I Remember, I Remember* ......

 .. Except that these days, I increasingly don't. But discovering recently that Paul can recall all the games he has played on a Thursday evening at The Gauntlet, I was reminded that I too, used to be able to remember casual and quick play games that weren't recorded. And - just occasionally - I would save them for posterity. This was one such game - played at 2 minutes per player (and no increment because digital clocks hadn't yet been invented!), which is a time limit I would avoid like the plague these days. My opponent was my Mitcham club mate Bernie Kooiman, a strong 190+ player, and the game was played at The King's Arms pub in the centre of Mitcham in July 1982. Just the 40 years ago. Which is a depressing thought. But never mind, because it has brought a warm glow to my cheeks all over again.

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* For those interested, this is the title of two very different poems, one by Thomas Hood ("I remember, I remember the house where I was born") and one by Philip Larkin  ("Coming up England by a different line We stopped, and, watching men with number plates Sprint down the platform to familiar gates, "Why, Coventry!" I exclaimed. "I was born here."

Can Anyone See a Pattern Here?

I wouldn't normally show a crushing defeat of one of our own players on this website (unless I was the one doing the crushing!), but sometimes there are bigger forces at work and the game cries out to be broadcast. This is just such an occasion. Thankfully, the drastic reverse suffered by a KCC player wasn't while playing for KCC, but it was for one of my teams - Warwickshire Select in the 4NCL. Those of you who read the FT chess column should have already seen the game, and I suspect that it is going to become a staple of tactics and opening books in the future. So, time to come clean and identify the guilty party as Andrew Paterson. Andrew had a brilliant season for KCC in 2022-22, especially in the Leamington League where he scored an undefeated 11.5/13, which will surely have been enough to win the Stanley Gibbins Trophy for the best performer in the League. But on this day in June, things went decidedly - and spectacularly - pear shaped.

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Well, that was  shocker and no mistake. So imagine my surprise last week when - quite by chance - I came across this game from Rd 1 of the 2022 French Championships. With all respect to Andrew, the player of the Black pieces in this game was rather stronger, being no less a person than 2552 rated GM, Sebastian Feller, who was once banned for cheating at the 2010 Chess Olympiad. I am pretty sure he wasn't cheating in this game!!

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So clearly, as far as Black is concerned, that well known chess commentator William Shakespeare was quite right: "When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions." But it doesn't end there, because just one day later, the motif - in a rather different setting - came up again in the first round of the British Championships in Torquay. This time, unfortunately, the crowd were not treated to another queen sac, but the possibility was certainly in the air. Black refused to fall into the fiendish trap set in the game Rudd v Forster, and we were denied a quick fire hat-trick.

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Apologies to Andrew for sharing his grief so widely, but the sudden prevalence of this spectacular motif really struck me as something worth noting. I don't expect to hear of any KCC members falling ointo this trap in the near future!

It's Raining ......... Tournaments

Yes tournaments, not cats and dogs, nor men (though you can doubtless already guess what our accompanying song is going to be!)

Just a couple of hours after posting details of the UK Blitz Midlands Qualifier at The Holiday Inn on September 3rd, news filtered through of another local event on the very next day.

On Sunday, September 4th the Warwickshire Rapidplay Championships will be held at Kenilworth School, Leyes Lane. This will be a seven round event in 4 sections (Open, U2000, U1750 and U1500 - so something for everyone!) of 15 mins + 10 seconds games, starting at 10.30 and finishing shortly after 18.00. Full details and on-line entry can be found here. So another date for your rapidly expanding tournament diary, with this event an ideal warm-up for the new league season, which is almost upon us. It will be a busy weekend for those of you who have the energy to take part in both!

There has never been so much chess action in Kenilworth as over the last few months. It would be a crime not to take advantage of these amazing opportunities we are being given.

As promised/threatened, here's our latest song.

Blitz Time!

Another major event will be held at the Kenilworth Holiday Inn on Saturday September 3rd, when it will be the venue for the Midlands qualifier for the 2022 UK Blitz Championship. We can certainly expect a GM or three to play. The top 2 will qualify for the Final, which will be held (somewhere in the Midlands) on Saturday, December 3rd. So if you make it through, you will have two months to get into tip top shape for the final by getting some regular high quality practice at our Thursday club nights!

