Rookie goes to the pub

Walls and Woodfield walk away with top two spots!!

Eamonn Walls wrested top spot from the surprise leader Jonathan Woodfield in the last round of the latest Queen’s Blitz at the Parlour Bar last Sunday. Eamonn won his fourth out of seven blitzes with 4.5/5, a half-point ahead of Jonathan, who pipped Gareth Annesley and Stephen Scannell for second place on tiebreak. Grading prizes went to Damien Lavery, William Ashenhurst and Steve MacCullough. Upstairs in the Parlour Bar was an unusual venue, where the disco atmosphere was rather dark and made it difficult to find your opponent, never mind the board. I expected the music to come on, perhaps Chubby “Checker” and “Let’s twist again”, but in any case there were a few chubby checkers playing chess instead - you know who you are!

Round one had no shocks, but in round two new man Jonathan Woodfield (1463) trounced Mark Newman (1781). He followed up in round three by beating “Hurricane” Andrew Higgins (1674) while Scannell (2105) lost to “George” Lukasz Kwiatek in a star wars confrontation. In round four, Gareth ”Gates” Annesley feared they “would field”  Woodfield junior against him  – they did and Gareth (1965) duly lost, while Woodfield senior (Ian) opened cheekily with the Vienna against fellow Fisherwick captain, Martin Kelly, and unsurprisingly was lucky to draw against the Vienna expert! Round five reverted to form and Walls won the battle of the W’s to win overall. Amazingly for a bar, there was “coffey”at the end  –  Caroline Coffey who finished in last place.

Don’t forget the QUB Rapid at the Students Union on Saturday, 20/3/10, with a massive £1000 guaranteed prizefund.  Get further details at chrismillar75@hotmail.com.

League round-up

Last night, in division one, RVH Hawks smashed QUB 6.5-0.5 to lead on 65 points, 7 ahead of QUB on 58 with four games to go.

Finally, last time I made a few orange jokes as they “appeal” to me, but the game I was referring to at the time in league division two involving Bernard Jaffa is so exciting that it takes the “biscuit” (or should that be “cake”)?

White: Mallon (Randalstown); Black: Jaffa (Malone)

Rookie goes international

Bent Larsen - true or false?

Let’s get it straight - Bent Larsen is not a gay footballer, but a Great Dane Grandmaster, whose 75th birthday is today, 4th March 2010.

Famous for the Larsen Attack (1.b3), two of his games feature in Fischer’s “My 60 Memorable Games”, but I can’t remember which!

To avoid accusations of plagiarism or “larseny”, here is another of his games, illustrating even GMs can blunder:

Told to “be prepared”

Rookie reports on Malone's league visit to Randalstown

We trooped in last night to Randalstown Scout Hall in its centenary year to play a top vs. bottom clash in division two. We should have lost the match. On board 3, Norman had his ups and downes as his opponent missed playing a queen check which would have won him a rook, while on board 4 Bernard Jaffa was crushed in the opening, losing the exchange and allowing his queen and king to be pinned by a rook, but squeezed out a win and left the hall full of zest!!

RANDALSTOWN	VS	MALONE
S.EACHUS	0-1	S.FLANAGAN
P.WILSON	0.5-0.5	D.RUBEN
S.DOWNES	0.5-0.5	N.MCFARLAND
S.MALLON	0-1	B.JAFFA
J.ROGERS	0.5-0.5	M.KELLY
TOTAL	1.5-3.5
+BONUS	1.5-5.5

Rookie round-up

The UCU Leagues are approaching the endgame - who will win, nobody knows!

DIVISION ONE	PLAYED	POINTS
RVH HAWKS	10	53.5
QUB	9	47.0
FISHERWICK	9	36.5
THE AWAY TEAM	11	21.0
LAGAN	9	10.0

High fliers Hawks soar above QUB. Are Fisherwick called ‘wick’ for short? The Away Team are way behind, with Lagan “lagan” behind!

