The last time we met Stockport in the Charnley Cup we lost 6-0. Obviously our hard chess work in the years since has paid off as this time we only lost 5.5-0.5!
Here is how we get on against a ridiculously strong Stockport team:
1. A Reeve (199) 1-0 P Ramsey
This was painful. As White I went wrong on move 2! After 1. d4 d6 you should play 2. e4 to transpose to a Pirc or 2. Nf3 to stop 2. ... e5. After 2. c4 e5 Black is already posing problems for White. After 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 f5 5. h4? h6 6. Nh3 Qxh4 I was a pawn down for little compensation. I made further strategical mistakes and ended up with nothing to do but wait for him to kill me on the Kingside. He took his time, enjoying the slow torture, and then killed me with a positional Queen sacrifice. I don't think I managed one threat in the whole game!
2. A Smith (199) 1-0 J Reed
On the Black side of a Ruy Lopez John held his own for most of the game, only getting into trouble in time trouble towards the end of the game and losing a pawn.
From John: "Dropped the draw in time trouble. Big centre battle had evened out but just couldn't calculate endgame quick enough and played a stupid move after 3 hours of effort. Had a slight plus for a lot of the game."
3. P Cawley (190) 1-0 T Rickards
Tudor's winning streak sadly came to an end. I didn't see much of this but Tudor has a few threats to Black's King at one point but Black's threats ultimately proved to be stronger.
4. P Siddall (175) 0.5-0.5 D Broadbent
Dave got our one draw of the night with a solid French Defence against a very strong opponent.
5. S Murray (178) 1-0 K Holton
Keven used his normal "bore draw" strategy to get a solid position against Stuart. He then missed a chance to get an advantage and lost a pawn when he miscalculated a combination.
6. R English (175) 1-0 P Bamford
Paul got a slightly cramped position out of the opening and lost a pawn. He stayed in the game though and made his opponent work for the win.
That's it for 2012.
Looking forward to a promotion push next year!
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Thursday, 29 November 2012
ECA 4.5 Stockport B 1.5
ECA continued their winning ways against a decent Stockport B side last night. Wins by Phil, Tudor and Paul saw ECA to a comfortable 4.5 - 1.5 victory.
1. P Ramsey 1 - 0 J Mason (152)
I had a perfect King's Indian where my opponent managed very few threats on the Queenside and my Kingside attack won the day. My opponent would have done better to ignore my attack for a while but kept on making little pawn and piece moves that actually helped me. Better to make some threats of your own that obsess about what your opponent is doing.
2. D Newell 0.5 - 0.5 M Tunstall (147)
Dave seemed to have a trouble-free Bird's opening with a steady attack on the Kingside. He eventually won a pawn but Mike managed to hold the endgame.
From Dave: The opening went smoothly black doing all the wrong things against Birds Opening allowing me to win a pawn and reach a won ending. I immediately missed one opportunity to win easily by forcing an exchange of all the pieces and instead reached an ending where we had same coloured bishops and I had one extra protected passed pawn. Even though the win was more difficult it was still fairly straight forward but I chose totally the wrong plan and even worse chose it very slowly!
3. T Rickards 1 - 0 F Moan (139)
Tudor had a wild King's Indian trying to defend against the Four Pawn's Attack. Tudor's pieces were very active but Francis had two very strong centre pawns. In the end Francis managed to promote a pawn but ran out of time before checkmate. Luckily Tudor had a pawn left (mating material) so could claim the win.
4. N Flaherty 0.5 - 0.5 D Preen (136)
Nick's game was relatively quiet and after a solid Queen's Pawn opening and an even middlegame a draw was agreed.
5. D Broadbent 0.5 - 0.5 V Rushworth (135)
Dave played his favourite French Defence and got a slightly favourable middlegame. However his opponent played well and drew comfortably.
6. P Bamford 1 - 0 P King (128)
Paul played the King's Indian Attack and ended up in an unusual middlegame when his opponent castled queenside. Paul won a couple of pawns in the endgame and won easily.
We have a bigger test next week - Stockport A in the cup!
1. P Ramsey 1 - 0 J Mason (152)
I had a perfect King's Indian where my opponent managed very few threats on the Queenside and my Kingside attack won the day. My opponent would have done better to ignore my attack for a while but kept on making little pawn and piece moves that actually helped me. Better to make some threats of your own that obsess about what your opponent is doing.
2. D Newell 0.5 - 0.5 M Tunstall (147)
Dave seemed to have a trouble-free Bird's opening with a steady attack on the Kingside. He eventually won a pawn but Mike managed to hold the endgame.
From Dave: The opening went smoothly black doing all the wrong things against Birds Opening allowing me to win a pawn and reach a won ending. I immediately missed one opportunity to win easily by forcing an exchange of all the pieces and instead reached an ending where we had same coloured bishops and I had one extra protected passed pawn. Even though the win was more difficult it was still fairly straight forward but I chose totally the wrong plan and even worse chose it very slowly!
