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Nomads News Due to ambitious/reckless
expansion plans New Players Needed. All ages, genders, heights,
weights, nationalities, hairstyles, and abilities welcome
(and bring a friend). Draft Grading List
Jon's c3 Sicilian Simul Jon scored 7½/10 with wins against Kieran, Kev, Robert, Joel, Bill, Simon, and Ian, a draw against Paul B, a loss after a piece hanging fork in a won ending against Andy, and an exciting loss against Phil & Kev. Summer Programme
Week 23 Wednesday at The Abbey...The unfinished business of the season was the D Team's game against Ecclesall D. Win, lose, or draw they would finish 4th (always "creditable"). A couple of defaults, wins from Andrew, Eric, and Ian C, and a draw from Phil P. 5½-½. Week 22 Tuesday at Pilsley Miners Welfare...The B Team, needing a point to win Division 2, go 3-0 down, but pull back to draw 3-3 with Clay Cross A and are Division 2 Champions, though that's not half the story (in fact it's about 3% of the story). Match reports here. Congratulations to the B Team. Wednesday at The Harlequin...As a club Ecclesall had important business elsewhere with their A and C Teams, and on limited resources could only find four B Team players. A 2-0 head start became a 5-1 win, and in one (or two) bound(s) the C Team are free from the clutches of Division 3. Week 21 Wednesday at the Harlequin. A BIG night. The B Team played Stannington A, two of the top three teams on 14 games, 21 points. At one point the scorecard was ½-2½, not good, but on the boards Phil F was a rook up, Oliver was very much on top in the middle of a well played game, so all eyes were on Board 1. Andy played some high quality chess (we think) to win his game and carry the day 3½-2½. After some mild panic about whether Mohammad was registered, and wondering whether we were about to lose 6-0 as a consequence, a strong C Team beat Barnsley B 5-1. Friday?! the D Team continued a strong showing beating Rotherham Juniors 4½-1½. Tables are on the S&DCA website. Week 20 - Nomads A Win the Davy Trophy The A Team win Division 1 without kicking a ball. Monday at the Abbey. Woodseats A v University A. Woodseats A needed the points in an attempt to stay up. University A needed to win all their matches for a play-off with the A Team. High pressure chess. Pieces were blundered, and some were returned, one player wandered into a mate in 1. Till it was 3½-2½ to Woodseats A, with Prasun against Andrew Ledger on 1, and Mithun against Alan Potts on 2. The positions looked complicated and unclear. Mithun was in a difficult position, thought for a while after he'd made the time control, and looked to reorganise his pieces with Na3. We didn't get time to consider the finer points of the move as Alan sacrificed his queen(!) on h1, supported by a rook on h8 and a bishop on a8. It was mate next move. Mithun resigned. University had lost the match and Nomads A were out of reach. A great finish to the season. Wednesday back at The Abbey...The B Team beat bottom of the table Ecclesall B, but only just, 3½-2½. Andrew's game features another questionable approach to the opening, with a rather better quality finish. Next up in two weeks top of the table Stannington A. At the Harlequin the D Team beat Rotherham Juniors C 5-1. A comfortable win against a team unfortunately on null points. A couple of wins by Joel and Phil to take a look at. (Fairly) up-to-date league tables are available on the S&DCA site. Week 19
The A Team secured at least a play off place with a 5½-2½ win against Worksop A. The B Team beat Aughton A 5-1. Wednesday at The Harlequin...An Away Day for the A and B Teams so a quiet night. Kev, on 3/4 and alone in second place behind Chris on 4/4, in the Sheffield Championship went through his win against Farshad to the perplexity/admiration of the watching crowd. He also went through his win against Aughton A which featured a strikingly similar set up, despite his opponent playing a completely different opening. One of the positions we looked at, after a suggested continuation by Paul B, led to a lively discussion on the im/morality of deliberately playing illegal moves in time trouble. Paul B was all for it, arguing (to some confusion), that illegal moves are allowed by the laws of the game, with Ian B on the other side of the fence, over the hills, and far away. Week 18 Wednesday at The Harlequin...The A Team played a much weakened Woodseats A and won 5½-2½. Wins for Jon, Kieran, Chris, Jeremy, and Masrura, but Andy played 29 decent moves and then dropped a piece with his 30th for 0-2 this season against Bill Ward. There are unconfirmed rumours that University A have dropped another point, this time against Barnsley A. A back of the envelope calculation reveals that no-one is quite sure what is happening but the worst case scenario for the A Team seems to be a(nother) play off for the Davy Trophy. A strong C Team lost 2½-3½ to Aughton A. A back of the envelope calculation here reveals that no-one is quite sure what is happening, and we should stop wasting envelopes like this. Thursday at the Bridge Inn the B Team, on a roll, beat Phoenix B 4-2 - wins for Stuart, Graham, and Oliver. A back of the envelope calculation wasn't possible as we'd run out of envelopes, and the smudgy writing on a beer mat is difficult to see but Andy is pretty sure he is steering his crew to within sight of a promotion spot, and a lively debate over the summer. Week 17 Crescendo. The D Team lost 2-4 against SASCA B, the A Team beat Phoenix A 6-2 (whilst Championship Challengers University A drew with Worksop A and Chesterfield A lost to Rotherham Juniors A 5½-2½), and the C Team drew 3-3 with Relegation Rivals Barnsley B. Good Game Good Game? Good Game A backlog of games
