The Kenilworth Half Hour

Quite an interesting night at Solihull on Wednesday. In what may be a first for the Leamington League, Kenilworth A's final league match of the season (completely unimportant) doubled up (with the addition of a fifth board) as the Open KO Cup semi-final (totally crucial). Fixture congestion for both teams prevented us finding an independent date for the Cup match, but a bit of inspired out of the box thinking (modesty precludes me from telling you it was my idea) and some much appreciated understanding from the league committee, allowed us to shoe-horn two matches into one night.

Despite a fairly ordinary league campaign, Solihull can put out a pretty strong team when all their players are available, so we needed a powerful quintet to repel the challenge. Thankfully we had exactly that, and ran out 4.5-0.5 winners of the cup match, and 3.5-0.5 winners over the top 4 boards for the league points.

As in seemingly all matches these days, it felt pretty tense and very much in the balance for the initial phase of the evening,  but as the clock approached 22.00 things turned decisively in our favour. When the going got tough, our guys got going! When England played a match against China in Liverpool in 2008 (6 rounds of 8 boards), the games kept swinging in China's favour (they won 28-20) during the fifth hour of play. To such an extent that this period was christened "The Chinese Hour". We're not quite in the same league as that Chinese team (Wang Yue, Ni Hua, Bu Xiangzhi, Hou Yifan etc), but - last night at least - we definitely mustered a "Kenilworth Half Hour".

The one person who didn't really contribute to this was Andrew, but only because he had already won after a very polished performance with the Black pieces against Ray Carpenter on Board 4. Not only did he win a pawn, but the extra pawn was passed and on f3 tying down the White pieces. A nifty rook manoeuvre won a second pawn to give connected passed g and f pawns, and while Ray was able to reach a minor piece ending and set up a blockade with his king and knight to prevent the further advance of these pawns, Andrew then started a king march towards the wide open White queen side pawns. In an impossible position Ray lost on time.

Earlier I had been initially optimistic about Javier's position on Board 2 against Andrew McCumiskey, especially as he won a clear centre pawn and doubled the White g pawns. But this had come at the cost of weakening his own kingside, so that he had to castle long. Andrew then uncorked a very nice knight sac which couldn't be taken, and when the combinational smoke cleared the extra pawn had gone and White looked to be pressing against some weak Black pawns. But Javier kept his cool - marching his king down to b3; installing a rook on c2 and threatening to break decisively in the centre with an e4 push that would have created a monster passed pawn on d4. Andrew could have kept some chances of holding the position if he had swapped a pair of rooks off, but failing to do this, Javier doubled rooks on the c file and suddenly - from almost nowhere - it was unstoppable mate! The Kenilworth Half-Hour was up and running!

And then the big match up on Board 1 between Jude and Don Mason also resolved itself after a very interesting, and pretty high level, encounter. Don played very actively and seemed to have an initiative, but Jude first shored up his position and then started jumping into some good squares with threats against some weak Black pawns. He eventually won a pawn and with his time about to expire Don couldn't find a way to continue and resigned. It was apparently not yet a completely won position for Jude, but with the extra pawn and extra time there could only have been one winner.

So that meant we were home and dry, with a 3-0 lead in both the league and cup matches. Keatan was pushing hard to chalk up another win against Akshath Shivakumar on Board 4 and tried everything possible to engineer a breakthrough in a knight ending, where he had just a slight space advantage in a near symmetrical position. But there was simply no way to create a passed pawn or infiltrate with the king or knight and he had to reluctantly agree to a draw.

This left Bruce in action against Julian Summerfield on Board 5, in a game which was something of a slow burner. But as the time control approached Bruce went for the jugular with a king side attack. His queen jumped in to the Black position and it became extremely difficult for Julian to hold the defence together. Despite terrible time pressure he managed to neutralise the direct attack, but only at the cost of a seemingly irrelevant (to me) pawn on a6. But in fact it was exceedingly relevant, because a couple of moves later a White pawn got to a7 and shortly after - once Bruce had made sure not to allow even a glimpse of a perpetual check escape - it cost Black a whole rook when it went one square further. Tense, hair raising stuff - but once again the Kenilworth Half Hour had worked its magic!

This double victory meant we finished 8 points clear of Warwick University in Division 1, for a sixth successive league title. Unfortunately the students finished the season - as I had suspected they would - by winning against Olton and Leamington on successive nights (by a score of 7.5-0.5!) to pip our B team to second place on game points. In the Cup, we will be going for a sixth successive victory against Leamington on finals night at Olton on May 12th. When Ben's u-8750 team will be attempting to make it three wins in a row.

It only remains to choose this week's musical offering. Something dynamic and upbeat, I think, to reflect my mood. And you can't get much more upbeat than this. Absolutely brilliant. Can music be any more uplifting and life affirming? Who wouldn't want to be a rock star after seeing this?!

History Maker!

History was made at the Holiday Inn on Monday night, when the latest graduate from Paul's Coventry Chess Academy made his debut for KCC in the D team match against Leamington C. At around 6 years and 10 months of age, Anish Bijibilla took the step into the world of adult league chess with supreme ease, wrapping up a win over a 1327 rated opponent in under an hour and becoming the youngest ever player to win a game for Kenilworth! (And at the other end of the age spectrum, a stalwart of the CCA, Roy, was contributing the other point to the team in a 2-2 draw. Perfect symmetry!)

Anish gets ready to make his first move for Kenilworth, with comparative veteran Gregory in the background!

So sorry Billy, your record as our youngest winner, which stood at just over 7 years of age and has lasted since December 2018 when you were successful against Stratford D in Division 4, has been broken. (Which presumably means Jude has been pushed down to number 3!) I would be very surprised if there has been a younger winner for any other club in the history of the Leamington League - and especially not in Division 3.

Anish has had a fantastic couple of weeks, first scoring 6/7 in the Minor section of the Birmingham Rapid Play (including a win over LDCL veteran Kim Gilbert of Shirley who was born in 1945! - how's that for an age difference?!) and then just last weekend making 3/5 at the Nottingham Minor (standard play) against players all rated over 1400. No wonder Paul thought that Anish was ready for a competitive debut in the league - and how right he was. 

On the April ECF rating list Anish is the second ranked U-7 in England for both standard play and rapid play, and third for blitz, and when the above results are taken into account that could well change. Its no wonder that he has been selected to play for England in the World Cadet U-8s in Georgia later in the year (where he will begiving away a year to most of his opponents). 

It is a great pleasure and privilege for us to have Anish playing for KCC and I'm sure we all hope he will have a long and enjoyable time with our club. And he's a really nice lad as well! So a big Kenilworth welcome to him and his dad Nanda, and the rest of the family, and best wishes for what promises to be a very exciting chess journey.

Down But Not Out

Kenilworth C went down 0-4 away to Solihull A last night, in our final league game of the season. We had already long since been relegated, and you might think this heavy defeat was a cause for further lament, but I don't see it like that. It was always going to be a challenge for our third team to take on rival first teams, and that all too often proved to be the case. 

