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Themed Blitz – 7th October – Lucchini Gambit

Paul put in a request for the Siesta Gambit in the Ruy Lopez but I couldn’t find any decent YouTube videos (which I need otherwise I don’t know what to do in these highly tactical openings). So I’ve gone for something similar in the Italian Game which also involves black sacrificing a pawn with f5. Apparently the engine’s first reaction is that this is a blunder because of the reply Ng5 but this leads to some wild and wooly play.

Anyway, play will start with White to move after the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 f5!. I found two YouTube videos covering this opening, one where White declines the pawn and one where White accepts.

AGM – 30th September

There will be no themed blitz this Thursday as we will be holding our AGM. Please try and get there for 7:30pm. It looks like the Northumberland league will go ahead this year, albeit with teams of 4 instead of 5 and with fewer teams per division, but there is still no word as to what is happening with the Durham league.

Please come along to discus league participation, particularly if you want to play, also if you are interested in having a club championships this year.

Last Thursday’s themed blitz, From’s Gambit, produced a three-way tie for first between Yaroslav Kolodiy, Brian Towers and Bede Porter on 5/7.Ben Wood finished 4th with 4/7 despite having forgotten how the pieces move during the last 18 months! Fortunately it all came back to him after one of the members sat down with him and showed him some of the From’s Gambit lines. Apart from anything else this meant that Ben didn’t fall for the two move mate (1. Nf3 g5 2. h3 Bg3#) which caught out 3 of the 4 white players in round 1. Full results here.

Themed Blitz 23rd September – From’s Gambit Accepted

Congratulations to Paul Bielby who won last week’s Chigorin themed blitz with 6/7. Well done to Anthony Sweeting who finished second with 5/7 and to Michael Allen in third with 4.5/7. Full details here.

Inspired by Michael Allen’s annotated game from the Northumbria Masters tournament where he played Bird’s Opening this week’s theme is what might have been – From’s Gambit Accepted (to avoid Paul playing 2. e4! as white). Play will start with white to move after 1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6.

Hard to find instructional videos on this opening but IM Miodrag “The Butcher” Perunovic obliges with a typical bloodthirsty video.

Northumbria Masters

Congratulations to Tim Wall for making the first post Covid other-the-board tournament to be held in the North East the biggest ever NE event with almost 200 players. A tough 9 rounds in four and a half days was ameliorated by the possibility of taking up to 3 byes.

We had three club members playing in this tournament. Paul Bielby played in the Challengers and took two byes to finish on 4.5. Dave Patterson played in the Major and finished in 6th place on 5. Michael Allen was joint winner in the Minor with an excellent 7/9. Well done!

We got Michael, Paul and Dave each gave us one of their games with their thoughts and annotations.

   [Event "Northumbria Minor"] [Site "Gateshead"] [Date "2021.08.30"] [Round "8"] [White "Allen, Michael"] [Black "Mckay, Ruaridh"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteECF "1405"] [ECO "A03"] [EventDate "2021.08.30"]   1.f4 {By this point, we were nearing the finals of the tournament and I needed a win. The tension was high and I had been playing 1. e4 throughout the tournament. To get my opponent out of his comfort zone, I decided to play the Bird Opening with 1. f4.} 1…d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 e6 5.d3 Rb8 {Rb8 to safely fianchetto the light-squared Bishop is a valid idea, but too slow in my opinion. Better would have been an immediate development on the kingside and castling. Black's reluctance to castle becomes an apparent weakness later in the game.} 6.a4 b6 7.O-O Nf6 8.Nc3 a6?! {Again, too slow. Four of Black's pieces remain undeveloped, giving me ample time to strike in the centre.} 9.e4! dxe4 10.Ng5?! {Too imaginative a move. Better was 10. dxe4, gaining control over the d-file.} 10…Bb7 11.Ncxe4 h6 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6 13.Ne4 Qd4+ 14.Kh1 Be7 15.Bd2 Qd7 {15…Qxb2 is impossible due to a devilish trap. 16. Bc3 wins material.} 16.Bc3 Nd4 17.Qg4 Rg8? {Castling was better. A future Bf6 adequately defends the kingside.} 18.Bxd4 Qxd4 19.Qe2? {This move annoyed me in later analysis. I had the right idea by pushing the f-pawn later, but it would have been better to do it with an immediate 19. f5.} 19…Kf8 20.c3 Qd8 21.f5! exf5 22.Rxf5 Bxe4 23.Bxe4 g6 24.Rf2 Kg7 25.Raf1 Rf8 26.Bg2 Qd6 27.Re1! {I believed the f-file had been exhausted of all potential so I sought to reroute my pieces to control the e-file.} 27…Rbe8 28.Qf3 f6 29.Rfe2 Qd7 30.Qc6 Qxd3?? {This blunder is an unfortunate way to end the game. Simplification is unavoidable.} 31.Rxe7+! Rxe7 32.Rxe7+ Rf7 33.Rxf7+ Kxf7 34.Qd5+! Qxd5 35.Bxd5+ Ke7 36.b4 Kd6 37.Bc4 f5 38.Bxa6 cxb4 39.cxb4 Kd5 40.Bd3 Ke5 41.a5! 1-0