The Qualifier will feature 15 rounds of 3 mins + 2 secs blitz games, starting at the fairly civilised time of 11.00, with the last round scheduled for 17.40.

Full details and online entry can be found here.

This latest event confirms that Kenilworth has now become the most important chess venue this side of St Louis. Moscow; Khanty Mansisk; Wijk aan Zee; Linares - eat your hearts out!

Hope to see a major turn out of KCC Blitz-Meisters, no doubt spearheaded by the more youthful and mentally agile of our number.  I have entered, though, so the demographic at the moment tends towards the geriatric and mentally static wing of the club!

Sorry its such a dreadful song to accompany this article, but nothing else came to mind. And at least a few of our older members will be able to sing along.

Second Wave of GMs Invade Kenilworth - or at Least Get Close!

Last weekend's 4NCL tournament at Woodland Grange, on the outskirts of Leamington, saw more GMs in the Kenilworth vicinity, after the recent swarm who attended the English Championships at the Holiday Inn. (Which really is in Kenilworth.)

How many can you spot and identify in this picture?

Well, the correct answer is 3, and they are: Nigel Davies (extreme left); Danny Gormally (second from top on the left hand side of the table); and the man who can't stop winning money in Kenilworth (and its environs), Mark Hebden (standing, furthest away).

Joshua had the privilege of playing GM Hebden (a member of England's World 50+ Team Champions) in Round 1, and had the temerity/chutzpah to try the King's Gambit against him. A brave call given that my database has 49 games with Hebden on the White side of this opening, including a win against Lev Psakhis and a draw against Geller. Let's see, can anyone guess the result??

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A very brave effort by Joshua, but at every turn, the tactics always favoured the GM. Strange, that, don't you think? If only there was someone in the club who had beaten GM Hebden. Now, wouldn't that be something!?

WSTCC 2022 - Rd 9 And Now England are World 50+ Champions As Well!

Seniors' World titles are obviously like London buses, because one day after the first (sorry, I can't count the Women's 50+ gold medal, when they were the only entrants) along comes a second, and this time its the big one, the Open 50+ Championship.

England 1 - World 50+ Champions (l-r) GMs Emms, Hebden, Adams, Short and Arkell

Needing only a 2-2 draw in the last round against 9th ranked Canada, there was an immediate boost when IM David Cummings, who started life as a Welshman, was not well enough to play Mickey Adams and England instantly led 1-0. Anyone who saw Mickey in action at this tournament knows that would have been the result of the game if he had turned up, anyway. Team captain John Emms took a draw on Board 4, leaving England tantalisingly close to the finishing line. I don't know who brought home the bacon first, but both Nigel Short and Mark Hebden won convincingly to secure a 3.5-0.5 match win, and the World team title. The USA also had an easy final round win to secure the silver, while Italy won the bronze after beating Georgia. 

England 2 had an excellent, albeit rather fortunate, 3-1 over Germany 1 to finish in a superb 6th place, while England Women finished 13th; England 3 17th and England 4 21st - in each case either matching or exceeding their seeding.

Wrapping up the final positions in the 65+ event, England 1 (with John Nunn rested) lost their final match 1.5-2.5 against top seeds Israel 1, who thereby managed to finish third, ahead of Germany 2 and France on game points. Germany 1 meanwhile took the silver medals, and my team, England 2, ended up in 13th place (having been seeded 12th) after seeing off Ireland 3.5-0.5 in Round 9. Guess who dropped the half point? Yes, it was me, bringing my score to +1 -1 = 6, and a TRP almost exactly in line with my rating. Why did I bother, I wonder?  At least I didn't catch covid!

England 1 - World 65+ Champions (l-r) Nunn, Stebbings, Povah, Snape, Littlewood

Latvia Women took the women's title after finishing 1 pt ahead of their only rivals, Germany. Somehow, in a field of only 20 teams, these two never played each other, which hardly seems correct.

