Sheffield Nomads Chess Club

Monday at the Three Merry Lads - our summer league A team took on current title holders Chesterfield A in a tough opener.  Kev went wrong early on, dropped a piece, and proceeded to get a bit of a pasting from Andy Mort.  Daniel went wrong late on, failed to hold his position with the correct piece and went from the exchange up to a position where Dave's extra pawn(s) were going to be decisive.  Andrew and Mike fought out a very interesting and complicated draw which went down to the wire, twice...and Mohammad held things together to eventually win on time in a (relatively) drawish position against Martin Howard.  1½-2½

Wednesday at the Harlequin - final matches of the winter league for the D and E Teams and with nothing riding on either result, a chance for both teams to relax and 'enjoy' the chess.  The D Team were facing Clay Cross B - wins for Kevin, Steve and Les and defeats for Jo, Ray, and Keith at the last, saw the points shared.  The E Team, fresh from a bit of a beating at the hands of champions Stannington C, faced the other promoted side, Woodseats D, on the other side of the room.  A win for Henry against an opponent who beat him earlier this season, draws for Chris (game courtesy of Bill Ward) and John (a double rook ending where his extra pawns were not enough to force victory) and defeats for Robert and Gordon meant it all hinged on Paul on his debut who managed to win to tie the score at 3-3.  An excellent result for the E Team to finish the season on.

Monday at the New Barrack Tavern... and Nomads E took on league leaders, Stannington C.  Robert, Chris (miscalculating in the endgame), Phil and Gordon all lost, but Eric held out for a draw on one and after looking lost for a long time, Jo managed to turn things around and by the end of the game looked set to have a winning advantage; unfortunately, her time was nearly up so a draw was offered and accepted.  5-1 but by no means a disgrace against the newly crowned champions.

Wednesday at Swallownest Miner's Welfare, and the C Team looked to end the season on a high and (hopefully) make SASCA work for their second place.  Geoff and Robert won early, Ian and Daniel won a while later, and Kev and Stuart won late for the C Team's first 6-0 whitewash, and only the second in the entire division, in their last match of the season.

Meanwhile, at the Abbey promoted Nomads D took on bottom of the table Ecclesall C.  Four 6-0 whitewashes this season suggested it could be a slaughter, but Ecclesall put up a good fight and Nomads had to work hard for the win.  Les lost and John was held to a draw on 3 - but wins for Ray, Keith and Jo, and a default for cap'n Eric, sealed a 1½-4½ win.

Monday at the Harlequin - the final match for Nomads A and a chance to end the season on a high.  Daniel took an early default, generously giving the returning Denis a chance to play for the first time since November.  Ian played out a quite scary looking sacrificial attack, before taking a perpetual.  Chris and Andrew then lost, before Kieran equalised on top board.  Chris H picked up a credible draw on board 7, before Denis won and Mohammad drew at the last for a narrow victory.  4½-3½

Also on Monday, at the Three Merry Lads, Nomads B put up a good fight before ultimately going down to defeat.  Draws for Paul, Stuart and Keith, a win for Ken (the first player not to be put to the sword by Steve Housley all season) and defeats for Steve, Mike, Milan and Andy, the latter's winning position turned into a losing one in 60 seconds as Mike Alcock scrambled to the time control.   5½-2½

Wednesday at the Harlequin...the room was being used for something else so the C Team showdown with SASCA A was relocated to the Abbey.  Les and Stuart failed to trouble the scorers, Kev and Ian drew and Geoff and Daniel both won for a 3-3 draw.

Wednesday at the Bridge Inn.  An A Team shorn of Jon, Kieran and Daniel took on Rotherham in a match that looked like it would be a close thing on paper, with, if anything, our team slightly outgraded on most boards.  Geoff declined an early draw offer...and then we started the match.  Points came thick and fast after some early wobbles - Les with a skewer and a pawn march, Sam and Andrew both won on the back of unfortunate blunders, and Kev secured a draw.  Chris H then sealed the match with a well-controlled endgame.  Geoff and Chris S eventually went down to defeat... but by then Ian was three pawns to the good and able to put the icing on the cake with the final point of the night.  2½-5½

Meanwhile at the Harlequin, events in the past week had transpired to give Nomads D three chances at promotion from division four.  One was all they needed - wins for Ray, Keith, John and Henry sealing a 4-2 victory and ensuring that they can't be caught by the chasing pack.  Division three beckons next season - congratulations to captain Eric and the team!