Yet we'd earned our place in the top league on merit, by winning the Division 2 title in style last year. This season we struggled to always get our best team out, for a variety of completely understandable reasons. But I am immensely grateful to everyone who did play the games. There must have been times (like last night) when players turned out knowing that they were going to be heavily outgraded, but nobody hid and you can't ask for more than that. 

Albeit, we could perhaps have hoped that our own B team might have demonstrated some of the same enthusiasm they showed in beating us, instead of then losing limply to our relegation rivals a few days later, but that's chess. You can never quite predict what is going to happen, and ultimately when the clock starts it is every man (and woman) for themselves. The truth is we weren't quite good enough and there is no shame in that.

One of my most heart-breaking moments in football was when Man Utd lost the League title to Leeds in 1992. In their next game, which was then a dead rubber against Spurs, Man Utd won (3-1 I think.) The newspaper report said, it hurts now for Man Utd fans, but the future looks bright. A somewhat prescient comment to say the least! So many of the C team players have improved during the season and I really think we are in great shape for next year.

Rhys had a great game against Don last night. I didn't see much of Dan and Dylan's games, but the pair of them epitomise our growing strength in depth. The truth is I didn't see much of anything, as my own game was an unmitigated disaster. I walked into an opening trap and that was that. I said to Mark the other day that I am aiming to be much more philosophical about chess these days. So, while I can't quite say that I laughed, I'm not dwelling on it either. After all, when you've got the worst game you've ever played behind you, the only way is up, right?!? 

There are plenty more games to follow. Both for me personally, and for the C team next season. We will be back in Division 2 next year. Doubtless there will be more drama. Good days and bad days. New opportunities to chase down. One way or another, there is every reason to think that we will have a lot more to smile about. 

B-athos

Bathos (noun):- anti-climax

Well, thank goodness that's the end of the season for the B team and I can be done with all that B nonsense in the match report titles. Until next season, I imagine, when I find it hard to imagine I will have any better idea than to repeat my previous theme. But that can wait, because there is the little matter of last night's match to round-up first.

We went to Stratford (birthplace of the Bard, who was something of a master of deliberate bathos) seeking the one point which would secure second place in the table, but we returned home with none, and now have to wait for Warwick University to play their final two matches. If they win both they will overtake us. Its out of our hands now, so what will be, will be.

We were off to a flyer last night, when Richard McNally made a terrible blunder against me, and in a totally innocuous position walked into a deadly pin which should have cost the exchange and a pawn, but as played cost him his queen for a rook. When I returned the queen for an ending with two pieces against one, Richard resigned after just 80 minutes and 21 moves.

Things certainly looked bright elsewhere, because Mike was outplaying Carl Hibbard on Board 2 and Ben was at least equal on 3. Daniel was under some pressure on Board 4, but it didn't seem especially serious. But first Mike's game ended in a draw, as Carl just about held his position together without dropping any material, and then things started to go pear shaped on the other two boards. Tantalisingly we just needed a draw from the two games to clinch second spot, but it wasn't to be. For no obvious reason, Ben's position drifted depressingly into a lost rook and pawn ending against Alexander Roberts, when it looked like a nailed on draw and then disaster struck on Board 4.  Dan was under pressure on the clock, but it was his opponent, George Clifton, who made a massive oversight which gifted Dan a piece thanks to a back rank trick. But the clock situation proved decisive, and instead of pocketing a whole piece Dan missed the winning move and instead found himself mated about three moves later! Sic transit gloria mundi. Or something like that.

In the overall scheme of things it won't matter too much whether the B team finishes second or third, as this has still been a massively successful season for our second team. But it would be nicer to be second, don't you think?! So, a rather anticlimactic finish to the season after the peak performance last week against Banbury A. Hence the title of this report!

I think a shot of the blues is called for to reflect my subdued mood today. So it has to be the Allman Brothers again! 

B-looming B-rilliant

A great win for the B team away against a full strength Banbury A last Thursday, which completed a remarkable league double for the season. It hasn't quite wrapped up 2nd place for the B team, but its taken us right to the brink of a second 1-2 finish in the league.

And there was no question that we deserved the victory (I say we, because I was in the team!), as we never looked to be losing at any stage of the evening. Although the scoreboard got moving in the wrong direction to begin with. Andy repeated his recent trick of getting a winning position out of the opening, and then collapsing due to a tactical oversight. This time the beneficiary was Georgs Vikanis, as Andy's extra pawn became irrelevant when the Black heavy pieces invaded the White kingside in a distinctly vicious manner. But the accident on Board 3 was about to be balanced by a reverse slip-up on Board 2 which went very much in our favour. Joshua played a very enterprising opening against Tom Day, sacking an exchange for some very threatening looking connected pawns. Tom decided that discretion was the better part of valour and gave the exchange back to eliminate the connected pawns, and for some unfathomable reason Josh failed to take the fat, juicy White e pawn in return. So he was just a pawn down. But then the legendary Pink magic (or is it luck?) kicked in and the next thing you know, Tom has dropped a whole piece. Joshua's technique in winning with rook, knight and three against rook and three wasn't the best I've ever seen, but it was good enough in the end to queen the last remaining pawn and level the match scores.

And then we were in the driving seat when Mike, who has also been having a rocky time of things over the last few matches, played a very powerful game with the Black pieces to overcome Gary Jackson. Indeed, White looked almost totally busted straight out of the opening with his king wandering around in the centre and Black having very active pieces and a big central pawn. I missed the middlegame phase, but it eventually came down to a double rook ending with Mike a couple of pawns up and when he got a pawn to the seventh rank, Gary had to concede. Which put us 2-1 up, and in possession of at least one match point, with my game against IM James Jackson deciding whether we got both.

Now normally you'd bet long odds on that I would lose, but this was one of those nights (song clue there, by the way!) where I managed to avoid any blunders or major inaccuracies. James sacked a pawn in a line of the Spanish that was completely new to me, and got some play for it, but the engine says I was much better, even when I mistakenly simplified the position, leaving him with a rook and a pair of bishops against my rook, bishop and knight. I still had my extra pawn - passed! - though it was sat on a2, so had a long way to go before it became a factor in the game. I defended sensibly, but as time pressure grew, James started ramping up the pressure and managed to open the position for his two bishops and get himself a passed h pawn. But I defended quite well, and although I eventually lost all my advantage the position was never worse than equal - and I still had an extra pawn - as he also ran short of time. And then he prodded his passed pawn one square too far and with the aid of some elementary tactics I was suddenly completely winning. I suspected as much, but had too little time to calculate things. I saw a way to eliminate all the Black pawns and draw and just headed for the safe solution to win the match.

A brilliant win for the B team, then. One point at Stratford in our final match of the season will seal second place, as Warwick University could still overtake us on game points if they win their last two matches. But its third place as a minimum for the B team, after a splendid season.

So did you guess the song?  Not that it matters, coz' here it is anyway!

Anything A Can Do, B Can Do Better - B Can Do Anything Better Than A!

Well, maybe not anything. Like winning the League. But when it comes to beating Olton A, then its definitely the B team that takes the biscuit!  Because after the A team's rather unfortunate accident away at Olton a couple of weeks back, the B team hardly broke sweat in chalking up a 3-1 win against exactly the same Olton A team last Tuesday.