Richardson Cup Final Woodseats I put out a strong team for the final. Jon took on the challenge of Board 1 against Andrew Ledger who, this time, was at no point confident enough to start munching on the pork pies, Jon got into the game and only really went astray in time trouble. Wins on 2, 3, and 4 from Kieran, Chris, and Jeremy, and draws for Haidar and Andy on 5 and 6 made for a 4-2 win in the match. So, the Richardson Cup is back in Nomads hands, for a year at least. After the match Bill Ward sent the
following generous message: "Well played to Kieran and all the Nomads team
tonight. We really pulled out all the stops to produce a team worthy of the
occasion and you were better. Congratulations and well done." Good Game Good Game Good Game Jeremy has annotated a couple of recent games and Ken's sac attack has made it to the website, it was not quite as advertised but there were bishops and knights on offer. Week 16
Wednesday at The Harlequin...The B Team kicked off two matches in two days with a 5-1 win against Ecclesall B. Robert pieced together a last minute D Team who did well to draw 3-3 with an international University B. Thursday at Barnsley B...Two games, two days, two C Team relegation rivals, two 5-1 wins for the B Team. Talking point of this match was the double bishop sacrifice* by Ken to win his game. ...and there's an enjoyable game from the same match from Andrew H here. Bulletin 5 is available via the S&DCA site. Doncaster Congress
A strong showing of Nomads: Paul C, Jeremy, Andrew, Paul B, Kev, Phil, Eric, and Les. Saturday was generally a better day than Sunday. On the games page there's a nice finish by Andrew in Round 2 and you can thrill to Paul B thinking for 45 minutes(!) over Rf8-f7. Week 15 An action packed week kicked off with a 4½-1½ reverse for the B Team away at Stannington A. Tuesday the D Team won 3½-2½ away at Clay Cross B, thanks to a piece up, level, piece down, win by Phil P. Wednesday at The Harlequin...After a season of 4-4 draws the A Team got overexcited and beat Ecclesall A 7½-½, including Jon winning on Board 2 in under 20 moves, and the C Team picked up a useful, surprise point against SASCA A 3-3 with wins by Masrura, Ian, and Paul B. Week 14 Tuesday at Pilsley Miners Welfare...The C Team drift gently down back towards relegation losing 4-2 against Clay Cross A. Wednesday at The Harlequin...The B Team, under stand-in captain Andrew H, beat Aughton A 4½-1½, and the D Team beat SASCA C 5-1. Cup Week Thursday at Wombwell...The I Team beat surprise semi-finalists Wombwell 5-1 in the Cup and play Woodseats I in the final. Week 13 Wednesday at The Harlequin...The A Team won the top of the table title to-do with Chesterfield 5-3 thanks to a strong showing on the lower boards from Mohammad, Jeremy, and Andy. The C Team lost 1½-4½ and are still flirting with Division 3. The D Team's match with Ecclesall was postponed. Week 12 Monday at The Rising Sun...Normal service resumed as the A Team drew 4-4 with Barnsley A. Wednesday at The Harlequin...The D Team faced Stannington B. Andrew H frustrated his opponent's tactics to pick up a win on Board 1. Oliver got back into the swing of things with a win, but there were losses elsewhere so a dramatic last minute rescue was needed by Robert for a 3-3 draw. Week 11 The week kicked off with a rotationally symmetrical draw for the B Team 3-3 against SASCA A. After bagging the full point against D Fault, Andy is on a roll and has submitted his win here, and Andrew's Board 3 win is here. Wednesday at The Harlequin...The A Team changed up a gear with a 7-1 win against Rotherham Juniors A, at The Abbey the C Team changed down a gear with a 5-1 defeat against Ecclesall B. Cup Week
In the Cup the I Team's opponent's University I only managed to put out five players. A clean sweep on the bottom boards by Jeremy, Haidar, and Andy (who had little problem overcoming D Fault) meant a 4-2 win. Nomads Administrative Bungling 08/09 Episode 14 and 15: In the league (we're pretty sure it was the league) the C Team (or was it the II Team?) travelled to Aughton A (I?) and picked up a useful 4½-1½ win. Phil debuts on the website as his opponent castles into it. A brief blast of fire into the airbag as we float gracefully above relegation. (Or was it: as we progress into the next round of the Plate?) Week 10
