Another hard night's work

For my sin of playing in a Kenilworth match Mark was not part of, I suppose I have to go to the effort of writing something about it myself. And what could be a more exciting tale to regale you with, than a Wednesday evening with the B team at the Blossomfield Club in Solihull.

Pride of place (though not pride of performance) for finishing first goes to Harry, whose punishment for stealing Bernard C from my team to play for his one instead earlier in the week was having to take Bernard's place in this match. I think it is fair to say his opening was not a tremendous success, with some sort of irregular King's pawn opening engine up with him fairly quickly down an exchange, and with his opponent's (a newcomer called John Raouf) queen installed behind his front line. There was brief optimism that perhaps Harry could prevent the queen returning and trap it, but whilst he achieved the first of those things he only succeeded in keeping the queen in his position to win yet more material and the game. 0-1

Things were soon evened up however thanks to Mike's victory over Ray Carpenter. A slow Catalan from Mike established the trademark nagging edge he seems to have in virtually all his white games. I was very much expecting a long and slow squeeze to occur, always on the border of victory and a draw. However, Ray then decided not to move his rook when it was attacked by a bishop, lost the exchange for no clear reason, and a slow potential victory became a fast and instant one. 1-1

Another victory followed relatively soon afterwards, with Andrew scoring a very nice win over Don Mason on top board. After having castled kingside, Andrew was forced/decided to recapture gxf3 when a black bishop took his knight, giving him excellent central control at the cost of a weak king. Ultimately, either Andrew's long-term strategic judgment or Don's poor time management left Andrew with a better endgame, that was always going to be converted against an opponent playing on a 10 second increment. 2-1

That left my game as the last to finished, in a game where I had earlier on been faced with this decision as black.

My view at the time was that taking the a2 pawn was probably the correct move, given I could see no immediate tactical issues, and I would horribly regret it if I did. Both of these predictions came true. After capturing the computer informs me I held the princely advantage of -0.1, and I spent the entire rest of the game grimly hanging on with no active plans at all. Fortunately, results elsewhere meant that I heroically agreed a draw so the team won the match/desperately clung on in a worse endgame (delete as appropriate). 2.5-1.5 to us as the final score, and we are off the mark for the season.

A Young Man in a Hurry

And the young man in question was Jude, who came, saw and conquered very quickly on Monday night, as Kenilworth A scored a 3-1 win over Olton A in our latest Division 1 fixture. Against the very solid and experienced Alan Lloyd on Board 1, Jude totally bamboozled his opponent and the game ended very quickly when Jude attacked a loose knight on a4 with Rb4. The knight couldn't be defended, but if it moved a bishop on b2 would have been unprotected. White was just losing a piece. End of game. Not surprisingly, Alan looked rather crestfallen after this accident. I bet he was wishing he'd been playing me!

Especially as I had experienced not 1 but 2 complete mental blackouts in the opening against Mark Cundy. First I couldn't remember the new line I was planning to play against his particular Sicilian variation, so I went back to a pawn sac line (yes, really - me of all people!) only to forget the rest of the line on the very next move. Oh dear. Tempus is certainly fugiting as far as my memory is concerned. The result was that I never got my pawn back, and I just had to concentrate on putting up a barrier to the Black pieces. This worked - just - but it still came as a very pleasant surprise when Mark offered me a draw.

Board 3 saw Andrew P, as black, against Richard Reynolds. The game was - let's not beat about the bush - not a riveting spectacle for the spectators (P. Lam, Esq), though I'm sure both players were totally enthralled by the slow manoeuvring that took place. Anyway, from almost nowhere, Andrew started to turn the screw and when he forced a passed a pawn, the position shifted drastically in his favour. White only had a rook to try and stop the pawn, as his other pieces were stranded on the kingside, whereas Andrew's rook, bishop and knight were all on hand to shepherd the pawn to a1.

Thinking about things, I may have been unfair to Andrew about the excitement levels of his game, because in comparison to Josh's Board 4 encounter with Rob Reynolds, it was thrill a minute stuff. Josh totally failed to generate any of the chaos on board for which he is famous, and the inevitable result was a draw. The White pieces certainly did not distinguish themselves in this match!

What shall we have as our song this week, I wonder? How about ............ this!? A whole band's worth of young men in a hurry!

