Free(!) Tactics Practice Online

"Chess is 99% tactics, 45% blunders, 23% psychology and if the lads give 110% you can't ask more than that". Prasun has found a free tactics server. To quote from the site's introduction

Currently 23,473 tactical chess problems with a degree of difficulty ranging from trivial to ambitious are provided to be solved against the clock. Your tactical performance will be measured by the Glicko rating system. The problems are rated too.

And, incredibly, it's all free. Click here to have go.

Paul C at the British Championship 2005

Club Championship 2005

Game of the Season 2005 - A Worthy Winner

Two New Awards

20 Minute Handicap Tournament

What was the last move?

Paul Qualifies for the British Championship

Woodseats Summer Grand Prix 2005

Monday May 23rd. A 5 round Swiss with 10 minutes per player per game. 
Monday June 27th. A 4 round Swiss with 15 minutes per player per game.
Monday July 18th. A 5 round Swiss with 10 minutes per player per game.
Monday August 22nd. A 4 round Swiss with 15 minutes per player per game.
Monday September 19th. A 7 round Swiss with 5 minutes per player per game.

Final Bulletins

Follow the links for the final League tables for Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3

A 19th Century Spectacular (Almost)

Paul had been raving about Chris's game against SASCA. After trouble getting through to my email Chris gave me a copy of the game on Wednesday. I have to say it was worth waiting for. Chris wins by forcing Queens off but there is a really spectacular game contained in a variation. (If you follow the link and press F11 for Full Screen then the asterisked moves mean you can play through the variation by clicking on the move when it appears on the window in the bottom right of your screen.)

Playground Football Event

Despite having been developed and tested over the course of a hundred years or so during millions of playtimes across the world the less-is-more flexibility and simplicity of The Playground Football System* may never have had to withstand the challenges we posed it on Wednesday night. First of all an odd number of players turned up (the one major design flaw in The System), then one of the captains volunteered to drop out and make way, at this point The System would seem to demand a reassignment of the captains, but we pressed on with the non-playing captain still involved in the selection process. Could The System survive this devastating three pronged assault? As the teams emerged it became clear The System had triumphed. Not only were the teams evenly matched It had managed to keep family members separate (otherwise, as Kev said, 'they might as well be at home playing each other'). We are still a bit unsure as to who was on which team but the result was a 2½-2½ draw. You can see the game between Jeremy and Prasun here and my game with Ian here. With the chance to play some more serious chess at a longer time control than the usual knockabout 10/0 of a Club Night, but also the opportunity, perhaps, to be more adventurous than in a League or Cup match - when you have the pressure that you might be letting the team down if it all goes pear shaped - I think it's fair to say it was a really enjoyable evening.

*Two evenly matched captains pick the teams 1,2,2,2,...,1.

Game of The Season - submit your game

Basically we'd like you to submit any of your games you enjoyed or were proud of from last season annotations would be particularly welcome either by email to Paul Bailey or by post to: Paul Bailey, 26 Fraser Crescent, Sheffield S8 0JB. For those with internet access I will get the games together in one place on the website for you to peruse at your leisure. For those without internet access we can put together a booklet of the games and annotations and post them out. I don't anticipate any of this being too much work (famous last words) so don't be shy. You then get a chance to play through each other's games and, on whatever basis you feel, pick your personal favourites and place them 1st (3points), 2nd (2 points), or 3rd (1 point). This system reduces the chance of a tie, but if you only like one game then you can pick one game. We would just like you to submit your games and to vote. It would be great to get at least one game from each player at the club available for a global audience. Whichever game gets the most points will be presented with a Trophy(?) after the Club Championship on July 13th. Submit your game!

Summer Programme

Wondering where your next game is coming from? Click here for a provisional list of Events over the Summer.