Bruce "Bruiser" Baer was particularly brutal, winning a whole piece in broad daylight with Black against Mark Cundy, and forcing resignation shortly afterwards. I imagine he was back home in plenty of time to watch the 9 o'clock news. Especially as its not on till 10 o'clock these days. Andy had been the chief culprit in the A team's loss, frittering away a totally won position against Mike Hollier, but he made no mistake when offered the chance of revenge. Once again he got a won position surprisingly quickly (two pieces for a rook) and this time he made the advantage count. Although Mike managed to check Andy's king around the board for a few moves, by this stage he was a whole 2 pieces down and as soon as the checks stopped it was game over.

I then made it 3-0 on the night in rather strange circumstances. Believe it or not, I actually played a rather good game against Alan Lloyd on top board, after Alan had blundered a pawn in the opening. In order to break a mini-blockade, I correctly sacrificed the exchange, but gained a second pawn in the process. And one of them was a monster passed pawn on b6 that was straining at the leash to get to b7 and b8. Alan defended as well as he could, but he was completely lost ....... when I allowed him the chance to return the exchange and enter a king and pawn ending a pawn down which, as far as I can tell, would have been a draw. But - just like me! - he didn't notice this possibility and instead resigned. Ultimately a lucky point for me, but I felt I deserved it. And as I'm writing the match report, that's the opinion that counts! Unfortunately, we couldn't make it 4-0, as Mike went horribly wrong against Richard Liszewski in what looked like a favourable position and managed to lose his queen for a rook. Quite a few fairly pointless moves later the inevitable happened and Mike was forced to resign.

With Banbury A winning on the same night, its still all to play for in the fight for second place in Division 1, and next week's direct encounter between the two teams may well decide the final outcome - though the B team does have one more match after that, away at Stratford.

This week's song was somewhat telegraphed by the title, so no prizes for guessing we're taking a trip to the golden age of the Hollywood musical. Not our normal cup of tea, but I like to cater for all tastes! 

Full House

Don't worry - I haven't suddenly developed an interest in poker (as if!). Its just that last night we had a rather full house in the Jephson Room, as the U8750 Cup semi-final against Leamington (5 boards) and an A team league match against Stratford A (4 boards) combined to create quite a rather full room.

And the intense atmosphere clearly did our teams no harm, as we came away with two clear cut victories. As I was present in a non-playing capacity, I had rather a good view of proceedings - at least for the last hour, as before then I had adopted a hands-off approach and retreated to the bar for a chat with Nash and Richard.

My return to the action was not in time to see any of Josh's game, though, as he had won in double quick time for the A team on Board 4 and already departed the scene. Good to see the legendary Pink Points Machine back in full working order! Javier, making his first appearance at the Holiday Inn (which might - just - excuse him for going to the Abbey Club first. No, on reflection it doesn't!) performed a massive hatchet job on Richard McNally's usually very potent Morra Gambit and didn't take long to make an extra piece tell, for a very convincing win. But things weren't necessarily going to plan on the other two boards, so the match win wasn't totally assured. However, I needn't have worried as things turned decisively in our favour as the clocks ticked down. First, Andrew found a very nice way to force a repetition on Board 3 and escape from a pawn down ending with a draw, and then Keatan went one better by producing a monster knight fork to win Carl Hibbard's rook after a very tense struggle where the momentum seemed to be going to and fro at varying moments. Which meant a 3.5-0.5 victory and a 10 point lead at the top of Division 1. And a massive game points score of +36 - just the 23 more than the next best score!

But with the league title already secured, the bigger match last night was the cup semi-final. Ben's team was already missing a couple of players and then had to cope with a late withdrawal as well, but thankfully the assembled team rose to the occasion and produced a really splendid effort. It was far from plain sailing, of course, and for much of the evening it looked possible that we would be going out. Even very close to the finishing line we could still have been eliminated on tie break, but thankfully it didn't come to that.

Our only loss on the night came on board 3, where Phil succumbed to a massive attack targeted at his king. White lined up queen and bishop on the a1-h7 diagonal and two rooks on an open g file - and with everything pointing at the g7 square there was no defence. Thankfully we bounced back when Patrick secured an excellent win on Board 5 with Black. I missed the end, but earlier he had won an exchange and looked set to start picking off pawns and exposing the White king in last viewing. And then we were in the lead when Ben played an excellent game against Joshua Simpson on Board 2, winning a piece and setting up a mating attack. Though disappointingly he didn't deliver mate and won on material instead!

But despite it being advantage Kenilworth, it was still all to play for. Dylan looked to have walked into a vicious pin and attack on Board 4, but he kept his cool and found a way to stave off immediate disaster at the cost of a pawn, and then sacrificed an exchange which soon led to a draw by perpetual. I wasn't sure if it should have, but I wouldn't trust my analysis too much! Anyway, it was all irrelevant as this was a crucial half point saved. We now led by 2.5-1.5, with just Rhys' game against Ben Egid on Board 1 left in play. A Leamington win and they would go through on tie break. White seemed to be pressing with doubled rooks on the open d file, but Rhys had challenged these and also covered possible entry squares. Much more significant, though, was White's dreadful light squared bishop and a rapidly evaporating time allowance. Rhys jumped in on the dark squares tro win a pawn, and then refrained from winning a second in favour of keeping the queens on, so that White had to worry about a possible mating attack. The defensive task proved too much and the clock took over to finish the game in our favour. A tremendous win for Rhys - with Black - against Leamington A's regular board 1.

So many congratulations to both teams on a double triumph, but no doubt that the major honours go to the U8750 cup team for securing our first cup final appearance of the season. The Open KO team is still hoping to join them, though we have a few weeks to go yet before a semi-final against Solihull.

Onto the music - and after being in such a crowded room last night, the selection of our group seemed  pretty obvious to me!

B Minus

A 2-2 draw for the B team against Stratford A could often be considered a point gained, rather than a point lost, but last night was not really one of those occasions. Continuing a pattern which has become worryingly prevalent over the last couple of weeks, we failed to make the most of our substantial grading advantage on every board (averaging over 150 points) and had to rely on me - yes, it was that desperate! - to save the draw in the last game to finish.

Mike's game against Richard Dobedoe on Board 3 never seemed to get going. Maybe I looked away at the exciting moments, but its also possible there weren't any! So a fairly uneventful draw. It was much more exciting on Board 4, where Michal and his opponent Paul Budd were soon in a very unbalanced position, with Michal having a rook and 2 pawns for a bishop and knight. I was vaguely hopeful Michal might be better, but the next time I looked, the imbalance had become rook and 2 pawns for two bishops and Black looked to be doing fine. As must have been the case, since a draw was agreed soon after.

I was initially slightly worried about Josh's game against Carl Hibberd on Board 2, as Black appeared to have emerged better from the opening (some sort of Sveshnikov/Kalashnikov Sicilian) but on my next viewing I thought Josh's position had greatly improved and he seemed to be threatening quite a lot of Black pawns. However, I was either way off with my assessment, or something went wrong (both possibilities highly likely!) because further viewing revealed that Josh was a pawn down and looking likely to lose another one. I missed the climax to the game, but it didn't end well.