DIVISION TWO	PLAYED	POINTS
BOMBARDIER	8	39.0
FORTWILLIAM	10	37.5
MALONE	7	35.5
WANNABIES	8	35.0
WINSTON	8	34.5
HENDERSONS	9	22.0
RAVENS	10	20.0
RANDALSTOWN	8	14.5

Only four and a half points separate the top five teams. Bombardier have bombarded their opponents recently with big wins. Fortwilliam, with only 4 games to play, have a “golf” to cross, even with David Houston parachuted in - is that how he really broke his leg?  I’m alone in thinking Malone have still a big chance; the Wannabies will stay wannabies; and Winston’s chances have gone up in “smoke”. The bottom 3 teams must be strong as they are holding up the rest of the league!

In other news, GM smart-alex Baburin (Kilkenny) won last weekend’s Limerick Bunratty Masters on 5.5/6 - obviously a “Munster” win for him.

Also, QUB have made chess a parlour game again - their popular bar blitz is in the Parlour Bar, Elmwood Ave., Belfast. On Sunday night 7/3/10 at 7.15 pm, just turn up and enjoy it - the chess isn’t bad either! Finally, here are 2 recent Williamson Shield games from Martin Kelly, where it was a case of “Goodnight Vienna” in one and a waltz in the park in the other. Perhaps, in his last round game, he was suffering from “strauss”!!

I look forward to the next instalment of my blog (or should I use the American spelling “installment” as David McAlister did in his last blog?). Oh, what the “l” does it matter ?

Rookie 

Final installment of Williamson Shield games

First up, a pseudo-sacrifice from joint-winner Michael Waters set up a victory over Mark Newman in round 4.




The other joint-winner John Cairns had a much tougher time in Round 4. Ian Woodfield played in very enterprising style and had Cairns on the ropes, but with both players short of time, couldn't find the knock-out punch.



Third place in the tournament went to Ryzsard Kaczorowski. Here's his final round win over Eamonn Walls.

Hendersons crash to Division 2 highflyers by Chestnut69

The Hendersons bubble was burst by Bangor Wannabees at a cold Groomsport church Hall on Thursday. Some were saying that the heating which wasn't working had been nobbled to spook the travelling team from the West, but the Hendersons were comfortably beaten by the Seasiders 4.5-0.5. Things didn't start well for the Hendos, as at 8pm it appeared that a communication breakdown of an Anglo Polish nature had led to the non appearance of board 1 player Richard Kaczorowski. The Hendersons had to "play up" a man short for the third time this season, although at one point Henry was Horse was contemplating taking on Bangor's board 5 Brian Belshaw, but after a couple of sips of Philip's many cups of coffee he reverted to his customary position perched at boardside beside his owner.

As to the games themselves, although playing up, all four were particularly close affairs, all going the distance. Sean Linton on board 1 was first to fall to Paul McGuigan. Cathal Murphy's game against Paul McLoughlin started e4 d5, black against lower rated opposition, obviously envisaging "centre counter carnage". This didn't happen as despite the numerous early pins Paul deployed, Cathal was able to hold his own, only sitting a pawn down for most of the middle game and actually had Paul under pressure, threatening mate on move 29. As you'll see from the endgame with opposite coloured bishops a draw was a real possibility. Perhaps Cathal shouldn't have traded rooks on move 37 and on move 48 should have concentrated his king on addressing Paul's passed c pawn and ignoring his releatively safe king side pawns to secure the draw. Cathal resigned around move 56, but any "good" players out there are invited to add any analytical comments to the blog as they play through the game.

Pearse O Brien's game against similarly stronger opposition went the same way, when a draw looked likely only to be narrowly lost in the endgame. The final excitement came on board 4 when Phil "Mlegsci" Morrison, apparently 2 moves from mate inexplicably offered a draw. His opponent Ron Henderson gladly accepted, but Philip however with only seconds left may have made the right callas his deserved half point did save the Hendersons from the whitewash. Ron was light heartedly referred to by Brian Belshaw at the end of the contest as "the original Henderson".