  [Event "Northumbria Challengers"] [Site "Gateshead"] [Date "2021.08.29"] [Round "6"] [White "Kyle Pelling"] [Black "Paul Bielby"] [Result "0-1"]   e4 {My opponent, Kyle Pelling, is a 13-year old prodigy from Heywood, Manchester.  He had never met the Siesta Variation before but played sensibly and took advantage of my error on move 8.  I had a hard job defending till he in turn made a mistake on move 27 and missed his saving chance on move 28.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 {This is the best continuation for White against the Steinitz Deferred Defence (4. .. d6).  But it does allow Black to play his favourite Siesta Variation.(5... f5) attempting to seize an immediate K-side initiative.} 5... f5 6. d3 Nf6 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. Bb3 {White has avoided the standard lines against the Siesta after 6. exf5 and now tries to stop Black from castling.} 8... d5? {This move causes Black a lot of trouble.  The simple 8...Na5 is safe, solid equalises completely.} 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nc4 Bf6 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 Re8 13. Ne3 {Wins a pawn, but the direct 13. Nxe5 does the same job and leaves White with  a better position} 13... Be6 14. Bxd5 Bxd5 15. Nxf5 Qd7 16. Ng3 Rad8 17.Be3 {Allows Black to regain the pawn.  17. Re3 would keep the pawn, is an ugly move, allowing Black some initiative} 17... Bxf3 18. Qxf3 Qxd3 19. Rad1 Qc4 20. Ne4 Rf8 21. Qg4 Qf7 22. Rxd8 Bxd8 23. Rd1 h5 {A saving move else Rd7 would be overwhelming} 24. Qh3 Be7 25. b3 Rd8 26. Rxd8 Bxd8 27. Bg5? {Carelessly played allowing Black to fork B and N.  If 27 Nc5 White retains the advantage.} 27... Qg6 28. Qd7?? {And this loses.  White misses the trick 28 Bxd8 Qxe4 29. g3 Nxd8 30. Qd7! and if 30.... Nc6 (the only way to save the N) then Qe8+ and a draw by repetition follows.} 28... Bxg5 29. h4 Be7 30. Ng5 Bxg5 31. hxg5 Qxg5 32. g3 Qd8 33. Qe6 Kh8 34. Qg6 Qd1 35. Kg2 Qg4 36. Qe8 Kh7 0-1

