East Cheshire Chess Club Blog

In a close contest the C Team scored a near win against Stockport D last night (Thursday 17 February 2011). The scorecard (below) involved only integers this time …

Stockport D…………………East Cheshire C
1….D. Preen……..0…1……B. Tait
2….J. Kelly……….0…1……G. Clarke
3….M. Jackson…1….0…..M. Cunnane
4….I. Anderson ..1….0…..I. Vaughan
5….A. Prime………0…1…..A. Buckley
TOTALS………….2….3

East Cheshire A kept their promotion drive on track with a 3.5 – 2.5 victory at Altrincham.

Graham lost a game he could have won and Dave N won a game he should have lost so in the end the luck cancelled out and our strength showed.

1. John Reed 1-0 Y Kolodiy (160)

Is the Queen’s Gambit Exchange Variation a forced win for White? John thinks so and here is more evidence. John bashed out his first 15 moves in about 5 minutes and ultimately had to apologise for knowing the opening so well. Kolodiy played actively but got ground down.

2. Graham Ball 0-1 K Lockett (159)

Graham appeared to have a slightly dodgy opening (too many pawn moves on the Kingside maybe?) but played actively and created some nasty threats. He appeared to be winning but then allowed Karl a mating attack.

3. Phil Ramsey 1-0 N Lowe (148)

I played a Reti / Catalan hybrid and Nick seemed rather unsure what to do against it. After 20 moves Nick had used nearly all his time and he then collapsed in the middlegame complications.

4. Dave Newall 1-0 R Clucas (UG)

Dave played his favourite Accelerated Dragon and got a very nice position from the opening with pressure on White’s queenside pawns. However he then blundered a piece but still managed to win by pushing his central passed pawns.

5. Alan Stokes 0-1 T Tomkins (131)

Alan played a very patient English opening but finally lost his Queen and the game.

6. Dave Broadbent 0.5-0.5 D Hughes (130)

Dave played the French Defence and quickly assumed the initiative with a kingside attack. However David defended well and eventually managed to block off the whole board!

Thanks everyone for making the long trip to Altrincham.

ECA has a few weeks off now until we play Stockport C on March 17th.

On 9th February 2011, the C Team gained 2 points from Wilmslow B, even though outgraded on every board. The points came from Geoff’s win, and two draws from the Andys B and W. An interesting match.

Last night ECA played Holmes Chapel at home in the semi finals of the Charnley Cup. As expected we were heavily out graded but we went down fighting, losing 4-2 in the end.

1. Graham Ball 0-1 P Bennett (190)

Graham was gradually ground down as he took on Patrick’s Pirc defence. In a typical Pirc game Graham set up a big pawn centre and Patrick systematically dismantled it.

2. Phil Ramsey 0-1 J Turner (182)

The problem with the Sicilian defence is that you often come up against someone’s pet anti-Sicilian system which they have been playing for twenty years! So it was last night as John played an obscure system I had not encountered before and I fell into an opening trap which left me virtually lost after ten moves or so. Back to the books for me.

In the unlikely event that anyone is interested in this trap a similar game can be found here. I unwittingly followed it for 13 moves before playing the inferior 14. … b5 and doing even worse than the Black player in that game.

3. Dave Newall 0.5-0.5 M Hancock (181)

Playing against another Pirc Defence Dave played solidly and had his draw offer accepted in the middle game.

4. Dave Broadbent 0-1 I Bates (170)

Ian played the Tarrasch against Dave’s French Defence and a wild game ensued where Dave had an extra pawn but had his King stuck in the centre. Ian played accurately in the end to finish Dave off.

5. David Taylor 0.5 – 0.5 A Raeburn (157)

Playing his favourite Reti David played solidly, swapped off the pieces and got the draw.

6. Keven Holton 1-0 M Roberts (139)

Keven gave the Sicilian a try and it seemed to work – leaving him three pawns up in the middlegame. Keven duly converted the full point.

So as expected we struggled on the top boards and did better at the bottom. Sadly even if Dave B had won we would have lost the match due to their wins being on higher boards but still it was a good performance.

Now who fancies a trip to Altrincham next week?

This was the C Team’s first visit to Macclesfield’s new venue. Unfortunately the Captain (who is that person?) had forgotten to tell everyone that the Club now meets at the Liberal Club on Boden Street, which accounted for boards 1 and 2 finishing later on in the evening, with Geoff and Paul having arrived by the scenic route.
The match was one of two halves not only chronologically, but also scoreologically, with Ian, Andy and Roy accumulating 2.5 points between them before Paul and Geoff had hardly sat down. Paul and Geoff were left to it, in the knowledge we could not lose. Needless to say, Macclesfield were set on not conceding any more points, and achieved the draw, late into the night, with at least one of those games going to the wire with only minutes on each clock. Thanks to Geoff for doing the score card.
Scores:
Board
1 P. Bamford 0 1 J.P. Taylor (139)
2 G. Clarke 0 1 R. Murphy (126)
3 I. Vaughan 1 0 P. Jones (50)
4 A Buckley 1 0 E. Nathan (50)
5 R Burrows 0.5 0.5 A Howe (50)
Totals 2.5 2.5

John had a nice win recently in our first team match against Bramhall. Using his favourite Schliemann Defense he sacrificed the exchange to force his opponents King into the centre of the board.

See how it happened:

Last night ECA beat Bramhall 6-0 but this was hardly a fair reflection of the games.

Bramhall are without their two strongest players this season and were not able to field a full team so we started the match at 1-0.

