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