Sheffield Nomads Chess Club

All four teams in action this week, with a variety of ambitions. Wednesday at the Harlequin...The B Team played Clay Cross A, aiming for a win to keep them in touch with third from bottom place. Andy, Haidar, and Phil won quickly for a 3-0 lead, at which point the rest of the team cagily dribbled the ball to the corner flag and kept it there for an hour or so with five draws. 5½-2½, and the B Team still have Barnsley A (and a couple of other teams) in their sights.

In Division 2 three teams, SASCA A, Woodseats A, and Phoenix A, have formed their own Big Three breakaway league at the top, Rotherham and Phoenix B look most likely to be relegated, so the rest of us are shuffling around aimlessly (this sort of planless meandering is not an unfamiliar sight in C Team chess, it's just that it usually happens on the board). This week we played Aughton A. Geoff pushed several of his Four Pawns through against Pete Swanson, Ian destroyed his opponent's kingside using a pin on f2, Kev parachuted behind enemy lines and cleaned up, and Milan benefitted from both players looking at the kingside when there was a very quick and simple win for his opponent on the queenside 4½-1½.

Friday?! the club scraped together 13/14 players to make the trip to the comfortable and modern Wickersley Library and Community Centre to play Rotherham Juniors A and C Teams. The A Team were missing Kieran, Jon, and Mohammad, and defaulted on Board 8 but, with Paul C again making the trip from Lincoln, still managed to put out a decent team. Chris took a fairly early draw on 1 and the match was really won on 2, 3, and 4 where Paul C won a wild game against Paul Blackman, Jeremy won a piece against Tom Whitaker, and Geoff went from level to overwhelming in about 10 moves and then finished off with a neat rook sac. Masrura also won, on 6, against what looked like an unsound sac. Special mention to Mursal, playing his first game of the season, who drew fairly comfortably against Ashley Littlewood to keep things together for the team. No defeats for the players who turned up and a surprising 5½-2½ win. So, as Chesterfield A stride towards the Davy the A Team lurk menacingly in the bushes.

Mysteriously the D managed to field a full team at the same venue and on the same night as the A Team were defaulting...All six games were decisive with Marek, Robert and Phil S winning and others not 3-3.

In time-honoured fashion, a number of Nomads players made the trek to Doncaster for a long weekend at the Doncaster Chess Congress. Over the course of three days, Paul C (Open), Jeremy (Open), myself (Major), Ian (Intermediate), Kevin (Intermediate) and Eric (Minor) all took part in the 'fun'.

The first evening is traditionally a time of byes and relaxing in front of the television after a hard week. However, for Kevin, Eric, Paul and myself it was an evening spent in Doncaster fretting over a chessboard. Kev finished first – he offered his opponent a free bishop but made the fatal mistake of doing this fairly late on in the game rather than in the opening; for once, there was no amazing comeback and he eventually succumbed. Eric was next to complete his game – it was a long, drawn out affair, although this was apparently down to his opponent taking a considerable amount of time between moves in deciding which piece to give Eric next. Paul then completed his win – I’m not sure whether his opponent lost on time or resigned, but either way, he was in charge of the position and comfortable when I last checked. Unusually for me, I was nearly the last game to finish (only three games took longer) – up against a stodgy English, I was a pawn up for a large part of the game but under a lot of pressure; after some mass exchanges the material simplified down to R+Q+Ps each at which point my opponent immediately blundered into a lost position.

Saturday morning; Ian and Jeremy showed up after their Friday night television but Kev had managed to wangle two byes for the day so there were 5 Nomads players on show. Paul’s reward for his first round victory was a game against Jonathan Hawkins. Outgraded by over 40 pts, Paul seemed to make the early running against an unsound opening and had a lot of pressure against the White position (including the option of taking the exchange (B for R) at his leisure. However, next time I checked back Jonathan had established a B on R pin of his own and as time wore on he was able to turn the position around, eventually winning the game. Unfortunately, Eric spent most of the rest of the tournament squirreled away on one of the top boards in the corner of the room and I couldn’t really get much of a view of his games. From what little information I could glean, I don’t believe he had too many problems in his second game (it was possibly even a win on time) and he moved comfortably onto 2 out of 2.