Here is how it developed:

1. John Reed 1-0 Peter Thursfield (134)

John played his favourite Schliemann Ruy Lopez and Peter was clearly uncertain how to handle it. Peter castled Queenside and was attacked mercilessly, ending up with his King in the centre of the board.

2. Phil Ramsey 1-0 Nick Flaherty (125)

Playing my new English opening I achieved a small advantage from the opening but didn’t find a winning plan. However when we reached a Bishop vs Knight ending I decided to play on as a Bishop is normally stronger than a Knight when there are pawns on both sides of the board. I managed to create some pressure and then my opponent, flustered because he thought he was lost, missed a simple draw.

In the above position with Black to move Kc7 gives a simple draw as after Kxd5 Kd7 Black has the opposition and I will not be able to get to his pawns.

However he played d4?? and after Kxd4 Kc7, Ke5 his pawns were toast.

3. Dave Newell 1-0 Keith Hodgson (108)

In a Colle System vs. Dutch Keith held his own until the endgame where Dave finally won some pawns and the game.

4. Keven Holton 1-0 Hartley Oldham (101)

Keven took on the Sicilian again and didn’t seem to get much out of the opening. However, knowing that Hartley is a time trouble addict, Keven kept the position complicated and then launched a winning attack in his opponent’s time trouble.

5. Dave Broadbent 1-0 Geoff Smith (71)

In a Queen’s Gambit Declined Geoff forgot to develop his pieces and allowed Dave to build up an imposing position which he duly converted.

6. David Taylor 1-0 default

So ECA back on track. Next up is Holmes Chapel at home in the Charnley Cup semi final – Feb 9th.

On 5th January the C Team played Ashton Community Chess Club, the first visit by any East Cheshire Team. Ashton CCC is a community resource set up for u18s and before the match we saw a room full of keen students of the game intently watching a lesson /demonstration. This Club may well progress to higher divisions in the League in future years.
The results were
East Cheshire C Ashton CCC
Board
1 Geoff Clarke 0 1 Phil Armstrong
2 Mike Cunnane 0.5 0.5 Tim Chatos
3 Ian Vaughan 1 0 Daniel Bowden
4 Andy Buckley 1 0 Edmund Jones
5 Andy Walker 0 1 Jack Latham
TOTAL 2.5 2.5
Geoff discovered his opponent was graded at 166. Geoff decided to play actively, as he put it to enjoy the game more despite the almost inevitable result.
Ian’s game quickly resulted in a centre with tactical possibilities and with the centre pawns gone. A blunder by black enabled a bishop check with a discovered attack on the queen that proved decisive.
Andy W writes:
” I tried really hard not to be put off by the tender age of my opponent .. or his higher ranking (90 to my 75). but unfortunately, my undefeated run so far this season seemed doomed from the outset. Post match analysis revealed that I could have captured his queen on move 12 and then, although being a bishop up from move 16 on and when under pressure, I gave him the positional advantage when in reality I could have played into a winning position. So I resigned on move 20 to avoid the inevitable checkmate. My consolation? He would probably have played badly too if he’d been at work all day … or maybe not. Bah!”
Mike’s game was the last to finish when at 9.15 he accepted a draw. Mike writes: ‘ I played the black side of a French Defence in which my oponent played an early Nd2, which is the first time I’ve encountered this. I then played Be7 and later had chances to win a pawn, but did not as it allowed better rook placement for white. The game petered out into a draw.’
The consensus was that Mike may have been slightly behind in an even game, and had made a good call.

Our B team narrowly lost to Stockport C on Thursday night but Paul at least had some fun with his game.

East Cheshire got thumped but at least I won my game, a game that was drawn throughout really against an evenly matched opponent. Make of it what you will, an interesting game to play

1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Be2 cxd4 7. cxd4 Bb4+

(usually play 7. … Nh6, this is alright too)

8. Nc3 Nge7 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Bd7

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Initially its all about that c pawn

11. OO Rc8 12. Bd2 Na5 13. Rb1 Qc7 14. Qc2 b6 15. Rfc1 Nc4

16. Bxc4 Qxc4 17. Rb4 Qc7 18. c4?

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Sometimes my cautious chess gets the better of me, 18. …. a5 probably wins a pawn immediately but white gets somer counterplay against my pawns so I keep it solid

18. … dxc 19. Rxc4 Qxc4 20. Qxc4 Rxc4 21. Rxc4 Nd5 22. Ng5

Thought this might come, looking for Ne5 then Nd6, its a bit of a nuisance if it gets there

22. … f5 23. exf gxf 24. Ne4 Ke7 25. Nc3 Nxc3 26. Rxc3 Rc8

27. f3 Rxc3 28. Bxc3 Kd6 29. Kf2 Kd5 30. Ke3 a5 31. Kd3 Bb5+

However you look at it this is with correct play a drawn ending but the clock will come into play, my plan is to use the dual threat of penetrating with the king on either the king or queen side. My active Bishop and king can drive a path for that pawn if the defence is not accurate.

32. Kd2 f5 33. g3 Kc4 34 Bb2 Bc6 35. f4 b5 36. Bc3 b4

Time control an extra 15 minutes each, my opponent ends up with a total of 17, I have got 58, these are good odds

37. axb4 axb4 (think … a4 here is actually best, not sure though, maybe the pawn is better on the b file giving the king the option of running down the a file)

38. Bb2 Kb3 39. Kc1 Kc4 40. Kd2 Be4 41. Kc1 Kd3 42. Kd1 Bf3+

43. Kc1 Ke2 44. Kcc2 Bd5

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I think this position is still drawn, yes I can win the h pawn but if his king simply follows me accross what then.

45. h3? Kf3 White Resigns