And it could easily have been curtains for us, as I was very nearly lost straight out of the opening against Richard McNally (just our 12th encounter!) when I found myself with almost no squares to put any of my pieces on. Thankfully, though, a couple of inaccuracies allowed me some breathing space, albeit at the cost of a pawn - but as White had tripled b pawns I wasn't too worried about the slight material deficit. But then Richard overlooked a knight fork from my only active piece and I won an exchange and messed up his pawns in the process. It should have been fairly straightforward, but of course it wasn't. We repeatedly traded inaccuracies, but eventually time trouble proved the deciding factor and Richard's king came under heavy fire in the middle of the board. Facing total disaster he lost on time and we'd saved the match.

The point gained put the B team onto the same points as Warwick University and Banbury A, but with a game in hand, so the push to secure another 1-2 finish for Kenilworth is still possible. Though with an away match at Banbury still to come, the bookies would not have us down as favourites, I suspect!

Music time and in keeping with my theme it has to be another B artist. (But not a B-lister, lets be clear about that!) I don't know how The Band have only managed 2 appearances on this website so far, but its high time we increased that number to 3. I love this song and I really love this live version from the film The Last Waltz. Hope you do, too.

Blip!

But what a big blip! Tuesday night's 1.5-2.5 reverse for the A team away at Olton put an end to our hopes of an unbeaten season and temporarily put a stop to any celebrations of a sixth successive Division 1 title. Except that it didn't really, because as Andrew had already worked out, even if we lost every remaining match 0-4, and Banbury won every remaining match 4-0, we would still win the title on game points. But all the same, you don't really feel much like celebrating after a chastening defeat, do you? And this was actually the A team's first defeat since September 2, 2024 when we famously got annihilated 3.5-0.5 by our B team! So our unbeaten run came to an end after 561 days.  And in fact you have to go back to October 16, 2023, when Banbury beat us 2.5-1.5, for the last time the A team lost against another club. Which I make 882 days. Almost as long as the Third Reich!

But enough of this tub-thumping, its the gory details of this week's loss you want to hear about, I'm sure. It really was a case of lightning from a clear blue sky, as we had a pretty useful team deployed (none of our titled players, though) and Olton have been having a tough season. But they raced into a 2-0 lead. Andrew lost against Mark Cundy on Board 2 after an absolutely insane game. After 15 moves Andrew was an exchange and two pawns up, but while his queen had decimated the White queenside and sat on a1supported by a black pawn on b2, his remaining pieces - 2 bishops and 2 rooks were all on their starting squares. I'm sure I remember reading something about developing your pieces in an old Fred Reinfeld book, but chess strategy has obviously moved on in the computer age! Apparently this crazy position was actually close to equal, but in practice there could only be one winner - and it wasn't Andrew!

That was fair enough, but what happened on Board 3 simply defied belief. Andy was hounding Mike Hollier all over the board, continually threatening to trap pieces or win the Black queen. But all he netted for his troubles was an extra doubled pawn which had also opened the g file towards his own king. He assures me the position was completely winning, as it certainly looked, but one careless move cost him the exchange and suddenly the Black heavy pieces swarmed in down that g file (I knew it looked risky!) with a winning attack. Total calamity. Instead of 1-1 and being in total charge, it was 0-2 and we were staring defeat in the face.

I at least managed to beat Richard Liszewski on Board 4 (yes, for once I wasn't the culprit!), finishing with a very nice (though I say so myself) queen sacrifice to win a rook, though I have to admit that Richard didn't help his cause with some very strange moves. And so it was down to Keatan, on Board 1 against Olton stalwart Alan Lloyd, to try and save the match. Watched by a rather large crowd of spectators the game ended up in a knight v bishop ending, where Alan had a more active king and an annoying passed pawn, but doubled f pawns which looked ripe for the picking. It was very difficult and both players were short of time. At times I thought Keatan was winning and at others I thought he was in difficulties, but despite lots of knight jumps and nearly moves he couldn't find a way to win any of the weak Black pawns and Alan managed to hold the draw and secure the win for Olton. And bring our record breaking run to an end. Rats! But many congratulations to Olton for a super strong team performance.

So after losing on the night, it didn't feel like we had really won the title. But thankfully the wait for final validation was only two days, because we had a very quick follow-up match (and thanks to Keatan, Andrew and Andy for playing two away matches in 3 nights) last night against our main rivals, Banbury A. I wasn't present, but on checking the LMS results page this morning I was delighted to see that our brave boys had returned from Oxfordshire with a 3-1 win, so that the title celebrations can truly start. In fact, I'm just about to kick things off with a glass of orange juice. Party!!! With any luck a first hand report of the match may grace this site in the next few days. There are 2 more A team matches left, plus a KO Cup campaign, while the B team has 4 matches left to try and claim the runner-up spot.

It seems strange to choose a downbeat song for this week's musical offering when we;'ve just won the league title again, but I can't ignore the fact that we lost Tuesday's match. And until last night, it had actually been a very bad week for the club, as the C team lost 0-4 to Warwick Uni on Monday, and the same night the U1600 cup team went out in the semi-final at Shirley. So I think something bluesy is entirely appropriate!

One Thousand and Thirty Eight

Not the mileage to this week's trip to Daventry for the final Coventry League match of the season (though it felt like it!), nor the combined age of our team (though it was probably close - see below), but rather the aggregate grading points advantage that we enjoyed over the home team. And rather embarrassingly it was not enough to eke out a win and from 2-0 down Daventry fought back to secure their first point of the season - in their final match. So while they were probably dancing in the streets of Daventry late into the night, I couldn't help but detect a pall of disappointment hanging over Kenilworth as we drove back into town.

As far as the league situation was concerned, neither this set-back, nor our recent loss against Division 1's second bottom team, Warwick University B, made the slightest difference, as we were guaranteed to finish third whether we took four points or none. Its been an almost unmitigated disaster since Christmas - when we led the league with a 100% score from 4 matches - with just one win and one draw from six further games. Warwick Uni A took home the title for the umpteenth time, but only 1 point clear of Nuneaton, who certainly gave them a good run for their money. Congratulations to both, who were clearly the strongest and most consistent teams in Division 1 this season.

We got off to a flyer on Wednesday night when I won quite quickly against my young opponent, James Brown, on Board 1. After a trendy, theoretical line in the Caro Kann we both played a couple of sub-optimal moves and I then sacked a knight for what I thought was a winning attack against his king. As indeed it turned out to be, as he played all the moves I expected and it ended with me winning the Black queen. But - you guessed it - the silicon monster spotted an inspired defence that neither of us saw, which would have held the position to a probable draw. Chess is a difficult game! And it was soon 2-0 to us as Phil got revenge for his earlier loss against Abbie Stevens on Board 4. After a rather strange opening where Abbie rather neglected her king safety, Phil forked a loose rook on a1 and a mate threat on f2, so that the Loose Piece did indeed have to Drop Off - LPDO! Phil wasn't the most efficient after that, but with an extra rook the win was never in doubt.

