Austins v Monarchs

AUSTINS V MONARCHS

The line-up for the postponed Austins v Monarchs match was as follows:-

Board 1-Pete Chrichton (h/c 3)

Board 2-Derek Blair (h/c 5)

Board 3-Dave Humphreys (h/c 7)

Board 4-Damian Rudge (h/c 9)

Sadly, due to a mis-communication, Damian was a no show, so the remaining three made their way to Hayton and the Stone Inn to take on the Austins.

Pete, with white, was up against George Glover (rated 143). Opening with 1.e4, George responded with the Caro Kann. The opening is named after the English player Horatio Caro and the Austrian Marcus Kann who analysed it in 1886. It is considered to be a ‘semi-open’ system like the Sicillian and the French, although it is thought to be more solid and somewhat less dynamic than either of them. It can often lead to a better endgame for black due to his better pawn structure. Pete reports that some tactical opportunities were missed on both sides and a draw was agreed, which both players felt, was a fair result.( Ref:- Wikipedia)

Derek, with black, faced Bill Burgess (rated 114). Bill opened with 1.e4 and Derek replied with 1…c5, the Sicilian, the most popular and successful reply. However, Derek chose an atypical central pawn configuration resembling a Stonewall-like setup, with pawns on c5, d6, and e5. The middle game revolved around competing, kingside attacks. However, Derek made too many weakening pawn moves, and, when he castled short, Bill was the first to take advantage, forcing the win of a knight on move 22. The queens came off at move 24. Following a common idea, Bill sort to make the most of his material advantage with further exchanges and steered the game into a rook+bishop+6 pawns against black’s rook+3 pawns endgame. Move 45 saw Bill weave a mating net with rook and bishop, forcing Derek’s resignation.

I played white against an old sparring partner, John Lydon (rated 107). I’ve been studying the Colle System this season, but, I have to say that my results with it have not exactly been spectacular! The system was introduced by the Belgian master Edgard Colle in the 1920’s, and further developed by George Koltanowski. However, I thought I’d stick with it in the hope that my understanding of if would improve. The Colle is more or less the Slav system with colours reversed. White creates a triangle of pawns on c3, d4, and e3, castles short, and he must try and prepare the important pawn break e4, to free his queen bishop. Sadly, there are a number of ways that black can get control over e4 and completely prevent white’s idea! The game then tends to turn down Queens Gambit declined lines. Such was the case here. Black managed to occupy e4 with his knight on move 6. Black opted for a Stonewall formation and the position transposed into a sort of Dutch Defence set-up. I pushed through the center, trying to take advantage of black’s king, which, by move 13, still had not castled. Bill brought his queen out to c6, on the same diagonal as his king!! I saw the chance to force the gain of material. With the duel threat of pinning his queen and forking two minor pieces, Bill sacked his bishop for my h2-pawn. This weakened my kingside as now, both the f and h-files were open and he still had the battery of queen and bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal plus a 3-1 pawn majority. He was able to get good compensation for his piece and managed to generate a winning kingside attack, that led to him forking my king and knight as my clock ran out!! (Ref:-Wikipedia)

With one game defaulted, the final result was and Austins win, 27-17 on handicap.

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Reivers v Tynemouth B

This Northumbrian League division 2 match was played at Corbridge on Thursday, March 15th, with the following line-up:

1. Derek Harris (u) v Keith Rockett (151)
2. Ian Mackay (137) v Steve Burnell (145)
3. Steve Larkin (116) v Dave Hair (136)
4. Christine Moorcroft (92) v Dave Jarema (137)
5. Dave Humphreys (82) v Ray Garside (126)

Given this line-up, it looked as though the most we could hope for was to draw the match. After an hour’s play, all games looked more or less even, but thereafter I saw nothing of the other games until my own was finished, by which time Derek had won and Christine, Dave and myself had all lost. Ian’s game was the last to finish, and his opponent conceded when two pawns down. So a narrow loss by 3 points to 2 against a significantly stronger side.

Gosforth Empire v Tans

Heavily outgraded, the Tans went down to a 4-1 defeat. All our opponent were graded above 170, with the top three boards over 200. But all games were well contested, no-one was embarrassed, and Peter & Gary picked up excellent draws.