Ian, meanwhile, secured a drawn position (with some difficulty) in a rook ending; two pawns down, all he had to do was not take one of the pawns and a draw was guaranteed. Sadly, however, he wasn’t paying attention to the little voice in his head saying ‘don’t take the pawn’ – only hearing the last three words of that sentence, he took the pawn and lost next move. My game was even for a long time – but a couple of inaccuracies in the endgame saw my opponent trapped on the back rank with two passers connected and ready to promote. My biggest win to date against an opponent with a Yorkshire grade of 150.

Jeremy was last to finish – a piece up following a pawn storm, he neatly restricted his opponent’s moves before winning a second piece, and the game, with a tactic in the endgame after a customary mad scramble to make the time control.

The second round on Saturday saw Paul pick up a draw (I didn’t see enough of this game to really comment!). Jeremy and Eric also both drew; Ian picked up a full point with a win and the reason I haven’t got much to say on these games is because my game was the second to last to finish, with both myself and my opponent down to our last 5-10mins. After establishing a pawn on h6, I was unable to hold onto it after the inevitable exchanges and eventually I was steamrollered by a player who would eventually go on to win the Major. All told, a draining day!

Sunday saw Kev return, but Jeremy pulled out with a headache (a ploy to remain unbeaten, perhaps?). In round 4, I picked up a draw after my opponent spent 20mins apiece on 2 consecutive moves and a further 20mins mulling over my draw offer. I speculated with Ian afterwards if I should have made a tactical decision to leave my chair after the first 15 minutes of waiting... that way forcing him to either move again or run out of time as by the point he took the draw, he was down to less than 25 minutes with still 14 moves to make and I was starting to regret making the offer! Ian, meanwhile, picked up a draw himself when (in yet another R+Ps ending) his opponent failed to demonstrate the requisite technique and managed to lose 4 pawns to Ian’s 2 in what was otherwise a won endgame. Kev also drew – with a slight material advantage and an active position, he gave his opponent the chance to exchange queens after which the extra pawn wasn’t enough for him to force a win. Eric won again – this time with a neat fork in the endgame to pick up a loose bishop.

Game of the round, however, was undoubtedly Paul’s – when I went to check the game out his opponent had three separate mating threats despite the fact that his bishop was en prise, and his queen was only not en prise because his bishop was en prise (that doesn’t make much sense on paper, but really you need to see the game for yourself assuming Paul submits it for the website!). Basically, I thought Paul was lost and could only decide how to be checkmated, but he found a superb resource to save the game, temporarily giving up his queen to force his opponent into a corner and generating a mating threat of his own that would lead either to a draw by repetition or his opponent returning the queen. Guess that’s why he has a grade of 190+!

Into the final round, and Paul drew early on. I saw a bit of the game but to be honest I can’t remember it so it was probably quite run of the mill (and definitely quite run of the mill when compared to his game in the morning). Eric also picked up a draw – enough to secure second place in the Minor with 4 out of 5. The only disappointment for me is that because of the vagaries of the 5 round Swiss, he wasn’t able to pit his wits against the eventual winner, Francesca Fozard. Kev and Ian, meanwhile, had managed to swap opponents from earlier rounds. Ian won a piece and this was enough for him to eventually seal the full point; Kev, meanwhile, was worse for long periods so it was inevitable that he also won eventually. My game was the last Nomads game to finish in the final round – another WG versus the French and something my opponent had clearly not seen before... he lapped me on the clocks and managed to make the time control with only 30secs remaining; although, incredibly, he managed 43 moves after the time control before losing on time in a totally lost position.

All in all, a pretty successful tournament for the Nomads players – we were all unbeaten on the last day, and we all scored at least 50% from our games as well. I’m sure we’ll be back next year for another crack at it...

Andrew H

Wednesday at the Harlequin...The C Team played Phoenix A, who with SASCA A and Woodseats A are fighting it out for promotion while the rest of us look on in admiration. A couple of draws from Paul B and Marek, against John Mercy, and Kev getting, or being given, a win in this position (or something very close to it). 2-4. The D Team played Aughton B also at the top of the table and also lost 2-4. A win for Bill, and draws by Eric and Robert.

