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Monday at Handsworth Christian School... and in-form Nomads D took on SASCA C for the second time in three matches. After completing a double whitewash against Barnsley the week before, another 6-0 couldn't be possible, could it? Slowly but surely, each game went the way of the Nomads player as Daniel, Kev, Steve, Les, Eric and Henry all notched up victories. Three 6-0 wins in a row, and a second 12-0 aggregate scoreline against an opposition team this season keeps the D team in the hunt for promotion. 6-0
Tuesday at Farm Road Sports and Social Club. A weakened C team traveled to runaway leaders Phoenix A in what appeared, at least initially, to be a damage-limitation exercise. An early win for Kev on three looked like it might put the cat amongst the pigeons, but it proved to be the only Nomads win of the evening. Nevertheless, only Steve and Henry came away with nothing as Daniel, Ian (claiming a threefold repetition in what was almost certainly a lost position) and Eric all picked up credible draws against higher-graded opponents. 2½-3½
Wednesday at the Harlequin. The A and B teams came together for the third time this season, but not against each other for a change as they played host to Ecclesall and 7-man Barnsley respectively. Andy, Steve, Andrew, Sam and Mike all drew for their respective teams before there were any decisive results; Ken, Chris and Kev followed later as half the matches were drawn. Those that weren't came down on the side of the Nomads - Paul C, Henry and Default for the B team, Kieran, Ian and Daniel for the A team; enough for two narrow victories and two home wins. 5-3 to the A Team... and 5-3 to the B Team. |
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Monday at the New Barrack Tavern, and despite Geoff's enforced absence, a strong C team looked to get back to winning ways after a shock home defeat to the bottom side, Woodseats B, a couple of weeks earlier. Daniel's recent good run of form saw him move up the order to top board...but Ryan Burgin appears to be re-establishing his reputation as one of the most dangerous players in division two and proved too strong on the night. Ian was also defeated, on 2; Stuart's win offset one of those results but the second proved too much to make up for as Steve, Kev (missing a mate in two in what was previously totally lost for him) and Eric all picked up half points. A second defeat in a row and the C Team slip to third, 6 points closer to the bottom of the table than they are to the top! 2½-3½.
Wednesday at the Harlequin... and a Nomads D side, so flush with players they were able to give Henry and Eric the night off, took on Barnsley C, out for revenge after a 6-0 reverse at theirs earlier in the season. A default saw Eric's boys off to a good start...and things got better from there as one-by-one the D team chalked up victories. A second successive whitewash for the D Team, and their third of the season to cement second place in the division and challenge the rest to catch them up. 6-0
Wednesday at The Birdwell Venue...and a slightly weakened Nomads A side took on Barnsley A. No Haidar and no Geoff...and no Sam after a mid-afternoon text confirmed that we would only be facing 7 men. An early draw for Ian was followed by a defeat for Jon; a win with tactics from a seemingly lost position for Daniel, a win on time in a seemingly won position for Chris, and a win over the board in what was (until two moves from the end) a crushing position for Andrew secured the victory; Kev's defeat (from a pawn up, naturally) and Kieran's winning rook and pawn endgame completed the match and ensured the A Team remain on Chesterfield's heels. 5½-2½. |
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Monday at the Harlequin, and Nomads III looked to try and succeed where Nomads II failed, taking on last year's finalists Worksop I. Missing their nominal board 2, who failed to show, was not the best of starts and things didn't really improve from there on in as one by one the valiant Nomads players fell to their more illustrious opponents until eventually none were left standing. 0-6 - but no disgrace given the strength of the opposition. A couple of games in which Stuart and Robert are both up before going down.
Meanwhile, the D Team were over at SASCA taking on their C Team. Daniel picked up another win (10 in his last 11 Nomads outings) on board one against a grown-up; the rest of the team took on the assorted future stars of Sheffield chess and took full advantage of the relative inexperience on display - a 6-0 whitewash but as ever when taking on the youngsters that regularly come through the ranks at SASCA, chances are that scoreline won't be repeated next time. The D Team move back up to second place.