Hope Valley Trophy 2005

The Hope Valley Trophy is the official name of the annual Blitz tournament held at The Abbey in Woodseats. This year's event was very well attended - the organisers had to find extra space to accommodate the large numbers Nomads put in a strong performance. Chris reached the final but lost to IM Andrew Ledger and so finished second. Paul reached the semi final but lost to IM Andrew Ledger, but then won the Third Place Play Off and so finished third. Mursal shared a small cash prize for the Junior Grading Performance which he may have to spend on a few Pot Noodles as he beat his mum in one game and she could be disinclined to cook him any tea for a few days. Based on sum of progressive scores Mursal also won the Bonus Junior Grading Prize of a copy of a 1972 edition of Bobby Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games which many people regard as the best chess book ever written. This gave John Fryer the chance to present Mursal with another prize.

There were many other highlights (and piece hanging lowlights - this is blitz after all) but worth a special mention is Mithun's win against Alan Potts with a spectacular revealed attack reminiscent of the gunning down of Sonny Corleone at the toll booths in The Godfather. Many thanks to John and the other organisers for an enjoyable evening and congratulations to the winner Andrew Ledger.

Wednesday 18th May

We are trying to organise a club championship (this is one of the items on the agenda for the meeting of the Nomads Secret Inner Cabal). A lot of players favour a longer format, but it seems impractical. Several of us were keen to play against each other in a longer time control so we thought we'd try an idea based on the tried and tested Playground Football system: you pick two captains and then they pick the teams. We then play a match at the league time control. There seems to be some support for this idea. As long as the two captains are evenly matched and they pick players 1,2,2,...,2,1 - otherwise Captain A has first dibs on each board - then hopefully we'll be able to get two evenly matched teams out and you'll get a chance to play against someone at the club around your strength. We're aiming for a 7.30 start Counselling and support is available for whoever gets picked last.

Wednesday 11th May

A club night but with the Nomads Secret Inner Cabal meeting to plan for the Summer. Any ideas or suggestions welcome.

Wednesday 4th May

It looks like a lot of players will be at The Abbey in Woodseats for the Blitz tournament advertised in the last bulletin

Week 22 Results

Week 22, the final week of the season. The A Team looking for a UEFA Cup place won heavily 7-1 away at SASCA A, the B Team, in line for the Play Offs, lost at home to Worksop A 2½-3½, you can see Phil's game here, and the C Team had a dramatic title decider against University A.

Week 21 Results

Tuesday the B Team, still hoping to clinch a play off spot, were away at Aughton A. A close fought match was decided 3½-2½ in our favour.

Bulletin 5

Paul once again peers into the future with his version of Bulletin 5. You can see the originals for Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3 with the who-played-who-and-how-they-did format (although Dave Norris seems to have been given the credit for my Super Flying Double Cross Pin Fork Attack Manoeuvre against Woodseats). Of course you will have no interest in what happened in the Richardson Cup and the Richardson Plate Finals so you won't want to click here.

Week 20 Results

Monday night the C Team had a home match against Wombwell away at Wombwell. The pressure was on to secure a win to ensure that the match against University A would be a title decider. After a few scares we came through 4-2. It's now all down to the last match of the season away at University A on Wednesday 27th April. We have to win that match to win the league. Wednesday at The Abbey, Woodseats. The B Team was a wounded animal after the 5-1 defeat against Barnsley (see the move Phil should have played here) and Ecclesall B were the unfortunate meal in a 6-0 feast.

Week 19 Results

Wednesday at The Gardeners. The B Team had a tough match against top of the league Barnsley A. An adventurous/reckless approach to King safety meant that several players were walking a tightrope. Unfortunately most of them fell off. A 5-1 defeat. Ouch.

Week 18 Results

Wednesday night at The Gardeners the A Team went down 3½-4½ to Rotherham Juniors A and it looks as though Woodseats are disappearing off into the distance with the title for this year. The C Team maintain their title challenge with a 4-2 win against SASCA B. Friday night of the following week which, mysteriously, was still Week 18, the B Team travelled to Rotherham Juniors. Six decisive games were shared equally in a 3-3 draw.