Tuesday at Pilsley Miners Welfare and the relegation four pointer Clay Cross v Nomads B. Captain Andy emails: "Big win for us tonight in all senses of the word!" 7-1. Another outing for Andrew's wing gambit against the French here.

Wednesday not at the Harlequin...A mixture of the A, C, and D teams sabotaged the B Team's efforts of the previous evening by losing 3½-4½ to Ecclesall A. Killing two birds with one stone by 1) dropping points in the title race and 2) handing points to the B Team's (potential) relegation rivals.

Having been elevated up an extra set of stairs to the attic of the Harlequin, the C Team played 5/6 of Barnsley B. Wins on the top two boards from Ian C and Eric but losses everywhere else 3-3 and a warm and cosy spot just below the promotion places

Monday...A full strength A Team set course for Worksop A, to solidly, firmly, resolutely consolidate the previous week's win against Chesterfield A but by the end of the night it was clear this season is being played out in the shadow of the Curse of the Chuckle Brothers: to you, to me, to you. 2½-5½. Jeremy the only winner and 0/3 on the top three boards. (Andy hasn't commented that this is worse than the B Team managed the previous previous week.)

Then...Wednesday Chesterfield A go and draw with Ecclesall A. To me.

Also on Monday the D Team travelled to Woodseats B, on the buses by all accounts, unfortunately defaulted on top board but still managed a 3-3 draw. Wins for Marek, against Bill Ward, Milan, and Ian C.

Wednesday...snow like the dusting of icing sugar on a Swiss Roll meant that civilisation almost collapsed. In the face of this elemental onslaught the B and C Team postponed for a better tomorrow.

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Over the weekend Andrew and Oliver were ruthlessly human trafficked between the B Team and the C Team as local warlords Andy and Paul B marshalled their forces for Monday night's incursions into enemy territory. The B Team faced Worksop: Wins by Haidar, Stuart, and Andrew (his first for the club against a higher graded opponent) but a 3-5 loss for the team.

The C Team played the teenage tearaways of SASCA A. Wins for Paul B (or rather a tired loss by Evie) and Milan but losses by everyone else 2-4.

Wednesday at the Harlequin...A top of the table four pointer against Chesterfield A. Towards the end of the first time control the B/C Team view was 3-5/2-6 to Chesterfield but...Kieran's and Mohammad's games turned round completely, and Jeremy forced a win, these added to a win against the Benko by Paui C, and draws by Chris and Jon* made it 5-3. Chesterfield's account of the match is here.

The D Team also played, and not for the first time this season Robert stood down as the opposition, this time Rotherham Juniors C, defaulted on a board. Wins for Milan, Marek, Phil and a draw by Ian 4½-1½

*Incidentally Jon's game gave birth to the concept of the co-efficient of stodge.

Cs = number of pieces on the board + number of moves made

At the end of the game of 36 moves there were still 28 bits on the board giving a Cs of 64. Jon and Oliver attempted to claim that this was , in fact, exciting stodge with a piece left en prise in a position that was about to blow open like exploding dumplings.

The D Team eventually started the New Year for the club with a 3½-2½ away against SASCA C. Wins for Milan, Eric, Marek, and a draw for Gordon.

Tuesday the A Team journeyed to a dark, remote, threatening, Pilsley Miners Welfare, biting winds blasting unchallenged across the open moors, and beat Clay Cross 5½-2½. Wins for Jon, Jeremy, Ian, now on a roll of two, Kev, with two queen sacrifices in three moves, and draws by Chris, Kieran, and Paul B.

Wednesday at the Harlequin...the C Team played Wombwell, who'd beaten them 3½-2½ in the first game of the season. An unconventionally conventional win for Kev, a jammy dodger win for Paul B, and draws for Andrew, somehow, Ian and Oliver, 3½-2½, scores reversed and honours even for the season.

Paul C's creative castling against University A.

Kieran has submitted his win against Barnsley A, luring Black away from the kingside by pretending the b2 pawn was really important. "Look, I've even played Ra2: that's how important the b2 pawn is."

For those of you who haven't seen it this is Geoff's follow up to Kev's Great Escape against Stannington A in which he shows that Kev gave up way too early and should have played for a win.

