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.

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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.

Reivers v Forest Hall Chieftains

This match was played at Corbridge on November 23rd, with the following line-up:

1. Ian Mackay (137) v Mike Smith (153)
2. Steve Larkin (116) v Mark Broughton (133)
3. Bruce Reed (112) v Johnny Wall jr (148)
4. Derek Blair (112) v Paul Charlton (132)
5. Christine Moorcroft (92) v John Wall sr (131)

Only Ian, who pulled off a commendable draw on top board, saved us from a whitewash, but at least the other four games were quite closely contested, and we managed to keep our opponents on their toes for two and a half hours or so. Christine’s game, in particular, seemed a close one and, along with Ian’s, was the last to finish. Both Bruce and Derek went a piece down in the middle game and never recovered from that handicap. Steve unwisely sacrificed a knight for two pawns (he had been hoping for three!) to open up black’s king, only to find himself on the end of an irresistible mating attack. So we lost by a half to four and a half to a side which must surely be a contender for promotion to the first division.

Friars v Monarchs

The match was played at the Stone Inn in Hayton on 7th November.  The Friars started out with a 4 point handicap deficit of 20-24. So they had to win 3 out of the 4 games to win the match. It was an overwhelming win for the Friars, 34-26 on handicap which translates to 3.5 to 0.5.
The line-up for the Monarchs was:-
1) Pete Crichton.
2) Derek Blair.
3) Dave Humphreys.
4) Damian Rudge.

Pete (w)(143) was up against Alan Hiatt (b) (126). The opening chosen was the Old Indian Defense.This opening is distinguished from the King’s Indian Defense by Black developing his king’s bishop on e7 rather than the fianchetto at g7. Although considered sound, the bishop on e7 tends to be less active than on the long diagonal (Ref:- Wikipedia).
The game quickly turned down a tactical labyrinth. Pete and Alan wrestled for possession of Ariadne’s thread! Sadly for Pete, Alan got there first and was able to navigate his way through the maze with greater precision, forcing Pete’s resignation.

Derek (b)(112) faced Mike Byrne (123). From what little I saw of the game, it turned into a drawish looking rook + bishop + pawn endgame. Then, with both players desperately short of time, there was a flurry of exchanges that simplified the game down to a king + pawns v king + pawns. White had a pawn on h6, blocked by a black pawn on h7. There were 3 vs 3 pawns on the king-side, but Derek’s were more advanced. With Derek’s king on d4, blocked by Mike’s on f5, the dying seconds of the game became a race to see who could get the first queen. Mike won by 2 moves, at which point Derek had connected, passed pawns on b7 and a6. After a few, desperate check’s to gain time, the game was agreed drawn as the flags fell! Our thanks go to Derek for preventing a total whitewash!

Dave(w) (82) took on Drew Millar (b) (102). Dave faced, for the first time, what amounted to a reversed Scandinavian Defense when his 1.d4 was met with 1…e5. If black gambits a pawn, it is generally good practice to accept it. The trick is not to try to hold on to it! After 2. dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf6 Qe7 4.Bf4?…Dave walked right into 4…Qb4+, which leads to the forced loss of material as early as move 9! In order to make the score sheet slightly less embarrassing, he hung on for as long as he could, blundering 2 further pawns along the way, and resigned on move 24.

Damian (b)(51) battled it out with Mike Hodgkinson (w)(85). Damian’s game looked fairly even in the king+rook+bishop+pawns endgame. However, with a forced sequence of exchanges, Mike was able to invade Damian’s position on the king-side to wipe out his pawns, giving him a pair of connected passed pawns on the f and g files. Damian, ever the stalwart battler, refused to give in as first one, then the other of Mike’s pawns both achieved royal status. Desperately hoping for a stalemate, as the flags on the clocks began their inevitable rise along the hour hand, alas, it was not to be, and Damian was mated in short order.

Lets hope that the Monarchs can rise to the occasion on their next meeting with the Friars.

Overprotected

This is a position from my recent game with Tom Bradford. Fritz tells me that I could have happily played Ng6+ in this position. I was tempted over the board but couldn’t convince myself to do it. See below for my analysis.

After Ng6+, play continues fxg6, fxg6, h6, gxh6, Bh4 and as the Queen is overloaded, RxR wins the Bishop on h4 and white has won at least one pawn.