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”]
- 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 {(=)} - 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”]
- 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} - 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 - 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+
- 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!