Month: September 2019

September 29, 2019

Congratulations to John Boyd and Dave Mooney who finished equal first in the Petrov Defence themed blitz with 7.5/9. Full details here.

Perhaps also worth giving a shout-out to Mike Savin,  Tim Wilton-Davies and Ben Wood  who will all have their first FIDE blitz ratings in the new list coming out in a few days’ time. Nothing to do with the themed blitzes (which can’t be rated) but a result of playing in the various club FIDE-rated blitzes over the last few months.

This  Thursday, 3^rd October, we will have the last of our summer season themed blitzes with the Nimzo-Indian Defence. Play will begin with white to move after the moves 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4.

Two YouTube videos for your preparation. First, an introductory video from “Hanging Pawns”. For the keen student he follows up with another 5 videos covering the various white replies. Second, a longer video in the “Chess Openings Explained” series from St Louis Chess Club looking at some exciting games in the Classical Variation (4. Qc2)

September 23, 2019

Congratulations to Dave Mooney who won the Ponziani’s themed blitz with 8/8. Well done to Yaroslav Kolodiy for coming second with 5.5/8. Full details here.

Next Thursday, 26^th September, the theme will be the Petrov Defence (or Russian if you hail from Eastern Europe). Play will start after 1 e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 with white to move.

Two videos for your prep. First an introductory video from the excellent “Hanging Pawns”.  This is the first of five. There are four more in his series going into the possible variations for the keen student. Since the defence has a bit of a boring reputation, here is a video from the St Louis Chess Club on one possible white attempt to make life exciting, the Cochrane Gambit where white plays Nxf7, sacrificing a piece on move 4!

September 14, 2019

Congratulations to Dave Mooney who won the Alekhine’s Defence themed blitz with 6/7. Well done to Yaroslav Kolodiy for coming second with 4.5/7. Full details here.

Next Thursday, 19^th September, the theme will be Ponziani’s Opening. Play will start after 1 e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 with black to move.

Two videos for your preparation, one from Chessexplained and one from thechesswebsite.

September 9, 2019

The winner of the first U100 Club Championship was Jay Steel

September 8, 2019

Congratulations to Dave Mooney for winning the well attended (18 player) FIDE rated warm-up blitz for the British Championships qualifier in Newcastle with 8.5/9. It paid off with Dave finishing equal 3rd in the main event.

John Boyd and Charlie Storey were equal second on 7.5/9. In 4= there were 5 players, Yaroslav Kolodiy, Paul Bielby, Ian Maughan, Dave Patterson and Jay Steel. Apologies to Dave and Jay for missing them off the details in the email.

This Thursday, 12^th September, the theme will be Alekhine’s Defence. Play will start with black to move after the moves 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5. As usual a couple of YouTube videos for your preparation.

First, a game with Nakamura playing the black side with commentary by “kingscrusher”.

For a more serious study of the opening here is the first in a series of 9 (!) videos on the defence from “Hanging Pawns”. Keen students will, obviously, want to track down and watch the other 8 🙂

September 8, 2019

This was a good tournament for South Shields players. Dave Mooney had a very good result, coming equal 3rd (with Yichen Han) in a strong field with 10/15. The two players above him were GM Danny Gormally and IM Lorin D’Acosta and these two players get the two places on offer for the finals.

Further down the field Michael Allen continued his good form now that his A Levels are behind him, finishing on a very respectable 7/15 with Paul Bielby just behind on 6.5/15.

Congratulations too, to Prachi Arora who, although not a South Shields member, plays occasionally in our Thursday evening tournaments. She was the 2nd highest female player and therefore wins a place in the Women’s Blitz Championship final.

Full details here.