One more thing to mention...games can now be added to the site (again) after a router upgrade and a successful software de-install.  A couple from last night are up there, together with Sam's neat finish against Andrew Heelin a few weeks ago and the famous Queen sacrifice against Jim 'the draw' Vickery that Daniel pulled out of his bag of tricks in the Open section at the Doncaster Congress.  If you would like to know more, there's always Youtube...

In 2011 the Sheffield Chess Congress was successfully revived, with over 120 players competing across four sections.  It has been a little while coming, but we have confirmation that the Congress is returning in 2012, and will be played at King Edward Upper School, from the 29th June to the 1st July.  Entry forms should be available soon, but for those keen to enter it is already possible to download a form from the Congress website, at

http://www.sheffieldanddistrictchess.org.uk/congress2012

Monday at New Barrack Tavern, and the E Team took on table-toppers Stannington.   John secured his first win on top board, and Eric halved his match on board two.  They story was not so good elsewhere, however, as newbie Chris, Phil, Robert and Josephine all crashed to defeat.  1½-4½

Tuesday (yes, Tuesday!) at the Harlequin.  Division two champions Phoenix were the guests and Nomads C, keen to prove a point after narrowly failing to stop the Phoenix bandwagon in the away match, were the hosts.  A quick draw for Geoff, a win in the middlegame for Kev, and an early loss for Henry meant a finely poised match at 1½-1½.  Ian then entered a pawn and bishop ending against Tristram Cole; unfortunately for Tristram he entered a pawn endgame, however, and Ian's extra piece told.  Steve was putting up stern resistance against John Mercy on 5, but things looked set to unravel when he lost control of the c-file.  A tactical shot was overlooked that may have given perpetual chances, and that was that.  Fortunately, by that stage the result didn't matter.  On 1, Daniel had worked up a strong kingside storm and Farshad's pieces were in defensive mode.  A possible sacrifice on h3 was overlooked (Kev was convinced it was winning and analysis afterwards suggests it probably was) but some tactics during a queen trade meant Daniel emerged the exchange up and Farshad ran out of time trying to stay on the board.  3½-2½

Monday at the Harlequin, and the top two did battle once again as Chesterfield came to take us on on our own patch.  The A team were missing a few, but so were the visitors and once again the sides were quite closely matched.  An early draw for Ray, a slightly later early draw for Geoff, a streaky win for Andrew and a neat finish from Jon meant we were making all the running...but Chesterfield are a strong, strong team and they came back.  John eventually capitulated after a lengthy struggle on bottom board, but Trevor managed a draw and we were one tantalising point away.  Daniel gave it his all, and turned down a draw on the advice of his captain who knew a win was needed...but events conspired against him at the last and with Mohammad finally losing after a long uphill struggle, the points (and almost certainly the title) travel back to Chesterfield. 3½-4½.

However, in better news for Nomads on a pivotal night in the first division, the B Team traveled to fellow strugglers Worksop...and emerged triumphant!  Mike, Stuart, Ken and Steve led a middle-order charge that, coupled with draws for Paul, Keith and Milan was enough to bring the points home and secure first division chess for the B Team again next year.  Mission accomplished!  2½-5½

Wednesday at the Harlequin.  The C Team, with the pressure off now the B Team are safe, took on Worksop B who are struggling to stay up.  Steve and Geoff drew early on, Daniel drew a bit later and Ian's win compensated for Kev's loss.  So everything came down to Stuart vs Michael Clark.  Stuart was on top for most of the game, and slowly made his advantage tell.  By the end, both players were moving immediately and it was the Nomads guy who emerged triumphant as the C Team return to second place in the table.

On the other side of the room, a rejuvenated E Team featuring John and Josephine Woollard on E Team debut took on promotion hopefuls Woodseats.  Some interesting positions arose, and after a win for Robert and a draw for Eric, the E team were looking to cause an upset.  Unfortunately, both Keith and Phil dropped pieces and were unable to hold on against the wily Bill Ward and Steve Ellams, on board four but currently graded  the same as the Woodseats B board one!  All eyes on the Woollards, and despite a long battle Josephine eventually capitulated.  The match was lost, but John came very close to converting a bishop advantage into a full point before finally agreeing a draw in what looked destined to be a time scramble but was almost certainly won.  A respectable defeat.  2-4

Monday night, and an out-of-form Nomads B traveled to Laycocks Sports Club, no doubt suspecting Woodseats might seek a manner of revenge for their narrow defeat in the Richardson cup final a week ago.  However...with Andrew Ledger playing in the European Individual Championships and Allan P, Mark A and John T all missing it was an unfamiliar Woodseats team that turned out.  The B Team had their chances...and right up until the wire had their noses in front when, alas, Mike finally capitulated against Srini (who had barely 12 seconds remaining on his clock).  The result - a tie (which means only one top-flight Nomads side is unbeaten against Woodseats this year) and the B Team are now guaranteed a play-off at worst in their bid to avoid relegation.  4-4

