news 06/07

The B Team travelled to Aughton A for the final match of the season. Phil won in record time, setting the pace for a 4½-1½ victory.

Meeting at the White Lion, Heeley - not far from Phoenix's venue - from 7:15. The Everest Tandoori is booked from 8pm.

Keen students of the game would perhaps not see Kev and Paul B as a fair swap for Chris and Kieran. So the A Team faced a tough challenge against a strong Chesterfield A side if they were going to maintain their unbeaten record in the last match of the season. When Paul B was lost in about 8 moves against the derring-do of Steve Bracey's Albin Counter Gambit, Chairman of Selectors Paul C's position was being called into question but...a very creditable draw by Kev against another previously highly graded opponent, and good wins by Mohammad, Masrura, Mursal, and Paul C (redeeming himself) meant the last two games didn't matter, which is a good job as Jeremy wandered into a mating net and Prasun blundered a rook. 4½-3½ was a very good win in the circumstances.

Wednesday at The Gardeners...the B Team, worried about coming second in the league, made sure they were in no danger by losing 1-5 against champions Barnby Dun. Congratulations to Stuart who was the 1.

Wednesday at The Gardeners and the C Team's last match of the season... Woodseats B defaulted on a couple of boards, Kev beat Bill Ward in another nice game on Board 1, Phil and Les both won fairly comfortably, so, with only Peter shamefully letting the side down by drawing, the result was a 5½-½ win.

The sections were re-jigged at the start of play and didn't really favour anyone from the club so we all left empty handed. We promised not to give a special mention to Graham for his ½/6 so we won't.

Monday at The Abbey...The A Team were away at Woodseats A who called on all their considerable resources to field a very strong team and challenge our perfect season. The final score was 4-4. You can read special guest eyewitness Bill Ward's match report here. Wednesday back at The Abbey...the B Team lost 2½-3½ to Ecclesall B and after a brief flirtation with the promotion places settle somewhere above mid-table.

Wednesday, a couple of quick wins by Graham and Paul B, a hair raising win by Ian - which you can see here - long drawn out wins by Kev and Mursal, and a draw by Masrura added up to a 5½-½ win for the B Team away at Ecclesall C. Thursday the A Team were run very close away at Phoenix A but still won 4½-3½ for fourteen wins out of fourteen. The C Team lost away at Barnsley B 2-4.

"Double double toil and trouble." A heavy night of celebration takes its toll.

Wednesday at The Gardeners...The A Team needed a draw at home to closest rivals Phoenix A to win Division 1, the Davy Trophy, and the double double. Wins by Kieran, Chris, Prasun, and Mursal (on time, unbelievably!) and draws by Paul C and Jeremy added up to a 5-3 win. Congratulations to the A Team. Can they match the now legendary achievements of Captain Fantastic's C Team and win 16 out of 16? Elsewhere Captain Kev's ruthless raiders were at home to Barnsley B, a 3-3 draw and we are tiptoeing across the tightrope to mid-table obscurity. You can see Paul B's desperate attempts to avoid a Stonewall here. Tuesday the B Team had made the epic jouney to Clay Cross, where wins by Stuart, Kev, and Phil contributed to a 4-2 victory.

The I Team beat Ecclesall I 4-2 at The Abbey on Wednesday to retain the Richardson Cup. Congratulations. The two decisive games were Kieran's win against Dave Adams' Albin Counter Gambit which is here, and Mohammad trapping his opponent's King in the centre here. According to back of the envelope calculations the A Team only need a draw in their next match at home to Phoenix A on Wednesday to win the Division 1 Championship and retain the Davy Trophy. Meanwhile at The Gardeners...With Captain Kev at the Buena Vista Social Club the C Team regained its more accommodating air and generously donated the two points from their match to Wombwell by losing 2½-3½. Commiserations to Graham who made special arrangements to play only to end up facing the incredibly annoying Stonewall Attack set up and lost in 15 moves or so. Phil has annotated his win with a Benko Gambit here.