Wednesday at The Abbey, and Nomads I took on Ecclesall I in the Richardson Q-F. Draws for Jon (who apparently missed a win against Dave Adams), Paul and Andy, and wins for Chris, Milan and Daniel (11 in his last 12 Nomads outings) saw the I team through to a semi-final against either Barnsley I or Aughton. |
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Four Nomads players made the long trip north to compete in the York Congress this weekend. It's a bit too far for a Friday night jaunt, so Eric, Kev, Ian and Daniel all took a first round bye and travelled up on the Saturday. All things considered, it would appear the trip was worthwhile.
In the Minor Eric picked up two wins and two draws and was unbeaten in his section; he also earned his entry fee back with 3.5 out of 5 as 'points mean prizes'. In the Intermediate Kev won both games on Saturday (naturally, one of those wins being from material down in an endgame, albeit this time only R+2P vs R+3P), drew from a lost position on Sunday morning, and then lost in the afternoon for 3 out of 5. In the Major Ian also remained unbeaten throughout the tournament - two draws on Saturday followed by a win and a draw on Sunday - 3 out of 5 for him as well. Last but not least, Daniel, competing in the Open, came out with three draws and a defeat - most notably a half point against Peter Shaw on Saturday morning in which he missed a checkmate (the game will hopefully appear here shortly) - for 2 out of 5.
Overall, a good performance from the players with only 2 defeats across 16 games. |
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Happy New Year to all! For our first matches of the year, the unbeaten C Team were home against bottom-of-the-table Woodseats B. With Geoff, Stuart, Ian B, Daniel and Joel, the side looked strong (despite missing a bottom board, an issue that was rectified when Robert turned up to watch and got roped into playing). Woodseats B, however, turned up mob-handed with a 'new' player, Harry Russell, making a welcome return to the S&DCA. The match was closely fought, but the results didn't work out in our favour. Robert dropped a piece and lost in the endgame; Joel drew in a rook/pawn ending, and Daniel won after stripping his opponent's kingside clean of protective pawns. The top three boards all went the way of Woodseats, however, with Harry, Peter Hulse and Pete Cannell ensuring a first win for Woodseats and a first defeat for Nomads C. 1½-4½.
Meanwhile, at Swallownest Miners Welfare the D Team were taking on Aughton B. With Kev and Steve stepping down from the C team, the D Team were strong enough to field Ray on board three and looked a good bet to return to winning ways after their first loss of the season, just before Christmas. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way as draws for Ray, Les and Eric and a win for Kev on top board were more than offset by defeats for Steve and Henry, and the D Team crashed to their second defeat of the season. 2½-3½. |
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Monday at the Harlequin...The B Team hosted the A Team. What could be more heartwarmingly seasonal than a family get together and a small scale civil war?
The evening began with Jon suspiciously contemplating the unopened present of Board 1 as though he knew it contained an unwanted pair of socks. Eventually, reluctantly 1.d4, and the game was afoot.
On other Boards various Nomads seemed more or less happy to see what turned up and got stuck into their games. Kev was first to finish on 8 with powerful rooks opening up Henry's kingside. On 4 Andrew and Mike agreed a low key draw. ½-1½ to the A Team, and what turned out to be almost the last score of the evening for the B Team. On 2 and 3 Andy and Milan dropped Queens against Chris and Mohammad. On 5 it looked like Stuart was being slowly overrun by advancing pawns, then Geoff won a piece with a tactic. On 6 Ian has clearly spent too much time sitting next to Kev as he turned an abysmal, atrocious, appalling early middlegame position into a very resourceful late middlegame win against Ken. On 7 Henry's Crunchy Crisp Attack clearly unsettled his dad who found himself on the wrong end of a tactical sequence against Daniel. ½-6½.
Last to start. Last to finish. Jon's suspicions had been well founded. The dull, grey socks of the French Exchange, 1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.ed, had horrible Queenside holes. Darn it. A win for Paul C. 1½-6½/6½-1½.
Wednesday at the Harlequin. The E Team put out a strong side to face unbeaten top of the table Stannington C. Ray, Keith, and Eric went 3-0 on the top three boards. Gordon won on 6 (and is now 4/5 for the season and 1 grading point above Robert) and Ian C drew on 4. 4½-1½.
