Sunday Puzzle 1

White to play and win.

Jan Vančura, 1922 (published posthumously)

View the solution on the excellent Yet Another Chess Problem Database.

Grading History Graph

http://www.trowbridgechessclub.co.uk/club_grades_chart.php

WECU Jamboree 2014

A Wiltshire team captained by Trowbridge's own Roy Ludlow finished equal first in the Grade-limited section of this year's jamboree. Here are the results for our players:

Bd.	White				Black
2	Trefor Thynne	161	0-1	Jim Sherwin	198
4	Andrew Cooper	174	1-0	Adrian Champion	151
6	Jim Fewkes	150	½-½	Ricardo Rei	168
7	Tim Woodward	146	1-0	Chris Fewtrell	149
10	Tristan West	147	½-½	George Georgiou	139
12	Roy Ludlow	128	0-1	John Allen	132
14	Vignesh Ramesh	131	1-0	Gareth Williams	118
16	Richard Carver	116	0-1	Roger Waters	112
18	David Brown	102	0-1	Geoff Berryman	108
23	Robert Sparks	72	1-0	Nandaja Narayanan	101
24	Ivan Stringer	110	½-½	Gordon Chapman	104

 Board 22 was defaulted gaining Wiltshire an extra point.

2014 Club KO Final

The first game of the 2013-14 knock-out final was played on the 1st May 2014 and resulted in a draw, following a most unusual opening and a missed middlegame opportunity. In the second instalment (to be played Thursday 25th September) David Weston has the White pieces.

Frome Congress 2014

Here are the results for the Trowbridge players at Frome this year:

Tom and Tim both win a Somerset trophy.

Player	Section	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Score	Performance
Tim Woodward	Major	1	1	½	1	1	4½	182
Mark Leonard	Major	1	1	½	0	½	3	166
Tom Cooper	Intermediate	1	1	1	0	1	4	162
Roy Ludlow	Intermediate	½	0	1	½	0	2	109
David Weston	Major	0	0	0	-	0	1	89
Nigel Crucefix	Minor	0	0	1	0	1	2	83

In the Major Tim finished a clear point ahead of those in 2nd - 5th place. Mark's peaceful draw in the last round wins him £6.25 (whereas a victory would have earned £43).

Tom finished equal 2nd - 4th which should net him £71.66

Team Trowbridge finished on 10½ points, behind Bath on 12½.
Of course, our best four from the squad of six would have scored 13½.

Blackpool Congress 2014

Live results for the Trowbridge players at Blackpool this year:

Player	Section	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Score
Dave Marshall	Median	1	½	½			2
Mark Leonard	Median	½	1	1			2½
Tom Cooper	Inter	½	½	1			2

Roy Ludlow versus Richard Carver

What's this? Richard Carver beaten at Trowbridge Chess Club? Again? (I believe this last occurred in 2011.)

Can you spot what White played in this position?

r4r2/2q1b2k/p1b1p2p/1p2Np2/3PpP1Q/1PP1R3/PB3K1P/R7

Only one move wins here, and Roy comes up with a corker.

July 2013 ECF Grades

Here is the annual inspection of Trowbridge players using the latest grading list.

Player	Jul 2013	Jan 2013	League Results (2012-13)
Andy Cooper	170	168	+1 =6 -1
Arthur Hibbitt	161	153	+4 =1 -2
Tim Woodward	159	146	+4 =5 -0
David Weston	153	149	+4 =2 -3
Mark Leonard	153	163	+4 =6 -5
Dave Marshall	148	164	+4 =3 -6
Chris Lamming	147		+3 =0 -1
Derek Rothwell	145	137	+5 =1 -5
Gareth Williams	138	144	+3 =4 -2
Roy Ludlow	124	119	+4 =5 -4
Louis Burton	90	89	+3 =4 -7
Nigel Crucefix	81	75	+1 =3 -5
Anthony Ransom	66	71	+2 =1 -4

This year no fewer than seven players are graded over 145 and are therefore ineligible to play in the lower divisions. (Last year Tim somehow scraped under the limit using the July 2012 grading list.)