GB Frostie (by NASA)

This year's Week 10 begins on 21st December and lasts till 8th Jan. The consensus seems to be that there will be a Club Night Wednesdays as local chessplayers attempt to escape seasonal chores.

Phoenix's venue

Wednesday at the Harlequin...Despite six or seven players dropping out, the A Team beat Barnsley A. The top six boards all won, and with a default on 8 the final score was 7-1. Kieran's game had a nice finish decoying Black with the offer of the b2 pawn before launching a knight sac mate attack. The D Team lost 1½-4½ to top of the table Ecclesall C.

Thursday the C Team played bottom of the table Phoenix B. At one point we were 3-1 ahead, including another win from Phil P, but Andrew was looking lost on Board 1 so, as Ian said, the only thing we had going for us was the fact that Kev was three pawns down. Inevitably within ten or twelve moves this was magically transformed into a mating attack featuring a knight sac that probably didn't work, but not featuring 3 (three) queen sacs on 3 (three) consecutive moves that definitely did. Eventually Kev forced a draw, playing for the team when he could have pressed for a win, 3½-2½.

Carefully concealed in the menu to the left is a link to online results. (Look, there it is.) This is your portal to the magical world of online league statistics, featuring: almost up-to-the minute tables, detailed match cards, thought-provoking fixture lists, and much much more. Explore and enjoy.

It's waffer theen!

This week the club faced fixture congestion/indigestion, trying to cram in four matches in three days. First up in the frenzied feast, Monday the D Team drew 3-3 with Stannington B. Tuesday, countering C Team sabotage on 7 and 8, Jon, Paul C, Chris, and Geoff rode to the rescue and the A Team beat University A 5-3.

Wednesday at the Harlequin...Nomads B 2-6 Chesterfield A, Nomads C 2-4 Woodseats A. Four points from a possible 14, but what  a mighty 4 points they were. For the B Team on Board 1 Andy swindled Dave Latham, and Phil F beat Andy Mort. For the C Team on Board 1 Andrew drew with Allan Potts, Phil P drew with Nigel Carpino, and Milan (probably) won despite seeming to view the whole game through some kind of colour-reversing spacewarp, with the letters and numbers on the edge of the board his only anchor in what the rest of us think of as reality.

official website

Andrew won the Intermediate with 9/11. Kev didn't, though according to Andy there was some enterprising chess, particularly in the middle rounds. Andy came fourth in the Sunday tournament, after leading going in to the last round, with a grading performance of 184.  He's sent in this rather good game for us to have a look at. (Full results are avaiable via the Grading List.)

Andrew's report on his win in the Intermediate:

The last time I played in the British Rapidplay Championships, I was in the Minor, came up against a number of under-graded juniors, and ended up with 6.5 out of 11 and a grade of 102.  That was three years ago - so my grade had been lost and when asked for an estimated one I went on the assumption that it would be slightly lower than my normal grade - 140 seemed reasonable (and low enough to keep me out of the Major as well).  I was given a grade of 145 for the tournament - the maximum eligible and also making me the joint-top seed.  So no pressure then...

My first two matches were fairly standard, as I beat Laurence Jones, (from Lewisham, graded 132) and Lana Boztas (Coulsdon, 133) without experiencing too many difficulties in my own position.  Chris Willey (Rotherham, 113) was  up next - a fellow S&DCA player.  A close game, where I gained a pawn but struggled positionally, ended when Chris' flag fell in what was almost certainly a drawn position - I hadn't had time to assess it and come up with that conclusion myself, however, otherwise I would probably have accepted a draw.  A win for another 'ruthless Nomads player', to quote Chris' tongue-in-cheek comment after the game ;-)

Round 4, and my one and only encounter with a youngster (and eventual runner-up) Max Wood-Robinson (Richmond Jnrs, 124) - and my quickest win.  20 moves (would have been 21 if Max hadn't resigned) as Max entombed his own king and fell to a deadly knight check.  4 rounds gone, and I was half a point clear.  Next up was Stan Alexandrowicz (Rose Forgrove, 121) and possibly the most ridiculous escape of all time as I went from a Fritz assessment of -17 to a won game in 3 crazy moves.  Stan later lost to Kevin and this Nomads double whammy was enough for him to withdraw from the tournament.  Day1 concluded against Andy Ross (Rose Forgrove, 106) as passed pawns on g6 and e6 and a bishop on f7 were enough for me to force a win.  So 6 out of 6 on day one, a full point buffer, and time to go home and hopefully get a good night's sleep.

