East Cheshire Chess Club Blog

John Reed recently sent me one of his best wins, played in the Pornic Open in France where he won the veteran prize. In John’s words “it just shows the power of the Queens Gambit Exchange variation, the best opening there is.” That may be true but how often do your opponents let you play it?

Here is the game with a few notes by me:

John Reed vs. T Giraud (1900)

1. d4 d5
2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. cd5 ed5

The starting position of the Queen’s Gambit Exchange Version. White has the half open c-file and an extra central pawn with prospects of a central pawn storm later. What does Black have? I’m not sure really! Perhaps John could explain one day? Nigel Short seems happy to play the Black pieces here anyway.

5. Bg5 Be7
6. Qc2 c6
7. e3 Bg4
8. Bd3 Nbd7
9. f3 Bh5
10. N(1)e2 Bg6
11. O-O Bd3
12. Qd3 h6
13. Bh4 O-O
14. Rad1 Re8


The opening is over. White is ready to start pushing pawns. Black adopts a wait-and-see approach which doesn’t work very well!

15. Kh1 Nf8
16. Bf2 Ng6
17. e4 Bf8
18. e5 Nd7
19. f4 Bb4
20. f5 Nf8
21. Qg3 Qg5
22. Qh3 Be7
23. Rd3

Ooops! Black’s queen is in danger of being trapped and most of his pieces are mere spectators.

23. … h5
24. f6 Bf6
25. ef6 Qf6
26. Rf3 1-0
What a crush! A great reason to play 1. d4, except that most of the time you will find yourself in a Nimzo, or a King’s Indian, or a Slav…

Here is how Tudor won his game last Thursday night. This was the decisive game which won us the match against Holmes Chapel.

Notes by Tudor.

Tudor Rickards v. M Roberts (127).

Here is the position after 30. cxd:

Various tactics left white with not a lot more than a slightly easier position to play in time trouble.

Black decides to simplify. But this left one winning resouce I had been hoping might come into play.

30. … Q xd4 (I expected R xd4)

So what would you play to give yourself the chance of a quick swindle?

31. Qe2 (to appear to threaten a6, although Rd1 looks better …)
31. … Qd6 (Oh, yes, thank you black)
32. Qc4 and wins. Cheap but some credit for trying for the endgame with good B versus poor Kt, and the basic combo working with one pair of rooks off, and Qs still on.

Having already beaten Chorlton (twice) and High Peak this season East Cheshire is now ready to mix in international circles. So on Thursday night our number one board John Reed took on Welsh star Jon Blackburn who represented his country in Dresden last year. Jon has a FIDE rating of almost 2200 but our John held him to a 14 move draw by repetition. Notes by John below.

J Reed v J Blackburn (some huge grade)

1. d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.Nc3 Bb4 I hate playing this . Played it on the internet and I know what’s coming.

4. e4 Bb7 5 Bd3 Nf6 6 f3 Nh5 (!?)

Huge think now. Decided that out of Be3, Ne2 I preferred 7.Nh3 Qh5 8 Nf2 (but what about g3 !!) Nc6 9. g3(!) no time to protect d4 …. Ng3 (else he is swamped if he retreats) 10 hg3 Qg3 11 Be3 (white winning now) f5 ( I now concocted elaborate drawing plan overlooking Rh3 winning)

12. Ke2 f4 13 Rg1 Qh2 14 Rh1 Qg3 15 etc

Tuesday night saw East Cheshire A team playing fellow strugglers Chorlton. If there was a prize for worst playing venue in the Stockport league then Chorlton would almost certainly win it. It seems like there are no brooms or paint brushes in Manchester these days. And the landlords were obviously saving energy costs by only turning the heating on 10 minutes before the match started!

Despite the less than salubrious surrounding we managed to win the match 4-2, no thanks to my miserable defeat on board 4.

On board 5 Tudor gave Mr Sainsbury another lesson in the inherent problems with the Pirc defense! Actually the opening was not the cause of the defeat and in a totally unclear position it could have been anyone’s game.

So here is the game with notes by Tudor unless otherwise stated.

Rickards v Sainsbury

Feb 11^th 2009

E Cheshire v Chorlton

I have a feeling this game will be trashed by Fritz. Who cares what a slice of silicon can do?