Wiltshire Minor League

This season affords an opportunity for the Minor team to make amends for last season's poor showing. Trowbridge lost 7 of 8 matches, only drawing with Swindon A at home. Swindon A, of course, won all 7 of their other fixtures!

Derek drew 5 out of 5 games (3 of those with Black pieces). In fact we did not win a single game on boards 1 to 3. However we managed 7 draws and a loss on board 1 (even with a guest appearance from Tim).

Board	W-D-L	Points	Players
1	0-7-1	3½	Derek (2/4) Roy (½/1) Tim (½/1) Gareth (½/2)
2	0-4-4	2	Louis (0/2) Roy (1½/5) Derek (½/1)
3	0-2-6	1	Nigel (½/4) Louis (½/4)
4	2-1-5	2½	Richard White (0/2) Anthony (1½/5) Nigel (1/1)

On a positive note for those in the Minor league,the following very successful players are no longer able to play: Ricardo Rei and Peter Musgrove. Perhaps Swindon will not be the dominant force this time around.

White to move and win....

One of my favourite chess quotes is "If God played God at chess white would probably win". I am not sure whether this means that God would win every match with white, or just that maybe out of one million games the score would be 1 win and 999,999 draws, but of course I am merely being pedantic. The implication that there is such a small advantage of having the white pieces only God could take advantage, all other things being equal, is a simple yet charming notion. At the time of writing this I am unsure whether this particular debate is of interest to manufacturers of our super computers, and whether the above quote applies in this sphere i.e. Does it mean that white, always having the miniscule advantage of playing first, would definitely win with equal computer processing power over 1 million games. Or are they searching for less meaningful concerns such as time travel or prevention of global economic downturn etc?

Okay so this brings me on (rather tentatively I must confess) to my recent game at the WECU jamboree on September 22nd 2013. I had the white Ivory and the opening was a Grand Prix attack, and after a couple of less than God like moves on either side I sacrificed a Bishop for a pawn and the position eventually developed as per the diagram below.


                                                                  BLACK Chris Strong

                                                                WHITE Yours Truly

Now I wasn't necessarily thinking of the above dictum at the time, indeed I might not win because although I had the white pieces, I was out-graded by six points(!), but I knew I was in a strong position and still had enough major/minor pieces to cause severe pain to my opponent. However, here it is a good example of a chess game that has been played to such an extent that it is a clear win whichever side has the next move. As mentioned earlier I had the white pieces so my luckless opponent had to face the delightful move (even though I say it myself) Rxf5+ fireworks...ouch that must have hurt, being a piece down and now going for a further exchange sac. He has no option but to take and white is now able to force a won endgame position although as it happens this game ended in a checkmate, - I think my opponent was mentally fatigued by this time. If however, it is Black to move he simply plays Qxd5 check, and he is able to save the day and secure an easily won position.

Thank God I had the first move!

For those who want to see the full game here is the PGN:

[Event "Wecu Jamboree"]
[Date "22/09/2013"]
[White "GW 138"]
[Black "Chris Strong 144"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23 Sicilian Grand Prix Attack"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 e6 6.d3 Nge7 7.O-O O-O 8.Qe1 Nd4 9.Nxd4 Bxd4+ 10.Kh1 d6 11.f5 exf5 12.Bg5 Qd7 13.Qh4 Re8 14.Bxf7+ Kxf7 15.Qxh7+ Bg7 16.Bh6 Rg8 17.g4 b5 18.gxf5 gxf5 19.Nd5 Nxd5 20.exd5 c4 21.dxc4 bxc4 22.Rae1 Qb7 23.Rxf5+ Bxf5 24.Qxf5+ Bf6 25.Qe6+ Kg6 26.Rg1+ Kh7 27.Qf5+ Kh8 28.Qxf6+ Kh7 29.Qf5+ Kh8 30.Bg5 Raf8 31.Bf6+ Rxf6 32.Qxf6+ Kh7 33.Qh4# 1-0

Interview on BBC Radio Wiltshire

Tony Ransom and Roy Ludlow have been talking about Trowbridge Chess Club and the Wiltshire chess leagues with Ian Longdon on BBC Wiltshire.