Day 2, and after a very bad night's sleep, Andy George arrived at 8.00am and we set off for the venue, with me as acting SatNav (and somewhat better than my actual SatNav, even if I do say so myself).  Arriving in good time yet again, I was drawn against the other eventual runner-up, William Taylor (Sedgemoor, 125).  A difficult game resulted in William sacrificing and me counter-sacrificing to avoid a deadly bishop/Queen strafe - a draw was agreed with both of us running out of time and my lead was down to 0.5.  Gary Smith (Streatham, 143) was up next, and my second great escape - in a 3P vs 3P+B ending, I got a pawn to the 6th, Gary stepped in front of his bishop under extreme time pressure, and the pawn promoted.  Lead back up to 1 point, 3 rounds to go....and all my nearest competitors out of the way.  Plain sailing, surely??  The next two games, against Andrew Baxter (Rotherham, 142) and Gary Corcoran (Bradford, 135) went all the way to the end, with me a pawn up in both - however, with complicated endgames in prospect and only a minute or two each left on the clock, both games were drawn.  Going into the final round, therefore, I was 0.5 pts clear, guaranteed a share of second place, and with my fate in my own hands (as Kevin helpfully pointed out at this point, I had been in the lead since round 1).  White against Steve Edwards (Boldmere, 143), I was happy to see the game on board two dissolve into an early draw, leaving me needing half a point to seal the title.  Fortunately, Steve was unable to make any headway after having all the running and my accidental knight sacrifice threw him sufficiently to a) use 33% of his remaining time thinking and b) ultimately decline to take the piece.  As we moved into our last 4 minutes each, with opposite colour bishops and little in the way of threats, Steve accepted my second draw offer and the title was mine - the first 'proper' tournament win I've had since I was 11, a rating of around 160, and my first ever 3-figure payout!

Monday at the Three Merry Lads, Chesterfield...Captain Kieran had chosen an, er, inopportune moment to disappear back to the old country. Paul C travelled from afar, Geoff F climbed wearily off his sick bed*, and Ian tried to remember which way round the bishops and knights went. Battle was joined. Jon and Mohammad won, Chris and Geoff drew, but everyone else had a night to forget: on the other boards an array of time control blunders, oversights, and generally better chess by Chesterfield A. 3-5.

Chesterfield's match report here.

*This is a gross exaggeraton, bordering on a misleading falsehood.

stramash

Tuesday...The B Team played University A: Wins for Haidar, against Jonathan Arnott, Andrew, and Oliver*, and draws for Andy, against Prasun's Dragon, Stuart, and Phil F. University A 3½-4½ Nomads B.

Wednesday at the Harlequin...For their first fixture not  against the B  Team the A team played Worksop A,  who have had a strong start to the season. Wins on Boards 2-6 and a draw for Masrura on 8. 5½-2½. Three wins out of three and no problems finding the venue, so far.

The D Team were playing Woodseats B. In a strange move Marek turned up to play on Board 4 and then mysteriously went home. Fortunately Robert was able to step in so there wasn't a default. Woodseats went 3-0 up, but first Milan, then Joel, and then Andrew, in what was probably the most hair raising games of the season so far (Bill and Andrew have both annotated), all won. 3-3.

Thursday at the Highcliffe Hotel...The C Team took on Phoenix A, who beat the A Team not so long ago. A night of missed opportunities including Andrew and Paul B both turning simple and clear wins into losses. Draws for Kev and Simon. 1-5.

*A moral of these stories - avoid a stramash with these two.

Wednesday at the Harlequin...The B Team played the return leg against Ecclesall A. A strong showing on the lower boards, wins from Phil, Oliver, and a nice finish from Bill*, gave the B Team a 4-3 lead. Last to finish was Haidar on Board 2. Haidar held the initiative all evening, had eventually broken through, was clearly winning, and was ahead on time (with the clocks roughly 10mins:5mins in his favour). Everything looked good. We all gathered round, anticipating the B Team winning its first match point of the season. Haidar played another strong move, one step closer to setting his pawns free and...forgot to press his clock. Haidar and his opponent sat there as his time ticked away till, with 3 minutes left, he realised.  His initial reaction was, My clock's running so it must be my turn, and he tried to make another move. This was sorted out, but he still had to play well and play quickly. His opponent did his best in a lost cause but resigned when it was clear Haidar was going to promote with enough time to win the game. 5-3.