Another Intra-club Encounter

Seven days on from the C v D match, this week it was the turn of the A and B teams to go head to head as both kicked off their Division 1 programmes. I find it hard to imagine that there has ever been a stronger Kenilworth B team than the one to take to the battlefield yesterday, but equally, the A team was pretty meaty too, and the spectators (Harry and, at times, our E team players Steph, Solomon and Rhys, who were simultaneously beating Stratford D 3-0 next door) were provided with a rich evening's entertainment from a full-on encounter.

When Worlds Collide! The heavyweight Kenilworth A v B match - (left-right}: Andy, Mark, Javi, Jude, Andrew, Josh, Mike, Bernard

It was well after 22.00 that the first game finished, and uncharacteristically it was my game on Board 3 against Mike. We both got our move orders wrong in the opening, but it seemed to affect Mike more and he soon had to give up an exchange for a pawn to avoid a total calamity. He was on the verge of establishing a fortress to keep one of my rooks out of the Black position, but time trouble meant it was very difficult to find the precise defence needed, and when both rooks broke through to the Black king it was mate.

Shortly afterwards, a very eventful game on Board 4 between Bernard C and Andy finished in a draw -  result which seemed the least likely outcome for most of the evening! Bernard gave up his fianchettoed bishop for a knight on c6, which left Andy's pawn structure in ruins, but also Bernard's king rather devoid of defenders. But even though Andy got a very dangerous kingside attack going, that I felt was bound to win material, Bernard defended resolutely and suddenly was 2 pawns up and seemingly winning. Quite what then happened I'm not sure, but at least one of Bernard's extra pawns was very weak, and opposite bishops were also involved. A close escape for both players I reckon, so a draw must have been a fair result.

But this was to be as good as it got for the B team, as two further wins followed for the A team, but in very contrasting styles. On top board, Jude and Andrew had a real heavyweight encounter, which probably featured some rather good chess. Completely to my surprise, Andrew played something which looked distinctly like main line theory and a big battle ensued. At one point Jude had sacrificed a pawn to get a monster knight on d5 with lots of tactical threats. I missed much of the action, but later I did see that Jude had two bishops for a rook and pawn (maybe even 2?) but how he eventually won totally escaped me. But win he did, as did Javi against Joshua on Board 2, though Josh must have antagonised the chess gods something wicked to have lost this game. It looked like he was all over Javi, with the Black queen on the verge of being trapped for some time, but somehow it refused to die. Josh tells me he was more than +4 at one point, but when the great scorer in the sky came to write down the result at the end of the evening it was 1-0 to Javi. A very fortunate escape. Funny how strong players get all the luck, isn't it?

No time for either side to rest on their laurels/lick their wounds (delete as applicable), as they are both back in action next week. Its all go in the Leamington League!

Bit of a novelty for this week's music, as I'm not sure I like this song at all. But since it's titled Springsteen, it simply demands to be played anyway! And a 10 point bonus to anyone who's ever heard of Eric Church.

Here We Go Again

The new league season kicked off for KCC last night as the C and D teams met in a Division 2 encounter. I'm not sure if this is the first time ever that our C and D teams have been in the same division (probably not), but I'm pretty sure its the first time its happened since I joined the club, and it must almost certainly be the first time its ever occurred in Division 2.

On paper there really wasn't much to choose between the teams, with the C team's grading edge being compensated by the more youthful nature of the D team. (And yes, I do realise that Phil was in the D team!)

Kenilworth D v Kenilworth C - left-right, Dhairya, Phil, Ben, Keatan, Mike, Bernard, Harry, George

At least Phil won the Most Amusing T-Shirt Slogan prize!

There was a very dramatic start to the match when Dhairya trapped George's queen in very short order to give the D team a surprise early lead. George's head was already clearly in University mode - even though he's not starting for more than a week yet! - as he failed to notice that his queen on h5 was going to be trapped by Black's Bg4. And it was! A painful way for George to lose his 100% record for the club, but an excellent start to the season for Dhairya.

C team captain Harry immediately came to his side's rescue, though, downing Phil in very clinical style, and making it 2-0 to the Black pieces. If the position I later saw on the board was the actual game, then the decisive blow had been a Qb6+ move by Black, which was picking up a loose bishop on b2. Ouch!