3. T Rickards 1 - 0 F Moan (139)
Tudor had a wild King's Indian trying to defend against the Four Pawn's Attack. Tudor's pieces were very active but Francis had two very strong centre pawns. In the end Francis managed to promote a pawn but ran out of time before checkmate. Luckily Tudor had a pawn left (mating material) so could claim the win.
4. N Flaherty 0.5 - 0.5 D Preen (136)
Nick's game was relatively quiet and after a solid Queen's Pawn opening and an even middlegame a draw was agreed.
5. D Broadbent 0.5 - 0.5 V Rushworth (135)
Dave played his favourite French Defence and got a slightly favourable middlegame. However his opponent played well and drew comfortably.
6. P Bamford 1 - 0 P King (128)
Paul played the King's Indian Attack and ended up in an unusual middlegame when his opponent castled queenside. Paul won a couple of pawns in the endgame and won easily.
We have a bigger test next week - Stockport A in the cup!
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Wilmslow 0 ECA 6!
ECA finally reached top gear on Monday night with a 6-0 whitewash of Wilmslow:
1. S Shepherd 0-1 P Ramsey
I played a rather dubious Queen's Gambit Exchange and after the opening my opponent had the initiative. However he allowed me to trap his Knight but played on as I was low on time. In the time scramble that ensued he ran out of time just before me.
2. K Moran 0-1 J Reed
A smooth Black win for John:
3. C Mills 0-1 D Newell
From Dave: I completely outplayed my opponent in the Birds opening and won a piece in the early middle game. Then ended up in complications with his 2 passed kingside pawns advancing towards me and decided to give up my extra bishop, reaching a completely drawn rook v rook and knight pawn ending, my opponent having the pawn. He was unaware that it was drawn and spent a lot of time trying to find a way to win it, in the end one second too long as his flag dropped. Makes up for the completely drawn game I managed to lose on time at Altrincham a few weeks ago.
4. C Jackson 0-1 T Rickards
Tudor won a pawn in the opening but ended up in a difficult position. However he kept battling until his opponent lost on time.
5. A Weinberg 0-1 K Holton
Keven played the opening rather passively and ended up a pawn down. However his opponent got rather carried away with pushing pawns and Keven managed to gobble a few up, leading to a comfortable win.
6. T Horrocks 0-1 D Broadbent
From Dave: My opponent was ungraded with est grade of 50 which is ridiculous - he played extremely well v my French and managed to mount a menacing attack. Under pressure, I once again seemed to find all the good moves and his time advantage slowly evaporated. Near the end, he had < 1min v my 2mins. It was his move but for some reason he pressed the clock before moving. I immediately stopped the clocks and asked for 2min to be added to my time. No one had any idea of the rule so I eventually played on because he was thinking of his move whilst both clocks were stopped- so he was being advantaged by the clock freeze. His flag fell soon after I restarted his clock.
1. S Shepherd 0-1 P Ramsey
I played a rather dubious Queen's Gambit Exchange and after the opening my opponent had the initiative. However he allowed me to trap his Knight but played on as I was low on time. In the time scramble that ensued he ran out of time just before me.
2. K Moran 0-1 J Reed
A smooth Black win for John:
3. C Mills 0-1 D Newell
From Dave: I completely outplayed my opponent in the Birds opening and won a piece in the early middle game. Then ended up in complications with his 2 passed kingside pawns advancing towards me and decided to give up my extra bishop, reaching a completely drawn rook v rook and knight pawn ending, my opponent having the pawn. He was unaware that it was drawn and spent a lot of time trying to find a way to win it, in the end one second too long as his flag dropped. Makes up for the completely drawn game I managed to lose on time at Altrincham a few weeks ago.
4. C Jackson 0-1 T Rickards
Tudor won a pawn in the opening but ended up in a difficult position. However he kept battling until his opponent lost on time.
5. A Weinberg 0-1 K Holton
Keven played the opening rather passively and ended up a pawn down. However his opponent got rather carried away with pushing pawns and Keven managed to gobble a few up, leading to a comfortable win.
6. T Horrocks 0-1 D Broadbent
From Dave: My opponent was ungraded with est grade of 50 which is ridiculous - he played extremely well v my French and managed to mount a menacing attack. Under pressure, I once again seemed to find all the good moves and his time advantage slowly evaporated. Near the end, he had < 1min v my 2mins. It was his move but for some reason he pressed the clock before moving. I immediately stopped the clocks and asked for 2min to be added to my time. No one had any idea of the rule so I eventually played on because he was thinking of his move whilst both clocks were stopped- so he was being advantaged by the clock freeze. His flag fell soon after I restarted his clock.
