Author: Lewis

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.

December 2, 2019

Get your entry in if you haven’t already done so!

This tournament will take place this Sunday at Forest Hall Chess Club. The entry form plus more details are available for download as a pdf here.

This is a closed championship so entries are restricted to players who are members of Northumberland Chess Association clubs or who live in Northumberland. The overall winner will be the Northumberland Rapidplay champion. There will be 6 rounds and the rate of play is 20+10.

ENTRY FEE: £10, Juniors (U18) £8 if received by Friday 6th December, otherwise £12 if received before the Sunday and £15 on the day.

Prizes: Champion: £100, 2nd £50, 3rd £25.

Major Champion (130-160 ECF) £50, 2nd £20.

Minor Champion (Under 130) £50, 2nd £20

ROUND TIMES: Round 1 – 11.00; Round 2 – 12.10; Round 3 – 13.20 Round 4 – 14.30; Round 5 – 15.40; Round 6 – 16.50

ECF membership required: You need to be at least a bronze member, although if you are playing league chess then you should already be a bronze member.

Grading: This will be ECF graded. The entry form also mentions FIDE rating but since the deadline for FIDE registration is today and it doesn’t appear on the FIDE website, I suspect it won’t be.

October 8, 2019

We had players in all four sections of the Northumberland Congress and they did well. In the Open section, Dave Walker overcame a slow start (Swiss Gambit?) which left him needing a draw with black in the last round against the strongest player in the field to fulfill his number 3 ranking. He finished on 3.5/5 in 3=. Half a point behind in 7= position on 3/5 were Tim Wall and Paul Bielby. This was a particularly fine result for Paul who started the tournament as player 21 out of 23 on rating and it earned him the senior prize.

Here is Dave’s key 5th round game with his annotations. But for a slip on move 34 it could have been the game which earned him a share of 1st

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

[Event “55rd Northumberland Open”]
[Site “North Shields”]
[Date “2019.09.29”]
[Round “5.1”]
[White “Kjartansson, Gudmundur”]
[Black “Walker, David J”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A14”]
[Annotator “Walker,David”]
[PlyCount “108”]
[EventDate “2019.09.27”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “5”]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 d4 { I played this to avoid a line of the Catalan that I was unfamiliar with after
   5… 0-0 6. d4.} 6. e3 c5 7. b4 $5 {White tries a type of reversed Blumenfeld
   gambit, except that his bishop is on g2 rather than d3 which would be typical
   in a reversed Blumenfeld structure.} dxe3 8. fxe3 cxb4 9. d4 O-O 10. Bb2 Nbd7 {
   White’s plan is to advance in the centre with e4 followed by e5 or d5, so I I
   put my knight on d7 to allow me to meet an eventual e4 with … e5 gaining the
   c5 square for this knight.} 11. Nbd2 Qc7 12. Ne1 Nb6 {White has avoided
   playing e4, which makes … e5 by black less good, so I came up with this plan
   to finish my development.} 13. Nd3 Bd7 14. Rc1 Na4 15. Ba1 Nc3 {The computer
   prefers 15… Rac8, but I was happy to give back the pawn to gain the bishop
   pair and get rid of a rather offside knight.} 16. Bxc3 bxc3 17. Rxc3 Nd5 18.
   Bxd5 exd5 19. Qc2 dxc4 20. Nxc4 {Black has two bishops against two knights,
   but the white pieces are very active so this position is about equal.} Rac8 21.
   Rc1 Bg5 22. Qd2 {After the game, my opponent wasn’t very happy with this move
   which gives black some tactical ideas on the e1-a5 diagonal. 22. Nf4 is
   probably better.} Be6 23. Nce5 $6 Qa5 {Now black is slightly better.} 24. Nc5
   $2 Rxc5 $1 {My opponent admitted that he had missed this move after which
   black is much better.} 25. dxc5 Bf6 26. Nf3 (26. Qd4 $2 Qc7) (26. Qd6 $2 Rd8)
   26… Bxc3 27. Qxc3 Qxa2 28. Nd4 Qd5 29. c6 Bh3 30. Rc2 bxc6 31. Qxc6 Qe5 32.
   Kf2 h6 33. Rc5 Qe7 34. Rb5 Bd7 $2 {A blunder, I thought my opponent’s idea was
   to play 35. Nf5 and I didn’t even look at any alternatives. Simply either Rc8 or Re8 would have been winning} 35. Rb7 Bxc6 {(=)}
2. Rxe7 Bd5 37. Rxa7 Rb8 38. h4 Rb2+ 39. Kf1 Bc4+ 40. Kg1 Bd5 41. Rd7 Be4 42.
   Re7 Bd5 43. e4 Rb4 44. Re8+ Kh7 45. exd5 Rxd4 46. Re7 Kg6 47. Rd7 Rd2 48. Kf1
   Kf6 49. d6 h5 50. Kg1 g6 51. Kf1 Ke6 52. Re7+ Kf6 53. Rd7 Ke6 54. Re7+ Kf6 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