Latvian Women - World 65+ Women's Champions. WGM Tamara Vilerte, who drew with me, at far left

Germany Women - World 65+ Women's Silver Medallists. WIM Annett Wagner-Michel, who lost to me, at far left, but can't bear to look

It was a really good event. A few more teams would have been useful, and some air conditioning and a pool wouldn't have gone amiss at the hotel, but you can't have everything I suppose, and it was a great experience to be part of 2 (alright 3 if we must) gold medal performances from England. The team/squad spirit was absolutely excellent and Nigel Povah did a brilliant job as the Manager, as well as managing to find time to play in a World Championship winning team. There were Board prizes galore for England players, with Mickey, Nigel, Mark, and Keith all getting golds for the 50+ team, and John and Paul doing the same in the 65+ event.

The final word goes to Nigel Short. Always leave them with a laugh!

WSTCC 2022 - Rds 7 & 8 - England 65+ are World Champions!

It was a very strange day yesterday in Acqui Terme, but at the end of it, the England 1 65+ team had established an unassailable lead and had become World Team Champions with a round to spare.  But first, I need to round up the unfinished business of Round 7, which I left after my very quick draw against Danish team Skvat. (Which Google translates for me as either jellyfish or wimp!) Regrettably no-one else could manage more than a draw, and as we didn't all manage that, the match was lost 2.5-1.5. Such is life.

But there was far better news in the upper echelons of each tournament. In the 65+ section, England 1 kept its 1 point lead over Germany with a narrow 2.5-1.5 win over Hungary. John Nunn - inevitably! - scored the decisive win, but it seemed for much of the round that Paul Littlewood and Nigel Povah would win as well, so the final score was actually a bit disappointing. Germany 1 beat Israel 1 by the same score in the other top match, so there was no change at the top of the leaderboard, with England staying 1 point ahead. Meanwhile, in the 50+ section, England 1 took advantage of a friendly pairing by beating Still Active NL 3.5-1.5, though Mickey Adams, who has looked unstoppable in recent rounds, was surprisingly held to a draw by the Dutch IM, Piet Peelen. USA scored a strong 3-1 win over Georgia (or Georgia Winery Khareba to give them their full name) but fell another half game point behind, so that at the end of the round, England's game point lead had gone up to 2.5.

And so to yesterday's penultimate round. My team had another disappointing day, only drawing 2-2 against Norway's Golden Oldies team, with yet another draw for me. Nothing more to say. But it was all action on the top boards - even where there was no action! Because Switzerland turned up to play England 1 in the 65+ section with just 1 player, the rest of the team having gone down with covid! Apparently in the Olympiad this would have meant a 4-0 win for England, but there was no such rule in place here, and the Swiss Board 1 wanted to play. But in the circumstances John Nunn didn't, so the match went to us by 3-1 without a single move being played. So all eyes were now on the Germany 1 v Germany 2 match, where the German strategy of splitting its strength virtually equally between the two teams came home to bite them in the proverbials, as GM Meister beat GM Knaak on top board to win the match for Germany 2. Which meant that England 1 now led the field by 3 match points and couldn't be caught. So today's final round match - in which they have at last been paired against top seeds Israel 1 - is irrelevant for us, though the Israeli's can win a bronze medal if results go their way.

And covid intervened, potentially decisively, in the 50+ section too, as Hungary defaulted on bottom board against USA in the top match. But despite this handicap the mighty Magyars rose to the challenge and secured a 2-2 draw. with Jozsef Horvath downing Gregory Kaidanov on Board 1, and in fact the Americans were grateful to share the points as another Horvath, Peter, came very close to winning against Igor Novikov on Board 3. And so it was the US which blinked first, as England took full advantage of this lapse with a 2.5-1.5 win over the strong Georgian team. Mickey Adams won with a strong kingside attack against GM Sturua on Board 1 and Keith Arkell beat the legend that is former Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili on Board 4. Nigel Short's draw on Board 2 meant that John Emms loss against Bagaturov didn't matter too much. And at the end of the day England 1 was a clear match point ahead of the USA, with the added bonus of 3 game points advantage. By my reckoning, this means that a 2-2 draw against Canada today will mean another English gold medal. Nothing can go wrong now, surely???