And for the last match of the year Eric took 5/6 of a D Team to top of the table Sheffield Deaf. Wins for Steve and Henry, a draw for Ray but losses for Les, Eric, and D Fault who has made a handful of unwelcome and unsuccessful appearances this season. First loss of the season. 2½-3½. |
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Wednesday at the Harlequin...The A Team faced newly promoted Rotherham. An early draw for Geoff, then one by one the wins started: Jon in what looked like the kind of complicated position with the play across the whole board he enjoys; Chris on time, in a winning position, after being about half an hour down and having 3 or 4 minutes for moves 17/18 to 30; Kieran creating connected passed pawns; Ian on time but maybe slightly fortunately as he'd picked a slight advantage over a winning one; Daniel winning a 2Ns+P v N ending and a final position with all the pieces treading on each others toes in a 3x3 square; Sam rescuing a lost position for a won ending. Andrew's time scramble draw completed. 7-1.
The B Team and Woodseats A came out swinging at each other. Paul C tried an exchange sac against an untidy but strong set up, didn't get enough and was left with a lost endgame. In Andy's game both kings were wide open, Andy missed a perpetual, and his King was hunted down. In Milan and Mike's match-ups tremendous tactical tension tightened terrifically but dissipated into deadlock and draws. Stuart gained tempi in a Queen hunt setting up a winning breakthrough against a Queenside castled King. On 6-8 the games revolved around the steady win, Steve and Keith, or loss, Ken, of pawns. 4-4.
Thursday saw 5 intrepid Nomads venture out into the winter storms and journey to the deep south to take on Clay Cross B. A very early win for Daniel after Keith blundered his queen allowed him the opportunity to fret over the remaining four boards. Eric also won, but Henry was checkmated after gaining an advantage, and Sam's positional advantage evaporated after he dropped a piece for a pawn so he was somewhat fortunate to gain a draw. This left the result hanging on Steve, who eventually prevailed in an unbalanced endgame (4P+R+N+B vs 3P+2R) to win the match, 3½-2½. Nomads D remain unbeaten and face a showdown with the other unbeaten Division 4 side, Sheffield Deaf, next Friday. |
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Monday at the Horseshoe Inn. Hang on. Monday at the Three Merry Lads...The A Team were understrength but, as Chesterfield were maybe more understrength, they outgraded their opponents on almost every board and, as an unexpected bonus, Chris arrived on time. It all looked promising for what has, in recent seasons, been one of the key matches in the title race. The train began to look a little shaky when Ian dropped the exchange to a one move tactic after which his opponent flatly refused to walk into any forks. 0-1. Kev took an early draw steadying the ship (which until recently had been a train). ½-1½. The other games were a mixture of better, eg Geoff, worse, eg Andrew, and level, eg Chris. It looked like it was going to be tight.
Mohammad won the exchange and mated in the centre of the board. Chris took a draw. 2-2. Geoff's opponent didn't take a step back, but instead kept swinging and connected. 2-3. After a game in which Jon seemed to be attacking but Dave had it under control, and even went into the ending a pawn up, a draw on Board 1. 2½-3½. Still, Daniel was a pawn up. And Andrew has occasionally been known to swindle ½ points, or even full points, in time trouble. It wasn't over yet. A short sequence of moves saw Daniel pick up his opponent's a-pawn. Relief. Only till his opponent replied, pushing an unstoppable pawn. 2½-4½. The match was decided. Andrew and his opponent agreed a draw in what was by then a more level but probably still worse position. 3-5. Well played Chesterfield.
(The cheerful Chesterfield version of events is on their website here.)
Wednesday at The Abbey. Facing a strong Ecclesall side, Nomads B turned up mob-handed with new signing Milan coming in on Board 4. Paul eventually lost in a time scramble on 1 against Dave Adams, and Jeremy drew with Pete Hempson on 2. The middle order, however, were not for turning and Andy clamping down on what looks like a mistimed misplayed Sveshnikov, Milan, and Mike, saccing two pawns for development, then tying Black up, all won. Draws for Stuart on 6 and Keith on 8 sealed the win, despite Steve eventually going down to Phil Ellis on 7. 4½-3½ and the B Team are on a roll.
