Graves of Famous Chess Players - No 2 in a series of ....... ?

Well, this is almost as much of a surprise to me as it is to you, but against all the odds, this thread has acquired a second article. Alright, he's not as famous as Morphy, I'll grant you, (see No 1 in the series), but at least he's rather closer to home than New Orleans, in Kensal Green cemetery, London. (Grave 392/182/PS), very near the western entrance. Luckily for all, I decided against taking a selfie of me at the graveside. A replacement headstone has been installed relatively recently, though there is no indication as to exactly when, or by whom.

Alexander McDonnell (1798-1835, born in Belfast) was the strongest "British" player of his time, and owes his chess fame to a mammoth series of games with the French player Louis Charles de la Bourdonnais that was, to all intents and purposes, an unofficial world championship. In total the two played 85 games across 6 matches between June and October 1834, all in London. According to the Irish Chess Union, the two men played almost every day except Sunday, with games starting at noon and lasting as long as seven hours. McDonnell won the second match (meaning he was, briefly, unofficial world champion) and was ahead in the last when it was broken off. The overall score for McDonnell, though, was +27 -45 =13, showing de la Bourdonnais to be the clearly stronger player. (They didn't draw many in those days, did they?!)

One of McDonnell's best games was the 50th:-

Adventures on the Dorset Coast

I've just returned from a brief sojourn on the south coast, to take part in the Bournemouth chess congress. The weekend did not start promisingly as, after a somewhat tedious train journey in a carriage with some rather overly excitable football supporters, I arrived just in time for the first round on the Friday evening. My opponent proceeded to play the French against me (boo) and I was so enraged by this opening choice I managed to blunder the exchange after about 20 moves, leading to a swift and rather depressing loss.

I awoke on Saturday morning to find I had a bye in the morning round (the risks of losing your first game). Normally when I play in congresses I find this an annoyance as it means you’ve travelled all that distance and paid your money to end up not having a game. However, in view of my appalling play the previous evening, I decided a morning off would probably do me some good, so set off to explore the town. Having never visited Bournemouth before, I was interested to see if there was anything in the town worth visiting; there was not. However, there is some very nice countryside in the surrounding area, so I decided a 10 mile walk might suitably prepare me for the afternoon’s contest.

Somewhat surprisingly for an idea of mine, this actually proved a good strategy, and I sat down feeling fresh for my game with black against a 193. Managing to get the Balogh defence on the board (1.e4 d6 2. d4 f5) raised my confidence somewhat, and I managed to ground my opponent down in a good bishop versus bad knight endgame to claim the win. In the evening there was a handicap rapidplay tournament, with each game lasting twenty minutes but the two players having different proportions of this time depending on their grade. The net result of this (at least for those of us towards the higher end of the grading range) was many games against 100-110 rated juniors, where they had 18 minutes and we only had 2. Needless to say, these were not easy games to win. The success of the format can probably be best judged from the fact the winner was graded 107, with the joint runners up respectively a 60 rated 7 year old and GM Keith Arkell. Certainly a format worth exploring in the future.

On to the Sunday where, in a tribute to the victors from the night before, I decided to play the Italian game with white. After a handful of logical looking moves from both sides, I was reminded of the perils of deciding ones opening choices based on football results, as I realised I had absolutely no idea what plan I should be adopting in the resulting position. Cowardice being the better part of valour (at least I think that is the phrase), I decided to swap everything off into a completely level endgame. Not hugely exciting but I suppose a reasonably comfortable draw against someone graded 198 is not something to be too disappointed by.

Unfortunately, as so often happens when I play players graded higher than myself, none of the games were particularly interesting or worthy of publishing. This is mainly because I have far more faith in myself to defend slightly worse endgames than I do to play well in complicated tactical positions, so I tend to try and keep the games as simple as possible. I’ve therefore decided to show my game from the final round with black, which was another successful outing for the Balogh defence, this time securing a draw against a 203 graded FM. Not the most aggressive play from either side, but an interesting (at least to me) rook endgame, where black just has sufficient resources to hold on despite a threatening looking white position.

The Thoughts of Chairman Josh

Our esteemed webmaster was, as ever, far too modest in his previous post when saying that nothing important happened at this week's Leamington League AGM. Because he only went and got himself elected as League Chairman - presumably the youngest in League history by at least 20 years. He thus follows in the illustrious footsteps of ex-Chairman Bernard, and possibly other Kenilworth luminaries of whom I am unaware. Anyway, I am sure the whole club sends its congratulations/commiserations. (Delete as applicable.)

We now await publication of Chairman Josh's Little Red Book. Who knows what radical route he will lead us along, but I hope he remembers that even the longest journey starts with a single step. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm already quaking in my boots at the "re-education" process that doubtless beckons. If its a choice between a stint on the collective farm or playing the Grob in every game, I'd better get my pitchfork and wellies now!