In the Major Dave Patterson and Eddie Czestochowski started in 25th position on rating and finished on a par result of 24= with 1.5/5. Here is one of Eddie’s games which underlines the importance of not giving up.

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

[Event “Northumberland Congress Major”]
[Site “North Shields”]
[Date “2019.09.28”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Mark Couch”]
[Black “Eddie Czestochowski”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Bf4 d5 4. e3 c5 { Playing on autopilot. In the Jobava London System one of White’s plans is to put a knight on c7 winning the exchange. This move only encourages white} 5. Nf3 {Possible was the immediate 5. Nb5 when black has to play the miserable Nh6} Nc6 {Still oblivious} 6. Nb5 Be7 7. Nc7+ {Too embarrassed to resign Eddie reminded himself of the advice of the 4 times British Women’s Champion and Yorkshirewoman the late Eileen Tranmer “Be sure to win your lost positions”} Kf8 8. Nxa8
   Bd6 9. Bxd6+ Qxd6 10. c3 Ke7 11. dxc5 Qxc5 12. Nc7 a6 13. Nxa6 bxa6 14. Be2 h5 {The dust has settled an exchange and a pawn down. Time to try and generate some complications on the king side}
2. Qa4 Bb7 16. O-O h4 17. h3 Ne4 18. Bd3 g5 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. Qxe4 f5 21. Qa4
   Kf6 22. Rad1 Rh7 23. Rd2 Rg7 24. Rfd1 Ne5 25. Nh2 {Hard to understand why white didn’t play NxN followed by Qd4 forcing the queens off} g4 26. hxg4 Nxg4 27. Qd4+ Qxd4
3. Rxd4? {Now it’s white’s turn to play a move on autopilot. Retaking with the rook is natural since it gives white total control of the d file but it overlooks the tenderness of the g2 square which allows a tactic. exd4 had to be played} Nxf2! {The point!} 29. Kxf2 Rxg2+ 30. Ke1 Rxh2 31. R1d2? {This ends any winning chances white might have had. The d2 square had to be left free as an escape square for the king from rook checks. That said, the black plan of Be4, Rg2 followed by queening the h pawn would have been difficult to deal with in time trouble} Rh1+ 32. Ke2 Be4 {This closes the door on the white king. Now there is no escape from the rook checks} 33. Kf2 Rh2+
4. Kf1 Rh1+ 35. Ke2 Rh2+ 36. Kd1 Rh1+ 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

In the Minor Asanga (3/5) and Stan (2.5/5) both had excellent tournaments.

In the Foundation Roy Merrin, playing in his first congress, was a prize winner on 4/10, winning the senior prize. All those informal coaching sessions at the Word on Saturdays with fellow prize winner, Paul, obviously paid off!

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)