Month: June 2019

June 23, 2019

The themed blitz tournaments are taking a rest for the big blitz at The Round on Saturday 6th July and a warm-up blitz in the club on the 4th July. The idea is to give those who want it a bit of practice before the big event.

We plan a 9 round blitz with game in 5 minutes plus a 2 second increment. If not enough players turn up we will have a round robin. We can add players to a Swiss but not a round robin, so please try and turn up early / on time. It will be FIDE rated. As usual, no entry fee, no prizes. Start time is 19:15 at the club – The New Ship on Sunderland Rd in South Shields.

There will be no blitz on the 27th June to give players in the various club championships a chance to play their outstanding games without missing out.

The King’s Indian Attack themed blitz on the 13th June was won by Dave Mooney with 8/9. Dave Patterson and Kevin Rowden were equal 2nd with 6/9. Full details here.

The Danish Gambit themed blitz on the 20th June was won by Dave Mooney with 9/9. Kevin Rowden was 2nd on 6.5 and Bielby was 3rd on 6. Full details here.

June 9, 2019

Some statistics from the themed opening blitz tournaments we’ve been having. Warning from a mathematician, don’t take these too seriously! The sample sizes (number of games played) are small and the players a wide range of club players.

Note that you can sort the table according to one of the columns by clicking on the column header

[table id=27 /]

June 1, 2019

First, congratulations to Paul Bielby, who despite his reservations, won all his games as white to win last week’s Wayward Queen themed blitz. Will he still be telling all his juniors what a bad move 2. Qh5 is? Full details here.

The next theme is the King’s Indian Attack for Thursday 13th June. Play will begin with Black to move after the moves 1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. 0-0.

As usual some links to instructive Youtube videos for your preparation. GM Damian Lemos for iChess has made three videos. Here they are – one, two and three. He doesn’t cover the exact move order I give which is a sort of French / Dragon cross but should give the main ideas of the opening for White.

Hint for players coming from Sunderland: The bus timetable changed a couple of weeks ago. The bus which used to leave Park Lane at 18:29 now leaves at 18:25 and presumably leaves other stops about 4 minutes earlier than previously.