Visual Proof

At last, conclusive visual evidence of our triumph this season, in the form of this image from the League AGM of the two trophies the club has won:

I'm aware that really it should be our glorious captain in this picture, but unfortunately he was not present at the event. I did try superimposing Phil's head over the top, but the resulting image was too disturbing for public consumption. By way of compensation, I'll present a second picture, this time from the celebratory meal, in which Phil is in his rightful central position. Apologies to Stuart that this is one of the ones he took rather than that he is in, but people seemed to react to Stuart's presence by pulling a variety of strange faces, so none of them were really usable.

As regards other news from the AGM, I don't believe anything came up that should materially affect us as a club. The divisional structure is remaining the same so we will once again have one team in each of the four divisions, and all the cups, individual competitions etc. are remaining the same as they have been this season.

2014 AGM - The Highlights!

All members should have received a copy of the minutes for this year's AGM, which was held at The Royal Oak on May 27. For those who prefer a more concise record of events, the main decisions arrived at were:-

1) After too many sub-free years, a membership fee of £10 will apply for season 2014-15, though there will be no charge for juniors. Those members who play league chess will also need to (a) join the ECF at minimum Bronze level (last year that cost £12 if done on line) and (b) be members of The Abbey Club (£20 per calendar year).

2) We will again enter 4 teams in the Leamington League, one in each division, plus one team in each of the three cups.

3) Club Officials for 2014-15 will be:-
Club Organiser: Mark Page
A Team and Open KO Cup Match Captain: Joshua Pink
B Team and U-700 KO Cup Match Captain: Mike Johnson
C Team Match Captain: Mike Johnson
D Team and U-120 Match Captain: Steve Payne
Webmaster: Joshua Pink
Social/Events Secretary: Bruce Holland

4) New uses were found for two of our cups that have not been competed for recently. The Tilley Cup will be awarded at each AGM to the Player of the Year, as decided by a vote of members. The first winner of the cup in its new guise - and with no room for doubt given his stupendous, unbeaten 14.5 pts from 16 games - is Joshua Pink. The Soesan Trophy will also be awarded by vote at the AGM for Clubman of the Year, to recognise such qualities as sociability, improvement, commitment to the cause and all round good-eggishness. The popular winner this year is Stuart Blaiklock.

And don't forget that we will continue to meet each Thursday evening from 7.30 pm throughout the summer for social chess.

Make mine a double

Since Mark has once again decided he is too lazy to write this report, it falls to me to inform you of the joyous news that Kenilworth has won its first league and cup double since records began (though since no-one seems to have any records, that might not be quite as impressive as it sounds).

We travelled to Leamington with a five person team, and the additional presence of Phil as a non-playing captain (his only contribution to the evening being to lose the toss so our opponents had three whites) and Dave as a spectator meant that fittingly all seven people who have played in the A team this season were present for the match. The only negative was that since all the cup finals were being held in the same venue it was somewhat crowded, so rather difficult to watch the games on other boards. Consequently I will apologise in advance for any errors in my game summaries caused by attempting to discern what was happening form halfway across the room.

Four of the five matches ended in draws. Paul ended up in a slightly worse position with black against Alan Lloyd, playing a reverse Grand Prix attack (1.c4 Nc6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 f5), but with some precise play was able to equalise, and a very early draw was agreed. Mark's game, I think it is fair to say, lacked a consistent narrative thread. In a somewhat eccentric King's gambit position (1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. f4 Qh4+ 4. g3 Qe7) I was of he opinion that Mark was slightly worse out of the opening with white. Coming back 15 minutes later he had an absolutely crushing position after his opponent wasted a number of moves putting his pieces on much worse squares. The next time I came back his opponent was a pawn up with probably a winning endgame, the time after that Mark was once again winning, but very short on time, and on my final return a draw had been agreed. Either a very complex game that I was unable to fully understand the subtlety of, or lots of blunders that ultimately evened out.

Andy Baruch was playing a dangerous game on board 3, attempting to unbalance the position against an opponent who seemed content to play for a draw with white. Fortunately, just as it looked as if he had pushed too far and was in danger of falling into a difficult to hold endgame, his opponent rather generously accepted a draw. I am not sure the rest of his team will have been too happy about this in view of the final result. Finally, on board 5, Carl completely outplayed his opponent, reaching an endgame two pawns ahead. Unfortunately, it was a notoriously difficult to win opposite coloured bishop endgame. A discussion took place away from the board, with Mark and Andy of the opinion Carl had a win, whilst I was arguing in favour of a draw. Much to my surprise, and despite Carl winning a third pawn, I was proved correct and there was simply no way to make progress, so Carl finally had to agree to a draw.

This leaves just one game left to discuss, as Kenilworth's leader, star player and emotional inspiration was playing on the forth board. Since everyone already knows the result, I will just leave you with the game itself, so everyone may bask in the brilliance/tremendous amount of good fortune that is my play.

Graves of Famous Chess Players - No 1 in a series of .......?

All those of a nervous disposition should look away now! Here I am a few years ago paying homage at the grave of the great Paul Morphy, unofficial world champion between the years 1858-61. The Morphy family tomb can be found at the St Louis No 1 Cemetery in New Orleans. (Slightly dodgy area - I recommend going on a guided walking tour!) You would think I could have chosen to wear something slightly more respectful, wouldn't you?! As I don't have anymore photos of me at famous chess-players' graves, number 2 in this series could be a long time coming!