Phoenix A and B are both in Division 2 which, as we know, is difficult to manage. Tonight  Phoenix B defaulted on 1 and 6, and two other players arrived late. Wins for Ian, Paul B, and a rook sac for mate straight out of Chesstempo from Simon. 5-1.

*Bill's game appears thanks to Andrew's espionage tactics

internecine

The fourth week of the season. The D Team travelled to Barnsley C and lost 2½-3½. Andrew's latest adventure in the Wing Gambit, this time against the French, is here.

Wednesday at the Harlequin...Phoenix turned up with a strong side, and the III team were outgraded by around 50 or 60 points on most boards, but first to finish was Gordon on Board 6 with a powerful sacrificial demolition and a mate on g2. Other boards were less promising and this eventually became 1-4. Last to finish was Bill against Carl Walker. Bill had a very good position, strengthened it with his 29th move, and forgot to press his clock. 1-5 and what might have been.

Wednesday at the Abbey...The B Team were away at a strong Ecclesall A. Ken's draw and Phil F's win, now 2/2 for the season, were the points in a 1½-6½ defeat. After the match Phil blundered horribly by bringing his game down to The Harlequin where Mohammad proceeded to question most of the moves, suggest major improvements, and ask disbelievingly, "You won??!"

Wednesday at the Harlequin...The bright, keen, eager, fresh-faced, (naive) hope and optimism of the new season in top flight local chess, when pawn structures remain intact and pieces are yet been hung. The B Team played host to the A Team...and took the lead when Phil beat Ian in a prepared line against the Accelerated Dragon. With Oliver beating Masrura and, in the performance of the night, Stuart checkmating(!) Kieran, around the first time control it was 3-3. Uday had an impressive position against but retreated when he could have advanced, and Chris picked off his pawns. Jeremy then sealed the victory for the A Team by forcing through a pawn against Andrew. 5-3/3-5 against last season's champions, a promising start to the campaign.

Friday?!...and after the first administrative bungling of the season Robert rode to the rescue and the D Team got off to a winning start 4-2 (click for the first directly submitted report of the Brave New Website) away at Sheffield Deaf.

Simon, who spends far too long on Chesstempo, emails with news of his first ever Congress win, the Thetford U125 with 5½/6 (and a grading performance of ~145).  Congratulations.

"Having been to a wedding reception the Friday night before, and consequently had a late one, to then travel the 135 miles Sheffield to Thetford for a 9.30am start was always going to be a tall order. If it wasn't that our friend Kevin Moore was the congress organiser we may have made other plans. As it was, clutching a flask of coffee, me and my wife got into the car and headed off into the not yet dawn. The fact that multiples of tractor and lorry drivers had also decided to have an early start didn't help. Nor that they drove well under the speed limit. SatNav said we would arrive very late indeed, maybe not even in time for Round 2. As it turned out we arrived at 9.45am, 15 minutes late, and I was expecting either to be well down on time, or to have been elected for a half point bye.

As it turned out, the games had not yet started. Another Congress in the area had been cancelled at short notice, and Kevin was dealing with a whole load of late entrants as a result. After an initial welcome etc, Kevin welcomed those from Poland (Thetford's twinned town) and Holland (Kevin's mates) who had travelled over especially for the Congress. Notable was the Dutch Rapidplay champion Tony Zhang playing in the Open. The Congress had friendly international feel to it with around 20 international players.

So, high on caffeine, bladder relieved, blurry eyed, but with a full 30 minutes on the clock, I started round 1. The next 3 games to lunchtime passed in something of a blur. I know at least two of the openings were in my favoured openings, beyond that I sat down in sunshine at lunchtime on 3/3. Kevin said I should have entered the Major, and I appreciated his belief, however on a grade of 113 entering the U125 section didn't seem unreasonable. Round 4 commenced with only 3 out of 28 Minor entrants on 100% score. Again the next 2 rounds passed in a blitz of tactics. The hardest game was Round 5 against Atta Chui with an estimated grade of 110. I'm always a little uncertain when I see "estimated" grades!. Given he was on 4/4 I was ready for the worst. One Sicilian later and I had 5/5, needing a draw in the final round to win.