A quick Google revealed some useful advice from the legendary Dr Dave at the Exeter Chess Club site on how to play against this system. Graham, you can download a pdf document here and peruse it at your leisure.

The A Team made it 12 wins out of 12 with a 5½-2½ win against SASCA A on Monday night. Wednesday at The Gardeners...The B Team were in with a chance of winning Division 2 and the Weston Trophy but lost 2-4 against top of the table Worksop A. Kev's finely tuned squad of merciless C Team assassins swept silently into The Horseshoe pub, beat Worksop B 5-1, melted back into the night, and then got lost on the way home. Welcome back to Graham on Board 1 and special mention to Gordon who scored his first full point for the team.

Wednesday at The Gardeners...The A Team beat three quarters of Woodseats A 6½-1½. Obviously impressed by Kev's C Team style and success Kieran lined up his King, Queen, and two knights on an open e-file opposite Black's Rook, and proceeded to win what was, to a C Team player at any rate, the most impressive A Team game of the evening. (Though I didn't see much of Mursal's game as it was all over in about twenty minutes.) Just to demonstrate it's not all wild tactical melees, Kev gave us glimpses of his Tigran Petrosian impression - countering Black's strategies in a Scandinavian before they materialised. Black pressed on but became another victim when he overreached and left a Knight stranded. A second win of the season for 112 graded Kev against 149 graded opposition and another win for Nomads C 4½-1½.

Wednesday at The Gardeners...the B Team beat Aughton A 3½-2½. There were wins for Kev, Ian, and, thanks to some crafty wing manoeuvring, Stuart. You can see this game here. Thursday not at The Gardeners...the A Team, minus the services of Paul C and Chris, beat University A 5-3 (the hapless D Fault was blown away by a ferocious sacrificial onslaught on Board 8), and the C Team beat Wombwell 3½-2½. A sharp change of course since Captain Kev took the helm.

Another Cup match. Another 6-0 win. The I Team are through to the final of the Richardson Cup. Paul C maintains that the French Defence is a thrill packed riot of an opening. We remain unconvinced but this game is entertaining (and by the way demonstrates that A Team players are not above hacking away at f2/f7 to get a result).

Wednesday at The Gardeners...the C Team played bottom of the table Aughton B. A 3-3 draw in which all six games were decisive.

Wednesday at The Gardeners the A Team cut it fine with a 4½-3½ win over Barnsley A. Another dreadful performance by D Fault on Board 8. The C Team continue to steer for calmer mid-table waters with a 5-1 win against a very young SASCA B team. Friday(!) evening the B Team fought through the snow like Arctic Explorers to find the secluded venue somewhere near Rotherham and beat Rotherham Juniors B 5½-½.

Phoenix B at home, unbeaten, top of the table, majestically sweeping all before them. Nomads C away, loitering furtively near the foot of the table, one win all season, new captain, bedraggled, dishevelled, (the team, not the captain) but not disheartened, my goodness no. There was only ever going to be one winner. Nomads C 4-2. Special mention to Kev who totally outplayed his 149 graded opponent on Board 1. See this game here. There were also good games from Azmiddin and Simon - and Paul B's opponent overlooked a mate in 1.

Despite having to play on a Friday(!) evening at a secluded venue somewhere near Rotherham with more than one C Team player, the A Team still managed to win 6½-1½ against Rotherham Juniors. We seem to be racing towards the Division 1 title again - but will the wheels come off?

The A Team juggernaut rolls on with a 5-3 win at home to title rivals Chesterfield A. It seems our only enemy is complacency - and Woodseats A - and maybe dark horses Phoenix A. (I know a phoenix is not a horse.)

The A Team win away at Ecclesall A 5½-2½. Further details to follow when Paul C can get his mind focussed on the job.

Nomads I had a surprisingly easy night as Woodseats I conceded. Disappointing really, as Woodseats I would have provided a strong challenge. Unfortunately for Nomads II Clay Cross made things more difficult for us by actually turning up, and then playing a blinder. With the exception of Stuart and Peter (who's annotated a strong kingside attack here, so now we know what he spent all that time on) we were comfortably outplayed and lost 4-2.

