En Passant

Slow start, strong finish

Ian Kingston — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:14:00 +0000

The week began with a solid draw by WN6 against West Bridgford 3, who are chasing promotion. Ross and Arjun picked up the wins.

WN1 didn't fare quite so well against Long Eaton, losing 3–2. I got a quick win against Dave Brown, but there were only two draws in support (John Collins and – rather luckily – Julien).

Things picked up on Thursday, when WN3 travelled to Newark 2 and came back with a 2½–2½ draw. With University 3 losing the day before to the bottom team, WN3's position at the top of Division 3 is looking quite secure.

But Friday was the big finish. WNA, despite missing Julien, disposed of Derby & Mickleover A 3–1, with wins for David and Jonathan. Daniel even contrived to get a draw when his opponent failed to mate with king and two bishops vs. king – proof that it pays to learn your basic endgames. WNA continue to hold a mid-table position, and should stay in Division 1.

WNB, meanwhile, also posted a 3–1 win against Long Eaton B. John Crawley and Nikolai scored the wins. This result pushes the team back into first place in Division 3.

Ups and downs

Ian Kingston — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:52:00 +0000

David had an atrocious time trying to find a full team for WN1's match against Ashfield, working his way right through the first and second team squads and still only finding four players. In the end he had to snatch John Crawley from WN6, when a stronger player might well have been able to take advantage of a weakness on Ashfield's bottom board. Instead, the team fell to a 3½–1½ defeat, and Division 2 looms.

Worse still was the unfortunate effect on WN6. Andrew Garside was drafted in as a late replacement for John, but nobody remembered that he was already tied to WN5. That meant a 2½–1½ win against a University 4 team with only three players was turned into a 3–1 defeat.

The other teams more than compensated though. Nikolai took WN3 to play Nomads 2 and was the only winner in a 3–2 victory that puts the team solidly at the top of Division 3 – four points clear. Tracey's WNC also won, with a convincing 3½–½ demolition of Long Eaton C.

What we really need now is two committed 150+ adults for the first team. Anybody know anyone?

Corus final result

Ian Kingston — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:44:00 +0000

The Corus tournament ended with Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian tying for first place. Aronian had the steadier progress, whereas Carlsen did it the hard way, losing to Anand and then beating Kramnik with Black to rejoin the lead.

There is no doubt that this was an amazing achievement by a 17-year-old. It's hard to think of anything comparable by such a young player. Unofficially Carlsen now moves into the top 10, and just about everyone sees him as a future World Champion. Of course, a host of other young stars, foremost among them Radjabov and Karjakin, might have something to say about that.

Nottingham Rapidplay

Ian Kingston — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:08:00 +0000

A quick summary of the club's results at this year's Nottingham Rapidplay. Not too hot at the top, but prizes were won lower down. All the details are on the NCA web site.

In the Open, Julien Dudognon just missed out on second place, scoring 3½/6. Ian Kingston scored 1½ and David Levens brought up the rear with ½.

Major: Jonathan Day 3; John Collins 2

Intermediate: Robert Willoughby 3½ (Grading Prize); Daniel Lin 2½

Minor: John Crawley 4½ (U80 Grading Prize); Michael Zhang 4½ (Junior Prize); Dave Dunne, Predeep Nehra 4; Andrew Garside, Aarav Gupta-Kaistha, Ross Mackay 3½; Keshav Nehra 3½ (Ungraded Grading Prize); Eamonn Lim, Vijay Maharajan, Arun Maini 3; Tracey Clegg 2½; Neel Kothari, Aman Ruparelia 2; Saaras Mehan 1½; Jordan Nicholson 1

Corus update

Ian Kingston — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:14:00 +0000

Great chess at Corus was mixed with one of the daftest scandals ever, when Ivan Cheparinov refused to shake hands with Nigel Short at the start of their game in the B group. Apparently, Cheparinov – Veselin Topalov's second – was protesting at comments that Short had made which the Bulgarians felt amounted to an accusation of cheating by Topalov at the 2005 World Championship tournament. Some felt that Silvio Danailov, manager of both Topalov and Cheparinov, was behind it all, trying to find out how the organisers would react if something similar to occur in the Topalov–Kramnik game to be played two days later.

Anyway – Short, never one to back down in such situations, called in the arbiter after Cheparinov twice failed to shake hands, citing a FIDE recommendation that players who don't shake hands should lose by default. The arbiter eventually agreed and awarded the game to Short.

Cheparinov appealed and was awarded a replay on a technicality, provided he apologised in writing, which he duly did. Short was adamant that he wouldn't play, but did finally appear. After the now mandatory handshake, the Englishman outplayed Cheparinov in fine style.