  [Event "Northumberland Masters (Major)"] [Site "Gateshead Marriott"] [Date "2021.09.23"] [Round "4"] [White "Alex Settle"] [Black "Dave Patterson"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1700"] [EventDate "2021.08.28"]   e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 {French Defense, Exchange Variation. Used by White to open up the position and take Black away from comfort zone of well known variations.} 4. Nf3 Be6 5. Be2 {Bd3 is more common and gives white more attacking options.} 5. … Nf6 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. Be3 Nbd7 $201 {Fairly standard opening variation up to move 8, although the move order may not be strictly correct.} 9. a4 {This move slightly surprised me as Ive not seen it before at this stage. Opponent said he like to pawn storm on the Queen side in this variation.} 9. … c6 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. c3 Qc7 {Standard development continued and engine has it all even after move 11.} 12. b4 Bd6 13. b5 $201 {White continued with his Pawn Storm , however the engines shows a small (0.4) advantage to Black.} 13. … Ne4 14. Qb3 Ndf6 {Black largely ignores the Queenside pawn storm and starts a King side build up.} 15. Rac1 Ng4 {White supports the Queenside with a potential pin on the black Queen. Meanwhile I (Black) carry on with the King side advance.} 16. Nf1 {White pays some attention to his Kingside with a strong defensive move supporting H2. If White hadn't played Nf1, Bxh2+ looks winning. Even so, the engine has Black 0.8 ahead with continuing pressure.} 16. … c5 17. c4 Nxe3 ( 17. … cxd4 18. cxd5 dxe3 19. Rxc7 exf2+ 20. Kh1 fxe1=Q 21. Nxe1 Bxc7 {I, and it seems the engine missed this impressive Queen sacrifice and a 4 pawn-move attack. Even if white didn't take the Queen, Black ends up with a 4.0 advantage. Silly me!!} ) 18. fxe3 dxc4 19. Bxc4 Bxc4 20. Rxc4 Qe7 $201 {Meanwhile back in the real game, by move 20 the position was clearing but Black had not increased his advantage with engine suggesting only a 0.6 lead.} 21. dxc5 {A poor move, improving Black's advantage to 1.3. Qc2 appears best.} 21. … Nxc5 22. Qc2 b6 23. Nd4 Qg5 24. Nc6 h5 {Black's attempt at reinvigorating his attack with h5 was not liked by the engine which suggested a6 to undermine white's advanced position. My preference is for attack, attack, attack.} 25. h3 {White responded h3 to prevent my pawn helping in the attack.} 25. … Ne6 {The engine considers this poor, and a now equal position, however I wanted to swap bishop for knight and then get my knight into the Kingside attack. The engine suggested a6 to maintain my slight advantage.} 26. Rd1 Bc5 27. Nd4 {Black moved Knight back and allowed me to pressure White further and/or exchange his Knight for my Bishop. The engine suggested Bxd4 immediately, whereas I missed that and brought my QR to the party (Rad8) Black also missed the blunder and moved his King instead of perhaps moving his Knight back to c6.} 27. … Rad8 28. Kh1 Bxd4 {Finally, I correctly exchanged Bishop for Knight, with strong advantage.} 29. exd4 Nf4 {Bringing the Knight into the Kingside attack maintained my strong positional advantage and set up the win. I was expecting Rd2 to try and stave off the Black attack. This was played but it seems that Qf2 was better, as it prevents Re1 for a few moves at least. Nxh3 would have undermined the defence, and eventually forced Re1.} 30. Rd2 Re1 {Re1 was played with an overwhelming attack.} 31. Rf2 Nxg2 $201 {Nxg2 maintained the attack and stopped things fizzling out. The engine suggested a Rc8 response instead of Qf5, however this loses to Ne3, eventually winning the Knight with an significant end game advantage.} 32. Qf5 $4 {White overlooked the Knight fork on e3 after exchange of Queens, so the win became easier possibly due to increasing time trouble.} ( 32. Rc8 Ne3 33. Rxd8+ Qxd8 34. Qe4 Rxf1+ 35. Rxf1 Nxf1 {A significant advantage with engine suggesting +8 for Black} ) 32. … Qxf5 33. Rxf5 Ne3 0-1

Themed Blitz – 16th September – Chigorin

Congratulations to Paul Bielby who won the Accelerated Dragon themed blitz with 6.5/7. Well done to Michael Allen and Bede Porter who finished joint second with 5.5/7.

Next Thursday’s theme is the Chigorin Defence. Play will start with white to move after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6. Two introductory videos from the St Louis Chess Club in the “Chess Openings Explained” series – one and two. Also a long game commentary from the GingerGM, Simon Williams, where he shares his real time thoughts as he plays a game.

Themed Blitz 2nd September – Accelerated Dragon

Congratulations to Paul Bielby who won the QGA Exchange Variation themed blitz with a clean sweep 6/6. Well done too, to Dave Patterson, 5/6, and Michael Allen, 4/6, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Full details here.

All three are playing in the Northumbria Masters tournaments this weekend, so good luck to them there. Looking forward to hearing tales of their successes on Thursday!

Next Thursday’s theme is the accelerated dragon in the Sicilian Defence. Play will start with white to move after the moves 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6.

Here are two YouTube videos to help with your preparation. First, a very slow but thorough introduction from the excellent Yasser Seirawan on the St. Louis Chess Club channel. In complete contrast the second video covers twice the theory in half the time and obviously a fraction of the explanation from “Hanging Pawns”.

Themed Blitz 19th August – QGD Exchange Variation

Well done to Anthony Sweeting and Dave Patterson who finished equal first in last week’s ‘Grand Prix Attack’ themed blitz with 4/6. Equal third were Michael Allen and Brian Towers on 3.5/6. Full details here.

Next Thursday’s theme is the exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Play will begin with white to move after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd exd.