Friday, 23 November 2012
Revenge! ECA 4 ECB 2
On Wednesday night ECA had their chance to avenge their defeat from the week before. This time we had Dave N back in our ranks so we were at least the rating favourites.
1. Phil 1- 0 Keven
Keven tried to lure me into accepting his Morra gambit but I declined and we ended up with a typical open Sicilian position where Keven had more space and I had the extra central pawn. Things were pretty even until Keven decided to sacrifice his Knight in return for some nasty threats to my King. However I successfully repulsed his attack and Keven resigned rather than let me start having some fun!
2. John 1 - 0 Dave B
Dave bravely allowed John to play his favourite Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation but regretted it when he fell into a trap on move 8 that cost him two pawns. John didn't give Dave a look-in from that point.
3. Dave N 1 - 0 Nick
Playing against Dave's Dutch Defence Nick decided to go for all out attack and castle Queenside. This allowed Dave to break up the pawn structure around Nick's King and pick up a couple of pawns. It was all downhill from there for Nick.
4. Tudor 1 - 0 David T
The return of the swindler! Tudor was outplayed in the opening and David had nice pressure against Tudor's Kingside and Centre. David won a couple of pawns but drifted into time trouble and snatched one pawn too many, allowing a discovered check and mate.
Here is Tudor's version of what happened:
"Just to explain what happened in extra time last night. Score was ECA 3 ECB 2 . I was losing rather easily to David [Taylor]. David had outplayed me in the opening [I failed to work out over the board what to do against his Queen's Indian [I think]. I was forced into a speculative pawn sacrifice that seemed to give some complications. David continued to grind me down until I was forced to start making more speculative offers of pawns.
The stadium had emptied as we slugged out extra time, and David in time trouble decided to save time by helping himself to a third freebie pawn. It was my last futile swindle attempt but it led to a discovered check and undeserved mate. But I can't replicate this masterpiece as we sort of didn't write the score down in the time scramble.
Learning: never resign a lost game!"
5. Edwin 0 - 1 Paul B
Edwin struggled to cope with the activity of Paul's pieces and eventually lost the exchange to a nasty Knight fork. Edwin battled on gamely but couldn't save the endgame.
6. Andy B 0 - 1 Keith
Andy played his normal swashbuckling chess and rapidly won a couple of pawns. However he managed to lose the exchange and then ended up with a Bishop against 3 connected pawns. The pawns prevailed!
Next up Wilmslow away on Monday.
1. Phil 1- 0 Keven
Keven tried to lure me into accepting his Morra gambit but I declined and we ended up with a typical open Sicilian position where Keven had more space and I had the extra central pawn. Things were pretty even until Keven decided to sacrifice his Knight in return for some nasty threats to my King. However I successfully repulsed his attack and Keven resigned rather than let me start having some fun!
2. John 1 - 0 Dave B
Dave bravely allowed John to play his favourite Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation but regretted it when he fell into a trap on move 8 that cost him two pawns. John didn't give Dave a look-in from that point.
3. Dave N 1 - 0 Nick
Playing against Dave's Dutch Defence Nick decided to go for all out attack and castle Queenside. This allowed Dave to break up the pawn structure around Nick's King and pick up a couple of pawns. It was all downhill from there for Nick.
4. Tudor 1 - 0 David T
The return of the swindler! Tudor was outplayed in the opening and David had nice pressure against Tudor's Kingside and Centre. David won a couple of pawns but drifted into time trouble and snatched one pawn too many, allowing a discovered check and mate.
Here is Tudor's version of what happened:
"Just to explain what happened in extra time last night. Score was ECA 3 ECB 2 . I was losing rather easily to David [Taylor]. David had outplayed me in the opening [I failed to work out over the board what to do against his Queen's Indian [I think]. I was forced into a speculative pawn sacrifice that seemed to give some complications. David continued to grind me down until I was forced to start making more speculative offers of pawns.
The stadium had emptied as we slugged out extra time, and David in time trouble decided to save time by helping himself to a third freebie pawn. It was my last futile swindle attempt but it led to a discovered check and undeserved mate. But I can't replicate this masterpiece as we sort of didn't write the score down in the time scramble.
Learning: never resign a lost game!"
5. Edwin 0 - 1 Paul B
Edwin struggled to cope with the activity of Paul's pieces and eventually lost the exchange to a nasty Knight fork. Edwin battled on gamely but couldn't save the endgame.
6. Andy B 0 - 1 Keith
Andy played his normal swashbuckling chess and rapidly won a couple of pawns. However he managed to lose the exchange and then ended up with a Bishop against 3 connected pawns. The pawns prevailed!
Next up Wilmslow away on Monday.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
ECB 4.5 ECA 1.5
Oh dear.