End of the line

Mark has delegated the writing of this match report to me, I believe because he cannot bring himself to suitably praise the awe-inspiring brilliancy of my play (more on that later). Last night was the final A team league game of the season, and we travelled to Leamington with our hosts needing a draw to avoid relegation, so no chance of an easy end of season game against a team lacking motivation.

Andy Collins vs Phil Wood

Phil adopted the intriguing strategic idea of playing the classical Dutch, then moving all his pawns and pieces away from the defence of the e6 pawn, then blocking of all the possible squares he would ever be able to defend it from, then allowing his opponent to play Ng5, winning the pawn and forking a queen and rook on f8 and d8. There then followed that age old chess question; are a rook and a pawn better than a bishop? Unfortunately for Phil the answer, as always, was yes and his opponent quickly rapped up the game.

Leamington 1 - Kenilworth 0

Carl Pickering vs Tom Darling

Carl played the Veresov (1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5) and, after taking on f6, reached a very nice position where black's doubled pawns gave him a huge number of targets to attack. Black was never able to repair his structure and eventually went down in an endgame where white's knight completely dominated black's bishop.

Leamington 1 - Kenilworth 1

Mark Page vs Dan Aldridge

After playing a slightly unusual anti-Sicilian line (1.e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5) Mark reached a point where he had the two bishops, but the blocked nature of the position made them very hard to utilise, and he may even have been slightly worse. However, in time pressure, his opponent very obligingly pushed forward in the centre, opening up diagonals for the bishops against his king, and a level position transformed into a crushing mating attack in no time at all.

Leamington 1 - Kenilworth 2

Steve Burnell vs Joshua Pink

Since it was the end of the season, I decided the time was right to have a massive hack at one of my opponents. It did at least lead to an interesting game.

Final score: Leamington 1 - Kenilworth 3

And so, as Mark finds himself banned from the city of Leamington after helping to relegate his former team, the rest of us look forward to the cup final in May and wonder, as we so often do, which piece Phil will blunder in that match.

Normal Service at the LDCL "Lightning" Tournament

No Kenilworth triumph to report at the 2014 league individual blitz, which for unfathomable reasons continues to be styled as the Lightning Tournament. Phil Holt of Olton won the title for the umpteenth time, though only after a play off with debutant Olivia Smith of Solihull, after they both scored 8/9.

I finished third (possibly shared, but I didn't hang around to find out) with 7 - six wins plus a loss to Olivia Smith, and draws with Phil Holt and R. Gil. I can only dream nostalgically about that great night in 2010 when I won the event, though I was a Leamington player in those days. Carl Pickering was victorious for Kenilworth in 2008, and these are the only two times since 2005 that Phil hasn't won the tournament!

Mike Johnson was the only other Kenilworth player to play this year, and he did the decent thing by losing to me in Round 1 - though having played the very strong move Bd6 attacking a piece on e7, he forgot to follow up next move with Bxc5 which would have won a very juicy pawn. Not sure about Mike's final score, but he was around or just above the 50% mark I think.

Anyway, I can actually remember one of my games, and as it was a win over a strong player (who wiped me out in a recent league match) it gives me the opportunity to try and post a game on this site for the first time. So if Joshua's instructions on how to do it work, hopefully you will now get the chance to play through my Round 8 game against Alan Lloyd of Olton.

Champions!

The A team beat Banbury A 3-1 at the Abbey Club last night to secure our first Leamington League title since 1988. It was an at times nervy evening, but thankfully everything came right in the end.

Early on we seemed to be winning on Board 4, where Carl had won a pawn, but Joshua had entered a not entirely sound line and was a pawn down in a very complicated position. Paul and I were both marginally better, but it was clearly shaping up to be a close match.

Mine was the first game to actually finish on Board 2. With my opponent in pretty serious time trouble, out of nowhere the game suddenly became much sharper and a couple of inaccuracies allowed me to get a rook to the seventh followed up by me apparently trapping a black bishop on a7. With no time to think Neil generously resigned, but there was a tactical way out of the immediate difficulties, although Black would have had to give up a pawn with a poor position.

Almost immediately, Joshua's game clarified and his pawn minus became rather less significant than a crushing attack with rook and two bishops which won material. This was possibly a very good game of sustained, dynamic, gambit play. Or it was a completely random hack attack! Who knows??

By this stage Paul had won a pawn, but in an opposite bishop endgame he was happy to agree a draw that clinched the match victory. Carl had meanwhile gone wrong and had allowed his opponent a queen sacrifice possibility which seemed to be winning/almost winning. Thankfully it was not played, but a weak White king still made it hard to utilise the extra pawn. We were all off celebrating at the bar with our opponents when Board 4 finally ended in a draw, so the concluding stages were lost on me.

A more considered review of the A team's season will follow at some stage in the future, but for now, in the words of Maggie, "Just rejoice!"

And we still have the KO Cup Final against Olton to look forward to on Tuesday May 13th at Leamington.