Wednesday at the Harlequin, and a strong C Team took on Aughton A, looking up the table rather than down.  Early draws for Stuart and Henry, followed by a win by Ian, set the team up nicely; Daniel then won an interesting heavy piece endgame, where both kings appeared vulnerable for a while; Geoff drew comfortably on two and at the death, Steve managed to work a positional advantage that proved enough to bring home a full point.  3 wins, 3 draws, and 2 points.  4½-1½

Finally, a piece of tragic news.  Nomads D were scheduled to take on Clay Cross B this Wednesday but the match was postponed after news reached us of a bereavement.  Cuthbert Redhead, whom Sam drew with in the first Nomads D-Clay Cross B match this season, died suddenly earlier this week.  Our thoughts are with his family and with the players of Clay Cross at this sad time.

Nomads I traveled to Laycocks Sports Club on Monday night to take on Woodseats I in the Richardson Cup Final.  With Mike Hankinson an absentee for Woodseats, on paper Nomads looked slight favourites but in such a high quality match, it could come down to the smallest of margins.  Andy G and Stuart Jones tried not to exchange pieces at every opportunity, but failed to do so and their game quickly fizzled out.  Chris and Allan Potts had a more interesting position, and Chris appeared to have more than equalised early on but this game also ended up shared.  On four, Paul C and John Trafford invaded each other's positions with their rook pairs, John a pawn up but Paul with a dangerous passer and this too, ended with a half point each.  So it came down to the last three.  Jeremy emerged from the middlegame two pawns to the good against Mark Allison and (unusually) ahead on the clock.  After four consecutive draws, this time he picked up a full point and all eyes turned to the last two boards.  Jon was holding on against Andrew Ledger, but his king was cut off from the queenside pawns and Andrew picked them off, eventually ending up in a won R+2P vs R endgame....but Nomads were not to be denied - just as Andrew was forcing his advantage home, Kieran trapped Paul Fletcher's knight on the edge of the board.  A piece up, he ensured that his final remaining pawn had a queening square the same colour as his bishop and the rest was a formality as he broke Woodseats hearts to march his king and pawn up the board and seal the win by the narrowest of margins.  Nomads I triumphant for the fourth successive season, undefeated in the Richardson Cup since February 2008.  Surely, surely we get to keep the trophy now?

Elsewhere....  Nomads D had a pivotal week in their pursuit of promotion from division four...with back-to-back matches on Monday and Tuesday, they had a chance to close the gap on long-term leaders Sheffield Deaf to three points.  Monday saw Worksop travel to the Harlequin; Kev lost to Michael Clark in what must be their 51st pairing in the past year or so, and new signing John went down on board five.  However, Ray, Keith and Les all won, and with Steve drawing on board two, and a narrow victory was sealed.  Tuesday required a trip around the corner to the Gardener's Rest and a match against Phoenix C; Kev suffered a second defeat in two days, and Steve was also defeated; Ray drew on board three but a clean sweep across the bottom three boards, with Keith, Sam and Henry all securing wins, meant a second win in two matches; with 1st and 3rd still to play each other, three wins from the final three matches will mean Nomads are guaranteed either promotion or, potentially, a three-way play-off for the top two places.

And... back at SASCA yet again for another Monday night match, the E Team suffered from another player dropping out sick meaning another default on bottom board against the youngsters.  However, this time Robert's mum and dad both won to avenge their son's defeat on board three, with Gordon (eight wins from eleven games this season) and Elizabeth adding to wins for Henry and Eric to secure another victory.

Monday at Handsworth Christian School, and a (very) hastily assembled Nomads C took on SASCA A.   Great results for Henry (a win) and Joel (a draw against Miles) were not enough as Steve, Kev, Ian and Daniel all went down to defeats.

Wednesday at the Harlequin, and the B Team, without a win in four, took on Ecclesall.  A win might be enough to secure another season of first division chess...a defeat and the tricky run-in could make survival tricky.  Stuart lost his queen to a tactic, Mike drew quietly, and Andy's modern claimed another victim to set the match up for an exciting finale.  Jeremy drew after forcing a perpetual, but things took a turn for the worse as Joel dropped a rook and Paul lost material in time trouble.  Steve then drew and the game was up - Milan's defeat at the death, after James managed to run a pawn home, was the icing on the cake for Ecclesall and leaves the B Team precariously hovering over the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room the E Team took on Rotherham Juniors B.  Newbie Darrel had originally planned to come along and meet some of our players on his first visit to the club but with the E Team running low on resources, Robert called him up and he made an immediate debut on bottom board.  After ending up in an entirely lost position, he played on and Adhitya's pawn promotion entombed his king for a stalemate.  With Keith picking up an early piece, Robert picking up an early rook, Phil converting and Henry managing to turn a positional advantage into a game-winning one, this left Eric to battle long into the night before eventually succumbing after Jonathan Ward managed to work a passed pawn with barely seconds left on his clock.