But after this early exchange of wins, the match was very much in the balance. I stayed away, but my spies told me it was all to play for. Keatan and Mike were equalish on Board 1, but Keatan was burning the clock. On Board 2, Bernard C had sacrificed a pawn against Ben for considerable compensation in the form of very active pieces. This could go either way. But then the match situation  clarified, as time pressure reared its ugly head. Keatan blundered badly against Mike in a difficult position and lost two whole pieces, which immediately decided the outcome, even though the game continued for several more moves. This put the C team 2-1 ahead, but Ben was defending heroically on the remaining board, and despite his clock running dangerously low, he was able to give back a pawn to get all the major pieces off and establish a drawn position. Unfortunately, this couldn't save the match for the underdogs, but it did mean that the C team had only won by the narrowest possible margin.

An excellent match, played in an excellent spirit with no quarter asked or given, which confirmed that both these teams are going to be very competitive in Division 2 this season - especially when thinking of those who were missing from last night's battle, such as Billy, Katya, Bernard R and Rhys to name just four!

Its another local derby next week, when the A and B teams have their by now traditional early season dust-up, and looking at the two teams intended line-ups, I'm predicting another close match, as there is very little between the two teams on paper, which reflects the number of strong players the club can currently boast. A win for the underdogs is definitely not out of the question!

County Title for Javi - Jude, Rhys, Dhairya, Joshua and George also in the Money!

The KCC army was out in force at last weekend's Warwickshire Rapid and Blitz Championships in Coventry (Alan Higgs Centre) and made sure to bring home plenty of the loot on offer! The Blitz events kicked things off on Saturday (10 KCC participants), with the Rapid Championships (8 KCC participants) on Sunday.

Pride of place for the whole weekend has to go to Javi, who claimed the Warwickshire Blitz title just ahead of Jude on tie-break. They each scored 9/14 to share 2-4th place with Thomas Sygnowski, a full 4 points behind runaway winner IM Yichen Han, who was ineligible for the county title (but not the prize money!). Trailing in far behind were myself (6pts/9th place) and Bruce (5.5 pts/10th place) in a disappointingly small field of only 11 starters.

There were 2 KCC participants in the Major section, with Joshua on the podium in clear third place with 9/14, in a field of 15 starters. His cause was aided by a totally undeserved win over Ben, from a position a full piece down with no compensation. Ben finished in a tie for 8-11th on 6.5 pts and both our chaps ended up above their starting rank.

The Intermediate section saw 4 KCC entrants, and the accent was decidedly on youth. Dhairya was the star, coming clear second with an excellent 10/14 performance (15 players). Keatan scored 7.5 for a share of 5th/6th, followed by Lionel (tied 7-10th with 7 points) and George right behind on 6.5 pts (tied 11-13th). There was no official KCC representation in the Minor section, but congratulations have to go to Dhairya's dad, Sagar, who finished 10th =, well above his start rank. Can't think why Keatan's dad, Nash, wasn't also taking part!

Sunday's rapid tournaments saw many of the same faces in action, but Javi, Jude, Ben and Lionel were missing from the Blitz contingent while only David and Rhys joined the fray anew. Overall, though, numbers were much higher for the Rapid than the Blitz.

I took advantage of some rather friendly pairings to top the KCC entrants in the Open, with 4.5/7pts (4-6th), while David played much better opposition in scoring 4pts as he finished tied 7-9th. Joshua, unable to blag his way into the Major section for the Rapids, was a further half point behind (tied 10-12th) and Bruce's disappointing weekend saw him score 3 to tie for 13-17th place. The title of Warwickshire Rapid Champion was retained by John Pitcher, while Yichen Han comfortably completed a double success on the weekend.

Keatan flew the lone flag for KCC in the Major, and finished on 50% for a share of 7-14th place, but in the Intermediate section 3 of KCC's finest went into battle and we ended with 2 people on the podium. Star performer was Rhys, who came second alone with 5.5/7 - half a point behind the shock winner who had started as the absolute bottom seed! George followed half a point behind Rhys sharing 3/4th place but having cause to regret his loss on time from a superior position against the tournament winner, which stopped a good tournament from being an exceptional one. Dhairya couldn't quite repeat his prize winning performance of the day before, but still managed a highly respectable 4 points and a share of 8-11th place.

So 6 prize winners for KCC, including a county champion. All good omens for the rapidly approaching club season ahead. All in all this was a fun event, which I would strongly recommend - though maybe give the Blitz a miss if you are over the age of about 25! It will be far too quick and you will end up losing on time. And yes, I am speaking from bitter experience.

Javi receives the stunningly impressive Warwickshire Blitz trophy
from local chess supremo Alex Holowczak