But there the good news ends. because despite being better on both the remaining boards, we managed to lose them both. Mike unfortunately not only missed a win, but then had a rush of blood to the head and sacked an exchange against Harvey Monroe on Board 2, only to find that when he won it back he would be a pawn down. Except that he then blundered and made it two pawns. And then he blundered a third pawn and despite some White inaccuracies in the rook ending, there was no way that 3 extra pawns weren't going to win.

It was even more tragic watching Paul lose on Board 3 against Andy Johnson. He was playing a very nice controlled game and won a pawn. But he started taking ages to play his moves and then allowed an onslaught against his slightly open king, when he just needed to regroup and defend for a couple of moves. Andy finished things off very nicely to deliver checkmate.

So two points that should have been ours went to Daventry and a probable 4-0 win became a 2-2 draw. Hey ho, that's the way the cookie sometimes crumbles.

Its only while writing this report, though, that it suddenly struck me that this was almost certainly the oldest Kenilworth team I have ever played in. I was - strange but actually true! - the youngest player in the team, which I seriously doubt has ever happened before. Not a good look for our demographic and our reputation as the home of young talent!!

I couldn't think of a song that referenced 1,038, so another number will have to step in and take its place. I bet you're all expecting The Proclaimers now, but you're wrong! 500 is such a mundane number compared to 20,000,000. And just for the hell of it, we'll double that up to 40,000,000 by having two versions of the song. As a nod to populism, we'll kick off with Robert Palmer and Jools Holland and then move on to the original by Lowell George of Little Feat. Both great, but when push comes to shove, I know which one I'm voting for!

Warwick Wanderers: Who'd be a Skipper?!

Wednesday night saw the A team travel to Warwick University, the only team to have taken points off us this season, and one of the few capable of catching us at the top of Division 1. An important game, to say the least!

In spite of the skipper’s excellent communication, featuring multiple emails outlining exactly where we were playing (the science building), both David and I still managed to turn up at the Students' Union. Who’d be a skipper! I eventually made it to the board 20 minutes late, with all the other games already in full swing.

Two things of note quickly became apparent: we outgraded Warwick by around 200 points on every board, and we were playing 90+0, so no increment.

First to finish was Javier, who looked to my eyes to have crushed his opponent from the off. His opponent was struggling with king safety, a problem he eventually solved, but only at the expense of everything else. An overwhelming win and a great start.

Keatan’s game on board two was much closer. He pushed consistently, with his opponent struggling but just managing to hold the balance. However, Keatan was relentless and clearly wasn’t settling for a draw. Eventually, the position distilled down to rook and pawn versus rook and pawn, theoretically a dead draw, but Keatan kept making life difficult. His opponent eventually cracked, and Keatan annexed the whole point.

I was next to finish. I eventually managed to equalise out of the opening and found myself in an unbalanced position, with kingside play in exchange for queenside weaknesses. My play eventually turned into an attack that practically played itself, crashing through much faster than the queenside counterplay. So, 3-0, and the match was secured.

Last to finish was David on board three. His play was as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar; at no point did his opponent have even a sliver of active play. David might have swapped off the queens a little early, but nonetheless found himself in a knight versus bishop endgame where his king was vastly superior and his 4-vs-3 kingside pawn majority was far more mobile. He quickly proved the knight was the better minor piece in the position, put his pawns on light squares, created a passed pawn, and relentlessly applied pressure. His opponent finally cracked while trying to force counterplay on the other wing, but David’s king and knight had absolute control. A few tactics later, and David had brought home the bacon.

All in all, one of the best team performances of the season, with all four boards never in trouble and showing some excellent fighting spirit.

 

The Thrill of the Fight

Explain this if you can - on Tuesday night Kenilworth loses 1-3 to Warwick Uni B in the Coventry League. On Wednesday night Warwick Uni loses 1.5-2.5 to Kenilworth B in the Leamington League. Thankfully, I had nothing to do with the match on Tuesday, so there will not be a report on that particular encounter. Instead, I'll focus on the much happier event of the B team victory, which went down to the wire and was one of the most thrilling matches I've been involved in recently.

Mike (Bd 4) and I (Bd 2) were first to finish, almost simultaneously, and so in the wink of an eye the score went from 0-0 to 1.5-0.5 in our favour. Against Piotr Arp, Mike had to face a massive pawn storm heading for his king, but got counterplay on the queenside at the cost of an exchange. It was all pretty hair-raising stuff, as White then managed to set up a very nasty pin on the 8th rank, but thankfully Mike's queen jumped in to give perpetual check. I faced Ben Fearnhead for the third time this season - all with Black. In the previous two games he had sacked, first, a piece and a rook, and more recently three pieces against me. I, of course, had sacrificed nothing in return and had somehow (and most undeservedly) acquired 1.5 points from the two encounters. So I shouldn't really have been surprised when - out of nowhere - he sacked a knight for three pawns. I should have refuted the sac on the spot, but despite seeing the right move, I miscalculated the consequences and instead we ended up in a position where I had two bishops for a rook and pawn, plus one more rook each and a collection of pawns. But on the open board my bishops then caused instant mayhem. The White pawns started to fall off, and a final desperate move walked into the loss of an exchange and more pawns, forcing resignation.

But the match was anything but over, despite our healthy lead. Dave and Bruce were both having mega-fights which might have gone either way. Playing against correspondence chess Senior IM, Vitalii Mikhalchuk, Dave eventually won a pawn on Board 3 and it came down to rook and three v rook and two. The Black king got very active and things looked highly unclear, but a couple of crucial checks got Dave's king over to stop the last remaining Black pawn, and there was nothing to stop one of his own pawns from queening. Tremendous stuff, and some swift consolation for his agonising near-miss against IM James Jackson in a C team match on Monday.

Unfortunately, we didn't end on a high as Bruce went down on top board against Damirali Magzumov, despite being much better for most of the game. But the absence of any increment assumed massive significance, and after he'd missed the right set up against another somewhat dubious kingside pawn-storm he couldn't find a way to defend his pawns and his king as his clock ticked down. And to top it all, he managed to get lost both on the way to the match, and on the way home afterwards! Doesn't bode well for this weekend when he's playing in the Warwick Uni Open.

The B team stays in third place after this latest success, but now sits only one point behind Banbury A with a game in hand. However, both Stratford A and Warwick Uni are also in the fight for second place - and maybe first if our A team falter, though we have a reasonably healthy lead at the moment.

There's so much good music out there that its a struggle to make my regular selections. But since I just noticed that we've never had a song from Steely Dan, I think its time I remedied that omission.

Strange fact number 1 - the amazing lead guitarist is Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, who in later years became a major authority on missile defence systems!! Don't judge a book by its cover!

Playing Catch-Up

Its been so long since I wrote a match report that I've almost forgotten what I need to catch up on. But I think I'm currently running one B team and 2 Cov League fixtures in arrears.