The programme is available here for the next 5 days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bzmts

Skip ahead to 53:22 (i.e. 53 minutes and 22 seconds into the episode)
and then skip again to 1:03:35

The actual interview content appears from

1:10:54 to 1:14:50
2:08:24 to 2:14:14

ECF Small Club of the Year 2012 Presentation

Small Club of the Year 2012

Dr Andrew Murrison at Trowbridge Chess Club

Here is South West Wiltshire MP (and junior Minister) Andrew Murrison (centre) photographed with various club members including Tony Ransom (right). Doctor Murrison was kind enough to visit the club (Friday 11th January) to present us with the ECF certificate and trophy. Also in attendance was a representative of the Wiltshire Times, a local publication which generously printed an article (sadly not reproduced online).

ECF Trophy

Top: Roy
Bottom: Mark, Nigel, Tony, Arthur

And now for some actual chess...
Below is the board position used in the first photograph. Can you reproduce the game moves?

r1bqk1nr/pppp1ppp/2n5/8/1bB1P3/2p2N2/P4PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 0 7

There's a fine fine line

For those of you who have seen the hilarious Avenue Q Musical you will be aware as to how this article's title has been chosen. For those who haven't a clue take my word it is one laugh after another and unashamed political in-correctness!

So my story begins a couple of months ago at Norton Radstock school on October 6th 2012. Norton Radstock chess club was celebrating its fortieth anniversary and decided to ask Grand Master Matthew Turner to show us how chess should really be played. He played against 27 chess players drawn from Radstock and other local chess clubs including Frome, Trowbridge and Bath. I was the only delegate from Trowbridge that could attend, but I noted a few respectably rated players including Tim (187) and Fenella Headlong (161) from Brown Jack and Witney.

Arriving at the venue I was informed that there would be certain rule changes that would make this different from other simultaneous displays. Here we go I thought, this would surely be be to our detriment. Then to my astonishment I am told about the changes:

Firstly, every single competitor could chose their own colour! Wow I had never played in a Simul before where I could be white....but just hang on a minute I have studiously prepared the previous week against 1. e4, 1. d4, 1. c4, 1. F4, 1. Nc3 1. G6 etc...What do I do now just 15 minutes before battle commences? Make up my mind to choose the white bits of wood of course (I had already swapped a couple of plastic pieces from the board next to me I have to confess!), but what if...? No white will do.

Secondly, we were all allocated 1 hour 15 minutes to make our moves, and GM Turner had 1 hour 45 mins - fair enough as GM Turner has to wander around in a big square to reach every player whilst we have the luxury to sit around and relax without resorting to our phone or ipad software of course!

Thirdly, we could elect to 'pass' as many times as we liked during a game. Again this was quite unusual as normally you would be limited to a maximum of three passes. Of course if you went down this route too many times early on, your 1 hour 15 would soon be eaten away.

After a quiet opening which Matthew Turner had gained just under a point advantage (-.83 according to one of my trusty software partners Hiarcs 14 - btw at move 12 I am apparently 0.5 ahead against a GM..awesome) the following position was reached......

[Event "Simultaneous Norton Radstock"]
[Date "6 Oct 2012"]
[White "Me"]
[Black "GM Matthew Turner"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Rc1 a6 11. h3 c5 12. Re1 Rc8 13. Qe2 c4 14. Bf5 g6 15. Bb1 b5 16. a3 Ne4 17. Bf4 Nxc3 18. Rxc3 b4 19. Rc2 bxa3 20. bxa3 Bxa3 21. h4 Be7 22. h5 Bc6 23. Bh6 Re8 24. Ra2 Bb5 25. hxg6 hxg6 26. Bf4 Bf6 27. Qc2 Kg7


There followed 28. g4 to uproarious laughter from Matthew "ah the other pawn" he said unable to suppress his mirth, "actually its quite a nuisance" he said probably thinking I might have been offended. Earlier on move 21. h4 I had made a point about how my h-pawn had been the lone attacker). Now this wasn't necessarily the best move but it was 'only' a simul......!

The game continued for another 14 moves or so when the position outlined in the second diagram was arrived at: I had sacrificed a knight a few moves earlier in a desperate bid for counterplay.......but my attack has effectively lost steam and my resignation is imminent:((

There are nearly forty moves available for black three clearly winning, many levelling the sides, but many more could/should lose outright for black despite being a piece to the good. I know that I make a point about knowing when to resign but sometimes don't follow my own advice!