Hendersons claim RVH bragging rights in local derby at the Royal, by Chestnut69

Chestnut69 joins our little band of bloggers.

The battle of the RVH Division 2 sides was eventually won by the new kids, the Hendersons, over their club-mate rivals, the Ravens.

The two sides, with virtually the same line-outs, played out a bruising draw in November, but this time out the Ravens drew first blood and might have been fancying their chances of scooping the points after John Monaghan ran out winner against the "unpredictable" Phil "MLegsci" Morrison. Even the help of the faithful Henry the Horse couldn't help Phil regain his Williamson Shield form on this one as he succumbed early to a determined Monaghan.

Sean Linton fell to Anthony Thompson on board 3 soon after which gave the Ravens a 2-0 lead. Boards 1 and 2 were closer affairs but Richard Kaczorowski and Brendan O'Neill came out winners against Frank Carruthers and Guych Nuriyev respectively to draw the Hendersons level.

All eyes turned to board 4 where Ulster Junior champ Cathal Murphy, shrugging off his recent broken arm, was renewing acquaintances with Raymond Smith. As in the Ulster Ray replied to Cathal's e4 with his customary Modern/Pirc defence, and when he grabbed a pawn with Rook on move 20 may have felt comfortable. Cathal blocked in the Rook and followed up by taking it with his Queen, which Ray couldn't retake owing to a vicious discovered Rook x Queen with check, then taking a Knight. Murphy looked at a Rook sac on move 24 (which would in fact have led to checkmate) but thought it was too risky to play as he already had the advantage at this point. He went on to take the Knight with a check on move 25 and actually missed a mating chance on move 32. Even a clear rook and passed pawn down Smith fought on forlornly (sorry Ray) hoping Murphy with such a material advantage would stalemate. It wasn't to be as Cathal eventually prevailed with resignation on move 55 to give the Hendo's the points and more importantly the bragging rights.

Stalemate at Stormont by 'Rookie'

Return of a legend.  Former Irish News chess columnist ‘Rookie’ comes out of (far too early) retirement to present his inimitable view of the Ulster tournament scene.

Eighteen hours of drama, tension and confrontation near the Castle, where everything was black and white - no, not the political talks but the Williamson Shield at the Stormont Pavilion on January 30-31, 2010. Let’s look at the shock results in each round. 

Round one: the biggest shock of all involved a Whiteside win, not for Steady Eddie, but for Garry, playing the white side of a French. 

Round two: there were two surprises this time. Alex Beckett (1322) gave his opponent a filip to his morale when conceding the exchange and a loss to Phillip Morrison (1051), while Alan was burnt by Cathal’s “fried liver” attack.

Round three: the results here were predictable, except when Karina Kruk (1483) krumbled to a draw with Geoff Hindley (996).

Round four: here’s a storey - Peter Storey (721) who beat Alex a Beckett (1322), martyred by a knight. Meanwhile Martin “gunslinger ned” Kelly had the fastest draw in the West, sorry East Belfast, against Steady Eddie’s own Bangor opening:

Round five: the only shocks were two unlikely draws. R. Kaczarowski (1641) felt like a “new man” after his draw with Mark Newman (1781) and, by george, Jackson (1276) was happy after drawing with draw specialist Martin Kelly (1442).

Round six: the last round saw O’Brien (1149) “pearse” Alex Beckett’(1322)’s defence. Also, Kaczarowski (1641) ”knocked down” E. Walls’ (1882) defence to claim a shock third place on 4.5 points, a point behind joint winners, Fisherwick duo John Cairns and Michael Waters. Grading prizes went to John Phillips and Alan Burns on 4 points and Phillip Morrison on 3 points. Rumours that Alan’s final opponent, Martin Kelly, also aiming for a grading prize, was “tired and emotional” are wildly off the mark. 