Our bad run in the Coventry League continued a week ago, when a quick return fixture against Warwick University A resulted in a second 1-3 defeat, even though they gave us a chance by omitting their two top boards from the previous week. Truth be told, we were lucky to score any points at all, as I was more lost than  a penguin in the Sahara Desert against Ben Fearnhead who played a brilliant sacrificial game against me right up until he missed a further exchange sac (he was already 2 pieces down) which would have left me completely defenceless. Instead he played into a level-ish position, only to make a monumental blunder which allowed me to win. E|ven I was a bit embarrassed to take the full point. But take it I did. Keatan sacked two pawns in the opening on Board 1 but only got one of them back and lost in the ending. Mike seemed to be making all the running on Board 3, but allowed the queen side to open up for the Black major pieces which flooded into his position, before delivering a knockout blow on the kingside. Paul seemed to be worse out of the opening and could never get his game back on track, eventually being overpowered by an armada of White pieces. His opponent seemed to play a rather good game to me.

But despair not, because last night we managed to bounce back with a 3-1 win over Coventry A to notch our first points since Christmas. In truth it was like watching a mixed up version of a Kenilworth B v Kenilworth C match, as three of the Coventry team have played for us in the Leamington League this season!

Keatan kicked things off by beating Joshua with the White pieces on Board 1. How it happened I have no idea. Joshua had a knight firmly entrenched (or so it appeared to me) on d3 while Keatan had a big pawn on e6 supported by a mighty central knight. I thought that these respective advantages probably meant it was level, but that shows how much I know these days. Bruce, on board 2 v Dave, was playing a splendid and vigorous game (especially for one of his advancing years) and duly brought home the full point. Though again I failed to see the climax, though the rumour is that an exchange sac did the trick.

It was far from plain sailing to wrap up the match, though, as I played a very poor opening against Jonathan Fowler, and was soon clearly worse with White. However, he allowed me one chance to jump out and we ended up in a rook ending which should have been an easy hold for me. But I carelessly lost a pawn, which meant I had to suffer the tortures of the damned for 80+ moves before getting my half-point, though I think I was always holding on. The engine may beg to differ when I look more closely, though. Phil also looked to be in big trouble in the ending when Rhys got a queen and rook to the 8th rank menacing a rather exposed Black king and also targeting a very weak pawn on c6. It looked lost, but short of time Rhys couldn't find a mate or decisive breakthrough and exchanged off into a rook ending a pawn up. But he mistakenly pushed his passed c pawn one square too far and Phil was able to cut the White king off permanently and keep the passed pawn under control to secure another half point for us, making a final score of 3-1 to Kenilworth.

But hold your horses, because we're not finished yet! On Monday the A team lurched back into action for only the third time since Christmas. With our titled players all absent (Jude and Billy in the Isle of Wight and Javier "resting") we were not at super-strength, but we still packed too much of a punch for visitors Leamington A, chalking up a 4-0 win - some revenge, I suppose, for the poor B team who had gone down to a disastrous defeat against Leamington only a week or so earlier.

Mike was first to notch the full point, with a total rout on Board 4 - winning a whole rook after some very suspect opening play by Black. Nothing else happened for some time, but then Keatan won against Tom Darling on top board, defusing all of Tom's attacking ideas in a way that I have twice totally failed to do this season! This looked like a very good and controlled win to me. I then got a rather lucky win over Chris Ward after a rather tense game. he went wrong by falling into a trap. It looked like he was winning a piece but I had a counter combo that in fact netted me a pawn. But then (I went wrong and it should have been a draw - first in a double rook ending and then in a single rook ending. However, he let my king cross to the queenside and it proved impossible to stop the advance of my passed c pawn. The evening was rounded off by Andrew winning a very interesting game against Ben Egid. He had played almost single-mindedly against a bad Black light squared bishop and cashed in by sacking his own bishop for a mass of centre pawns - so that even when the Black bishop was the only one left on the board it was still bad, as it was powerless to stop the White pawns yomping down the board to success. A slightly flattering score-line, but most welcome nevertheless.

Right - on to the music. None of this A, B or C themed malarkey this time. Just some good old rock 'n roll! And another tribute to a recently departed great. RIP Bob Weir - rhythm/lead guitarist and vocalist and knock-out song writer with the Grateful Dead.  

PS And while I think to mention it, many congratulations to the D team, who gained an excellent 2-2 draw against Stratford B this week. It was great to welcome Steph back to the team and she and Patrick got impressive draws on Boards 2 and 3. Roy went down in a queen ending against the very experienced - and long time Stratford A player - Richard Dobedoe on top board (revenge for Richard's last appearance in these pages, which ended spectacularly, as you can see here) but the match was saved by Mark Senn on Board 4, who gained a massive win over Peter Stiff (conqueror of Phil many years ago in an infamous game which almost cost us the Division 1 title!) in only his second game of the season for us. Considering Dan has become ineligible for the D team and that Dylan was also missing, this was a tremendous effort against Stratford's second team. It also marked the first time since I've been a member of KCC that we were able to have two teams playing on the same night in the same room at a home venue. It certainly added to the entertainment and enjoyment, and given our recent change of circumstances I hope we'll be able to arrange mnore such occasions next season, rather than be trying to schedule only 1 match on any date.

B-igly C-alamity

Oh dear, oh dear. What have I gone and done? Only put (probably) a very big nail in the C team's coffin and set them on the road to relegation.

Our story begins over a week ago, when the B and C teams faced off in the third and final leg of the intra-Kenilworth mini-tournament that we are compelled to play due to having three teams in Division 1. It was obviously a more important match for the C team than the B team, but as usual Ben's team selection was compromised by non-availability and it was not at full strength. However, to counter-balance this, neither was the B team and the outcome was by no means a foregone conclusion.

I had played Ben in the Kenilworth A v Kenilworth B match one week earlier, but we found ourselves in opposition once again, this time on Board 1 in the B v C encounter. The game was fairly balanced until Ben gave me the two bishops to win a pawn. But he couldn't actually keep the pawn, and my unopposed dark squared bishop started to cause a few problems. Never mind, though, as I went wrong and gave away all my advantage. But Ben was getting into big time trouble and missed a chance to swap most of the pieces off to get a totally drawn position. I managed to get a rook into the kingside and take all Ben's pawns and he was then powerless to stop me queening.

By contrast, Mike seemed to have a very smooth win over Paul B on Board 2, but Phil's encounter with Dan on Board 3 looked like total chaos from beginning to end. Phil's king was wandering around in the centre but he had an extra pawn for his troubles, and when I next saw the game they were in a knight ending where Phil had about 3 extra pawns. He avoided any embarrassing forks and duly queened one of his pawns in a time scramble, but then bemused the watching crowd by failing to deliver an obvious mate in 1 by playing a random knight move - which was nevertheless good enough to compel resignation. This gave the B team a 3-0 lead, but some honour was restored when Dylan managed to win a totally drawn knight ending against Patrick. It came down to N+h pawn v N+ g and h pawns. Tragically for Patrick he rushed his attempt to liquidate all the pawns and gave his knight up too early. Dylan kept one pawn and with the aid of an extra knight this was sufficient to win the game. Very hard luck for Patrick after 3 hours of good play, but credit to Dylan for pressing for most of the night and still being alert enough to seize the opportunity that came his way.