Four Nomads sides were in action this week.  On Monday, a depleted E Team travelled to SASCA.  Again missing a board 6, Robert enrolled his mum to play for one night only.  Unfortunately she lost...but fortunately Joel, Eric, Robert and Gordon all won to seal a 4-2 victory.

On Wednesday, Nomads A hosted Rotherham Juniors, who had been hoping to strengthen after their defeat the previous Friday.  Unfortunately, two last minute drop-outs meant they were reduced to seven players, and the result was virtually identical with Andrew, Daniel, Kev and Ian all winning for the second time in five days.  Jon drew (again) and Chris lost (again) to the same opponents, but Trevor picked up his first win as a Nomad, generating massive kingside pressure and cracking Alan's defences with a neat tactic. 6½-1½  At the same time, Nomads B were trying to turn around a recent run of poor form at Barnsley.  In what could be crucial result at the end of the season, they fell just short.  Draws for Paul, Jeremy, Milan, Mike and Steve and a win for Ken offset a defeat for Henry.... but with all eyes on Andy he wasn't able to hold out for a draw as his flag fell in a difficult endgame. 3½-4½ 

Finally, on Thursday the C team, also going through a bad patch with one win in the previous five, travelled to Wombwell for a chance to avenge a defeat the week before.  Revenge was sweet... wins for Daniel, Stuart, Sam and Les and a draw for Kev were enough to seal the points, with Ian the only loss on the night. 4½-1½

Wednesday at the Bridge Inn.  The return leg in the battle of the promoted sides and a strong Nomads B team looked favourites.  However, Rotherham don't give up easily and after Steve lost his queen and the game very early on, the match looked delicately poised.  Jeremy drew, Ken, Stuart and Mike converted but Paul lost.  Milan looked lost, so Andy turned down a draw offer to push for the full point and to try and win the match...but things didn't quite go according to plan as Milan managed to halve his game, only for Andy to overpress and end up defeated.  4-4 and with a tough run-in, the next two matches may well be crucial to the B Team's survival this season in the top flight.

Friday at Rotherham Cricket Club, and Nomads A looked to do Nomads B a favour by turning over one of the teams scrapping with them in the lower half of the division.  An early draw for Jon was followed by a much later draw for Trevor...but in and around their games, wins for Andrew and Daniel (seemingly both in drawn endgames), Kev (getting away with it slightly when his promising young opponent overlooked a fork), Sam (finally cracking Ashwin's resistance at the last) and Ian, who played a complex endgame well to activate his king, were enough to seal the points; the only defeat falling to Chris who found himself up against some dastardly complications, courtesy of Paul Blackman, which generated too many threats against a king on an open board, once the opportunity for counter play had gone.  6-2 and the rematch is in five days...

Monday at the Harlequin...the C Team faced Wombwell in a rearranged fixture.  Sam crashed and burned in 14 moves, but Daniel equalised for Nomads when Richard Desmedt dropped the exchange in a position that was already looking quite tricky to hold.  That was the last time the C team were level on the night, however, as Les worked up a massive kingside attack, only to advance his queen to h6 instead of g5 and get caught out by a great defensive resource involving a rook sacrifice that deflected his g1 rook and left his queen en prise.  Stuart's position, which had looked dodgy for a fair while, then completely caved in as his attempts at tactics were rebuffed.  3-1 down and Ian was offered a draw almost immediately by his opponent; in trouble over the board, he was more or less obliged to accept and the match was lost.  All of which left Joel to win in a dead rubber, after he won first one piece and then another during the course of a kingside assault. 2½-3½.

Meanwhile, possibly at Woodseats Social Club for the final time... the E Team, struggling for players with a number now retired, absent, unavailable on Mondays, or playing for the C Team, went down fighting against league leaders Woodseats D, 2-4.

On Monday, in one of the strongest games ever played in the Richardson Cup (average grade over all 12 boards >180), Woodseats I beat Chesterfield I 6-7 on board count after a 3-3 draw.