Friday, and the E Team travelled to Rotherham seeking revenge after their recent defeat to the Juniors' B Team. Marek failed to appear (he may still be circling Rotherham even now) but Phil P made a surprise second appearance in the space of a fortnight to ensure we had a full side out. Wins for Eric, Ray, Robert and Gordon set the tone - Phil S eventually went down after his opponent threatened to promote, and Phil P eventually drew in an opposite-coloured bishops endgame. 4½-1½. |
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Monday at the Horseshoe Inn. Yet again. This time it was the turn of Nomads D to make the long trip out to Worksop, with special mention to Kev on his fourth trip in three weeks! Non-playing captain Eric became a playing one en route (and a winning one when he got there), as Phil P got the call to stand in for Nomads E. In the words of Daniel, Nomads secured a 'lucky draw' when Kev (with 3 pawns) and his opponent (with a rook) agreed a draw in what was apparently a 'totally lost position'. In the words of Steve, Kev got 'an amazing draw and saved the day'. It would seem neither Steve nor Daniel have enough experience of Kev's games to know that in fact this was actually a missed opportunity for a Nomads win rather than a fortunate escape. A win for Daniel, a draw for Steve, and defeat for Henry and Les. 3-3
Meanwhile, at the Harlequin, a last minute call from ill captain Robert saw stand-in captain Andrew making several more last minute calls in a bid to rustle up a sixth player. Phil P, on his first appearance for about a year, eventually got the nod just before he left for Worksop; however, Ian C was also ill so it was fortunate that Rotherham Juniors only had five players too and we lined up 5 v 5. Gordon lost his 100% record as his position fell apart; Francesca was doing OK until her king and rook were forked; Phil P got to a pawn endgame but unfortunately his opponent had more pawns. Things were slightly better on one, where Ray drew, and a lot better on three, where Phil S miscalculated and lost a piece, only for Claes to miscalculate several moves later and lose his king. 1½-3½
Wednesday at the Harlequin, and Nomads B faced off against last season's other promoted club, Rotherham. Both sides have strengthened in the summer and it promised to be a close match. Three draws (Ken, Mike, Steve) and five wins (Paul, Jeremy, Andy's Benko, Stuart and Joel) don't tell the full story as Rotherham were in the hunt for the points until late into the night before two or three unfortunate blunders cost them dearly. 6½-1½
Bonus Games
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Sheffield Individual Championship 2011/12 |
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Entries are open for this year’s Sheffield Individual Championship
Format
6 round Swiss – one round per month, first round to be completed by the end of December
Time Control - 24 moves in an hour, then 12 per half hour
Adjournments are permitted and the time of adjournment is to be agreed before play commences
Juniors have choice of venue - if there are two juniors then the younger has choice of venue
Benefits of Competing
Slower time control
Preparation for the game
Adjournment analysis
Closing date for entries Sun 27th November when the first round will be drawn
Contact Paul Bailey (E) pbailey[at]sheffieldnomads[dot]co[dot]uk (M) 078 12 49 49 57
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Monday at the Horseshoe Inn. Again. Kev, Ian and Andrew made their third trip to Nottinghamshire in two weeks as Nomads II took on last year's Cup Runners-Up in the first round of the Plate. Worksop were missing a few of their big names, but still had a strong squad and so it proved as one by one the Nomads fell. The one player to stop the rot? Joel, playing on five and scoring a third Nomads victory against Nicholas Mahoney this season (sorry Nick!). 1-5. |
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Monday at the Horseshoe Inn...Eventually. 0 out of 2 at Worksop A the last two seasons. A challenge for the A Team, without Jon, but with Kieran. Ian set the ball rolling crashing through in a Dragon. Chris creatively deconstructed an overstretched Kingside for a choice of mates, Mohammad exploited offside Rooks playing almost unchallenged on the Queenside, Geoff sacced two pieces for a mating attack on the long diagonals, Daniel won a pawn, could have had two but went for a piece, grovelled a bit but held everything, only to let it slip with an oversight, at which point his opponent un/fortunately resigned. Kev won a fairly normal looking game. A draw for Kieran, and a loss for Andrew. 6½-1½. A very strong performance.
The same night the E Team played their third match of the season and the third against one of the various incarnations of SASCA. This time it was SASCA D, again. A default wasn't the best of starts. Gordon picked up a win, Eric and Phil drew but Keith and Robert lost. 2-4.