So, 3-1 to the B team and no points for the C team.

Fast forward 7 days and it was now Kenilworth B v Leamington A. A crucial match for our C team, who led Leamington by 1 point at the foot of the table and were relying on the B team to do the decent thing and beat Leamington. Alas, we didn't. And in fact it was worse than that as we actually lost. And even worse than that was the fact that it was me who lost the match. Oh no!! Oh yes!!

I went down on top board against Tom Darling after seeing, but rejecting a very strong move (+3 to black) and instead choosing a losing variation where I had only considered a White knight jumping to d5 - when I would still have been better - and blanked the idea of it going to e4. Which won my queen. Oops.

And despite big rating advantages on every board we couldn't find even a single win to level the match. Andy B seemed to be powering to victory on the kingside against Joshua Simpson but the Black counter attack came just in time to force Andy to settle for perpetual check. On Board 3 Joshua played one of his pet/dubious openings as Black against Ben Egid and was doubtless rather relieved when a draw was offered, as his position looked pretty horrendous to me. I saw very little of Mike's game on Board 4 against Chris Ward, but Black never seemed to be in much trouble and another draw resulted.

A dagger to the heart of the C team, who now find themselves overtaken by Leamington A - trailing by a point and having played one match more. Its fair to say that the Leamington A v Kenilworth C match on March 3rd has become a must win fixture for us. Hmm - what's that saying? Oh yes - "now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party!"

In amongst all this angst and drama, its also appropriate to record here that the wheels have well and truly come off our quest for a second Coventry League title, following consecutive heavy defeats at the hands of Nuneaton A and Warwick University A. One person - no names, no pack drill - disgraced themselves by getting the match date confused and failing to turn up, which didn't help proceedings, while those who did were not able to score too many points. Admittedly against two rather strong teams. Keatan seemed especially unlucky against Warwick Uni's strong board 1 Edward Jackson (already a conqueror of Jude in the Leamington League this season) as he managed to drive the White king to g4, but unfortunately there was no mate. At least not for Keatan!! In the same match I was a pawn up but missed a beautiful win against Magnus Borissow and ended up allowing perpetual check. Our championship charge has been well and truly derailed.

But on to happier things. Its music time. This week I've worked with a B/C theme. (Well, when you get an idea you've got to keep running with it.) I drew the line at Bobby Crush, but I couldn't decide between two other options. So prepare for a double blast of BC music - from two very different artists. Well, music really is a very broad church!

A-wesome and B-fuddled

A slightly low key Kenilworth A v Kenilworth B encounter last night ended up as a 4-0 whitewash for the A team. As they say, be careful what you wish for, because when I was lamenting the absence of a clean sweep win for any of our teams this season, I didn't want it to occur when two of them were playing each other!

The A team, looking very much like the normal Kenilworth B team (with the exception of Andrew on Board 1), faced off against a B team looking very much like a cross between the C and D teams. Such is the price of a seemingly never-ending succession of fixtures - compounded by a C team match the following night. There's no doubt that nine teams in Division 1 is one too many - especially when we have 3 teams each playing 2 extra fixtures. Its no wonder a bit of chess fatigue sets in.

For once I scored the first point, beating Ben - who had been my nemesis in the summer quickplay club championship events - after he blundered on move 7. It immediately cost him a pawn, but his position was wrecked too, and the very best he could have done would have been to lose a second pawn. But he actually lost a piece and even I was able to wrap up proceedings without any major alarms after that. Mike followed just after, though I failed to see the end of his game against Patrick. Earlier on he looked to be building up a very strong position, with an extra pawn and a monstrous line up of pawns across the fourth rank leaving the Black army struggling for room.

But - as always seems to be the case - matters elsewhere were not so clear cut. Michal and Andrew were having a very tense encounter on Board 1, while Phil and Joshua were having a rather crazy game (who could have guessed?) on Board 3. On two occasions the player of the White pieces (Mr Wood!) was moved to utter a mild, but clearly audible, obscenity - first when he missed a knight fork that won a pawn, and secondly when he responded to a knight check by moving his bishop. As is well known, Phil is a master of the illegal move gambit, but this time Joshua spotted it - unlike Ben when he was playing for Leamington against us many years ago!!

Andrew turned down a draw offer, and soon after Michal lost the exchange, but with the position somewhat blocked it was not at all clear that Andrew's extra rook was better than Michal's extra knight. Meanwhile, Phil and Joshua had reached a bishop v knight ending where Black had an extra pawn but was on the verge of defeat with White threatening to get two widely separated passed pawns that couldn't have been stopped. Superficial (what other kind are we capable of?) analysis afterwards suggested it should have been a draw, but Phil made one wrong move and all of a sudden Joshua's extra pawn steamed down the board to force resignation. A very close run thing indeed, and if Phil had been a bit more match-fit he might well have taken a notable scalp.

Back on Board 1, Andrew cleverly rearranged his pieces and then broke the position open with a pawn push to c4. Pieces were exchanged and when the smoke cleared Black had a passed pawn on b2 and was about to get a rook to the back rank to force further material gains. So 0-1, and the A team had a clean sweep. This looked like a really tough and well played game by both players, with Michal giving a great account of himself on top board against such strong opposition.

Well, we now need some music to represent both A and B teams, so it has to be the Allman Brothers. Absolutely Brilliant. And two of the greatest ever rock guitarists - Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. A and B again, Spooky when you think about it!

B-arnstorming

A B-ig win for the B team this week, as the Holiday Inn welcomed its first non-Kenilworth visitors to our new match venue. And once again it was yours truly who got in the way of the club's first 4-0 win of the season!

Olton A came to town, but left empty handed after a 3.5-0.5 victory for the B team, which put them into second place in Division 1 - 1 point ahead of Warwick University, but 3 points behind Kenilworth A. I must say the league table makes pleasant reading at the moment - as long as you shield your eyes when looking towards the bottom teams, where the C team is in a life or death struggle to avoid relegation.

Joshua is a remarkable chess player. As I said to Ben, I can't work out if he's a strong weak player or a weak strong player. What he definitely isn't is either a strong strong player or a weak weak player. He was up to his old tricks again against Olton, totally bamboozling Mark Cundy on Board 2 and somehow transforming a worse/lost position into a crushing win - seemingly in less time than it takes to blink. As has been the case tens of times during his quite remarkable Kenilworth career, a probable loss became a win, as he worked his usual chessboard magic. He's an amazing points machine, but he would definitely have been burnt at the stake in an earlier age!

And things always looked pretty good for us elsewhere. Mike and myself were comfortable as Black while Ben was building up a good head of steam on Board 4 against Richard Liszewski. I finished first, eventually sharing the point with Alan Lloyd (who I have never beaten with the Black pieces) after a repetition in a level position - but not before I had blundered a pawn on two successive moves. Which Alan twice failed to notice!

I adjourned to the bar for a chat with Alan, and even before we returned the match had ended decisively in our favour with wins on both the remaining boards. Mike avoided Mike Hollier's attempt to block the position completely and managed to engineer a winning breakthrough, while Ben played an excellent game that consistently netted extra material while simultaneously attacking the Black king, before forcing resignation.