My tournament ends with a match against Ireland. It would be nice to win another game and finish with a plus score, but my form here does not make that an especially likely scenario. Nevertheless, there should be plenty to celebrate at tonight's England reception and the prize giving. Two World titles already in the bag (Open 65+ and Women's 50+) and the very strong likelihood of the most prestigious of them all, the Open 50+, will be added to the haul. It's an early start tomorrow for my probably fraught return journey, so my final report will have to wait till Friday when I'm back home. Where I intend to stay for some time!!

WSTCC 2022 - Rds 6 & 7

What's that I hear you say? How can there already be a Round 7 report when the games only started 55 minutes ago? Quite easily, I respond, when you have the fighting spirit of a butterfly. I didn't instigate my 10 move draw (though to be strictly accurate, I only played 9 moves) against my Danish opponent, but I didn't have to think too long about accepting - 1) I was Black; 2) We had almost identical ratings; 3) The heatwave has returned; 4) I haven't been sleeping very well; and 5) as I already admitted, I have the fighting spirit of a butterfly. Of course, in an ideal world I should have played on (Black already +0.5), but as I'm sure we can all agree, this is anything but an ideal world!

I tried much harder yesterday against a higher rated German opponent from Bielefeld, but with the same outcome. I was clearly better but despite his lousy pawn structure and bad bishop, there were no entry points intro his position in the ending. And in fact all 4 games in this match were drawn, so it hasn't - so far - been a very exciting two days for England 2. Though my team mates may change that as the afternoon unfolds.

But there was certainly high excitement for the two England 1st teams. In the 65+ event, a crushing win for Paul Littlewood was followed by a very assured victory for John Nunn over IM Lederman (of Israel 2) which I interpreted as long overdue, albeit vicarious, revenge for my loss against him at the HE Atkins Open in Leicester in 1982! So 3-1 to England 1, who still have a clear 1 point lead ahead of Germany 1, and a pairing today against third place Hungary. Top seeds Israel 1, who somehow managed to lose 2 of their first 3 matches, have finally made it back to the higher boards, and have a crucial match against Germany 1 today.

In the 50+ event, it was once again a case of Mickey Adams to the rescue for England 1, as they edged past a strong Italy team (3 GMs) by 2.5-1.5. Nigel Short got into terrible difficulties against Michele Godena, and duly lost, but Mark Hebden levelled things up against GM garcia Palermo, with John Emms having already drawn. This left Mickey to try and win the match. He was a pawn up in a rook and pawn ending, but opinion was divided whether he could win. about ten moves later it was all over and Mickey had won the game and the match. I must say, he is rather good. I could probably learn a thing or two from him! These heroics earned him a kiss from Nigel Short at dinner, which I am not sure Mickey particularly enjoyed! USA also won by the same score against Iceland - who bizarrely rested their strongest player, so it was no change at the top of the leader board, with the two teams still tied on match points, but England 2 game points better off. Today England have what seems a very generous pairing against 10th seeds, Still Active NL, while USA lock horns with third seeds Georgia, who are two match points off the pace.

John Nunn (5.5/6) and Mickey Adams (4.5/5) have been in imperious form so far, and seem a class apart from anyone else in their respective tournaments. It's rather good having them in our teams!

WSTCC 2022 - Rd 5

I bring news of great joy which will reverberate across the land, even to the furthest corners of Windy Arbour, Dalehouse Lane and Beehive Hill. I have now won a game at the World Old People's Team Championships! In the words of the Iron Lady, "Just rejoice at that news!"

And not just any old win, but against yet another titled player (there's more of them here than you can shake a stick at - and that's just in our hotel!), and two time East German Women's Champion, Annett Wagner-Michel. And - I kid you not - I played quite well. Not very well, of course, but I'll happily settle for quite well any time. Moreover, there was a crushing team victory as well, with England 2 scoring a 3.5-0.5 win over the German Women's team. Having now faced both the contenders for the Women's 65+ World title, my money is on the Latvians who currently hold a one point lead over the Germans.  It is to be hoped that they do get paired together, at some stage, though. And by the way, at this point we should celebrate the victory of the English team for becoming World Champions in the 50+ category ...... where they are the only participants. Where are the Mongolian Ladies when you need them, I wonder?

