beyond a certain age). Apart from Will's excellent showing (game next page), Graham and Ti Chen fought well but were eventually ground down, while the ratings difference told on the bottom two boards.
Kreuzer - Chen
Ti Chen had struggled to reach the difficult position in the diagram, but having immobilised his opponent's queenside pieces he fell prey to overconfidence, and a sharp refutation: 28.Ne3 Qxa1 29.Nf5+ Kf8 30.Qb8+ Nc8 31.Qxc8+ Re8 32.Qxc6 Re6 33.Qc5+ Kg8 34.Qc8+ Kh7 35.Qf8 Kg6 36.Qg7+ Kxf5 37.Qg4# 1-0
Burt,Will (2060) - Cooley,Oliver (2010)
Both sides are in the mood for a fight, with Will's offer of a b-pawn being countered on move 8 by the offer of an exchange. Will naturally refuses, being temperamentally unsuited to the gathering of riches at so early a stage in the game. Besides, after 10.Bxf7+ Kd8 Black's queen is somewhat pushed for space (… Kxf7? Ne5+), a factor that Black subsequently neglects to his cost. 13. … b5 (see diagram ) is the boner - … d6 being required to give the queen an outlet on d7 - and after 14. h3 Black is faced with losing the queen (… Qg3; 15. Bc5-f2) so jettisons a piece. The remaining moves contain some amusing byplay around the e5 square as Will tries to make some things work, before finally hitting on the correct plan.
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qg4 6.Nc3 Bc5 7.b4 Bxb4 8.Nd5 Nf6 9.Nxb4 Nxb4 10.Bxf7+ Kd8 11.Ba3 a5 12.c3 Nc6 13.Qc2 b5
14.h3 Nd4 15.Nxd4 Qg5 16.Qd3 d6 17.Nf3 Qh6 18.e5 b4 19.Bb2 Nd7 20.c4 Nc5 21.Qd4 Rf8 22.Bd5 Ra7 23.Re1 Bf5 24.exd6 cxd6 25.Be6 Bd3+ 26.Kg1 Ra6 27.Re5 Nd7 28.Re1 Nc5 29.Bg4 a4 30.Kh2 a3 31.Ba1 g5 32.Re5 Nd7 33.Qxd3 Nxe5 34.Nxe5 Kc7 35.Nd7 Re8 36.Nf6 Rf8 37.Nd5+ Kb8 38.Rb1 Qh4 39.Rxb4+ Ka8 40.Nc7+ Ka7 41.Qd4+ 1-0
Round 2
| OXFORD 2 | 4 - 2 | GLOUCESTERSHIRE GAMBITS | ||||
| 1 | w | Shaw, David A | 2201 | 1 - 0 | Hosken, Nigel | 2008 |
| 2 | b | Dickinson, Timothy R | 2206 | 1 - 0 | Ponter, Ian | 2048 |
| 3 | w | Hackett, David G | 2150 | 1 - 0 | Buchanan, David | 2085 |
| 4 | b | Scott, David A | 2110 | 0 - 1 | Dodwell, Phil | 2065 |
| 5 | w | Ludbrook, Matt | 2058 | 0 - 1 | Meade, Philip J | 2050 |
| 6 | b | Bruce, Dave | 2025 | 1 - 0 | Taylor, Geoffrey P | 2052 |
| ADDLESTONE | 2½ - 3½ | OXFORD 3 | ||||
| 1 | w | Dupré, Paul D | 2027 | 1 - 0 | Burt, Will | 2060 |
| 2 | b | Albrecht, Theo | 2025 | 0 - 1 | Morris, Graham | 2035 |
| 3 | w | Klein, Cornelia | 1885 | 1 - 0 | Terry, Sean | 2040 |
| 4 | b | Seale, Denis | 1860 | 0 - 1 | Zhang, Marco | 1890 |
| 5 | w | Davda, Rahil | 1855 | ½- ½ | Henbest, Kevin B | 1800 |
| 6 | b | Shanahan, Piers | 1670 | 0 - 1 | Wang, Maria | 1705 |
Oxford 2:
Three smooth wins on the top boards left a long time waiting for one of the others to bring home a point, and Dave Bruce obliged after taking his time over a strategically overwhelming position. Game of the day belongs though to Dave Hackett (see below).
Shaw - Hosken
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.Qd2 Bb7 9.g4 Nfd7 10.0-0-0 Nb6 11.Qf2 N8d7 12.Bd3 Be7 13.h4 0-0 14.g5 Rc8 15.Nce2 Nc4 16.Bxc4 bxc4 17.Nc3 Qe8 18.Rdg1 Nc5 19.Qf1
One of the things I forgot to pick up on during my formative years was the fact that the Sicilian defence, though it lends itself to ugly looking positions (such as this) nonetheless gives Black plenty of scope for winning games. The trick is simply not to panic. Here's a case in point, although now that I've reached the armchair phase of my career, without a decent machine on which to run Fritz it's simply impossible to work out what her evaluations actually mean, as until 27. Rxg7 happens ("mate in 8") the verdict is firmly in favour of Black.