Gosforth Empire v Tans
Played at Gosforth Empire Club  Mon 19 Feb 2018
Joe Dalton	½-½	Gary Murphy
Andy Lawson	1-0	David Wrigley
James Moreby	1-0	Tim Wrigley
Mick Riding	½-½	Peter Crichton
Michael McBeth	1-0	Ian Mackay
	4-1

 

Reivers v Tynemouth C

This match was played at Corbridge on Thursday Feb 15th 2018, with the following line-up:

1. Peter Crichton (143) v Gary Cornwall (154)
2. Ian Mackay (137) v Chris Smith (147)
3. Steve Larkin (116) v Dennis White (126)
4. Bruce Reed (112) v Phil Jackson (111)
5. Christine Moorcroft (92) v Joe Murray (108)

With Tynemouth C second top of the division and the Reivers third from bottom, this was always going to be a difficult match, confirmed by the respective grading of the teams. However, Bruce galloped to an early victory  and was followed a little later by Christine with another win – the best possible start for the Reivers.

The top three boards finished much later, having started almost half an hour after the bottom two boards. Ian had a dead level position against Chris, only to lose the game by a single error. Peter’s game and Steve’s went to the wire, finishing almost simultaneously. Steve had a small material advantage but was down on time and played the final dozen moves or so on increments, until Dennis accepted his second offer of a draw. Peter’s game was dead level and his offer of a draw was likewise accepted. So to their amazement, the Reivers emerged victorious by 3 points to 2, a win which, with luck, should ensure their survival in division 2.

Club Championship update 25/1/2018

At the end of January, the standings are as follows:

Peter C and Tim 2/2

Steve 2/3

Christine 1/1

Derek B 1/3

Dave H 1/4

Malcolm and Damian zero

8 names, with 8 players due to proceed to the KO phase in April. So if your name is not there, you have 2 months in which to rectify the situation!

Gosforth Regents v Reivers

This match was played at Gosforth on Monday January 15th, with the following line-up:

1. Dave Stebbings (140) v Peter Crichton (143)
2. David Baynes (134) v James Ross (u)
3. Martin Beardsley (131) v Steve Larkin (116)
4. Kurt Moreby (131) v Derek Blair (112)
5. Paul Costello (125) v Dave Humphreys (82)

First to finish was Derek, who was comprehensively taken apart by Kurt, whose queen ripped through the rear of Derek’s position.

Next came Dave, who committed three blunders, losing a piece on each occasion.

Steve, after a lengthy and very cagey opening phase, failed to spot a neat move which obliged him to trade queen, rook and pawn for two rooks and a knight, after which Martin closed in for the kill. So 3-0 down and the match already lost.

However, some pride was salvaged by James, who entered the end-game a piece up and finished with a nice pin, making possible a queen checkmate.

Last of all, Peter somehow kept his cool in a protracted and very tight endgame, before converting his slight material advantage into a win.

So the final result, 3-2 in Gosforth’s favour, looks quite respectable. If only the bottom three boards could have managed one draw between them, it would have been an excellent result.

Angels v Monarchs 04 Jan 2018

The Angels v Monarchs South Tyne league game was played at the Tynedale Chess club on the 4Jan18. The Monarchs were the clear underdogs, but came through as worthy winners 15-19 on handicap.

The line-up saw Tim Wrigley(b) (h/c 2) taking on Pete Crichton(w) (h/c 3) on board 1. These two have played each other many hundreds of times in the past and know each other’s styles intimately. Pete opened with 1.d4 and Tim replied with a Schmid Benoni. Play goes 1.d4 e6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 exd5 4. cxd5 d6. White gains space in the center and black tries to push his queenside majority. However, Tim admitted that he made an error with the move order and elected instead for a kingside attack. The early middlegame saw Pete managing to force the exchange of black’s central pawns, and capturing black’s c5 pawn with a fork on Q and R, winning the exchange. However, the effort left Pete’s pieces somewhat uncoordinated, allowing Tim to make a double attack on knight, with a pawn and rook with his queen, allowing him to quickly regain the lost material. This was pretty much the pattern for the game. It was tit-for-tat until the resulting queen+rook+pawn endgame was sportingly agreed drawn.