Bulletin 4

Paul C has translated, transformed, nay, transmogrified the latest bulletin. Ranking teams in order of available points and including cross tables for each division. See his handiwork here.

Week 17 Results

The Division Three title race is between University A, Woodseats B, and Nomads C. On Monday night Nomads C travelled to The Abbey to play Woodseats B who had beaten us fairly easily 4½-1½ earlier in the season. We were expecting a difficult match. After some dramatic games the final score was 3½-2½. A very good result that strengthens our challenge at the top of the table. Wednesday night was match night for the A Team who won 6½-1½ away at Barnby Dun Bishops. Thursday night the B Team had a difficult match away at top of the table Barnsley and lost 2-4.

Week 16 Results

The A Team got some measure of revenge for the 2½-3½ defeat in the Cup with a comfortable 7-1 defeat of Chesterfield A. Jon Nelson's game featured a death or glory dash by the a-pawn deep into the enemy position - 'It's the quiet ones you have to look out for.' (Also, as someone commented, 'When you play 1 c4 you're trying to win in 90 moves not 19.') Prasun's opponent castled queenside but, after a long walk back to the kingside, he finished up being mated on h6. A special mention to Jon Woollard who, after not playing well recently for the C Team, at short notice ended up on Board 8 for the A Team and won his game. The C Team swapped Jon for Mithun who was Special Guest Star on Board 1 against the previously untouchable University A Team. The match hung in the balance for most of the evening (apart from Azmiddin who was dead lost from early on) but as the games progressed it looked more and more like the result might be going our way. One by one the points came in (including Azmiddin's) till we reached 3½ and we had won  The final score of 5-1 was better than anyone could have hoped for. 12-2 and no individual losses. A very good night for the club.

Week 15 Results

Tuesday the B Team took the long journey out to Clay Cross and won 5-1. Wednesday Barcelona were playing Chelsea downstairs (on TV) but of course the real excitement was upstairs as Nomads faced Ecclesall in a Double Header at The Abbey in Woodseats. It took a while for the games to take shape but it soon became clear the C Team were in a strong position which turned into a comfortable 5-1 victory, including wins by Mursal, Azmiddin, and a nice finish by Bill. The A Team match was less clear but eventually became a pleasing 5-3 win. You can see Jeremy pile on the pressure here till (if I got the moves right) he notices he missed a simple mate in 2 and he asks me to take the game down. A good night for the club.

Week 13 Results (again)

A match report has now been added for the action packed 6½-1½ win over SASCA A from Week 13. As a reminder Chris's game was featured, demonstrating very nicely that you don't have to go anywhere near the opponent's king to win a game of chess.

New Gradings

Paul C pointed out that the current Grading List has moved to http://www.griffith.uklinux.net/YCA.html. This is obviously more up to date but the old list does have the very nice added feature of grading reports. Not sure if the grading reports will eventually appear on the new site as it must be a monumental effort maintaining them.

Week 15 Tactics

This week's problem is here and, although it's from a game, frankly it's ridiculous. The answer to last week's is here.

Week 14 Tactics

This week's problem is here. I had all sorts of trouble with this one but the answer is pretty straightforward. The answer to Week 13 is here. Peter's win reminded me of this position which is why I included and probably why Peter said it was easy.

Week 14 Results (and a Nomads Record?)

Wednesday at The Gardeners. The B Team played the return leg of their 6-0 whitewash of Sheffield Deaf earlier in the year. Ian set what might be a Nomads record with a mate on move 13 (can anyone remember a quicker mate for the club?) and for a while it looked as though a repeat was possible, but a draw in Azmiddin's game, and very resourceful and imaginative play by Stuart's opponent meant the B Team had to settle for 4½-1½. Still, as Phil said, 'Back on track after two successive defeats.'

Mursal wins Sheffield Under 13s

Just before Christmas Mursal won the Sheffield Schools Under 13s Individual Championship with a perfect 4/4 score. He adds this to the Under 15 title he won earlier in the year. The visit of SASCA to The Gardeners gave John Fryer the chance to present Mursal with the trophy. Congratulations.