Then Matthew played.............Qb7??

This was an unbelievable stroke of luck a total miscalculation on his part, - now ok he had been playing 27 games at a time having just won 23 out of 24, now ok he had also given the choice of colours to all-comers, (nearly all chose white, including me), he had just beaten Tim Headlong after a tough game and had Fenella and one other game left, but he had given himself 105 minutes against our 75 mins for each game - lol!

I looked at my clock knowing the next move was obvious.....30 seconds or so and counting (my count) Matthew had just 25 minutes! Surely now Bd5 and it cant go on much longer..make the move BE4.. BE4 BE4.. I did, and at this point Matthew Turner said, and I quote...."I suppose the uninitiated would assume I have brought your piece into the attack". 'You might say that" I said with a smirk. Exactly well played G, A chill ran down my spine surely this is a winning position? Well it certainly looks that way.

Indeed it is is clearly winning, +6 or +7 whichever software variant you use, there are some very interesting continuations but with just a few seconds left on the clock I could not find the winning moves and resigned just as the flag was about to fall, even missing an opportunity to get my piece back! It transpires that instead of Bd5 by white - Fxg6 is an unavoidable mate in 11 for black, that would have been an awesome way to lose!! By the way final result Matthew 26 the rest 1 his one loss to Norton Radstock chess player Andrew Gredziak current grade 113. Nice scalp.

TCC KO Round 1 (part 3)

1st Qualification Round (continued)

Dave Marshall won against Nigel last night to take the remaining qualification spot.

Pairings

3

Nigel Crucefix

0-1

Dave Marshall

12

 

Qualified to the Quarter Final (Jan/Feb 2013)

Gareth Williams
Mark Leonard
Derek Rothwell
Tim Woodward
Dave Marshall

Through to the Second Round of Qualification (29th November)

Anthony Ransom
David Weston
Louis Burton
Roy Ludlow
Arthur Hibbitt
Nigel Crucefix

July 2012 ECF Grades

It's time for a look at the latest grading list, before this season's league chess gets under-way (for Trowbridge at any rate).

Player	Jul 2012	Jan 2012	League Results (2011-12)
Leonard, Mark	164	151	+8 =2 -3
Marshall, Dave	158	143	+11 =1 -2
Hibbitt, Arthur	156	156
Weston, David	154	155	+4 =2 -3
Williams, R Gareth	142	129	+3 =4 -2
Rothwell, Derek	139	147	+5 =1 -5
Woodward, Tim	139	137	+3 =1 -4
Ludlow, Roy	115	111	+4 =5 -4
Burton, Louis	87	91	+3 =4 -7
Ransom, Tony	64	75	+0 =2 -5
Crucefix, Nigel	68	67	+1 =3 -5
White, Richard	56	n/a	+1 =0 -8

The top four players are graded over 145 and are therefore not eligible to play in the lower divisions.

Second spot is taken by Dave Marshall, who has made very good progress in the last couple of years, and is now deservedly promoted to the first team following a superb season (with only the odd aberrant result).

I'm pleased to report that Arthur Hibbitt is now a fully fledged member of the club, with all that this honour entails. I'm looking forward to playing alongside him in my first league game of the season.

David Weston's grade continues to improve steadily despite a difficult season last year, where he was oddly promoted from board 4 to board 1 in the Wiltshire 4-a-side league. With any luck David will find himself on one of the middle boards for a change.

Gareth's grade is also on the up. Presumably those Roman videos are proving to be beneficial. If he continues to improve we could see a new personal best (rating).

Man of leisure Tim looks to be somewhat under-graded currently. He was 155 back in July 2011 which is probably nearer the mark. Tim has been a lot more active recently and is looking sharp. I feel sorry for any opponents on the lower boards.

Derek's grade took another dent this year but he seems to be finding his feet again after a sticky patch.

Roy was graded 131 in 2011 but had disappointing results in 2011-12. Some serious summer study sets him up for the season. I expect success.

TCC KO Round 1 (part 2)

1st Qualification Round (continued)

Tim and Arthur contested an exciting game tonight, and Derek beat Roy on the second attempt.