The B Team have achieved the notable feat of apparently winning two matches on the same day. What makes this all the more remarkable is that one was at home (to Stannington A 3½-2½) and one was away (at a strong and previously unbeaten Worksop A 4-2). What's more five players played in both matches. "Spooky action at a distance"? Violation of Bell's Inequality? Is it Local Realism or is it Counterfactual Definiteness? No, Week 10 of the S&DCA calendar, running from mid December to early January, is something much stranger.

I enjoyed these puzzles - and I even saw the first one described as "charming". The solutions can be found here.

Traditionally a time for looking back over the year. So we'll look back over a few games and ask, 'Well how did I get here?' (Any relation to the piece hanging catastrophes of actual C Team chess is purely co-incidental.)

Board 2 This is the position after Black's 6th move. What were the moves in the game?

Wednesday at The Gardeners...After their inauspicious 6-0 default defeat on the opening day of the season the B Team decided to turn up for the return fixture against Stannington A and won 3½-2½. The question on no-one's lips was: Had Simon produced a masterpiece of post-modern performance art on Board 6? Chess imitated Life as the allegorical smothered mate on the board provided a devastating commentary on the teams' ability to cope with the physical constraints of the space. Simile? Metaphor? Co-incidence? Who knows?

Wednesday at The Gardeners...The B Team peered into the future with a dress rehearsal of the Plate Quarter Final against Clay Cross and won 3½-2½.

Wednesday at The Gardeners...After winning their last match 7½-½ the A Team went ½ better with an 8-0(!) win against SASCA A. You can see a fascinating game between Kieran and Jonathan Arnott, with a couple of surprise moves and a couple of (hard to spot) oversights, here. The C Team's race for mid-table obscurity gathers pace with a 3-3 draw against Worksop B.

Cuba's interesting but hard work. I've enjoyed it so far thanks to some people I've met on the plane. Havana is quite expensive for tourists (with the tourist peso). I'm doing it cheap and it's costing me about $250 a week! People are friendly but there is a lot of hassle offering to sell cigars or to be a girlfriend/wife!! and general hassle with kickbacks and even getting on to the internet is difficult/expensive. The Spanish here is next to unintelligible. I don't even understand it when I know what they are saying! But I'm travelling the next few days with a native Spanish speaker (a very pretty Argentinean) so will understand more aspects of the culture.

A couple of seasons ago Mithun opted to play for the University with the idea of playing on a higher board against stronger opponents. Well opponents don't come much stronger than IM Andrew Ledger (graded 218 according to the most recent list). Mithun countered Andrew's French with 2 d3 and went on to win a very impressive game. You can follow the game with Mithun's annotations here. Well played and congratulations.

With Special Guest Star Ken on Board 1 and a couple of wins by Eric and Robert on Boards 5 and 6 the C Team win their first match of the season away at Rotherham 4-2.

Two defaults meant that the B Team lost 2½-3½ at home to Ecclesall C. These desperate circumstances may explain Ian's wildly entertaining, if occasionally unsound, chess in this game.

With three matches scheduled for Wednesday night the C Team generously volunteered to reschedule so our players could flood the other teams with their talents. The A Team beat University A 7½-½ and the B Team drew 3-3 away in Deepest Barnby Dun - with Masrura beating Jim Burnett on Board 1.

A careful reading of these results reveals that the C Team influence was minimal - which is a good job as the fixture pile up is scheduled to happen twice again later in the season. With no room in the calendar can we stretch to three teams?

Monday night the A Team were away at Barnsley and won convincingly 6-2. You can see Jeremy's win here The same night the C Team were away at SASCA B. Given that the C Team captain thought our opponents were SASCA C (a mistake anyone not totally familiar with the alphabet could make) and picked the team accordingly, we did well to escape with a 2½-3½ loss. New recruit Simon wins a nice game here and Paul B ably demonstrates the deficiencies of C Team chess here.