19…Na4 20.h5 Nxc3 21.bxc3 e5 22.Nf5 d5 23.g6 Ba3+ 24.Kd1 fxg6 25.hxg6 dxe4 26.gxh7+ Kh8 27.Rxg7 Qd8+ 28.Ke1 exf3 29.Rg8+ Rxg8 30.hxg8Q+ Kxg8 31.Qg1+ Kf7 32.Qg7+ Ke6 33.Rh6+ 1-0
Taylor - Bruce
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.a3 f6 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.Bf4 c4 9.Bc2 Qb6 10.Qe2 0-0-0 11.Ra2 g5 12.Bg3 g4 13.Nh4 f5 14.0-0 Be7 15.f4 Nh6 16.Nd2 Na5 17.Rb1 Bb5 18.Qe1 Nb3 19.Qd1 Ba4 20.Nf1 20…Rhf8 21.Qe2 Rd7 22.Bf2 Qd8 23.g3 Bxh4 24.gxh4 g3 25.Bxg3 25…Rg7 26.Kh1 Rfg8 27.Qh5 Rg6 28.Bd1 Be8
A decent performance once again from Dave with his favourite French, and the writing was on the wall from as early as move 13, which sees White's rook misplaced on a2, and the prospect of a steady pawn-roller on the kingside without much in the line of counterplay from White. Dave spends the teenage moves shoring up the queenside before turning his attention to the other side, and White has no active plan to consider. 24. … g3! was necessary in order to avoid a possible stalemate, and 29. … Qxh4! gave the first indication of the end of the affair. A game in which White managed to get only one piece to the fifth rank (27. Qh5, from which it retreated two moves later - see diagram), and two others to the fourth rank (Bf4, Nh4).
29.Qe2 Qxh4 30.Qf2 Qe7 31.a4 Ng4 32.Bxg4 Rxg4 33.Ne3 R4g7 34.Ra3 Qf7 35.a5 Qh5 36.Kg2 Rg6 37.a6 b5 38.Rh1 Rh6 39.Nf1 Qh3+ 40.Kg1 Qh5 41.Kg2 Nc1 42.Ra1 Nd3 43.Qd2 Qg4 44.h3 Nxf4+ 45.Kf2 Rxh3 46.Rg1 Nd3+ 0-1
Hackett,David G (2150) - Buchanan,David (2085) [C02]
4NCL/Div4/OXF2 vs. GLOSG Birmingham ENG (2.3), 24.09.2006
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.a4 c4 7.g3 Nc6 8.Bh3 Na5 9.Nbd2 Be7 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.Ne1 h5 12.Ng2 g5 13.Ne3
The sort of position that Fritz tends to mark up for Black - here it's -0.75 - and confirming a suspicion that notwithstanding its forename that the beast is in fact French in origin. (Funnily enough, the same can be said on both counts for Dave Bruce, but no matter, oh la la.) White has play, of course, and the play will get pretty wild from here on in, but it isn't based on the grand pawn structure he's set up in the centre - which will be the first to suffer. 13…f5 14.exf6 Nxf6 15.Re1 Bd6 16.Rb1 Rdg8 and here the computer prefers the Will Burt approach to patient king-side expansion, and recommends an immediate … g4 with either … h4 to follow or Rde8. 17.b4 cxb3 17…Nc6 is another option, and Fritz considers many things before coming down on the side of 18.Ndxc4 dxc4 19.Nxc4 Qc7 20.Bxe6 with what it terms approximate equality. 18.c4 Bb4 19.cxd5 g4 20.Bg2 Bxa4
and still with everything to play for in the middle game. (The ending is of course, lost, but we won't spoil the fun by saying who it's lost for…) 21.Bb2 exd5 22.Bxd5 Nxd5 this counts as a mistake, allowing the knight into the game; the computer recommendation is a rook move (e8 or d8). 23.Nxd5 Qd6 24.Ne7+ This snaffles the exchange, without losing the initiative that is so necessary to these sorts of positions: if Black could draw breath and regroup that pawn on b3 might become a bit of nuisance, or as Dave Bruce might term it, cause celebre . Fritz prefers the tactical sequence 24.Nxb4 Qxb4 25.Qc1+ Kb8 26.Bc3 which embarrasses one of the pieces on the a-file into submission. 26…Qb5 (26…Qb6 27.Qa3 Rc8 28.Bb4) 27.Re5 24…Kb8 25.d5 Ka8 Be5 was threatened. 26.Re6 Qd7 27.Nxg8 Rxg8 28.Ne4 Rc8 29.Nf6 Qf7 30.Re4 Nc4
31.Rc1 b5 32.d6 Rd8 33.d7 Be7 now Dave wraps up nicely with a double-exchange sacrifice sequence. 34.Rxe7 Qxe7 35.Rxc4 Rxd7 36.Nxd7 1-0 mate happens after: 36…Qe6 37.Nc5 Qc8 38.Qd5+ Kb8 39.Be5+ Qc7 40.Qb7#
Oxford 3:
Another disjointed performance saw us go two down (Will and Sean) without looking to score much elsewhere. Graham though was busy working up to another display of endgame technique which I've learned to watch and learn, and Marco was making hard work but definite progress on board 4. Still, with Kevin a rook or so adrift and Maria seemingly the wrong side of a double rook endgame, it was hard to see where the three points were coming.