Wednesday at Birdwell Methodist Church...The I Team faced Barnsley I to find out who would join Woodseats I in the final. A quick win by in-form Paul C, and a "practical" win by Kieran had set things up nicely. Chris drew a pawn down, and Daniel had a clear win, so it was all plain sailing. Till Daniel interjected a plausible defensive move which was met with an implausible counterattack, a win became a loss, and Andy and Jon were scrambling for the lifeboats. Andy drew. 3-2. It was all up, or down, to Jon on 1: A loss and the I Team, or Barnsley I, would suffer, or enjoy, the same narrow 6-7 board count defeat, or win, as suffered, or enjoyed, by Chesterfield I, or Woodseats I. It's the Cup and anything can happen on the day, or evening, but in a time scramble Jon won the exchange and took a draw. 3½-2½.

For anyone who has gone to the trouble of planning ahead please note some fixtures have recently been rearranged. Specifically the C Team are now playing on Mon 20th Feb and Tues 3rd April. These are both home matches that were previously scheduled for Wednesdays when the room at the Harlequin is unavailable.

Monday at Woodseats Social Club...The A Team, up against Woodseats A, were minus Kieran and Haidar and Mohammad but plus a mystery new recruit who turned out to be Trevor Braithwaite, occasionally of Rose Forgrove and more frequently of Andrew's place of work. A win would keep the pressure on Chesterfield A. Anything else and it was out of their hands. On 1 Jon was slowly squeezed into all sorts of finally fatal cumulative concessions by Andrew Ledger. On 2 in what looked like a well controlled game against Allan Potts, as a closed position opened up just before the time control Chris broke though. On 3 Paul Fletcher's attack was more powerful than Trevor's. On 4 against John Trafford Daniel missed a pin whcih dropped a piece. On 5 Andrew missed a tactic and had to try an exchange sac but his oponent held it all together and won very clearly in the end. On 6 Geoff had taken an early draw. On 7 Ian played the worst/most adventurous chess of the night, but sensibly picked a clock that was running at about 5x the normal speed for his opponent, and came away with a win (which Bill has annotated here). On 8 Kev seemed to be on top for most of the game and finished off with an overwhelming endgame advantage. Which all adds up to 3½-4½. Well played to Woodseats. It's the plucky B Team underdogs against Chesterfield A Wednesday.

The same night, Nomads E travelled to SASCA to take on their D Team.  Yet another last minute drop out from illness (the sixth since it was mentioned at our AGM last summer that it hardly ever happens!) and despite wins for Robert and Gordon, defeats for Phil and Eric (who both dropped rooks) and Sam (who dropped his flag) meant a 4-2 loss.

Wednesday saw the Harlequin hosting two matches; the C Team were eager to bounce back after suffering three consecutive defeats and put out a strong side against Clay Cross A.  The match went to the wire - wins for Ian (seemingly determined to beat Dean without bringing his extra rook into the game) and Sam (with a neat kingside attack) were countered by defeats for Kev (gradually outplayed) and Les (unable to hold a difficult minor piece  endgame); a draw for Geoff on one and all eyes were on Daniel, ahead on the clock and with a slightly better position.  He then conspired to lose the exchange - but then marched his king into Armine's queenside, causing trouble and generating a passed pawn which he was able to use to pick up a rook; with her clock running down Armine's attempts to delay the inevitable proved fruitless as Daniel constructed a mating attack to win the game and the match for the C Team.

On the other side of the room, a Jeremy-less B Team were looking to revive the A Team's title chances by trying to beat Chesterfield A, who were pretty much at full strength.  Defeats for Paul, Ken and Joel, coupled with draws for Stuart, Milan and Steve meant the points belonged to Chesterfield; a win at the death for Andy meant the B Team ran them close and only went down by the same score that Nomads A managed earlier in the season.  3-5

Monday at the Harlequin - and the D Team's run of clean sweeps came to a juddering halt as Steve drew on board 2.  Fortunately, the rest of the team fared somewhat better; Henry and Les finishing early after picking up material in the opening, Ray and Eric successfully concluding their matches later on in the evening, and Kev bringing up the rear after a neat combination allowed him to pin Rod's queen to his king in a position that for some time had looked somewhat dubious.  5½-½.

Friday and the B Team traveled to Rotherham for a rematch against the Juniors.  Andy went wrong in the French and Oskar took full advantage to chalk up an early point for the hosts; there didn't seem to be much on the other boards to give the B Teamers encouragement but gradually over the course of the evening things did turn around somewhat - wins for Joel, Steve and Paul were offset by defeats for Ken and Mike; a draw for Stuart meant it all came down to Milan's endgame against Paul Blackman.  Milan was a rook up...but in severe time trouble and facing Paul's tactical nous, the extra piece dropped off and passed pawns won the day for Rotherham Juniors.  3½-4½.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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...