And then there was Topalov–Kramnik (ironically, Kramnik was on the appeals committee that reprieved Cheparinov). Neither player offered his hand, so the handshake issue didn't arise. Then, at move 12, Topalov unleashed an amazing piece sacrifice discovered three years previously by Cheparinov and kept under wraps by Team Topalov for a suitable occasion. He went on to win what might well be the game of the year, featuring as it did not just the amazing novelty, but also a wonderful queen sacrifice.

While all this was going on, Magnus Carlsen took the sole lead in the tournament, only to be pegged back in Round 9 when he was caught by Lev Aronian. Kramnik, Adams, Radjabov and Anand are just half a point behind.

Another Monday - still juggling

Ian Kingston — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:47:00 +0000

With WNA, WN2 and WN4 all playing on the same night, and many key players not available, the three captains spent last week trying to sort out the best way to distribute the various personnel. WN4 got priority – as leaders of Division 4, facing the third-placed team (Grantham 2), they had most need of a strong performance. As it turned out, Grantham were a player short, but they also had a genuine first division player on top board. Boards 1 and 5 balanced out and the other three games were drawn, keeping Grantham at bay in the race for promotion.

WN2 had the next claim on players as they fought to secure safety from relegation. Mansfield 2 and Radcliffe & Bingham 1 seem certain to go down, but the sooner WN2 are fully clear, the better. Predeep won the critical game, offsetting a loss on Board 1 and gaining another 2½–2½ draw.

WNA went to Chesterfield with the three regulars (Julien, David and me), but with only Tracey to fill Board 4 – probably a step too far. We faced exactly the same set of players who beat us 4–0 in the opening fixture, but Julien clearly strengthened the side. Tracey lost, but David won very nicely, leaving Julien and me to try to claim the points. I failed to make anything of a tiny endgame advantage, but Julien's position was so unclear that I couldn't take the draw that was on offer. Of course, this led to a blunder in the time scramble, but fortunately my opponent reciprocated and the draw was achieved. Julien by this time had won a piece, but had only seconds left – the draw offer, from an opponent almost as short of time, had to be taken. Still, a 2–2 draw was more than satisfactory against the champions.

Corus 2008

Ian Kingston — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:30:00 +0000

The first top-flight tournament of the year, Corus, is under way in Wijk-aan-Zee, The Netherlands. The A group has the top three players in the world (World Champion Anand, ex-Champion Kramnik, and ex-FIDE Champion Topalov) as well as 11 other big names. Seventeen-year-old Magnus Carlsen shares the lead with Levon Aronian after three rounds with 2½ points.

The B and C groups are also very strong, and often more exciting. The 13-year-old Chinese girl Hou Yifan beat England's former World Championship finalist Nigel Short in Round 3 of the B group – a quite crushing defeat.

There is live coverage at the official site as well as at Chessdom, while ChessVibes has various video reports.

Monday night juggling

Ian Kingston — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:21:00 +0000

Two home matches tonight, both involving a little juggling.

WN6–WN7 is in the fixture list the other way round, but way back at the start of the season the two teams played their first fixture with the wrong colours, thus making that match WN7–WN6. So this match put things right. WN6 looked a lot stronger on paper, and so it proved: 3–1. But nine-year-old Jonathan Wild registered his maiden league win for WN7, which gives him bragging rights in the Wild household, as brother Tom missed a clear win against Ross Mackay and went on to lose.

The main event was WN3–Ashfield 3. A discussion about who was going to play on Board 3 and thus be rendered ineligible for WN4 was short-circuited by throwing Tracey Clegg into the vacant slot, with the captain stepping down. It proved a smart move, as although Tracey lost, everybody else won, simultaneously keeping WN3 on top of Division 3 and preserving WN4's playing resources – all the balls still in the air, as it were.

WN2 defy the odds - again

Ian Kingston — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:45:00 +0000

I don't what it is about WN2, particularly in the first half of the season – for some reason the team (no matter who is in it or who the captain is) has the knack of picking up points that they have no right to get. The latest example was the 2½–2½ draw against Gambit 2 on Tuesday night.

This wasn't a minor upset either: the team was conceding an average of 27 grading points per board, which should mean a 4–1 or 3½–1½ defeat.

And spare a thought for Predeep, as captain – no matter which board he plays on, he always seems to catch the opposition's best player.

London Junior Championships

Ian Kingston — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:38:00 +0000

Arun Maini scored 5/9 in the Under 12 section at the London Junior Championships at the end of December.

First matches of 2008

Ian Kingston — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:40:00 +0000

There were two matches on Monday night – WN5 were at home to WN4, while WNA were away against Long Eaton A.