Pairings

5	Derek Rothwell	1-0	Roy Ludlow	7
11	Tim Woodward	1-0	Arthur Hibbitt	4

 

Qualified to the Quarter Final (Jan/Feb 2013)

Gareth Williams
Mark Leonard
Derek Rothwell
Tim Woodward

 

Through to the Second Round of Qualification (29th November)

Anthony Ransom
David Weston
Louis Burton
Roy Ludlow
Arthur Hibbitt

TCC KO Round 1

1st Qualification Round

The first round of the inaugural Trowbridge Chess Club Knockout Tournament was attended by nine players on Thursday the 27th September. Each player selected a pairing number at random, as listed below. Two club members (Dave M and Tim) could not play on the night but had entered the competition beforehand. Richard did not attend.

Tony elected to take a bye to the second qualification round. The remaining entrants were paired at random, using the traditional "shuffle a pack of Gareth's business cards" method.

#	Player
1	David Weston	Enters 2nd qualification round
2	Richard White	Withdrawn
3	Nigel Crucefix	Game postponed
4	Arthur Hibbitt	Game postponed
5	Derek Rothwell	To be replayed
6	Mark Leonard	Qualified
7	Roy Ludlow	To be replayed
8	Anthony Ransom	Enters 2nd qualification round
9	Louis Burton	Enters 2nd qualification round
10	Gareth Williams	Qualified
11	Tim Woodward	Unavailable
12	Dave Marshall	Unavailable

 

Pairings

1	David Weston	0-1	Gareth Williams	10
6	Mark Leonard	1-0	Louis Burton	9
7	Roy Ludlow	½-½	Derek Rothwell	5
3	Nigel Crucefix	P-P	Dave Marshall	12
11	Tim Woodward	P-P	Arthur Hibbitt	4

 

Qualified to the Quarter Final (Jan/Feb 2013)

Gareth Williams
Mark Leonard

 

Through to the Second Round of Qualification (25th October)

Anthony Ransom
David Weston
Louis Burton

Somerset League Fixtures 2012-13

Here are the new season's fixtures (subject to change). Please refer to the Somerset County Chess Association fixtures page for any official updates.

Somerset Knock-Out
In the annual 8 board Somerset Knock-Out Cup holders Taunton once again receive a bye directly into the semi-final. The other fixtures are identical to last season's; therefore Trowbridge find themselves away to Frome. However this year could feature a much changed line-up.

Day	Date	Home	Away
Mon	12 November	Glastonbury	Norton Radstock
Tue	13 November	Frome	Trowbridge
Thu	15 November	Sedgemoor	Yeovil
Semi	11-15 February 2013
Final	25-29 March 2013

Somerset Division 2 East
Trowbridge are once again hopeful of winning back the Charles Marsh (East) trophy from Frome. To achieve this we will need to avoid last year's heavy defeat away to Bath in the opening match.
The maximum 145 average ECF grade over 6 boards shouldn't be difficult to manage.

Day	Date	Home	Away
Wed	10 October	Bath	Trowbridge
Thu	8 November	Trowbridge	Norton Radstock
Tue	11 December	Frome	Trowbridge
Thu	10 January 2013	Trowbridge	Bath
Thu	21 February 2013	Norton Radstock	Trowbridge
Thu	21 March 2013	Trowbridge	Frome

Somerset Division 3 East
In Division 3 no player graded over 145 is eligible and the sum total for the team must not exceed 500. Players graded under 95 are deemed to be 95 ECF. Ungraded players are considered to be graded 110.
This means that we will be unable to play Gareth, Tim and Derek all in the same team (at the same time).

Day	Date	Home	Result	Away
Tue	23 October	Frome	vs	Trowbridge
Thu	22 November	Trowbridge	vs	Bath
Thu	6 December	Norton Radstock	vs	Trowbridge
Thu	17 January 2013	Trowbridge	vs	Frome
Wed	13 February 2013	Bath	vs	Trowbridge
Thu	7 March 2013	Trowbridge	vs	Norton Radstock

ECF Membership 2012-13

Historically the majority of local league players have been happy to forego full membership of the ECF and instead they opted to pay game (and/or congress) fees. Actual ECF membership was only necessary for those playing in FIDE rated events. Excepting the Yeovil Major (last year) this wasn't an issue for most club players (unless they were also featuring in the 4NCL).