Gareth Annesley on the 2010 Williamson Shield

Guest blogger Gareth Annesley gives his take on the 2010 Williamson Shield:

The annual Williamson Shield took place on the final weekend of January at its familiar location within the Stormont Estate, Belfast. Its perennial winner Stephen Scannell, the 'Phil Taylor' of Ulster chess minus the tattoos and beer belly (well tattoos anyhow..sorry Steve) was absent. Both 1st and 2nd seeds, Michael Waters and John Cairns, gladly filled the breach to pick up joint winnings on 5.5 with a handy £150 going into each of their back pockets, thus rewarding an arduous weekend's toil. Picking up the bronze was surprise package Ryszard Kaczorowski  who upset the high flying Eamon Walls in the last round, a player who earlier that morning snuffed out your blogger's lingering tournament hopes....nuff said.

Moving on I would like to briefly examine a  couple of critical positions from my weekend games which I think the reader may find of interest.  First off was my Saturday evening game with John Cairns.

After a slightly unorthodox version of the Pirc (leaving theory on move 7) a situation arose where black has bagged 2 pawns, with white having compensation in the shape of a disorganised black piece arrangement and an exposed king.  In the diagram below white has just played 23 Nf3 hoping to win the g pawn and open the g file for his heavy pieces in the process, as you can see from the arrows.

Cairns-Annesley 23.Nf3

Black, as most engines point out, should have ignored this and swapped off the menacing white bishop on e5, instead of defending with Bh6 as played in the game. Cairns, I'm sure, after playing the immediate 24.Nxg5! had in mind the motif shown below, which leads to material meltdown for black!

In the game I avoided this scenario by playing 25...e6 and 26..Kxf7 however with 26.h4 and 27.Rxg5 black regains his piece and opens the g file as intended.  As you can see from the remainder of the game black's position is collapsing and resignation soon follows in swift order. Although disappointed, due to being on the wrong end of a crush, I was impressed none the less by the ruthless economy of the white attack.  

For all you lovers of the 'chess study' type of positions I think you may find the finish to my round 5 game against William Storey amusing. As you can see from the diagram below white has just played Kg5?..allowing white to play g7.

It soon become apparent to William that his king has prevented his rook from guarding against the queening on g8 by placing itself on the g file. Therefore he decides to keep checking the black king, so the question for my readers is... Which square does the white king have to go to in order to keep alive winning chances?

Don't look down until you have it!

 

 

Yes you guessed it... a8!  From here black has run out of checks and is helpless to prevent white queening and winning. As my king was making its away across the board a knowing smile from Denis Wilkinson, who was spectating on the sidelines, indicated that he also knew the destination of the white monarch. A scenario which makes an exception to the rule that an outside passed pawn is deadly for the opposition, in this case black can only rue that it was still alive to give shelter to the white king!

Barring this piece of chess farce it was a forgettable tournament for myself as I was very lethargic throughout large parts of the tourney, this I can only put down to the early rises which have been foreign to me due to unemployment in the previous months... excuses, excuses. As the tourney included several rating prizes there was plenty of incident and drama in the final rounds with Alan Burns defeating Martin (the big one partner) Kelly to claim one of these.  At one stage the 'at times mercurial' Burns had a material advantage so large against the 'distracted' Kelly, it looked as though he'd emptied a spare set of black pieces onto the board whilst Kelly wasn't looking. A swindle not too improbable taking into account Kelly's state at the end of a long tournament. Elsewhere there was a last round defeat for Kevin Agnew against the lone belle of Ulster chess, Karina Kruk, in a minor piece endgame. This may signal an increase in chess dvd endgame nights in the Agnew household (if your reading Paul Mac).

This ends my blog on the Williamson Shield 2010 and I hope to do more in the future.

Game of the Year

From all the tournament games I observed this year, the one below is the one that left the biggest impression on me. White's 18th move introduced a tactical thunderstorm. Both players negotiated their way through it wonderfully well, before Black eventually slipped up.

Gareth Annesley - John Cairns
Ulster Championship (Round 4), 30 August 2009

Download the annotated game

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 Qe7 8.d4 Bb6 9.Bg5 d6 10.a4 Rb8 11.axb5 axb5 12.h3 h6 13.Bh4 g5 14.Bg3 g4 15.hxg4 Bxg4 16.Bh4 exd4 17.Bd5 Ne5

18.Nxe5!?