Wednesday at The Harlequin...The B, C, and D team cosied up with Clay Cross A 2-4, Stannington A 3-3, and Woodseats B 2-4. Special mention to Andy for detailed reconnaissance work on the suitability of the venue, and new player Joel who debuted with a win for the D Team. Ian B threw everything including his queen into an attack here. Andrew H and Bill Ward annotate their game here. Thursday the A Team played a very strong University A and lost 3½-4½. More piece saccing from Ian B here. Week 9
Monday at The Abbey...Despite Andy G falling prey to some 34 year old analysis against Bill Ward, wins for Chris, Jeremy, Mohammad, Mursal, and draws for Paul C and Ian added up to a 5-3 victory against Woodseats A. On Board 1 Jon commented, "I had a pawn on e5 but Andy just played round it till it became a weakness. I knew I was in real trouble when he stood up, assessed the buffet, and started munching confidently on a pork pie." Wednesday at The Harlequin...The C Team conscientiously and painstakingly prepared six boards for the forthcoming match. All six were the right way round (despite mischievous interventions from Eric), the pieces were mostly on the correct squares, colours were alternating Black and White along one side of the room (the consideration being that if a player had to leave the board for any reason then he would only be disturbing his team mates), the White kings were all on squares labelled e1. Clocks were tightly wound and accurately set, the scoresheets carefully laid out on each board. We had gone to unprecedented lengths to prepare everything. The stage was set for an evening of intellectual challenge. It was a sight to gladden the heart of any chess player. Then Aughton A phoned to ask us whether we were on our way as it was their home match. A slightly more successful evening for the B Team against Phoenix B. The best moves of this match weren't even played on the board - Stuart had pawns on f7 and g7 but only 3 minutes against 25 or 30 on the clock. Stuart picked up first one, then two(!!) queens in a concerted attempt to get his opponent to resign. It worked and clinched the match 3½-2½. Andrew H's win against Phil Beckett is here. Friday...The D Team beat Sheffield Deaf in a double points match 3½-2½. Week 8 Wednesday at The Harlequin...A quantum fluctuation of the A Team's chesstime equilibrium brought a 4½-3½ victory against Phoenix A. Having been beaten up about a month ago by the D Team 5½-½ SASCA C went to fetch their big brothers and sisters in SASCA B. At one stage a 0-6 whitewash was on the cards but Phil S and Robert rescued points for a 2-4 defeat. Highlight of this match has to be Simon (on Board 1!) putting his Queen en prise for no reason at all (though to be fair Evie had already cooked up a very nice sacrificial attack). Simon was seen later in the evening clutching much needed copies of Think Like a Grandmaster and Play Like a Grandmaster. Books Donated to Nomads
We received the following email a week ago... "My name is Simon Whitbread and I
have a medium sized collection of Chess books and magazines for which, I would
like to find a good home. My father [Alan] played chess for a number of years and he
collected a good sized collection of chess books and numerous editions of the
British Chess magazine. Simon was kind enough to drop off the books on his way into Sheffield to teach a Morris Dancing Class! There are some great books in there. If there are any takers let me know.
+ another 10 or so smaller books (eg a couple of pamphlets on the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit) The British chess magazine 1977-1983 or so. (Bound.) Week 7 Wednesday at The Harlequin...The B Team had what could have been a difficult home match against newly promoted Third Division champions Nomads C but won comfortably 5½-½. Meanwhile the C Team had a tricky away fixture against last season's Runners-Up Nomads B, were outplayed (particularly on Board 1) and lost by a disappointing ½-5½. Week 6 Bulletin 1 is available on line at last. New recruit Andrew Hards has annotated his three games so far. He seems to have Kev's useful ability to induce self destructive nonsense in his opponents... Monday...The C Team travelled to SASCA A, were confronted by large children and a couple of grown ups, never really recovered and lost 2½-3½. Evie's comment about her quick win against Kev was a rather shocked, "You didn't develop your pieces," in the charmingly naive belief that this was unusual. Wednesday, two matches. This week's 4-4 A Team draw was against Ecclesall A, while at The Harlequin the D Team showed the way with a second successive 5½-½ win, this time against Clay Cross B. Week 5
Monday...The D Team travelled to SASCA C and mercilessly beat up poor defenceless children 5½-½. The ½ was a grown up. I hope they are proud of themselves. Wednesday at The Harlequin...Clay Cross, mystified by the ghost venue, arrived late and never really got into the match. 5-1 to the C Team. Kieran was away for the evening, as his brother refused to emigrate on a different day so Jeremy was captain for the day - the A Team staggered over the line 4½-3½ against Worksop A. Cup Week