The 2012-13 season, however, is a different story. Although membership is still optional (at least for non-FIDE events) the game fee (for grading administration) has risen to £2 from last season's 58p. However this fee will be waived for ECF members. This is clearly intended to incentivise membership. Full details can be found on the ECF website, but here are the salient points:

• The new scheme starts Saturday the 1st September 2012.
• Basic ("Bronze") individual membership is £13 for adults, or £12 if registering online.
• Annual membership expires 31st August 2013.
• Bronze membership allows you to play any number of club/league/county games with zero game fee.
• Silver membership costs an additional £6 but this (theoretically) entitles you to a discount of £6 (for an adult) for each congress entered. (The £6 is a levy charged by the ECF to the congress organisers for each non-member entrant in the event.)

Clearly it will prove cost-effective to join the ECF (online) for any individual playing 6 or more games in a year. Silver membership is similarly a no-brainer for anyone wishing to enter a congress during the season. The option to pay for 3 years membership ahead of time also looks to be a very sensible choice.

British Championships Round 7

David Howell (5.5/7) drew with Gawain Jones (6/7) today and Arkell (4.5/7) lost to Stephen Gordon (6/7).

On the top board it looked like Jones was playing for a win, but he found it difficult to create clear chances against White's solid play. Gordon impressively outplayed Arkell in an endgame, but appears to have blundered badly with 36...Nxa4? as 37.Be4+ Kh8 38.Rf7 Rg5 39.Qf1 was clearly winning for White.

Stephen Gordon has won 6 of his 7 games, losing only to Jones, but has faced weaker opposition (on average). In the next round he has to face Howell, whereas Jones has played (and beaten most of) the top scoring players. The only GMs left for him to play are Gormally (5/7) and Conquest (4.5/7). In fact, Jones has the higher-scoring IM Hawkins (5/7) next round. Hawkins lost to Howell in round 3, but otherwise has faced untitled opposition. Any result (except a loss!) against Jones tomorrow would certainly shake things up.

Leaderboard
On 6 points: Jones (TPR 2726) and Gordon (TPR 2621)
On 5.5 points: Howell (TPR 2627) and Hawkins (TPR 2480)
On 5 points: Turner (2480), Gormally (2418), Hanley (2354) and Rudd (2272)

Rudd's (unintentional, I'm sure) Swiss Gambit has paid off as he has followed his two initial losses with five straight wins. Rudd has been playing some exciting chess, as has Hawkins. We can only hope that these two will play each other in a future round.

Turner played a rather old-fashioned continuation (8. Ne5) in a KID / English and appeared to choose an inferior move (13. Bg5 instead of 13. Ndxc5) but nevertheless achieved a clean win in good positional style. Walker should probably have played 13...Ne6

Also deserving of a mention is Charlie Storey, who avoided using his patented Sniper (with Black today) and instead went in for a Sicilian against GM Danny Gormally. His move 9...d5 seemed slightly dubious, leading to a French-style position with a knight offside on b6. However, this was all theory and presumably followed Storey's preparation. Gormally deviated with 11.Ne2 (taking the square e2 away from his queen).

After 11...Bd7 12.Nf4 Storey reacted with 12...h5?! and continued to play aggressive moves, showing no fear as he followed up with ...g5, ...g4 and ...f6 (a move that no-one in Andrew Martin's analysis room predicted). Gormally sacrificed a pawn in an attempt to catch Black's king in the centre. Black gave the pawn back and sacced another, bravely castling kingside. Sadly the lack of pawn cover proved too much of a liability and Gormally found a sequence of accurate moves to create a mating attack.

British Championships Week 1

Here's a round-up of the web coverage of the event:

Round	GOTD	GingerGM	Blogs
1	Turner vs Storey	Holland vs Houska	TWIC
2	Jones vs Chapman		Gawain Jones
3	Howell vs Hawkins	Jones vs Arkell
4	Weller vs Hanley
5	Gordon vs Osborne
6	Jones vs Turner