The final round landed both myself and my opponent in deep time trouble. He was fighting for 2nd place, and we gathered quite a crowd. With 2 rooks each and pawns dropping at a rate of knots, I was aware of murmurs from the spectators. Having to give my full concentration to my next move, i could not believe it when on my move someone said "your flags gone!". I sat back ready to shake his hand to concede the win when the same helpful person in the crowd (there's always one!) said "but his flag's already fallen!" Apparently, there was around 5 seconds between them falling, and if I'd noticed it would have been 6/6. As it was, it was a technical draw, so 5.5/6 it was. I quickly went from disappointment to relief not even thinking until later about what could have been. I collected the trophy and a nice cheque, my first Congress win, and to finish off a fantastic day, my wife won the raffle too!"

Anup has emailed from India to let us know how he's getting on, and pass on news of a tournament win...

"I am missing you all & those days I have spent time in playing for nomads and the experience are green in my thoughts still…:-)

I would like to share my tournament experience, representing OPUS Software in the Inter IT Open Chess Championship, Pune - 2009 which happened yesterday 22nd Aug 09. This tournament was played in 6 rounds Rapid fire format (30 minutes each) organised by "Universal Events" in  Kothrud, Pune. There were around 30+ participants represented from more than 10 IT & ITES companies in and around Pune city. Overall, it was a pretty strong event and I managed to secure first place by scoring 5.5 points out of 6 rounds (5 wins, 1 Draw) remained un-beaten in the tournament.  It was a good experience & I am delightful in clinching this "Individual Chess Championship Title 2009" representing OPUS Software."

After a draw in their final round match Chris and/or Jeremy is/are last/this season's Club Champion/s. Congratulations to the winner/s whoever he/they may be.

Elsewhere the highlight of the evening was Phil's exchange sac attack against Stuart. Game to follow hopefully.

Results

Current Standings

After an evening of intense high level negotiations the following provisional squads were put together for next season.

A Team

Jon¹, Kieran¹, Chris¹, Jeremy¹, Mohammad³, Mursal³, Ian B³, Masrura, Paul B, Kev, Phil P, Simon, Joel, Eric

B Team

Uday², Andy G², Haidar², Stuart², Andrew H, Ken, Phil F, Oliver, Bill, Marek, Ian C, Robert, Gordon, Phil S

1. A Team Registered 2. B Team Registered 3. C Team Registered

This is work in progress, and there may be alterations. We've requested for A and C Team matches not to conflict, and similarly for B and D Team matches. In general the C Team will come from the A Team, and the D Team will come from the B Team, but this is flexible.

Rules and Regs:

The A and B Teams are in the same division so no player can play for both teams.

A registered player can't play for a team below the one for which they are registered. If this happens the penalty is default on that board and all boards below it.

If a player plays in the top half of a team three times then they become automatically registered for that team.

From the Intro at chesstempo

"Welcome to Chess Tempo, a website dedicated to helping chess players improve their game. To practice your tactical skills, go to the Tactics page. For endgame training, go to the Endgames page. Information on using the tactics and endgame features is available in the FAQ. All feedback is welcome, and can be posted in the forums.

Free registration allows users to track their progress and receive problems appropriate to their current tactical and endgame ability."

Apparently this last part wasn't emphasised previously - though several members of the lowly and humble C and D Teams displayed a modicum of initiative - in contrast to some nameless members of the all-conquering A Team who stumbled around aimlessly, seeking direction.

website (inc Rd 5 draw)

Black to play and win (Easy)

At the British Open Paul C scored 5½/11 (an uncompromising 5 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw) including beating up IM James Cobb in Round 4 (above), but then losing horribly to GM Danny Gormally in Round 5.

Crosstable, Games

Kieran O'Driscoll (187) 0-1 Andrew Hards (129)

Another attempt by Kieran to beat Andrew "with hilarious consequences".