1 e4 d6;
2 d4 Nf6;
3 Nc3 g6;
4 f3 (classical system I found out afterwards. Crude and tactical).
4 ..Bg7;
5 Be3 (not popular. More common is Be2. Go on Fritz. Hit me). (actually this is the main line! – Phil)
5 …O-O;
6 Qd2 Re8; (let’s preserve the bishop, if 7 Bh6);
7 O-O-O c6; ( pawn push game coming up. Thought briefly of 8 Kb1 to avoid nasties on the a file and sacs plus Bh6 to win queen. Decided to press on);
8 g4 (opponent thought of 8.. Bxg4, 9..Nxg4 with those threats to my king 10 Bh6. I didn’t think much. Piece for 2ps, But I do have to give up nice bishop for knight)
8 ..Qc7 ; (Seemed a bit slow in hindsight. But it might force me to make that move Kb1);
9 h4 (sacs still about same as last move) 9 …b5 ; (time to think. Continue K side push, or move Kt. Decided K side push, stick Kt(c3) on b1 not on e2 so I could have play on the a2-g8 diagonal for my bishop. Almost certainly meant losing the a pawn and nasties down the h8-a1 diagonal. So
10 h5 critical position.

10 …e5!? ; (didn’t expect it. Expected 10 …b5 when would have played 11 Nb1 and if 11 ..Qa5, h5xg6 with complex game but a nice open h file).

11 hxg6 …fxg6;

12 Qh2 (not totally crude as it has ties down the black Kt to defence 12 …b4

13 Nb1 13 ..Be6;

14 b3 (?! Or ? Had rough plan of c4, and looked at ..exd4, Red4) …14 …a5 (back to pushing)

15 a4 ? (why didn’t I stick to my earlier idea of c4?) 15 … pxp a3 (e.p.) ;

16 Nx a3 …16 ..a4 ;

Now I thought the tactics were turning against me.
THIS IS THE MOST COMPLEX SITUATION REACHED SO FAR. MAYBE I COULD FIND A HOLDING MOVE. OK FRITZ. DO YOUR WORSE. position is incalculable. I now was seriously worried and needed to find a way of dealing with a4 x b3. Worse, I was running out of Lucazade. I thought the best option is to continue to create threats maybe as the attacking moves are a kind of defence which black may have to attend to.

17 Nc4 axb;
18 d x e b x c?; (had worried more about 18 …R a1+ 1; 18 b2 + is also good ) (chesslab.com gives the variation 18. … Ra1+ 19. Kd2 Ra2 20. Bd3 dxe5 21. Kc3 bxc2 22. Bxc2 Nbd7 with a 2 pawn advantage to Black – Phil.)
19 R x d6 (was considering this anyway, and black’s 18^th makes it more attractive)
…19 R a1+;

20 K x c2 Ra2 +;

21 Nb2 (One point of 17 Nc4, I was worried about losing Q along the 2^nd rank)

Now black launches into attractive series of sacs which probably entranced him. Simpler moves must give him more, and probably there’s a direct win. Now it simplifies to a slight plus for white
21 … R x Kt (!?);

22 K x Kt and now …Q x R (now I see what he’s up to, entire sequence is maybe !?)

23 e x Q d6 23 Kt x g4 (disc +);

24 K- c2 Kt x Q h2;

25 R x Kt h2 B-e5;

26 R – d2 (lucky me)

After a lot of careful trap-avoiding I force win on ca move 56 through strong connected passed pawns in centre. In this ending I needed to avoid swapping pieces as much as possible.

My run continues. One day soon my bubble will burst but for now I am enjoying the ride. Here is my game from last night…

A Soames (153) vs P Ramsey
Macc. Reds v East Cheshire B

1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6
3. g3 Bg7
4. Bg2 O-O
5. Nf3 d6
6. Nc3 Nbd7
7. O-O e5
8. e4 c6
9. Rb1

The above position has been reached over 300 times in master play. However my next move was played in none of them! I guess this means it is either bad or obscure. I thought it was a natural move, allowing Nh5 and f5 with the Knight being protected by the Queen after exf and gxf.

9. … Qe8
10. Re1 Nh5
11. dxe dxe
12. Be3?

Seeing as Black is obviously planning f5 possibly followed by f4 it seems wrong to let him gain a tempo on the bishop when he follows this plan.

12. … f5
13. b4 f4
14. Bc1 fxg

I wanted to open the f file for my rook and make sure my knight on h5 could always go to f4 if he pushed g4.

15. hxg Ndf6

Finally allowing my white bishop to enter the game.

16. Ba3 Bg4
17. Qb3 Nd7

Simply attacking the knight on f3.

18. Re3!?

This allows me to activate my dark bishop but his rook will be well placed on d3.

18. … Bh6
19. Rd3 Be6
20. b5

This uncovers an attack on my rook on f8. After Rf7 I would struggle to double up my queen and rook on the f file. My opponent had used up a lot of time by this point and seemed to be feeling the pressure so I decided to complicate things!

20. … Qf7!?

The pawn on c4 cannot be defended as Nd2 allows me to take on f2.

