Picture Post

They say a picture paints a thousand words, so here are 4,000 words! First, we have the belated presentation of the Club's three Leamington League trophies from last season. 

Ben presents the Division 1 Trophy to yours truly

Ben presents the Open KO Cup to Jude - one of our two winners in the final against Olton 

Ben presents the U-8750 Trophy to Roy - who certainly didn't play in our winning team! But it's nice to share the glory around, don't you think?

There was actually a fourth KCC triumph as Andrew Paterson won the Stanley Gibbins Trophy (best performance in the League last season, 11.5/13!) - but as there was no presentation and no pictorial record, you'll just have to take my word that he won it!

And so to the by now traditional league curtain raiser, as our A and B teams clashed at The Abbey Club on Monday night. And what a momentous night it was, as it saw the first appearance on Board 1 for the A team of Jude, at the ripe old age of 12. What took you so long??  This must be a record for the youngest ever A team Board 1 in the Leamington League, and comes after he warmed up with a season in Division 1 on Board 1 for the B team last year.

Kenilworth A (Right, front to back, Joshua, Andy, Mark, Jude) v Kenilworth B (Left, front to back, Ben, Phil, Bernard, Mike) Responsibly, everyone with soft drinks - except me and my pint of Guinness!

Attentive readers will recall that this match produced a mini-sensation last season when the B team secured a shock 2-2 draw, after Phil sank Joshua to offset Andrew P's win over Bernard C. In the return fixture in January, order was restored with a (totally undeserved!) 4-0 whitewash by the A team, but there were definitely a few nerves jangling amongst the A team (oh alright, probably just me - no-one else cares as much as I do) as the 2022-23 season kicked off.

Normal service continued in the latest season opener, as the A team ran out 3.5-0.5 winners, but once again the score line was grossly misleading. Phil secured the B team's solitary half point, holding Andy seemingly without much difficulty, while Joshua was the only convincing A team winner against Ben. But both Jude and I had dodgy moments before annexing the full point against Mike and Bernard respectively. Indeed, Bernard turned down a repetition offer from me - despite being a pawn down at the time - and followed up by blundering into mate when a draw was there on a plate for him. Mike was much better against Jude at times, but it is difficult to withstand the momentum of history, and Jude was not going to be denied on his A team top board debut.

This week's song is a real yawn-fest, I'm afraid, but it obviously nominated itself on the basis of the first line! I promise to choose something much better next time

Lost Weekend

It would be highly remiss of me not to report on the action at the two tournaments held in Kenilworth last weekend. Especially as I get to write (comparatively) nice things about myself in the process.

Saturday saw the Midlands qualifier for the 2022 UK Blitz Championships at The Holiday Inn, with 2 places up for grabs for the finals of both the Open and Women's competitions. This was a 15 round marathon (3 mins + 2 secs), with a field of 51 players, and no less than 6 current or past KCC members amongst the participants - plus two part time spectators in Paul and Bernard R. Top seed was the King of Kenilworth, GM Mark Hebden, and while he did indeed qualify, it was only in second place, a full point behind IM Jonah Willow. Blitz really is a young person's game.

The Kenilworth contingent, with placings and points, was:-

me - 10th 8.5
Joshua - 20th 8
Billy - 24th 7.5
David Phillips (nice to see you again!) - 25th 7.5
Ben - 30th 7.5
Patrick - 45th 6 (in his first ever tournament - an excellent effort!)

Ben, Billy, Joshua and I all had the privilege of losing to the Grand Master. A few intra-KCC battles occurred, but we have no need to wash our dirty linen in public, so if you want to see the gory details (eg Billy 1 Joshua 0) you can check the full tournament results here. But I will just mention that Paul's long time student, Elis Dicen (who visited the Gauntlet on several occasion in pre-pandemic times) topped the Women's qualifiers (8 points) ahead of WGM Toma. Good luck to Elis in the finals.

On Sunday, the focus was on Kenilworth School in Leyes Lane, which was the site of the 2022 Warwickshire Quickplay Championships. This was 7 rounds at 15 mins + 10 secs, played over 4 sections. Three KCC members (myself, Joshua and Ben) were too stupid to take a rest after their exertions the previous day, and were joined in the action by Ed. Sunday's spectators included Paul and Phil.