Tuesday at Pilsley Miners Welfare...After finding the right one of Clay Cross's two venues Geoff, Ian, Daniel, and Kev all won for the second night in a row, Joel joined the party, but Steve missed out. 5-1. |
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King and Queen v King and Rook |
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From Chessbase:
The endgame Queen vs Rook is still a classic and deceptively difficult to play. Most GMs are not able to win it against the perfect defence of the computer. Some have even practised defending themselves, so that just in case it is ever necessary they can give their opponent a tough fight. That is apparently exactly what happened at the FIDE world championship 2001 in Moscow. In the round five playoffs Peter Svidler (2686) reached the above position against Boris Gelfand (2701). Instead of resigning, as most players would have done, Boris Gelfand simply challenged his opponent to prove that he could do it. Peter Svidler went to work against the almost flawless defence put up by White...
The game was drawn on move 129 and is deeply annotated here (including bonus German Der Trikt wirkt - guess what that means), as part of what can only be termed comprehensive analysis, available for Fritz. A beginner's guide to the Philidor position is nicely described on youtube but that's only a fraction of the story of Rosettes, Thorns, Wishbones, Cages, Harassment, and the legendary Third Rank Defence.
You can have a go at a similar postion online here. Be warned: It can be immensely frustrating, as Peter Svidler discovered. |
Monday at the Harlequin...The A Team were up against a strong Worskop A. Six French defences with the odd two out a Scandinavian and a Tromp which turned into some sort of Veresov, possibly. Around the time Chris was considering move 6 in a drawish and eventually drawn Exchange, Jon and Jonathan agreed a draw on Board 1. Andrew's and Geoff's draws were not too far behind. Fortunately for the crowd there were decisive games on the other boards: On 3 Mohammad's opponent dropped a couple of early pawns and another one later on before resigning. 6, 7, and 8: Ian posted a knight in front of an isolated pawn, exchanged off, and induced pawn weaknesses, Daniel Jiu-Jitsued into a very well played pawn up ending, and Kev set up an imaginative trap for an unwary offside knight. 6-2. A good result against a strong team. Return leg next Monday.
Wednesday at the Harlequin... and a less Gallic theme tonight as the E Team faced off against SASCA D. Whilst it maybe true that you never win anything with kids, you might do if you've got a grown-up graded 190 on Board 1 and although Denis played very, very well he couldn't quite close the gap. Elsewhere, Robert, Phil S, Ian C and Francesca all lost (Robert and Ian over the board, Phil and Francesca on the clock). Gordon, a last minute draft on 5, was the only winner on the night. 1-5.
Meanwhile...a full strength B Team played their second match of the season against Rotherham Juniors A. Jeremy took a draw on two, and Steve took a draw on seven. Stuart then won on 6 but Keith lost on 8. Andy, taking on his nemesis Oskar on three, then came out of some tactics a full rook to the good and suddenly the B Team had chances. Ken's attack on 6 fizzled out into an opposite-coloured bishops ending...and Paul C made an illegal move in time trouble; as we all learnt last year, touch-a-piece-move-a-piece still applies and Paul's only legal move with that piece lost immediately. 3½-3½ and all eyes to Mike's game (a French defence, as it happens!), a B v N endgame and not a lot of time remaining... Mike's a-pawn made a dash for it, Alan's knight cut it off but got stuck on a8 and Mike marched his king over...Alan was still just holding it together but a forced tempo was probably going to win it for Mike when Alan's flag fell. 4½-3½ and Nomads B have their first points on the board!
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This week's bonus game: Last round of the European Club Cup. Kieran decides he's had enough of being outprepared into slightly worse middlegames so he chucks in a pawn in a Scandinavian and starts an all out sacrificial frenzy.
Monday at the Horseshoe Inn...eventually, after Andrew had helped out by re-arranging Ian's precision travel plans. Another strong C Team saw wins for Andrew in a position which, around the first time control, Fritz may well have evaluated as "No idea", Stuart playing out 15 moves of see-saw Scotch Gambit theory against Phill Beckett and then spotting a tactic to win the exchange, Kev after a bit of a horror show in the opening, and a nice Queen trap from Steve. A draw for Denis and a loss for Ian. 4½-1½. The third convincing win of the season.
Wednesday at the Harlequin...Eric put together a decent team for the visit of a fairly strong Sheffield Deaf. Tragedy of the evening was Denis's game in which he dropped a piece (and gave himself a ?? on his scoresheet), regained it, went up two pawns in a clearly won ending, but fell, or was lured, into a mate in 1 while using his King to support the pawns. Alastair and Steve, who had a white squared bishop stuck behind a barrier of pawns, also lost, but Eric picked up a default and Kev won on Board 1. 3-3.
