May 19, 2022
First of all, massive congratulations to Mick Riding for organising the biggest and best DCCA congress ever with almost 160 entries. A big “Thank you”, too, to Alex Macfarlane for managing such a large event all by himself. A tribute to both that everything went smoothly.
It was a successful tournament for South Shields. Our representation in the Open was limited to part-time Durham League players, Tim Wall and Dave Walker, but they both finished equal second on 4/5 behind sole winner IM Brandon Clarke on 4.5/5
In the Major Anthony Sweeting also finished equal second on 4/5 behind Durham University’s Luke Elliot on 5/5. Brian Towers finished fourth equal on 3.5/5 (after losing a winning position against tournament winner, Luke Elliot) and Eddie Czestochowski was unlucky to finish on 0.5/5 having managed to gift his much higher rated opponent a draw in round one when Eddie was also completely winning.
It was a similar story in the Minor where Michael Allen finished equal third on 4/5 having managed to lose a winning position against the tournament winner, Maksym Kryshtafor. Dave Patterson finished 11th equal on 3/5 and Stan Johnson scored 1.5/5.
Here is one of Anthony’s games with annotations by him.
[pgn height=500 initialHalfmove=1 autoplayMode=none][pgn height=500 initialHalfmove=1 autoplayMode=none]
[Event “Durham Chess Congress (2022)”]
[Site “Darlington”]
[Date “2022.05.08”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Robert Clegg”]
[Black “Anthony Sweeting”]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “1688”]
[WhiteElo “1813”]
[TimeControl “110+10”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 {This was the final round of the competition and I
needed a win (and some other results to go my way) to reach second place. I
thought for a little while on my next move, debating whether to go for a King’s
Indian or a Grünfeld. I decided to try my luck in a Grünfeld.} 3… d5 4. cxd5
Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Rb1 {The first deviation from theory, more common is developing the kingside.} 7… c5 {I continued in normal Grünfeld style} 8. Nf3 Bg4 {and decided to sacrifice my b7 pawn for more pressure against the center. Castling first would have been more accurate as 9.Bb5+ or 9.Qa5+ both force me to block the d-file to defend against the check.} 9. Rxb7 {Even though this seems to be the point of 7.Rb1, black has now equalised due to his superior development and the misplaced rook on b7.} 9… O-O 10. Be3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 (11. gxf3 {is better so the queen can still guard d4.}) 11… cxd4 12. cxd4 Qa5+ (12… Bxd4 13. Bxd4 Qxd4 {may have been a better way to win my pawn back, but I wanted to keep my dark-squared bishop.}) 13. Bd2 Qxa2 14. Bc3 {White is seriously neglecting development to hold on to the pawn.} 14… Nc6 15. e5 Rac8 {On the surface, this move simply defends the unprotected knight on c6, but also sets up some nasty ideas.} 16. Be2 Nxd4 {A deflection sacrifice. This move pulls the bishop to d4, thus clearing the c-file for my rook, opening the d-file for the f8 rook and opening the e1-a5 diagonal for my queen. White is punished for his lack of development as his King will now never leave the middle of the board.} 17. Bxd4 Rc1+ 18. Bd1 Qa5+ 19. Ke2 (19. Kf1 Rxd1+ 20. Qxd1 Qa6+ 21. Kg1 Qxb7) 19… Rd8 20. Qe4 {Highlighting how difficult it is to defend the bishop and the misplaced rook on b7. The white queen has to remain on a square that defends against …Qa6+ picking up the rook.} ({If} 20. Be3 {then} 20… Qa2+ Ke1 Rcxd1+ 22. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1 Qd5+) (20. Qd3 Bxe5) (20. Rxa7 {This was missed by both players, perhaps because it looks like pawn grabbing, which intuitively doesn’t make sense in the current position. More importantly though, the rook takes control of the a-file and gains a tempo on my queen, which doesn’t really have a useful place to go. This is the only move for white to
stay in the game with equality.}) 20… Rc4 {Now there’s no saving the bishop
and white’s position falls apart,} 21. Bb3 (21. Rxa7 {no longer works due to}
21… Qxa7 22. Bxa7 Rxe4+ {as black is up an exchange and a pawn.}) (21. Ke3
Rcxd4 22. Qxd4 Rxd4 23. Kxd4 Qxe5+) 21… Rcxd4 22. Bxf7+ {One last attempt}
22… Kxf7 23. Qf3+ Kg8 {but the checks quickly run out and black has several
mating ideas, so my opponent resigned here. Results on the other boards happened to go my way, so I finished the competition in second place with 4/5.} 0-1[/pgn]