GM Hebden was again top seed, and this time did come out on top, but only just - having been sunk by John Pitcher in Round 5. Fortunately for the King of Kenilworth, though, I got a surprising last round draw against John, which gave the GM a half point margin at the top (6/7). Josh and I had the pleasure of losing to the Grand Master for the second day running, with my effort absolutely woeful. However, I did manage a couple of good games to finish 4th= with 4 points, while Josh was close behind (6th= on 3.5 points). Ben and Ed were in the Major section, where Ed finished 4th= with 4 points, and Ben 10th= on 3.5. (Yes 50% on each day for Ben - or Mr Average as we must now call him!) Full results for all sections can be found here.

Much to surprise, as I was checking what was happening today in the final UK Blitz regional qualifier, I see that we have 2 KCC members in action in the South West event at Swindon. After 6 rounds, Jude sits in a remarkable 2nd= place with 5 points. His Blitz rating of 1452 may slightly underestimate his true playing strength! Ben is also playing (a glutton for punishment!) and rather surprisingly does not quite have 50% at the moment (2.5/6) but I'm sure that will be rectified by the end of the event! Top seeds are GM Arkell and IM Harvey, but the most interesting participant must be IM James T. Sherwin at the grand old age of 88. This is a man who once beat Bobby Fischer and finished third in the US Championships. (And, less famously, lost to me in an online Blitz game a year or so ago!) It would be quite something if Jude or Ben got to play such a legend in person.

Having used up Ballroom Blitz in a recent report, I couldn't think of another relevant song to finish with, so just opted for an old pop classic. And why not? Because its my report and I'll choose what I want to!

Oh yes - memo to self. 22 games in two days is about 20 too many!

Late update from Swindon - Jude finished in 12th place with 8.5 pts - not bad from a start rank of 46th! And he drew with GM Keith Arkell!! Ben let the side down by scoring 7 pts, thus missing the 50% level by half a point and consequently jeopardising his new status as Mr Average. Regrettably, neither of them got paired against James Sherwin.

The Doctor Will See You Now

I should probably be writing a report of the two important tournaments held in Kenilworth over the weeknd, but right now I have other things on my mind. Retentive readers of the KCC Blog may remember this striking image from sometime during one of the Covid lockdowns.

At the time I swore blind that this was just a coincidence and nothing to do with our own Ben, but I have now begun to doubt myself! Not only is "Ben" still my favourite mug, but it has now been joined by another coffee-related item that suggests my sub-conscious is more complex than I realised. I present exhibit number 2!

Hardly conclusive evidence of a dangerous obsession - more likely, just another coincidence!

I am now on the lookout for some demerara sugar called Bernard and a spoon from the Joshua cutlery range. Or maybe I should have kept quiet about that. Oh well, where's that psychoanalyst's phone number? I think I'm in urgent need of another session.

But not before I've listened to this week's massively appropriate song, complete with weird chess imagery. Can't imagine why I haven't used this one before - after all, it's an absolute classic!

KCC in The Guardian (if you squint hard enough)

It's not every day I get mentioned in a national newspaper by the world's longest running chess correspondent, so thought it was worth bringing to everyone's attention.

I had a trip to visit family in t'North recently and, whilst I was there, went along and played some chess at the Leyland chess congress. A write-up of my accomplishments can be found here: Chess.com swallows Play Magnus while Kushal Jakhria sets new world mark | Chess | The Guardian 

Now, you might not immediately recognise me in that article, but just to reproduce a small relevant part (and to avoid any copyright concerns by saying too much), you can focus on the following words:

"Last week’s article mentioned that England’s star seven-year-old, Kushal Jakhria, was within reach of a 2000 national rating. Jakhria was in contention to break the age record of Abhimanyu Mishra, who went on to become the youngest ever grandmaster.

It did not take Jakhria long. On Bank Holiday weekend, with an English Chess Federation rating of 1989, he travelled to Lancashire for the Leyland U2200, defeated both the top seeds, then missed the final day due to travel problems back to London."

One of those useless patzers he beat on the way to better things - that was me.

Whilst sadly this article may stand as a testament to my failure to beat somebody the one chance I had (despite winning a queen in the opening and really thinking [probably incorrectly] that it was going well) who now goes on to much better things and is never within my reach again, it is at least good to get a periodic reminder of your rightful place in the world - as an unnamed footnote in someone else's story.