Wednesday at The Gardeners...Captain Crosthwaite got his hands back on the B Team steering wheel and guided us to a 6-0 victory over Rotherham Juniors B. Ian trapped his opponent's king in the centre and finished off nicely here.

The lean mean A Team machine hit its stride with a 6½-1½ win over Rotherham Juniors A. Watch Paul almost mess up whilst three pieces up near the time control here. The misfiring, clapped-out, rusty old C Team machine lost 2½-3½ to Phoenix B.

This week all twelve games were decisive. Stand in captain Phil led the B Team to a 5-1 victory over Ecclesall B. Stuart returned to active service with a quick win. The C Team policy of not winning the league continues to flourish with a 4-2 defeat against Aughton B - who will be quite glad to see the back of Graham on Board 1 as he heads off to Guatemala soon.

The A Team beat Ecclesall A by the unusual score of 4½-2½. Both teams defaulted on the bottom board. The C Team drew 3-3 with Woodseats B. This season's C Team secret weapon Peter Carden on Board 1 against Bill Ward. He's annotated the game here.

Nomads II made sure they were able to defend what is now the Sam Haystead Memorial Trophy by losing 0-6 to Nomads I in the first round of the Richardson Cup. Meanwhile in the same match Nomads I beat Nomads II 6-0 to begin their defence of the Richardson Cup. An outstanding success for both teams.

Congratulations to Chris who won the Open at the North of England Rapidplay. Chris also drew in the simul against Michael Adams - although Adams had plummeted from 8th to 9th in the world by the time of the game.

After last season's triumphs the B Team were in a generous mood and defaulted against Stannington on Monday. Risible macho posturing or a PsyOps master stroke? Time will tell...

Stuart won our inaugural Game of the Season last year and on Wednesday night it was time to pass the trophy on to Mohammad for his spectacular win against Ecclesall in last season's Richardson Cup first round. A great game and another very worthy winner. This is what Paul C said about the game at the time:

"Meanwhile, rumours were spreading of a spectacular game from Mohammad.And what a game! A pawn sacrifice in the opening gave Mohammad a lead in development with the opponent's king a long way from getting castled to safety. However, it looked like Black's strong pawn centre would weather the storm to leave White a pawn down for less than nothing. But after 17 moves, all of White's pieces were perfectly placed for a bone-crunching breakthrough. (Note that 17...exf3 would have run into 18.Nxd5 with devastating threats of Nb6 and Nc7+). Any delay, and Black would consolidate. It was now or never. Bang crash wallop! The violence culminated with White's 21st move which has to be seen to be believed - both rooks are left en prise!! But Black has no answer - if his queen runs away on move 22, then 23.Bxc6+ (double check!) is crushing. Instead, swapping the rooks off for the queen did nothing to curb White's aggression, and Black found himself unable to fend off nasty mating threats from White's queen and two bishops. Mohammad's 28.Kxf2 added a touch of humour, setting up a seemingly deadly pin on his own queen! (Black was desperately hoping for 28.Kh1 Bd4, with grovelling chances). Of course the piece doing the pinning was itself pinned, so there was time for the king to casually saunter off-line, leaving no good way for Black to prevent mate on g7."

Paul C was taking his pieces for a leisurely loosening stroll, perhaps hoping gently to reacquaint them with the landscape of the chessboard, when they were violently set upon by murderous bandits. See the gory details here. Jeremy won a complex game against Mohammad. Graham exploited some "superficial" chess by Ian, and gloated about it in his annotations here. Peter said Azmiddin deserved a draw but took the full point when it came. Simon picked up Paul C's only point and Bill got revenge for a defeat by Robert in the Phoenix friendly a couple of weeks previously.

Jeremy's Team	5-1	Paul C's Team
Kieron O'Driscoll	1-0	Paul Cumbers
Jeremy Hamm	1-0	Mohammad Said
Graham Harrison	1-0	Ian Barwick
Peter Carden	1-0	Azmiddin Mohammed
Roy Rogers	0-1	Simon
Bill Pettigrew	1-0	Robert Shaw