So a very efficient and convincing win (me apart, of course), which we can celebrate with another classic from the Byrds (had to be a B band, after all). Remember - they also serve, who only stand and mime!

A New Era!

A new era got under way last night, as KCC played its first match at The Holiday Inn, after 13, hugely successful, years at the Abbey Club. That's a long time - and indeed it is the only home match venue we have had since I joined the club. Our first outing in the plush new surroundings of the Jephson Room was a sort of test event for future encounters, as our C team hosted our A team in a match which pitted one team fighting to avoid relegation against another trying to stretch its lead at the top to 4 points. The eventual result, a 3-1 win for the A team, went the way of ratings, but the C team once again gave a very good account of itself and only slipped to defeat in the last minutes of the evening - and even had the satisfaction of scoring a splendid individual win on Board 3 in the last game to finish.

The new era begins (l to r):- Rhys, Paul, Andrew, Mike, Keatan, Billy, Dave, Ben

Dave had the unenviable task of taking on Billy with the black pieces on Board 1. When I got my first glimpse of the position about 45 minutes in, material was level, but Dave's king was looking rather lonely on d7, with all the heavy pieces and a couple of minor ones still on the board. I couldn't see any immediate way to exploit this, but then I'm not Billy. And it wasn't too long before Billy was able to report that he had become the first person ever to win a game at KCC's new venue. Probably not one of the bigger honours he will accumulate in his chess career - and, in fact, not even one of the bigger honours he's already achieved! But still worthy of a place in the history books.

The score stayed the same for quite some time, before Mike added to the A team account with a black pieces win on Board 4 against Paul B. Mike had jumped in on c2 with a knight early in the game to snaffle the White rook on a1, but Paul got a piece for it and was subsequently able to round up the stray knight to have two pieces for a rook - but crucially Mike had 2 extra pawns and they were beautifully connected, whereas Paul's pawns were scattered to the four winds. Mike's pawns duly started to yomp down the board, sweeping everything in their wake aside, and the defensive task proved impossible, with Paul eventually losing on time.

Keatan's game with Ben on Board 2 became very exciting as the clock ran down. Ben had largely blocked the queenside and the centre, but Keatan was the one pressing on the kingside, where he had the open g file to work with. Very cleverly he kept the tension in the position as Ben's time ebbed away and then rushed his own king from h8 over to the queenside gaining plenty of time in the process. The clock disparity spelled disaster for Ben who couldn't stop the Black pieces jumping in when the pressure on g2 became overwhelming , first winning an exchange and then mating the White king in the middle of the board. A very powerful attack by Keatan.

But the C team did not go home completely empty handed, as Rhys upset the form book against Andrew, finishing with the rather powerful move pawn from e3 to e2 checkmate! Earlier on I had thought Andrew was slowly building up a strong position, as he had more space and was pushing his kingside pawns up the board in a rather threatening manner. But Rhys kept his cool, and found a tactic which won White's e3 pawn, which was the cornerstone of his position, and left Andrew floundering for survival. The Black bishops were monsters and Andrew was playing on seconds. He somehow kept the game going, but when Rhys brought his king in to support his rook, bishop and advanced e pawn the end was night. An excellent game by Rhys and a well deserved win.

So much for the chess. Recently the world has seen the passing of another of my musical heroes, Joe Ely, who I saw live just the once, at The Mean Fiddler in Harlesden in around 1988. An absolute titan of Texan country music, rather serendipitously, he produced this great song, which also serves to commemorate our first ever winner at the Holiday Inn! Though I like to think that me and our Billy the Kid do get along!

RIP Joe. Thanks for the wonderful music.

2025 KCC Christmas Quiz - The Denouement!

Like the assembled Grandmasters, officials and spectators on Hyland Island, I imagine you have been on tenterhooks waiting for Inspector Hector, FIDE's top cop, to reveal the name of the dastardly murderer of the mega-wealthy chess sponsor, Mitch Rich. Unless, of course, you also cracked the case. In which case I hope it took you a bit longer than Patrick who had (correctly) solved the mystery within a couple of hours of me posting the quiz. Did I make it too easy, or is he just a born sleuth? But never mind more questions, its answers we're here for and its Inspector Hector who is about to provide them.

WHODIDIT?

A CHESS MURDER MYSTERY - SOLVED!

It was a motley group of chess-players and hangers on who had gathered in the tournament hall to learn the truth about the murder that had rocked the chess world. Some looked unconcerned, their consciences completely clear, but a few looked far more furtive and nervous. Especially the super-GM I had my eye on. He sat at the back, perhaps hoping to escape scrutiny - or maybe even to make a run for it if things went badly. Not that there would have been any way of escaping from the island, but I could do without any unnecessary drama. And in any case I had positioned the Kenilworth Chess Club cohort to cover the door. An unlikely bunch of heavies, but needs must, as my usual colleagues had been unable to join me to make the arrest. Sergeant Eaton was stuck in Nuneaton with Constable Keatan, completely beaten by the British weather. I would have to bring the killer to book on my own, but that was no problem as all the pieces of the jigsaw had fallen into place and it was now time to reveal the shocking truth.

"I checkmated the killer in 4 moves," I told the assembled crowd. "You all know about pattern recognition in chess, but maybe you need reminding that it works in other fields as well. That was how I knew where to look. This was a rhyme crime. Time after time. And it set off a chime. Move one - how did the killer get hold of the gun? In an auction - he bid it. Move two - what was the pseudonym he used on the dark web? isawt94. If a few more of you had been paying attention at school instead of studying the Najdorf Poisoned Pawn variation, you might have remembered the phrase attributed to Julius Caesar on the conquest of Britain. Veni, vidi, vici. I came I saw, I conquered. It was an easy piece of calculation for me to replace the English part of the pseudonym with the Latin original. And it was good of the killer to give us his birth year, too. He really shouldn't have left that en prise. Very careless. Move three - the killer committed the crime. You could say he did it. And move four - what did the killer do with the gun after the murder? That's right - he hid it. So there could only be one correct solution. Check and mate. Our killer is none other than Indian super-GM, Vidit. He bid it, he did it and he hid it. Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll come quietly."

And that's how I solved the case at Hyland Island and returned the chess world to normal. All in a day's work for Inspector Hector. I hope you followed the same clues I did. Especially as you had a big extra clue in the story title.

But I can't hang around here all day, I've got other cases to solve. First I'm off to Brazil, where Henrique Mecking was found unconscious on some decking after disturbing a brekkin. Then its on to St Petersburg where Peter Svidler has been attacked by a fiddler dressed as the Riddler and then Amsterdam where Loek Van Wely was turned to jelly after being hit in the belly while watching the telly. Possibly by the same man, a roofer, who attacked Daniil Yuffa with an oofer doofer and a loofah.

So I'll be on my way. Evening all."

DISCLAIMER

Once again, any resemblance to real chess players is solely due to them having delightfully rhymable names. There is no need for Interpol to follow up any of the cases I have fabricated!