It was another good day for the top English teams. In the 50+ event Mickey and Mark won with Black to give us a 3-1 win over Hungary, and a critical success for John Nunn against GM Vaisser edged us home 2.5-1.5 against France in the 65+ tournament. Which means we lead in the 50+ event on game points from the USA, and by a clear point from Germany 1 in the 65+. Next up in Rd 6, its England v Italy in the 50+ and England v Israel 2 in the 65+, while my England 2 team face the German club team Rochade Bielefeld. Though I cannot divulge whether I will be playing in this match or not! 

The temperatures have actually cooled down a bit the last two days, and yesterday there was a storm/downpour of biblical proportions during play - a roof leak caused the England 1 v France match to be suspended. Clearly they have put the top matches at the wrong end of the hall, as we bunnies on the low boards were dry as a bone! All of which has reminded me - you lucky people - of this song!

WSTCC 2022 - Rds 3 & 4

Well, don't think I'm going to start off by apologising for missing a day or two. If you knew how much aggro I have to go through (hopeless hotel wi-fi) to post one of these reports, you'd realise that its actually a miracle there's been any posts from Acqui Terme at all.

Anyway, here's a brief summary of what happened in Rds 3 and 4. If I can remember that far back. My team finally won a game on Wednesday - 3-1 against A team from nearby Alessandria. Kevin Bowmer and Peter Wood won with the White pieces, and Stewart Reuben and I drew with Black. Though I should have lost, but my very pleasant opponent took a repetition in a completely winning position, after I over-pressed. lesson learnt? Probably not. Yesterday I was "rested" and went to Turin on the train for some sight-seeing. In my absence we lost 3.5-0.5 against a strong Switzerland team, who had all titled players, despite resting their top board. Today I am back in the fold, when we will play Germany Women.

Meanwhile the serious chess has been going on at the far end of the tournament hall from where we have been playing. And its pretty good news. England 1 are tied for the lead in both the 50+ and 65+ competitions. In the oldies section, England 1 followed a 2-2 draw against Germany 2 with a 3.5-0.5 win over Germany 1. (No, I can't figure that out either!) John Nunn wiped out GM Rainer Knaak yesterday, but we already know that he has a problem facing English opposition, so that could hardly come as a surprise. Today its England 1 v France as the only two teams on 7/8 go head to head - Nunn v Vaisser on top board. The top seeded Israeli's have lost 2 matches already.

In the 50+ tournament there have been some heavyweight match ups for England 1 in the last 2 rounds. First it was a 3-1 win over the all GM Icelandic team, with impressive wins for Mickey and Nigel on the top 2 boards, and yesterday there was a nail biting 2-2 draw against the USA. Mark Hebden lost against Novikov, but Mickey saved the day with a brilliant endgame win over Gregory Kaidanov. Well worth checking this out to see Mickey conjure up passed a and h pawns from nowhere in a knight ending. real chess artistry and mastery. Another tough match against Hungary today, but with Mickey and Nigel on the top 2 boards, I somehow think its the Magyars who will be the more nervous. And as Mickey said to me at breakfast yesterday, "Mind if I join you?" Sorry to so shamelessly name drop. Though I may still share my 5 second conversation with Nigel in a future post.

But enough about the chess - here's a few pictures from my visit to the Royal Palace in Turin yesterday to get the culture vultures amongst you (Bernard C and Roy!) excited!

A very strange paining of a future Savoy king as a child - with a very small person

Van Dyck's famous painting of the Children of Charles I

That Botticelli wasn't ashamed to rework his ideas, was he? Birth of Venus, anyone?!

OK, that'll do for today. Its the rest day tomorrow, so hopefully I will be able to provide another update. But as at least 2 players in the event have now tested positive for Covid, it may not be all good news.