Author: Lewis

August 29, 2021

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”.

August 15, 2021

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”.

August 4, 2021

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.

July 25, 2021

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:

[pgn height=500 initialHalfmove=1 autoplayMode=none]

[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”]

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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 [/pgn]

July 24, 2021

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.

July 11, 2021

Last Thursday, 8th July, the Noteboom themed blitz was won by Brian Towers with 6/7. Ray Wynarczyk was second with 5.5/7 and Jay Steel and Paul Bielby were equal third with 5/7. Full details here. For the statisticians, this was a bit better for white with W15, =1, B12.

This coming Thursday, 15th July, there is a match in the summer knock-out tournament so there won’t be a themed blitz. The next one will be a week later on 22nd July. After the long variations of the last couple of weeks we are going for the shortest possible theme, Larsen’s Opening, black to move after 1. b3.

Two YouTube videos to help with your preparation. First, a long introductory video from St Louis Chess Club’s “Chess Openings Explained” series.

Second, the excellent Simon Williams commentating on a 15+10 game he played against one of his students. One way of looking at this video is of two players making it up as they go along, something I’m sure we’re all familiar with.

Another way of looking at it is to see it as an example of the rich transpositional opportunities in this opening. Black, Simon’s student isn’t sure how to respond and so plays a reversed London System. Simon replies with a reversed Leningrad Dutch. As usual the Ginger GM gives excellent explanations of his thoughts as he plays.

July 3, 2021

We’re back, folks!

We held a themed blitz last Thursday, 1st July, on the Marshall Gambit in the Semi-Slav. Congratulations to Jay Steel who won with 5.5 out of 6. Paul Bielby was second with 4.5 and Kevin Rowden third with 3.5. For those who suspect that it isn’t a great white gambit the statistics from Thursday would appear to back you up: 6 white wins, 11 black wins and 1 draw. Full details here.

The Marshall Gambit (4. e4) arises in the Semi-Slav when white chooses the most aggressive response to black’s triangle of pawns. If white plays more sedately with 4. Nf3 then black gets the chance to grap the c pawn and play the Noteboom.

This Thursday, 8th July, we will give you a chance to extend your knowledge of the Semi Slav with the Noteboom. Play will begin with white to play after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bb4 6. e3 b5 7. Bd2 a5 8. axb5 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 cxb5 10. b3 Bb7 11. bxc4 b4 12. Bb2 Nf6

As usual two YouTube videos for your preparation. First a long video in the “Chess Openings Explained” series from St Louis Chess Club. I think this was the first video that Jonathan Schrantz did and he was very nervous, couldn’t pronounce ‘Noteboom’ and struggled with Chessbase a few times but the content is excellent and it is worth putting up with his first timer fluffs.

The second one is Alireza Firouzja’s win over Donachenko in this year’s Tata Steel tournament.

April 1, 2020

The Northumberland league and county championships have been suspended, so there remains a remote chance that more games will be played, but the Durham league has been terminated with further play abandoned for this season.

The South Shields A team has won division 1 with 6 wins and a draw from the 7 out of 8 matches for a total of 13 points. Second were Durham City Abbots with 4 wins, a draw and 2 losses, also from 7 matches for a total of 9 points.

The South Shields B team has won division 2 with 9 wins and 1 loss from 10 matches for a total of 20 points. Second were Hetton Lyons with 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss from 10 matches.

South Shields dominance continued in the various individual championships. Unlike the NCA there is no separate competition. Instead the individual results from league matches are used with some compensation built in so that players on lower boards from very strong teams do not have an (unfair) advantage. The rules for this were described on earlier versions of the DCCA website but have got lost with the change in format, so I will summarize.

There are 4 categories: Open, U165, U140 and U120. To qualify, a player must play at least 6 games during the season. The player’s standing is based on their average performance over the season. For each game played the score which contributes to their overall standing depends on the result and the grading difference between the players. If you beat a player of roughly the same grade then you receive 100%. If your opponent is much weaker then this percentage is reduced. If your opponent is much stronger you receive more than 100%

2020 Open Championship

The winner gets the Alan Sayers Trophy and is the DCCA 2020 champion.

First was Dave Walker (South Shields) with 83% from 5 wins, 1 draw and zero losses

Second was Konst Delidimoudis (South Shields) with 71% from 6 wins, 1 draw and zero losses. Note the lower percentage score even though the results appear better. This is because Dave Walker faced stronger opposition.