Week 13 Results

The C Team match against Stannington was cancelled so the A Team had the stage to themselves. SASCA seemed to be under pressure on most boards and the final result of 6½-1½ was no surprise. It should be said that those 1½ points represent significant achievements on the part of Robert Woolham who beat Mohammed and Martin Lau who drew with an in form Masrura. This week's game sees Chris mercilessly apply Queenside pressure till an outside passed pawn is created.

Week 12 Tactics

This week's problem is here. Easy if you can see it. Answer next week. I thought last week's was entertaining. This is the answer.

Week 12 Results

On Monday the A Team played round the corner from me and lost 2-6 to Woodseats A. Woodseats fielded a very strong team and played some very good games. On Board 1 Jon's opponent gave up his Queen for three pieces. You can see the game here. See if you can make any sense of it. On Wednesday a five player B Team lost 2½-3½ to Aughton A. Lighting up a grim evening though was Peter's win. When we play through games on club nights Peter always seems to be full of good ideas and sound basic chess knowledge. Here he puts together a really good game. Stuart has also annotated his game. While the B Team were struggling the C Team travelled to Darnall and Handsworth and drew 3-3. The result hinged on Mursal's game on Board 1 against the 135 rated Geoff Brown. Mursal had worked a clear winning endgame advantage and it was agonising for him when he blundered in time pressure and lost. A real shame. On a more cheerful note Ian is having a great season and it's his turn to have a worldwide audience for his game. All in all a woeful week for the winless Wanderers. If only Kev had known I'm sure he would have driven back and forth between the two venues and played for both teams that night.

Week 11 Tactics

The answer to last week's harder problem is here. The starred moves have variations. Did you get the mate on e8? This week's problem, a little gem from Alekhine, is here. Answer next week.

Week 11 Results

On Wednesday at The Gardeners the A Team beat Phoenix A convincingly 6½-1½. Paul's game featured an excellent combination to force a pawn through. The C Team scored a good victory against Aughton B 3½-2½. Then on Thursday the B Team travelled to unbeaten Worksop and came back 4-2 winners. A good week for the club.

Cup Week Tactics

Test Your Tactical Ability here. This week's puzzle is more difficult. For full Brownie Points you need all variations. Answer next week.

Cup Week Results

This week was Cup Week, or Plate Week if you were in the B Team. On Tuesday the B Team travelled to Clay Cross to play their A Team and lost 2½-3½. The saying goes 'if you get your knight to d6 you can go to sleep your game will play itself'. Well Kev went one, or two, better and got a Bishop to e7. Fortunately Kev didn't go to sleep and he won. You can see the game here. Best wishes to Clay Cross in the next round. On Wednesday the A Team travelled to The Gardeners to play Chesterfield A, who they had beaten 6-2 earlier in the season, but, as we all know, in the cup the form book goes out the window, and they lost 2½-3½. Paul's game had a crazy material imbalance and was ultimately decided by a very nice counter sacrifice. You can see if you can make any sense of it here. Congratulations to Chesterfield and, again, best of luck in the next round.

Week 10 (Part 2) Results

For some reason (which Paul C has written a PhD thesis on) Week 10 began on the 20th December and was still going strong on the 7th January. (You could try and cite this the next time you want a 'week' off work.) On Wednesday the B Team beat Clay Cross B Team 5-1 (although it has to be said the match was much closer than the score suggests) and on Thursday the C Team travelled to Worksop B and won 4-2. You can see my game, which I really enjoyed, this time. A good, if mysteriously long, week for the Club.

Week 10 (Part 2) Tactics

Test Your Tactical Ability here. This week's puzzle is not too difficult and I hope you enjoy the answer. Remember it's >  or Show Answer to see if you were right (no peeking now) and F11 toggles the Full Screen view.

Peter Solves The Christmas Puzzle

This is frankly amazing, but Peter sent me an Email detailing how he'd solved the Christmas Puzzle. I've seen a pretty convincing three page 'proof' that it can't be done (this is the kind of thing that puzzle can do to people) but Peter solved it. I won't post the solution in case anyone is still working on it. Amazing.