21. Rxd7 ?!

I think it was better to take on f8. After 21. … Rxf8 Black will win the c4 pawn and has some pressure but things are still unclear.

21. … Bxd7
22. Bxf8 Rxf8
23. c5 Be6
24. Qc2 Qf6
25 bxc bxc
26. Rb7 Bg4!?

This is probably the best move but I hadn’t really considered the response Nh2.

27. Ne1?

Thankfully he played something worse! After 27. Nh2 Be6 28. Rxa7 Nxg3! 29. fxg Be3+ 30. Kh1 Qg5 Black should win but would I have found this in time trouble?

27. … Nxg3!

Finally this knight has its say!

28. fxg3 Be3+
29. Kh2

Black appears to have nothing immediate. Can you spot the killer move?

29. … g5!

29. … Qg5 is equally strong. The check on the h file will be terminal.

30. Bf3 Qh6+
31. Kg2 Qh3++

A nice game and a nice win for East Cheshire B against a strong team.

East Cheshire A team recorded their first win of the season on Wednesday night! Chorlton outgraded us on paper but wins by David Taylor and I saw us to a 3.5 – 2.5 victory. Whether we can still avoid relegation is another matter.

After 3 games with Black it was nice to be White for a change. My opponent played the opening carelessly and I managed to punish him, ultimately pushing my g pawn all the way to the 8th rank in the middle game!

P Ramsey vs A Sainsbury (135)

1. e4 d6
2. d4 Nf6
3. Nc3 g6
4. f4 Bg7
5. Nf3 c6
6. Bd3 O-O
7. O-O b5

According to the chess.com games database White wins 65% of the games which have this position so I guess the odds were in my favour.

8. Kh1

A useful waiting move, getting my King safe and waiting to see where he will put his pieces.

8. … Bb7?

I think this is wrong as the weakening of the e6 squares proves to be painful for Black.

9. e5 Ne8
10. e6!? fxe
11. Ng5 Bc8

A sad retreat to the back rank for the Bishop.

12. Qe2

12. … Nf6!

A wise decision to return the pawn. On 12. … Nc7 I would have the possibility of Nxh7 followed by Qh5+.

13. Nxe6 Bxe6
14. Qxe6+ Kh8
15. Re1 Re8?

This looks too passive. We discussed after the game that 15. … b4 looked better.

16. f5 gxf
17. Qxf5 Nbd7
18. g4!

Not giving Black any breathing space. Of course this opens up my King but Black has no time to exploit the open diagonal.

18. … Nf8
19. g5 e6
20. Qh3 Ng8
21. Rf1

With the threat of Rxf8.

21. … h6?

Maybe Qd7 was better.

22. gxh Bxd4
23. Qg4 Bxc3
24. bxc3 Qd7
25. Rg1 Nf6

Can you spot how White wins a piece here?

26. Qg7+ Qxg7
27. hxg7+

The pawns makes its vital contribution before dying.

27. … Kg8
28. gxf8=Q+ Kxf8

White is a piece up and the attack continues.

29. Bh6+ Ke7
30. Rg7+ Kd8
31. Bg5 1-0

After 31. … Rf8 32. Bxf6 Rxf6 33. Rg8+ wins a rook.

One of those rare games where you have all the fun and your poor opponent doesn’t get out of his own half!

Here is my win for East Cheshire B vs. Macclesfield Reds.

When the game was adjourned material was equal but I dragged poor Ray over to our place as in the sealed position I could make a passed pawn and he couldn’t.

After about another 20 moves we reached the following position:

My rook is tied to the defense of my pawn on a5 but I decided to give it up as I thought my kingside pawns would be more dangerous than his queenside ones.

1. Re3!
2. Rxa5 Rg3
3. Rb5 Rxg2+
4. Ke1 g4 ?!

This is probably wrong but it certainly surprised Ray and sent him into a bit of a spin!

5. Rf5+ Kg6
6. Rxf4 gxh3
7. Kf1 Rxb2

8. Rxb4 now loses to Rb1+ followed by h2.

8. Kg1 h2+
9. Kh1 Rxb3
10. a5?

10. Rxh4 looks better to me.

10. Kg5

11. Rf2??

I think White is lost after this. He should stay on the 4th rank to either swipe my b pawn or get behind it. He can then advance his a pawn forcing me to give up the b pawn.

11. Ra3
12. Rb2 b3
13. Kxh2 Ra2
14. 0-1

I was just getting into the rhythm of the game’s 4th time scramble when he resigned.

An interesting endgame. I think after 4. … g4 it should have been a draw. It would be interesting to see if it is a Black win after 4. … Rg3 with the idea of getting 3 connected passed pawns. Anyone with Fritz want to see what it thinks?

Feel free to point out any errors in my analysis!

Phil.