Monday...The I Team travelled to SASCA II and mercilessly beat up poor defenceless children 6-0. I hope they are proud of themselves. Week 4 Monday...The A Team travelled to Chesterfield A. After being slightly in front most of the race, going into the final lap Jeremy dramatically jettisoned a substantial amount of wood and looked completely lost, but with fewer pieces to think about, he was suddenly lighter and more agile, now the pieces (that were left) were more responsive...Jeremy closed in on his opponent and pulled level on the final bend for 4½-3½ win. Wednesday at The Harlequin...The B Team went 1-0 up thanks to Phil F but, as the rest of the team were collectively rooks, bishops, and pawns down with poor positions, the consensus was it might well be the only point they got, so a 4-2 win was a bit of a surprise. On the other side of the room the D Team experiment proves to be an ongoing success - there were wins for Eric and Gordon as they beat Ecclesall D 3½-2½. Thursday at The Bridge Inn...A test for the C Team, minus Mohammad, Mursal, and Masrura, against Phoenix B. Wins for Simon and notably Ian, on Board 1, but the rest of us were up against solid second division chess and were picked off for a 2-4 defeat. Week 3
Monday at the New Barrack Tavern...A Nomads team defeat this season's nemesis Stannington as our D Team beat their B Team 4-2. There were wins for new recruit Andrew, Phil P, Eric, and, up, down, winning, losing, then winning again, and now 3/3 for the season, Ian C. Wednesday at The Harlequin...Equanimity, Equilibrium, Equality. Balance. The A Team float calmly, gently through the season drawing each match, this time with Barnsley A, 4-4. Week 2
Wednesday (not) at The Harlequin...The, previously rearranged, (or was it?), home or away, C Team, (or was it B Team?), fixture against Ecclesall B was postponed in circumstances that would be material for a short novel. In a less chaotic parallel universe the B Team picked up their first points of the season in a 4-2 win against an under strength SASCA A. Friday?! the A Team travelled to Rotherham Juniors and drew 4-4. Cup Week Wednesday at The Harlequin...The I Team beat Woodseats II 6-0, and in an action replay of last Monday's match the II Team lost 2½-3½ (again) to Stannington. Good Game Good Game If you haven't found them already Jon has submitted a couple of recent games well worth a look And from a couple of weeks ago Kev's win against Stuart - as Ian B said, a surprisingly conventional win in which Kev was at no point a piece down. Week 1
Monday at The New Barrack Tavern...The high flying C Team were brought down to Earth by Stannington A who beat us 3½-2½. Ian B is entirely at fault. Away at The Abbey the new fangled D Team put on a great performance against Woodseats B but also lost 3½-2½. Wins for Ian C, storming to 2/2 for the season, Gordon, and a draw by Eric, outgraded by 36 points, against Bill Ward. Wednesday at The Harlequin...The A Team got off to a better start than last season: This season they managed to find the (home) venue, and when they got there they scored a point. The match against University A ended in a 4-4 draw with eight decisive games. Jon's win here and Masrura's win here. Week 0 Wednesday at The Harlequin...The C Team made full use of home advantage and took the honours in the local derby 3½-2½. A report from a C Team perspective here. Thursday at The University Arms...wait a minute, no Thursday, somewhere in The Octagon... The newly formed D Team kicked off with a 3-3 draw. Wins for fresh faced debutants Phil S and Ian C (here), and grizzled veteran Paul B (here). Phoenix Friendly
Next Season's Teams III Azmiddin has decided to play for University - something to do with parking his bike, plus he is actually at the University. Ray is back at D&H.
After a further bout of head scratching this is our third attempt at sorting out teams for next season, (c) denotes captains, bold denotes car drivers, asterisks are registered players*.
A Team
Kieran(c)*, Jon*, Chris*, Jeremy*, Mohammad, Uday, Haidar, Andy, Enyi, Stuart, Masrura, Mursal, Ken, Ian, Paul C
B Team
Andy(c)*, Ken*, Stuart*, Phil F, Haidar, Uday, Graham, Enyi, Bill P, Robert, Gordon, Simon J,
C Team
Mohammad*, Masrura*, Mursal*, Ian B, Paul B(c), Simon N, Kev, Phil S, Eric, Les, Ian C, Phil P
D Team
Robert(c), Phil S, Gordon, Eric, Les, Simon J, Bill P, Ian C, Simon N, Norman, Phil P, Andrew Registered Players - Can't play for a team below the team they are registered for, eg Kieran can only play for the A Team, Andy can play for the A and B Team, and you'd've thought Ian B could play for A,B, or C Teams but... B and C Teams in Div 2 - No player can play a game for both the B and C Teams, so these two teams need to be totally separate. Playground Football - Wednesday 17th September
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