18.cxd4 runs into 18...Nxf3+ 19.gxf3 Bh3 20.Bc6+ Kf8 21.Re1 Rg8+ 22.Kh2 Bc8 (22...Ng4+ 23.Kxh3 Nxf2+ 24.Bxf2 Qe6+ 25.Kh4 (but not 25.Kh2 Qg6 and it's mate in two) 25...Qf6+ 26.Kh3 Qe6+ is only a perpetual check) 23.Rg1 Qe6 (threatening mate on h3) 24.Rg3 Nh5 25.Rg4 Rxg4 26.fxg4 Qxg4 27.Qxg4 Bxg4 28.d5 Bd4 and Black is a clear pawn up. 

(After 18.cxd4) 18...Bxd4 19.Qxd4 Bxf3 also looks dangerous but after 20.Qa7 (20.gxf3 Nxf3+ wins the White Queen) 20...Rc8 21.Qb7 0-0 22.Nd2 (22.gxf3? Nxf3+ 23.Kh1 Nxh4) 22...Bg4 23.Rfc1 White's queenside pressure provides reasonable compensation for the pawn.

18...Bxd1 

18...dxe5 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Qxg4 and Black loses a piece.

19.Bc6+ 

The obvious follow-up 19.Bxf7+ seems to leave Black slightly better after 19...Qxf7 20.Nxf7 Kxf7 21.Rxd1 (21.Bxf6 Kxf6 22.Rxd1 Ke5 23.Nd2 dxc3 24.bxc3 with some advantage for Black) 21...Nxe4 22.cxd4.

Two other possibilities after 19.Bxf7 are:

a) 19...Kf8 20.Ng6+ Kxf7 21.Nxe7 Be2 22.Bxf6 (22.Re1 d3 23.Bxf6 Kxf6 24.Nd5+ Ke5 25.Nd2 Rhf8 26.Nxb6 Rxb6 looks fine for Black) 22...Kxf6 (22...Bxf1 23.Bxh8 Rxh8 24.Nd5 Bd3 25.Nxb6 cxb6 26.cxd4 Bxe4 27.Nc3 is a bit better for White) 23.Nd5+ Ke5 24.Nxb6 Rxb6 25.cxd4+ Kxd4 26.Re1 with an equal position;

b) 19...Kd8 20.Nc6+ Kd7 21.Nxe7 Kxe7 22.Rxd1 Kxf7 23.Bxf6 Kxf6 24.cxd4 and White emerges a pawn up;

Although 19.Nc6 allows Black to save his Queen by 19...Qd7 20.Nxb8 Qg4 this might give White the best chance of a win after 21.Bxf6 0-0 (the only move not to lose) (21...Rg8 22.Bc6+ Kf8 23.Nd7+ Ke8 24.Ra8#; 21...Rh7 22.Bc6+ Kf8 23.Nd7+ Kg8 24.Ra8#; 21...dxc3 22.Bc6+ Kf8 23.Nd7+ Kg8 24.Ra8+ Kh7 25.Rxh8+ Kg6 26.Bxc3) 22.Nd2 (22.Nc6 would however be a big blunder as then Black mates after 22...Bf3 23.g3 Qh3) 22...dxc3 23.Raxd1 cxd2 24.Nc6 Qe2 25.Bd4 Bc5 26.Bxc5 dxc5 27.Ne5 and White will get the d-pawn after Nf3.

Instead of 22…dxc3 in the 19.Nc6 line, Black could try:

a) 22...Be2 (perhaps the best move here) 23.Nc6 Qf4 (if Black takes the Rook with 23...Bxf1 24.Rxf1 dxc3 White has 25.Ne7+ Kh7 26.bxc3 Qf4 27.e5 and the threat of Be4+ wins back the exchange) 24.Ne7+ Kh7 25.e5 Bd3 26.Nf3 Bxf1 27.Rxf1 dxc3 28.bxc3 dxe5 29.Bxe5 Qa4 30.Re1 f6 31.Be4+ Kg7 32.Bd4 with an unbalanced position;

b) 22...Bc2 23.Nc6 Qf4 24.Bxd4 Qxd2 25.Bxb6 cxb6 and White is probably a little better here.

