October 14, 2021
Congratulations to the B team players, Dave Patterson, Lewis Self, Stan Johnson, Jay Steel and Michael Allen for winning the summer knock out. The competition is a handicap knock out where weaker teams receive a point start which depends on the the difference in strength between them and the stronger team. Hence with a large strength difference the weaker team can win the match by scoring just one draw.
Here are the results the B team achieved on their way to overall victory with handicap points in brackets.
South Shields B 3.5 (2.5) – 3 (0) Forest Hall A
Dave Patterson (1705) 0 – 1 Tim P Wall (2260)
Lewis Self (1660) 1 – 0 Stuart Skelsey (1893)
Jay Steel (1495) 0 – 1 John (jnr) Wall (1780)
Stanley Johnson (1458) 0 – 1 Rose Wabuti (1705)
Tynemouth 3 (0) – 4.5 (3.5) South Shields B
David Henderson (2118) 1 – 0 Dave Patterson (1705)
Paul AG Dargan (2110) 1 – 0 Jay Steel (1495)
John S Clarke (1780) 0.5 – 0.5 Stanley Johnson (1458)
Simon Matthews (1758) 0.5 – 0.5 Michael EI Allen (1405)
Semi-final
Gosforth B 2.5 (0) – 3 (1.5) South Shields B
Mark McKay (1750) 1 – 0 Dave Patterson (1705)
James McKay (1630) 0 – 1 Jay Steel (1495)
Ian B Chester (1660) 1 – 0 Stanley Johnson (1458)
Luke Fletcher (1458) 0.5 – 0.5 Michael EI Allen (1405)
Final
Gosforth A 3.5 (0) – 4 (3.5) South Shields B
David Armbruster (2132) 1 – 0 Dave Patterson (1705)
Michael J McBeth (1953) 1 – 0 Jay Steel (1495)
Mick D Riding (1960) 1 – 0 Stanley Johnson (1458)
John Liddle (1818) 0.5 – 0.5 Michael EI Allen (1405)
Top scorer for the team and scorer of the crucial draw which won them the final was Michael Allen. Here is his game from the final. It’s worth first noting that one of the chess ideas which may have come from the apocryphal “Soviet School of Chess” is that of “playing for two results”. It basically means making error free chess the priority so as to always keep the possibility of drawing or winning the game.
Michael refined this in this game to “playing for one result”. Perfectly understandable since drawing the game meant winning the match. What was rather more surprising was that his opponent copied him! Michael, feeling perhaps that the game spoke for itself, left it to the post author to add comments.
[pgn height=500 initialHalfmove=1 autoplayMode=none]
[Event “Summer Knockout”]
[Date “2021.09.20”]
[White “John Liddle”]
[Black “Michael Allen”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “1818”]
[BlackElo “1431”]
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.O-O O-O {all very symmetrical} 7.Nd5 {d4 would be more normal but the move played better fits the “one result” policy} d6 8.Rb1 Nxd5 9.cxd5 Ne5 {Nb5 would be better and in line with a “two results” policy} 10.b3 Nxf3+ 11.Bxf3 Qa5 12.Qc2 Bd7 {Probably slightly better objectively than Bh3 since black’s bishop is better than white’s. With the queen on a5 black wants to play on the queenside} 13.d3 Bh3 {Remembering that the plan is a draw} 14.Bd2 Qc7 15.Bg2 {If the pawn wasn’t on d5 blocking the bishop then Rfc1 would have been a bit better} Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Rac8 {Which rook where? Rfe8 might have been better eyeing up the e file after a planned e6 to try and also open up the diagonal to the king} 17.Rbc1 e6 18.Qc4 {“One result” policy in action} exd5 19.Qxd5 Qc6 {No second invitation needed} 20.Qxc6 Rxc6
21.Rc2 Re8 22.e3 {Putting another pawn on a dark square doesn’t seem clever. Bf4 putting the bishop on a more aggressive square and protecting the pawn via the c2 rook probably made more sense} d5 23.Rfc1 Rec8 24.Kf1 Kf8 25.Ke2 f5 26.b4 {Rxc5 has to be a bit better with Bb4 and d4 to follow and a passed pawn is likely} cxb4 27.Bxb4+ Ke8 28.Rxc6 Rxc6 29.Rxc6 bxc6 {Just bishops and pawns left. The goal is clearly in sight} 30.d4 Bf6 31.Kd3 Kd7 32.Bc5 a6 33.Kc3 Kc7 34.Kb4 h5 35.Ka5 Kb7 36.Bd6 Bd8+ 37.Kb4 g5 38.f3 a5+ 39.Kc3 Ka6 40.a4 g4
41.fxg4 hxg4 42.Kd3 Bg5 43.Ke2 Kb7 44.Kf2 Bh6 45.Ba3 Bg5 46.Bc1 Kb6 47.Bd2 Bd8 48.Kg2 c5 49.Kf2 c4 50.Ke2 Be7 51.Bc3 Bb4 52.Kd2 Bxc3+ 53.Kxc3 Kc6 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]