The B Team's first match of the season was away at champions Nomads A, while the A Team were at home against something of an unknown quantity in newly promoted Nomads B. Haidar dropped out of the A Team and Jeremy dropped into the B Team and before kick off it looked evenly matched. About an hour in Keith had rounded up Ray's Queen, 1-0 to the B Team and the other boards looked even. Then, one by one, the A Team began to win their games. Paul C turned down a draw offer from Jon and after a finding resources in a much worse ending lost by one tempo, or a whole queen, depending on your point of view. Jeremy and Chris seemed to agree that Jeremy broke through one move too late and Chris's counter attack won out. Andy had prepared Black but got White against Kieran and fell victim to "Knight + Queen = Death". In time pressure against Andrew Mike missed a clear win and at the death dropped a piece. Geoff and Stuart played out a very unbalanced French and after attack and counterattack Geoff was able to Queen his a pawn. Ian killed off what looked like a tranposed Dragon against Ken, and Daniel had Joel pinned into immobility before tactics picked up a couple of pawns. Final score a highly unbalanced and slightly misleading 7-1/1-7.
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Monday at the Harlequin, and the first home Monday night match for the club. Unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan; Simon turned up slightly late and Alastair didn't make it at all. Andrew turned up to watch and after a couple of frenetic phone calls and a discussion regarding the rules on subs with Alan, Geoff and Jeremy, ended up playing on board 5 against Mike Grimsley, around 25 minutes down on the clock.
In the event, it didn't make a great deal of difference. Kev seemed to get into a pickle but extracted himself with a neat exchange sacrifice to win. Simon went down fighting on six, Andrew won in a slightly dodgy queen and rooks endgame, Steve picked up a well deserved draw on three, Ian won from the exchange down with two huge central pawns and Geoff turned down a draw to win on 1. 4½-1½ *
Tuesday at Farm Road Social Club and in a twice-postponed match against Phoenix, Nomads A finally concluded their first Summer League programme (seemingly as autumn finally started to bite). For the second night in a row, the largest squad in Sheffield struggled to get out a full side as Sam went walkabout with his phone on silent and didn't get the call until well after we had started, with John Mercy kindly donating new Phoenix player Tom Konarik for the evening.
Tom started brightly against Douglas Couch, a fellow rookie from his club, but after generating a lot of kingside activity his attack fizzled out and an inaccurate move cost him a rook and the game. On one, Haidar decided that developing his kingside wasn't part of the plan - Carl took advantage with a neat knight sacrifice and Haidar's flag fell in a lost position. On two, Andrew took on Farshad and after the queens came off fairly early on, the position grew complex and time drew short - a draw agreed two moves before the time control.
This left Mike taking on Mo Aryan - a draw was offered and declined (Mo was well ahead on the clock) but then a harmless queen check picked up a loose piece after Mo forgot to defend it.... not long after Mike cleared away the queens and bishops, clipped the remaining pawns (bar one) and queened to win with a couple of minutes to spare. 1½-2½
Wednesday at the Birdwell Venue, and Nomads D made their first away trip of the season to the home of Barnsley. In what seems to be the theme of the week, Andrew got a last minute call to step in after Keith was unfortunately called away; Barnsley defaulted on 6 and shortly afterwards Kevin opened the scoring over the board, two knights and a queen circling his opponent's king to lethal effect. Les then won on five, forcing a pawn through to promotion despite being the exchange down. Andrew then ground Vladimir down on one, a neat sacrifice/knight fork forcing all the pieces off and wrecking Vladimir's pawn structure (note: Jeremy's pawn endgames session came in handy here). Next up, Steve avoided some complications in the middlegame and picked up a loose piece to win - a good job too as he played with the Black pieces when he should have been White! This left Denis on 4, the exchange up but struggling to make headway against a blocked pawn structure and an opponent demonstrating some neat defensive resources. Eventually Denis invaded with his rook, snaffled a pawn and made a run for it - he was set to promote when his opponent's flag fell. 6-0 - a convincing start to the D Team's away campaign. |
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Nomads play for Sheffield! |
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Throughout the course of the season, a number of Sheffield sides turn out in the three divisions within the YCA. Sheffield A and D play in the Woodhouse (Division One), Sheffield B and E play in the IM Brown (Division Two) and Sheffield F play in the Silver Rook (Division Three). Nomads have a number of players who turn out and this weekend was no different with 9 Nomads playing (it would have been 12/13 if the A Team match had gone ahead). Sheffield D saw Haidar win on board 4, Andrew and Mike lose on 6 and 7 respectively, and Stuart draw on 8 as the team won the match 5-3. Sheffield E featured Daniel making his YCA debut, picking up a draw (and maintaining his unbeaten start to the season) in a 4-3 reverse. Sheffield F featured Steve (who unfortunately lost on board 1) and Ray, Denis and Henry picking up a trio of draws on 6,7 and 8, in another close match which saw the F team narrowly defeated by West Leeds. |
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Monday at Woodseats Social Club...Half this season's matches have been against an incarnation of Woodseats, this time it was Woodseats I v Nomads II in the Cup. Heavily outgraded and distant second favourites: Mike, Joel, Simon, and Denis eventually succumbed to a variety of tactics, oversights, and Nf6-d7-f8-d7 time wasting. On Board 1 Andrew set Andrew Ledger a few problems, and at one point was on top and ahead on time. Gradually Andrew L extracted himself and pushed home a queenside pawn. Performance of the evening was Ian B who set up and finished off a very strong kingside mating attack against Paul Fletcher. 5-1.