The first video is from St Louis Chess Club’s “Chess Openings Explained” series. The second video is from “Hanging Pawns”.

Themed Blitz 12th August – Grand Prix Attack

Well done to Michael Allen who hammered the field in last week’s Leonhardt Gambit themed blitz with 5/5. Congratulations also to Dave Patterson who finished second with 4/5. Full details here.

Next Thursday’s theme is the Grand Prix Attack against the Sicilian. To give black maximum flexibility play will start with black to play after 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3.

For the first video we go back to the St Louis Chess Club and Eric Rosen. Another favourite YouTube channel, that of Miodrag “The Butcher” Perunovic has several videos on this opening. The first comes in at a reasonable 45 minutes. For those with more time on their hands he has a longer video which comes in at about 90 minutes.

South Shields teams through to Round 2 of Summer Knockout

Friday’s victory by the A team against the Forest Hall C team by a game score of 4-0 (4-2.5 after handicap) saw them join the B team in round 2. Not a surprise given that the smallest rating difference was over 250 but the handicap system means that one small accident can put the higher rated team out of the competition.

So, the major congratulations have to go to the B team who a week earlier beat the Forest Hall A team against similar odds. Although they lost 3-1 on game score this became a 3.5-3 win after handicap with Lewis Self getting the giant-killing win.

Here is Lewis’ game with his thoughts from the game:

  [Event "Northumberland Summer Knock Out"] [Site "South Shields Chess Club"] [Date "15.07.2021"] [Round "1"] [White "Lewis Self"] [Black "Stuart Skelsey"] [Result "1-0"]   e4 d6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 Bg7 5. Bc4 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. Re1 b5 8. Bb3 b4 Nb1 {I wasn't sure if I should have placed my knight on a5 instead of moving backwards but I felt it had no moves available as b6, c5 and c3 were protected and b2 wouldn't be moving anytime soon.} 9… Bg4 10. Bg5 Qa5 11. Bh4 {I was considering e5 to defend the bishop but didn't want to give up the d5 square.} 11… Nbd7 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 e5 {I was planning on playing e5 myself so this move makes a lot of sense} 14. dxe5 dxe5? (14… Nxe5 15. Qf4 {Nh5 defends everything}) (14… Qxe5 15. Bg3 {I had missed b2 was undefended}) 15. Nd2 Nh5 Nc4 Qc7 17. Be7 a5 18. Bxf8 Bxf8 {I was expecting Rxf8 to defend the weakness on f7} 19. Rad1 {The computer says the best move was Nxa5 which I had completely overlooked threatening checkmate on g8. Instead I chose to ignore the threat of a4 and trade everything into a winning endgame.} 19… a4 20. Rxd7 Qxd7 21. Nb6 Qb7 22. Qxf7+ Qxf7 23. Bxf7+ Kxf7 24. Nxa8 Nf4 25. Nb6 a3 26. bxa3 bxa3 27. Nc4 Ke6 28. Na5?? {Obvious blunder. Was too focused trying to attack the pawns} 28… Bb4 29. Rb1? {Re3 is better} 29… Bxa5 30. Rb3 Ne2+ 31. Kf1 Nd4 32. Rxa3 Bb4 33. Ra7 Be7 {Was expecting h6 or h5. Pinning the bishop to h7 makes little sense.} 34. a4 Nxc2 35. a5 Nd4 36. a6 Nb5 Rb7 {Threatening Rxb5 and queening} 37… Bc5 38. Rxh7 Kf6 39. g4 Bd4 40. h4 {My opponent had less than a minute on the clock and resigned. My plan was to push through for a second passed pawn by pushing the king up to support the g and h pawns.} 1-0

Themed Blitz 29th July – Leonhardt Gambit

First, massive congratulations to Jay Steel for solving the 5×5 Rubik’s Cube under pressure before the last round of last week’s themed blitz – Larsen’s 1. b3. Speaking of which, well done to Kevin Rowden and Paul Bielby who finished 1st and 2nd in that tournament. Full details here.

It was also very nice to see themed blitz first-timers Lauren Rowden, Jack Rowden and Gray Pattinson. Welcome!

For this Thursday’s theme (29th July) we go for the Leonhardt Gambit against the Scandinavian Defence. Play will begin with black to play after 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. b4

Two YouTube videos to help with your preparation / enjoyment. First a video from one of this column’s favourite YouTubers, IM Miodrag “The Butcher” Perunovic. Second, Eric Rosen’s first instructional video gives an alternative way of playing the gambit.