Very Very Difficult Christmas Puzzle

Some of you may be familiar with this but it is just about the best (and the hardest) chess puzzle there is and I figured it's something that every chess player should see at least once.

A game begins with 1.e4 and ends on the fifth move with knight takes rook mate

There are no tricks. There's no cheating. It's a completely legal game of chess. Here's one story about this problem  "In 1986, during the turmoil after Kasparov had won the world championship and was forced to face an immediate rematch, both he and Karpov went to Lucerne to meet with FIDE president Campomanes. I was with them and we had a long car journey together from Zurich to Lucerne. To entertain them I gave the two top players in the world John's puzzle. It kept them busy during the ride and for the next couple of days in the hotel. They couldn't solve it." Can you? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Week 10 (Part 1) Results

On Tuesday the A Team (and parts of the B and C Team) underwent the epic journey to Clay Cross...and returned as 6½-1½ winners. Coincidence fans should note that this is the same score as the home game in Week 1. Spooky.

Week 10 (Part 1) Tactics

Chess is 99% tactics, 45% blunders, 23% psychology and if you give 110% you can't ask more than that. Test Your Tactical Ability here. Try to work out the winning combination then press  >  or Show Answer to see if you were right (no peeking now). Handy Hint: Press F11 to get a bigger, clearer Full Screen view (press F11 again to get back).

Week 9 Results

On Monday the C Team beat SASCA B 5½-½. You can see Peter's game (warts and all) here. On Wednesday the B Team beat Rotherham Juniors B 4½-1½. Stuart's game on Board 1 featured a nice combination. You can see that game here. To complete a good week for the club the A Team beat Rotherham Juniors A 5½-2½

What's your world ranking?

Gazza's number 1, while Kramnik and Anand scrap over the number 2 spot but, according to FIDE, with a rating of 2118 who is ranked number 23472 in the world? And, if he wasn't listed as 'inactive', then with a rating of 2282 (identical to this player) who would be ranked a dizzying 6892?

Latest Bulletins

A Team Bulletin     B Team Bulletin      C Team Bulletin       Richardson Cup       Richardson Plate

League Tables, Match Results, and Cup and Plate Draws. It's about as tidy as a teenager's bedroom but it's all there.

Three Degrees of Gary Kasparov

Kev's win against Malcolm Pein gives him a Kasparov Co-efficient of 3. Kev beat Malcolm Pein who beat Peter Svidler who beat Gary Kasparov. Can anyone at the club do better? There's a list of 175 Kasparov losses here.

Week 8 Results

The A Team beat Barnby Dun 5-3. Paul's game (which can be found here) had a nice finish. The C Team lost 1½-4½ to Woodseats B. 

Prasun wins British Rapidplay (Major)

Prasun won the British Rapidplay (Major) with the outstanding score of 10/11 a full 2½ points ahead of second place and a rating performance of 196! According to the details here he also won £350 which he's keeping quiet about. It's also worth mentioning that Mithun came 3= with 7/11.

Mursal wins Sheffield Under 15s

Congratulations to Mursal on becoming Sheffield Under 15 Champion.

Ian gets his car insurance

For a while it hung in the balance but Ian's car insurance came through and he is now a dead cert for any C Team away games as he has transport. If he lets Phil know he might well get a game for the B Team.

Kev checkmates an IM in competition

Our very own Master of Disaster Kevin Marshall beat International Master Malcolm Pein at a recent blitz tournament. This was no race against the clock whilst a Rook and two minor pieces down either it was a bona fide (ha ha ha) checkmate. Kev has to be our leading contender in Six Degrees of Gary Kasparov.

Peter, Prasun, and Mithun win in the Megafinal

Peter, Prasun, and Mithun in the Yorkshire Junior Megafinal South (it is there you just have to follow the U15-18 link)

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Page last updated 15/08/07