Wednesday at the Harlequin, and the first of two all-Nomads battles in the next fortnight. Nomads I rested Jon, Chris and Kieran but were still able to field a board 6 who outgraded the Nomads III board 1 by 20 or so points. Nevertheless, the III team put up a good fight and despite Alastair being beaten fairly early on by Haidar's king-side attack, things were in the balance for some time. Eventually, however, Paul, Daniel, Andy and Geoff overcame stiff resistance from Steve, Eric, Ian C and Phil S. This left Jeremy and Ray battling it out on 2; Ray made most of the early running and Jeremy (not unusually) was behind on the clock; having made it over the line with 2 minutes to spare, he was then offered a draw in an unbalanced and complex position - an offer that was accepted for Nomads III's only points on the night. 5½-½ but again, a far more competitive match than the one-sided scoreline might imply. |
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The season gets going with four matches this week, starting Monday for the C Team against Woodseats B away at Woodseats Social Club...Speedy wins for Joel and Sam, a steady win for Ian B, and tenacious win for Steve: Steve's opponent offered a draw in a better, possibly winning, position, Steve adventurously declined, and, forced to find a move, his opponent hung his queen trying to stop a pawn on the seventh. Draws for Simon (steady) and Andrew (dodgy). 5-1.
Wednesday at the Harlequin...The E Team faced a very young looking SASCA E who showed promise despite going down 6-0. The D Team played Aughton B, second wins in three days for Joel, a very early queen trap, and Steve set up a 3½-2½ win. The highlight of the evening though was the A Team match against Woodseats A. Draws across five boards, a well played win by Ian B, dropping a pawn to exploit an offside knight which was then picked off with a nice tactical sequence, and a complicated loss by Haidar left everything riding on Board 8. Both players seemed to be one or two moves from mate but Sam's attack arrived first, hoovering up pawns, and a bishop for an easy win but...both players were in time trouble, Sam dropped the bishop, and then, eventually, noticed he had a spare outside passed pawn on the other side of the board, queened, avoided a stalemate by not letting go of his queen, and mated. 4½-3½. |
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Wednesday at The Abbey - a patchwork Nomads A side, missing Kieran and Geoff, rolled up at Ecclesall for the first match of the season. Jon took his customary early draw with Dave Adams, Ray went down early against Alan McIntosh, and with Kev and Ian also losing for a while things looked grim. A good win for A Team debutant Sam, coupled with a draw on four for Andrew, a confident victory for Haidar and a grinding, last minute (literally) win for Chris turned a 1½-3½ deficit into a 4-4 final scoreline and an improvement on the Ecclesall (A) result from the season before last (when Nomads last had two top flight sides). test |
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Well the new season is about to start and the fixtures are now available. Thanks to everyone involved in sorting them out. This list should be up to date but players should check with their team captains and team captains should check their fixtures are correct before turning up to play.
For those who don't already know please note we now have two club nights, Monday and Wednesday, so there will be chess at the Harlequin most Mondays and Wednesdays, but not every week because sometimes the room is being used for other things. Hopefully it wont be too confusing.
Enjoy the new season... |
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