2024 KCC Christmas Quiz

Yes, folks, its that time of year again - and even the combined attempts of Storm Darragh and Operation Slicehimup have not been ble to stop the appearance of the annual KCC Christmas Quiz. Something very different this year, as I have shamelessly borrowed an idea from the highly entertaining BBC quiz show "Only Connect" as the inspiration. Yes, this year we have the winders of a connecting wall to solve.

The wall, which you can find here, contains the names of 16 KCC members who can be grouped - and there is one acceptable solution only (yes, my solution!) - into 4 groups of 4. Each group comprising 4 names connected by a single key fact. If anyone thinks they have found another solution not allowed by the Wall, let me know and I'll gladly check to see if I agree with you.

I'm estimating this as an 8/10 on the difficulty scale, but maybe I'm completely wrong about that and its actually either 0 or 10!  I can't see anyway of typing in the answers about what the connections are, so if you get lucky and find a group you'll just have to decide on the connection and see whether your idea agrees with the game. If you don't get the connection it's just one point, while it's two for the group and the correct connection. Two bonus points for getting all 4 groups and the correct connections.

If you want to have more than one go don't click on the continue button when you finish, as this will reveal the 4 groups!!

But never mind how seriously you want to play, just have a go and - most important - enjoy yourselves!

A moment of history

Tuesday night's match for the E team away against Stratford B was of historical significance. With Deema and Steph in the line up, this was the first time in the history of Kenilworth CC that two women have played together in the same match. 

Unfortunately, the match result did not reflect this auspicious occasion. The first blunder of the night was committed by me as I had communicated to the team that the venue was the Methodist church hall in the Old Town, as it was last year. When I arrived with Steph, we found only a yoga class in progress. As it became apparent that no-one would be there for chess, we checked the Stratford CC website to find the correct venue, Venture House. We were able to contact Deema to let her know, but could not reach Roy. We waited until 7:30 to see if he would arrive, but then we gave up and headed to Venture House, to find that Roy was already there.

Very sportingly, Stratford waited for us to arrive before starting the match. We were up against a very strong team, currently top of Division 3, and with an average rating 200 points higher than ours. I was not able to follow the other games, but in my own I thought I was in a reasonable position. The engine evaluation later showed that I had made a mistake, and my opponent was +2. But he was in serious time trouble, and with only around 20 seconds left on his clock, he blundered a rook, and then resigned immediately afterwards.

The final score was 3-1 to Stratford, but against such strong opposition I was not expecting much from this match. We reach the halfway point of the season in mid-table, with a record of W3, D1, L3. 

Photos From The Weekend...

 Now that caught your attention, didn't it? 

One reader of this blog has pointed out that the photo in my last post was not the clearest of images. (So just to reiterate it showed that the C and D team are first and second in Division 2!!!) In part to try and redeem my (non-existent) reputation as a photographer, here are three snaps from last weekend, when I was at the London Chess Classic at Arsenal's Emirates stadium.

First up, what a terrific name for a hairdressers! GRAND MASTER was near where I was staying. (Which sadly, despite the advertisement, was not as close to the stadium as suggested.) I ended up doing a lot of walking and was sorely tempted to pop in for a haircut, but didn't have time.

So to the second image in our trilogy.

This is a picture from inside the stadium of the pink and yellow lights, nurturing the grass, prior to Arsenal's game against Manchester United. As a Man Utd fan, this is certainly prettier than anything I saw in the subsequent match!

I have to begrudgingly admit that the Emirates is truly a modern-day Cathedral. It was somewhat surreal to see the place packed out with chess players. As one security guard put it to me, the clientele was less inebriated than the staff are used to, but own a lot more carrier bags!

So finally, how about a picture of some actual chess?

This is the area where the rapid and blitz evens took place. I was lucky enough to interview Natasha Regan and Matthew Ball on their excellent new book - Zwischenzug! and you'll be able to see the interview and a standard review in the December edition of the ECF's ChessMoves.

You'll be relieved to hear that I'm not going to give you a blow by blow account of all 32 games I played over the weekend, across 2 rapid and 2 tournaments. The summary would be, Blitz is becoming my number one vice. I'm just not fast/ co-ordinated enough to play it well OTB - but I do enjoy it! The rapid events went better, albeit my first round opponent on the Saturday was a nine year old girl who was clutching a teddy bear. I did win, but however much us chess players see ourselves as warriors, even I couldn't find much to celebrate there. Having said that, I doubt she'll have much sympathy when two years from now she can most likely destroy me!

I always enjoy these big national events and would encourage all our members to look out for future opportunities. Whatever your level, they are always a lot of fun. The next big one to think about is the British in the Summer. (I have a good inside tip that it's going to be in Liverpool.) I'll be playing in the British Seniors for the first time. I'm figuring that means it's unlikely any of my opponents will be clutching a teddy bear.

Either way, I'll try and post some photos in due course... If you are out and about at anything vaguely to do with chess (and this post certainly hits the criteria of being vague) do share it on here!

  

A Sight For Sore Eyes

 

As Harry pointed out to me when we were in the Bar at Shirley last night, following the C team's 2.5 - 1.5 victory against Shirley B.... Kenilworth C and D are now first and second in Division 2. We've even got the picture to prove it!

This has not been the easiest of seasons for all sorts of reasons. Yet while we are continually having to re-jig our teams, and we know eligibility issues will make this even more challenging in the second half of the campaign, at the Board we continue to put it together. It has made me reflect that for all our difficulties, we still have considerable strength and depth, and a roster that would be the envy of many a club.

I cannot tell you as much about the games last night as I would like, for the simple reason that I spent most of the evening in my seat struggling with a very difficult position, but we'll get on to that in a moment...

On Board 1, Andy Ward unfortunately went wrong against Darren Whitmore. These things happen, but it left us 1-0 down. 

Harry was losing, I was losing, but Rhys was winning and swiftly turned down Dave Thomas's offer of a draw. None of the games ultimately ended as might have been predicted at the halfway point in the proceedings.

I'm not sure exactly what happened in Harry's game on Board 2, but Keith Ingram perhaps overreached and Harry's resilience paid off - somehow we were back to 1-1.

My position on Board 4 had been excruciating all night. Owen Adams is new to OTB chess but is 2100 on chess.com and has been doing very well in quicker games in the Shirley club. He was much better out of the opening, and I was desperately trying to find some space to ward off a kingside attack. By a miracle, I managed to find an OK defence and to gradually untangle things. We landed in an endgame in which I had two knights vs two bishops (and 5 pawns each.) I had 3 minutes to Owen's 10, but this was probably where my experience showed. I would say I have felt every emotion it is possible to feel at a chessboard except for rustiness (e.g. 32 Blitz and Rapid games last weekend at the London Chess Classic) and I just held my nerve better. I got the knights working more effectively than Owen's Bishop's, found a couple of tactics and picked up a Bishop and a pawn to bring home an unlikely point. I have no doubt that Owen will do really well going forward, but I was delighted to put us 2-1 up!

Somewhere along the line Rhys had lost his advantage against Dave, and eventually ended up playing with just a knight against Dave's two pawns. Fortunately there was no way for Dave to win and they ended up with seconds left on their clocks and just the two kings left on the board, after what was a highly entertaining game. No one could accuse them of not trying!

So a very satisfactory evening. Both the C and D team have one more game before Christmas. Here's hoping we can keep on setting the pace!