In an attempt to make this match more exciting I had agreed that the A team would get the top 4 players and the B team would get the pick of the rest of the club. This would have given the A team the advantage on four boards but a last minute reshuffle meant that we were only stronger on the top three. Hmmm.
1. Dave B 1 - 0 Phil
I surprised Dave in the opening and built up a strong position after Dave wasted some tempi. However I couldn't find a decisive breakthrough and spent too long pondering the problems. The game ended with a time scramble and me losing on time.
2. Keven 0.5 - 0.5 John
John had a slight advantage with a kind of Dutch system. However Keven played very solidly and managed to exchange off most of the pieces, eventually securing a draw.
3. Paul 0 - 1 Tudor
Tudor built up a big space advantage against Paul's Modern Defence and eventually won a piece.
4. Alan 1 - 0 Keith
Keith played solidly but ended up with a couple of backward pawns. Alan won some pawns and in the end Keith very nobly resigned rather than let Alan lose on time in a won position!
5. Nick 1 - 0 Andy B
Andy gave up two pieces for a rook and pawn and some pressure. However once Nick's two bishops started criss-crossing the board Andy was mincemeat.
6. David T 1 - 0 Edwin
Edwin lost some pawns early on and, despite battling hard, never managed to get back into the game.
The one consolation for the A team is that we will have a re-match next week. B team watch out!
In an attempt to make this match more exciting I had agreed that the A team would get the top 4 players and the B team would get the pick of the rest of the club. This would have given the A team the advantage on four boards but a last minute reshuffle meant that we were only stronger on the top three. Hmmm.
1. Dave B 1 - 0 Phil
I surprised Dave in the opening and built up a strong position after Dave wasted some tempi. However I couldn't find a decisive breakthrough and spent too long pondering the problems. The game ended with a time scramble and me losing on time.
2. Keven 0.5 - 0.5 John
John had a slight advantage with a kind of Dutch system. However Keven played very solidly and managed to exchange off most of the pieces, eventually securing a draw.
3. Paul 0 - 1 Tudor
Tudor built up a big space advantage against Paul's Modern Defence and eventually won a piece.
4. Alan 1 - 0 Keith
Keith played solidly but ended up with a couple of backward pawns. Alan won some pawns and in the end Keith very nobly resigned rather than let Alan lose on time in a won position!
5. Nick 1 - 0 Andy B
Andy gave up two pieces for a rook and pawn and some pressure. However once Nick's two bishops started criss-crossing the board Andy was mincemeat.
6. David T 1 - 0 Edwin
Edwin lost some pawns early on and, despite battling hard, never managed to get back into the game.
The one consolation for the A team is that we will have a re-match next week. B team watch out!
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Altrincham A 2.5 ECA 3.5
East Cheshire A got their first win of the season on Tuesday night with a useful victory at Altrincham.
1. Y Kolodiy (168) 0.5 - 0.5 Phil
Playing against a Modern Benoni I achieved a promising but complicated position. As we both got in to time trouble Yaroslav blundered the exchange but had a mass of pawns on the queenside to compensate. As we got down to a few minutes left each in a complicated position I offered a draw rather than randomise who won!
2. K Lockett (160) 1 - 0 Dave N
In a symmetrical English Dave rapidly built up an advantage but spent a lot of time doing so. He exchanged off to a winning endgame but ran out of time to win it!
3. T Tomkins (137) 0 - 1 Tudor
Tudor managed to castle on the opposite side to his opponent and had what looked like an enjoyable game launching pawns at his King.
4. E Clucas (131) 0.5 - 0.5 Dave B
Dave lost a pawn early on but managed to generate enough counterplay to draw.
5. D Hughes (129) 0 - 1 Keven
Keven played the safe Colle system but then went all out for an attack against his opponent's King. His position looked very double-edged at times but somehow he managed to bring home the point!
6. R White (128) 0.5 - 0.5 Nick
Nick built up a useful middlegame advantage but his opponent played solidly and achieved a draw.
This was a very useful win against a decent Altrincham side.
Next up for ECA are the derby matches against ECB, starting on November 14th.
Thursday, 5 July 2012
BEC 4.5 Heywood 1.5
BEC got the season off to a great start last night with a comprehensive victory over Heywood.
Edwin and Andy won pretty quickly and then Dave B won to give us at least a draw. David's half point gave us the match and I managed to get away with some pretty dodgy play as Black and eventually win on time.
Here is the scorecard:
1. Phil 1-0 J Carrington (151)
2. David T 0.5-0.5 B Parkin (116)
3. Dave B 1-0 I Mitchell (110)
4. Keith 0-1 D Thorp (102)
5. Edwiin 1-0 M Lally (77)
6. Andy 1-0 B Thompson (UG)
I expect we will meet stronger teams in Division C but this was a good start.
And just for fun here is my position after 27 moves each:
I expect my "6 pawns attack" to pay rich dividends in future!
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