19...Kd8

Worse for Black would be 19...Kf8 20.Bxf6 Qe6 (20...Qxf6 21.Nd7+ Kg7 22.Nxf6) 21.Nd7+ Kg8 22.Rxd1 dxc3 (22...Rh7 23.Rd3) 23.Nxc3 Rc8 24.Bxh8 Kxh8 25.Nxb5 (25.Bxb5 Bxf2+ 26.Kxf2 c6 27.Bxc6 Rxc6 28.Ra7 is also good for White) 25...Qb3 26.Nxb6 cxb6 27.Nd4 Qxb2 28.Rab1 Qc3 29.Rxb6. 

20.Nd7 Nxd7 

20...Bg4 leads to a White win after 21.Nxb8 (but not 21.Bxf6 Bxd7 22.Bxe7+ Kxe7 23.Bxd7 Kxd7) 21...Qe5 22.Bb7 Bd7 (22...Qf4 23.g3 Qf3 24.Nd2 Qd3 25.Bxf6+ Ke8 26.Ra8 and mate is inevitable) 23.Ra8 Ke7 24.Nxd7 Kxd7 25.Rxh8.

20...dxc3 fails to 21.Nxb8 (also possible was 21.Bxf6 Qxf6 22.Nxf6 cxb2 23.Ra2 Be2 24.Nd7 Bxf1 25.Nxb8 Bc4 26.Rxb2) 21...Ba4 22.Nxc3 and Black will not be able to untangle himself, e.g. 22...Ba7 23.Nxa4 bxa4 24.Rxa4 Bxb8 25.Ra8 and the threat of mate forces a large material advantage.

Alternatives to 21…Bxa4 also do not work:
a) 21...c2 22.Nd7 Qe6 23.Bxf6+ Qxf6 24.Nxf6 c1Q 25.Ra8+ Ke7 26.Nd5+ Ke6 27.Rxh8 Qxc6 (27...Qxb1 28.Re8#) 28.Rxd1;
b) 21...cxb2 22.Ra8. 

21.Bxe7+ Kxe7 22.Rxd1

22...dxc3

Better is 22...Ne5 23.Bxb5 dxc3 24.Nxc3 c6 25.Be2 Bc5 when Black's pieces are more active and the b-pawn is weak.

Another good possibility for Black, with the advantage of a couple of little traps, was 22...d3 23.Bxd7 23...Kxd7 24.Rxd3 Ra8 25.Rxa8 Rxa8.

Here are the ways White could go wrong after 22...d3:
a) 23.Bxb5? Bxf2+ 24.Kxf2 Rxb5 25.b4 f5 26.exf5 Rxf5+ 27.Ke3 Ne5;
b) 23.Rxd3? Ne5 24.Bxb5 Nxd3 (24...Bc5 might be even better) 25.Bxd3. 

23.Nxc3 b4 24.Nd5+

White's greater activity compensates for the pawn minus.

24...Kd8 25.Nxb6 Rxb6 26.Bd5 Ke7 27.Ra7 Rc8 28.Rc1 c6?!

And Black finally cracks under the sustained pressure. 28...Nc5 was the correct move.

29.Bxf7 Kxf7 30.Rxd7+

White has regained his pawn and will now pick up either the e- or h-pawn as well. 

30...Ke6 31.Rh7 c5 32.f4 Rf8 33.Rxh6+

33...Rf6 34.Rh4 Ra6 35.e5 dxe5 36.fxe5 Kxe5 37.Rxc5+ Kd6 38.Rb5 

Not surprisingly the players were very short of time now and were no longer recording moves. Annesley succeeded in converting his advantage into a win. 1-0