Dealing with the domestic affair first: WN4 posted a 5–0 win to strengthen their position at the top of Division 4. WN5 now need some good results to get out of the relegation zone, but that's perfectly possible.

WNA's match against Long Eaton A was important for the team's season. Having played only four matches in the first half of the season, scoring four points, it was important to get at least a draw to prove that we are a serious Division 1 team in the D&DL. Fortunately, we were at close to full strength, and we were relieved to see that Long Eaton were missing both Kishan Lakhani and Geoff Gibson.

Michael Keetley was first to finish, winning with a neat sacrificial attack after Anjali Lakhani had declined the opportunity to force a perpetual in favour of trying to win. I then received a draw offer after my attempt to carry a small advantage into the endgame resulted in a completely level position. After a quick look round I decided that Julien had good winning chances, so I took the draw.

David's game against Ray Evans looked like it was going to be a frantic time scramble, but David circumvented that possibility by blundering away material. So in the end, it all came down to Julien's game against Dave Brown. Dave had played the Exchange Variation against Julien's French Defence, so it all looked pretty dull for a while. However, the position finally came down to a good knight vs. bad bishop ending that Julien could hardly lose and would probably win. Eventually, this position was reached:

White to move

It appears that after 1. Kc2 Ke3 2. Bc3 Kf2 3. Kb3 Black must give up the a-pawn. Indeed, after 3... Nb6 4. Bxa5 Nd7 White can draw, but it's not easy. However, instead of 4... Nd7 Black plays 4... Nxa4! (Julien had seen this), when after 5. Kxa4 Kxg3 Black wins quite easily. The bishop cannot both stop the h-pawn and protect the f-pawn, and the king is too far away to help.

The game itself took a more straightforward path: 1. Kc2 Ke3 2. Kc3 Ke2 3. Kxc4 Kxe1 4. Kd5 (4. Kb5 also fails, as the Black h-pawn queens first and prevents the White a-pawn from queening) 4... Kf2 5. Ke5 Kxg3 6. Kxf5 h4 7. Kg5 h3 8. f5 h2 0–1

The 2½–1½ win pushes WNA up to a comfortable mid-table position, but the next match is away at Chesterfield, who beat us 4–0 in the opening match.

Back from the holidays

Ian Kingston — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:07:00 +0000

I was surprised to find when I turned out to play last night that it's been almost four weeks since anybody has played a match for the club – hence the lack of things to say.

Don't forget that any member is entitled to blog here. If you don't have an account, just send me an email and I'll set one up for you.

In real life...

Ian Kingston — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 15:36:00 +0000

... WN5 captain Krishna Parmar is a SpecSavers franchisee. She's just opened her third branch, which happens to be in The Square, Beeston. I popped in this lunchtime and Krishna gave me a guided tour – it's all beautifully laid out, with lots of high-tech gadgets, and a far cry from the tacky double glazing showroom that used to occupy the site.

Christmas quiz

Ian Kingston — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:51:00 +0000

I've sent this out via email, but just in case that went wrong...

Our annual Christmas quiz will take place on Monday 17 December – the last club night before the Christmas/New Year break. As usual, this is a fun night for players, family and friends – no chess-related questions!

To spice things up a little, we've invited members of Ashfield CC to join us. The club's honour will be at stake!

The fun starts at 7:30 p.m. Please bring party food and/or soft drinks.

There will be no junior session that night.

A bad week

Ian Kingston — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:56:00 +0000

Not since I joined the club four years ago have our teams ever managed to lose every match played in a week (except for those odd weeks with only one or two matches). This week, though, we managed it without any trouble at all.

Monday was especially disappointing. There's no doubt that the defeats suffered by WN7 (4–0 against West Bridgford 2) and WNB (3–1 against Foremarke A) were always likely, given the strength of the opposition, but WN5's match against Gambit 4 was a toss-up that we could have won. Unfortunately, the coin landed the wrong way: 3–2 to Gambit.

The Handicap KO match between WN Daydream and Radcliffe Rapscallions was another close thing. Losing two of our original three players on the day of the match was just typical of what happens when your luck is out. Nevertheless, Lucien Holliday stepped in at the last minute to score 2/3, and if only Phil Burley's flag hadn't fallen in the last game (when he was a queen up), we'd have tied the match and gone through on tie-break. Instead, Radcliffe won 5½–3½.

On to the away matches. The fixture list handed WN1 and WN3 matches on the same night against University 1 and University 3. But of course we've hit the run-up to Christmas, and it seems like everyone has a concert or play to rehearse and both teams were desperately scrabbling around for players. Consequently, WN1 were thumped 4–1 (nice win by David), while WN3 were edged out 3–2 by University 3. John Collins overturned a 40 point grading deficit to win his game, but the rest of the University team were just too strong.