This is the position after Tim (black) played e4

On board 2, Derek Harris(w)(h/c 3) faced off against one of the doyens of the Monarchs team, Derek Blair(b) (h/c 5). We saw DH open with another 1.d4 and DB responded with the flexible 1…Nf6. Play can go down a variety of channels from here; Queens gambit; Nimzo indian; Benoni; or Kings Indian Defense to name but a few. Black chose a Kings’s Indian setup with white opting to fianchetto his king bishop. By move 9, both queens had been exchanged on b6, a rarely seen line in master play, giving DB a half-open a-file at the expense of a slight weakening of his queenside pawns. With his central pawns giving him more space however, DH was able to force open the long white diagonal and eventually invade the black position through the center, with rook, bishop and knight coordinating nicely to attack the weakened, black pawns, which eventually forced black’s resignation.

On board 3, club chairman Steve Larkin(b)(h/c 4) took on his old sparring partner Bruce Reed(w) (h/c 5). Play started with 1.c4 the so called English opening. According to Wikipedia, the English is the fourth most popular opening in master play. In hypermodern style, white stakes a claim in the center from the queens wing. The opening is often used to transpose into a number of other lines. Steve opted for the sharp response 1…e5, going into a reversed Sicilian setup. Both players castled kingside. The c-file was opened, and Steve built up some strong pressure with his queen and both rooks along that highway. However, in his efforts to gain space on the kingside, Steve had left his king somewhat exposed. Although he went on to  generate some lethal looking pressure along the a7-g1 diagonal, Bruce, maintaining his Buddah-like serenity, dodged and ducked the blows, took advantage of a slight lapse in concentration by black, and was able to penetrate the black position with his queen, supported by his well posted bishop on b3. Trapped in the middle of the board, with vital escape squares cut off by his own pieces, black’s king became ensnared in a fine mating net, forcing his resignation.

Christmas Rapidplay

Thanks to Steve & Peter for organising a really entertaining evening, sociable, with light-hearted and yet fiercely competitive chess. Congratulations to Christine, our worthy winner with 5.5 out of 7.

Players	Bruce	Christine	Dave	Peter	Ralph	Ron	Steve	Tim	Total
Bruce	x	0	1	0	1	1	0	1	4
Christine	1	x	1	Draw	1	1	1	0	5.5
Dave	0	0	x	1	1	1	0	0	3
Peter	1	Draw	0	x	0	1	1	1	4.5
Ralph	0	0	0	1	x	1	0	0	2
Ron	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0
Steve	1	0	1	0	1	1	x	1	5
Tim	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	x	4

Gosforth Salters v Tans

An entertaining match, once again the Tans were outgraded. With the score 1-1, from draws for Gary and Ian, Tim produced a swindle that almost won his game, and  the match score looks promising (1½-1½). But then David lost from a good position, and it was left to Derek to rescue  a draw.  On paper this looks a good result, but it could easily have been worse (or better). Best results of the night Derek and Gary.

Gosforth Salters v Tans
Played at Gosforth Empire Club Mon 18 Dec 2017
Taka Chipanga	½-½	Gary Murphy
Mike McBeth	1-0	David Wrigley
Stefan Hartmann	½-½	Tim Wrigley
Paul Sumner	0-1	Derek Harris
Geoff Harrison	½-½	Ian Mackay
	2½-2½

 

Alnwick A v Tynedale Reivers

This match was played at Morpeth on Wednesday, December 6th 2017, with the following line-up:

1. George Ellames (151) v Derek Harris (u)
2. Ralph Firth (125) v Peter Crichton (143)
3. Paul Castledine (106) v Ian Mackay (137)
4. Vincent Cowley (78) v Steve Larkin (116)
5. Isaac Mills ((70 rapid) v Dave Humphreys (82)

Dave gave us a good start, going knight for pawn up early on, and eventually winning a king and pawns ending, where his extra pawn could not be stopped from queening. 0-1

Next to finish was Peter, whose game turned into a very solid draw. 0.5-1.5

Shortly afterwards, Ian dispatched Paul, whose pawns he had reduced to disarray by the endgame. 0.5-2.5

The most amazing result came on board 4 where Steve, who had struggled throughout, launched a sacrificial attack, offering rook for 2 pawns, to open up the white king. Vincent was so taken aback that he resigned on the spot, though as various spectators pointed out afterwards, the sacrifice was unsound and offered white a certain win! 0.5-3.5

The top board went to the wire. In the final stages, the game was level materially, though George had a very slight edge positionally. However, Derek was able to hold the position comfortably and a draw was agreed. 1-4

So this must-win match duly produced the hoped for result for the Reivers, who now move out of the relegation zone and have 4 teams below them.