I returned from my post mortem to find Marco had won, Graham still winning, and Kevin had drawn (!), which left our hopes for a point resting on the very young, and extremely narrow shoulders of Maria Wang, playing an almost equally youthful opponent.
Wang,Maria (1705) - Shanahan,Piers (1670) [B00]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 b6 4.c3 Bb7 5.Nbd2 Nf6 6.e5 Ne4 7.Qe2 Nxd2 8.Bxd2 Nc6 9.Be3 cxd4 10.cxd4 Bb4+ 11.Nd2 f6 12.f4 0-0 13.a3 Bxd2+ 14.Qxd2 fxe5 15.dxe5 Qe7 16.Bd3 Qh4+ 17.g3 Qh3 18.Bf1 Qf5 19.Bg2 Rad8 20.0-0 Ba6 21.Rfc1 Na5 22.Qd1 Nc4 23.Bd4 d6 24.Qe1 dxe5 25.Bxe5 Nxe5 26.fxe5 Qd3 27.Rc7 Qd4+ 28.Kh1 Qxb2 29.Rb1 Qd2 30.Rxa7 Rf2
31.Qxd2 Rdxd2 32.Rxa6 32.Be4 Bc4 was what we looked at after the game but it seems to go nowhere other than a draw. 32…Rxg2 33.Raxb6 Rxh2+ 34.Kg1 Rdg2+ 35.Kf1 Ra2 36.Kg1 Rag2+ 37.Kf1
it difficult to round up the a-pawn, Black decides to go after the g-pawn instead. 37…Rxg3 38.Rxe6 Rh1+ 39.Kf2 Rxb1 40.Kxg3 Rb3+ 41.Kf4 Rxa3 42.Rd6 the position is probably drawn with 'best play' - that is, best play from both sides. Black's extra pawn has yet to move, while his king will find it difficult to provide support. With the game now entering its fifth hour, and the match score equals with just this game to come (Graham Morris was still playing but we trusted his endgame technique…), both sides 42…Kf7 43.Rd7+ Kf8 44.Rd6 Ke7 45.Rb6 Rd3 46.Ke4 Rd1 47.Rb7+ Rd7 48.Rb6 h5 49.Rg6
49…Kf7?? 50.e6+ Kxg6 51.exd7 Kg5 52.d8Q+ Kg4 53.Qd1+ Kh4 54.Kf5 g5 55.Qh1+ Kg3 56.Qxh5 g4 57.Qxg4+ 1-0
An extraordinary game, stretching for well over four hours, for two so-youngsters to play. At that age, I couldn't have sat still for 10 minutes, yet both Maria and Piers not only sat throughout, but showed considerable politeness to each other at the end of the game.
Davda,Rahil (1855) - Henbest,Kevin B (1800) [E93]
4NCL/Div4/ADD vs. OXF3 Birmingham ENG (2.5), 24.09.2006
This game from the start of the 2007 season brought a smile to many faces - Kevin goes badly wrong on moves 9 and 10, ends up with a frankly hopeless position, but hangs about posing whatever difficulties he can and escapes with an in-the-end deserved and a most unusual half point. It should be required reading for those who, blundering badly, sigh deeply and prepare to resign. 8.. Qe8 is a strange move, which allows White to play an immediate Nb5 (for a draw after Qd8 / Nc3 etc?!), but 9.b4 is simple and awaits developments ...which arrive in the form of a complete blunder: 9…Nh5?? 10.Nb5 which now threatens to win the queen after the capture on c7!
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 Nbd7 8.Bg5 Qe8 9.b4 Nh5 10.Nb5 f6 11.Nxc7 Qf7 12.Be3 f5 13.Nxa8 Nf4 14.Bxf4 fxe4 15.Be3 exf3 16.Bxf3 e4 17.Bg4 Bc3+ 18.Ke2 Ne5 19.Bxc8 Rxc8 20.Rc1 Bxb4 21.Qd4 Ba3 22.Qxa7 Bc5 23.Bxc5 dxc5 24.Rb1 Nd3 25.Rhf1
Black to play on regardless.
25…Nf4+ 26.Kd1 Qf6 27.Qa5 Qd4+ 28.Qd2 Qxc4 29.Re1½-½