Third was Dave Mooney (South Shields) with 63% from 5 wins and 1 loss.

2020 U165 Championship

The winner gets the Robin Horner Trophy and is the DCCA U165 champion.

First was Aswin Bhat (Durham University) with 66% from 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

Second was Brian Towers (South Shields) with 63% from 4 wins, 3 draws and zero losses.

2020 U140 Championship

The winner gets the Terry Holmes Trophy and is the DCCA U140 champion.

First (yet again!) was Dave Patterson (South Shields) with 68% from 6 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss.

Second was sometime South Shields player, Dave Peardon, wearing his Hetton Lyons hat with 64% from 7 wins and 2 losses.

February 24, 2020

The fourth round of this FIDE rated club competition was at Forest Hall on Sunday with 6 teams of 5 players each fighting it out to be the North East’s premier team.

After every round I go round the winning players in the Fewster’s Shipmates team (an amalgam of Leam Lane and South Shields) and ask them if they’d like to contribute their annotated game for inclusion on the website and every time I get the over-modest reply “Meh! Not worth publishing”.

This time I extended the franchise and asked the player of the game of the round, a clinical 19 mover culminating in a queen sacrifice.

[pgn height=500 initialHalfmove=1 autoplayMode=none]

[Event “North East League”]
[Site “South Shields”]
[Date “2020.02.23”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Reynolds, Mark”]
[Black “Nandi, Robin”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C54”]
[WhiteElo “1902”]
[BlackElo “1892”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. h3 {With a pawn on c3 stopping Nd4 I’m not sure Bg4 is a threat worth preventing} h6 7. b4 Bb6 8. a4 a5 9. b5 Ne7 10. Nbd2 {protecting e4 and so preparing d4} Ng6 11. g3 {Having prepared d4 now was the time to play d4. Castles would also have been sensible when Nf4 can again be met by d4. This just weakens the kingside unnecessarily} O-O 12. Bb3 {Jumping at phantoms. The best way to react to the threat of d5 would have been to play Ba3, developing a piece and delaying d5 by at least one move} d5 {Be rude not to} 13. O-O {Just blundering a pawn. Better would have been Ba3 again, to be followed up by Kf1 and Kg2 taking an extra move to castle by hand but keeping a key pawn} Bxh3 14. Re1 Ng4 {Sending in the boys} 15. d4 Qf6 {Now it’s the girl’s turn} 16. exd5 exd4 17. Ne4 Qf5 18. c4 {Surprisingly the engine thinks white is still just down a pawn (-1) until this move. Hanging on was} (18. cxd4 Rfe8 19. Bc2) 18… Rfe8 19. Nxd4 Rxe4 {White resigned. If white takes the queen the follow up would be} (19… Rxe4 20. Nxf5 Bxf2+ 21. Kh1 Rxe1+ 22. Qxe1 Bxe1) 0-1 [/pgn]

The backstory here was that several players who normally play in the league had gone to Bunratty to drink Guinness and maybe play some chess and consequently the Durham Bishops, Robin’s team, had turned up two players short. Robin’s quick win set the scene for an heroic 3 wins for an overall 3-2 victory keeping them in the hunt for first along with Newcastle Magpies and Fewster’s Shipmates.

Full details of the tournament here.

Note that a similar Sunday format FIDE rated individual tournament is planned for the spring with 2 rounds a day planned for the 19th April, 17th May and 14th June. This will be a Swiss with Open, Major and Minor sections. Details to follow later.

December 12, 2019

Good to see almost as many South Shields players there as on a typical club night during the season … and it paid off!

Well done to Dave Walker who shares the title of Northumberland Rapidplay Champion 2019 with rising young start, Yichen Han, with an impressive 5/6.

Well done, too, to Kevin Rowden and Brian Towers who share the title of Under 160 champions with Darren Laws on 4/6.

Honourable mention to Konst Delidimoudis for finishing in 3= on 4.5/6 in the main championship.

On 4/6 we also had Dave Mooney

On 3/6, Paul Bielby and Dave Campbell

On 2.5/6 Eddie Czestochowski and Stan Johnson

And on 2/6, Dave Parlour.

Full details here.