Paul plays a captain's part.

Paul Batchelor has shown great loyalty to the club by serving as first team captain for nearly fifteen years. It is no easy job to be a team captain. Boards have to be arranged, clocks set at the correct rate, refreshments arranged and teams selected. If any incident occurs in a match, the captain has to be on the spot even if he/she is concentrating on his/her own game. Paul is also the county U-180 captain, a post which he first undertook in 2009. As his grading is nowadays over 180, he cannot play in this team, although he still organises the players. Paul also helps Dix Roberts, the Open team captain, and plays himself in the first team. The improvement in his play is reflected in the fact that he won the Brighton CC Championship in 2010. In the recent McArthur Cup final against Hastings Paul played a captain's part by winning on board three against Ollie Willson, a very promising junior who won the British U-16 Championship last year. Paul had a won game by about move fifteen and he did not allow his opponent to obtain any significant counterplay. I enclose the score of this excellent win

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[Event "McArthur Cup final"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "10.05.2014"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Paul A Batchelor"]
[Black "Ollie Willson"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 {The Veresov System named after Bussian master, Gavriil Veresov, who lived from 1912 to 1979. The opening is less explored than the regular Queen's Gambit lines.} d5 3. Bg5 Bf5 {A playable move, though 3...Nbd7 is the main line.} 4. Bxf6 exf6 5. e3 c6 6. Nge2 Nd7 7. Ng3 Bg6
8. h4 h6 {This move gives White space on the king's side. 8...h5 is better and if 9 Be2 Qb6 10 Rb1 0-0-0. White could then capture the 'h' pawn, though Black would have compensation because of his play down that file.} 9. h5 Bh7 10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 Qa5 12. O-O Nb6 {12...0-0-0 is better. After the move played the knight and queen get in each other's way.} 13. b3 {Most strong players would make this move, but better is 13 a3. If then 13...Nc4 14 b4 (14 b3 also gives White a good game) Qc7 15 e4 0-0-0 16 b5 Nb2 17 Qe2 Qa5 18 Qg4+ Kb8 19 Nge2 Na4 20 Qh3 is a complex line which gives White a strong initiative.} Bb4 {Not the best. 13...Ba3 would stop a3 possibilities for White and allow Black to castle safely on the king's side.} 14. Nce2
Qb5 {A mistake as the queen is now shut out of the game for a number of moves. Better was 14...0-0.} 15. Qf5 {White is probably now in a winning position as Black cannot castle on the king's side because of Qg4.} Nd7 {Planning to castle on the queen's side, but the king will not be safe there. 15...Ba3 was to be considered followed by Rg8 and Kf8.} 16. Qg4 {An amazing computer suggestion is 16 Rfb1 planning a3 and c4. There does not seem to be any good line against this.} Bf8 17. Rfc1 O-O-O 18. c4 dxc4 19. bxc4 Qg5 20. Qf3
g6 21. Nf4 Re8 {21..gxh5 gives more practical chances.} 22. c5 {A fine move restricting Black's counterplay.} f5 23. Rab1 {More decisive might have been 23 Qd1 and if 23...Rxe3 24 fxe3 Qxg3 25 Qb3 Bxc5 26 dxc5 Ne5 27 e4 Qxf4 28 Rab1 winning.} Qf6 {Black might have done better with 23...Qg4 exchanging queens but losing a pawn.} 24. Nd3 {Better 24 Qd1 followed by Qb3 or Qa4.} Qe6 {Black might have done better with 24..f4 giving up a pawn.} 25. Rb3 {The obvious move and clearly good. It is possible that 25 Rc3 was slightly better putting one rook on the 'a' file and other on the 'b' file. If 25...Qxa2 26 Qd1 is unpleasant for Black.} Nb8 {Passive, but it is difficult to find a better move. Perhaps 25...Kc7 could have been tried to transfer a rook to b8. White could force the king back by 26 Qf4+, but the queen has better squares than f4.} 26. Rcb1 Re7
27. Nf4 Qf6 28. d5 {A good move but 28 Qe2 followed by 29 Qb2 might have been more decisive.} Rg8 29. d6 Rd7 30. Nd3 {30 e4 might have been a little better.} Na6 {A mistake which gives White a quick win. Better was 30...Qe6.} 31. Rxb7 Rxb7 32. Qxc6+ Rc7 33.
d7+ Kd8 34. Qxf6+ 1-0

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Fine win by Callum at Hastings

One might have expected that 13 year old Callum Brewer would have found the opposition daunting at his first Hastings Masters tournament, but instead he did well to score four points out of nine. His best game was in the first round, when he completely outplayed the Norwegian player, Joar Pettersen. I enclose the moves of this excellent win:

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[Event "Hastings Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "28.12.2013"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Joar G Pettersen"]
[Black "Callum D Brewer"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ {The Bogo-Indian Defence named after Russian grandmaster, Efim Bogoljubov (1889-1952), who challenged Alekhine twice for the World Championship in 1929 and 1934, but lost on both occasions.} 4. Bd2 {A more critical line is 4 Nbd2 to try to keep the two bishops.} a5 5. Nc3 b6 6. g3 {If White wanted to fianchetto this bishop, it was probably better to have done it a move earlier. 6 e3 seems better.} Ba6 7. b3 d5 8. cxd5{If 8 Bg2 Black can play 8...dxc4 9 bxc4 Bxc4 and if 10 Ne5 Bd5 with a safe position.}
exd5 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. Re1 Ne4 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Ng5 {A mistake which puts this knight effectively out of play. White cannot play 13 Ne5 because 13...Bxd2 14 Qxd2 Rxe5 wins a piece. However, White could have done better with 13 Bxb4 axb4 and then 14 Ne5.} Bb7 14. Bxb4
axb4 15. h4 Nd7 16. Qc2 Nf6 17. Rec1 Re7 18. e3 Qd6 19. Bf1 {White is running out of ideas. Black has a bind over the position, which makes it difficult for White to form a plan.} h6 20. Nh3 Nd5
21. Bg2 f5 {Surprisingly this natural-looking move may not be best as it weakens the g6 square. White was not threatening to capture on e4 as Nxe3 would then have been a good reply. 21..Ra3 would have been very good for Black.} 22. Kh2 {Better for White was 22 h5 to try to hold up Black's g5 plan, though Black was still much better.} Kh8 {At this stage of the game it is not entirely clear where the Black king is best placed. Black could again have played Ra3, but the most critical move was 22...g5. Wild complications arise in the variation 23 hxg5 hxg5 24 Nxg5 f4! It would probably be beyond the human mind to calculate these lines with certainty in over-the-board play, but it appears that Black would have been winning in all variations.} 23. Rg1 {Again 23 h5 seems to have been the only chance.} Qf6 {Good enough, though Black could have played an immediate 23...g5 since 24 hxg5 hxg5 25 Nxg5 Rg8 looks like a clear win.} 24. Bf1 {If now 24 h5, Black wins by Qf7.} g5 25. hxg5 hxg5 26. Bc4 {26 Rh1 would have given more chances.} g4 {This fine move had to be calculated carefully.} 27.
Bxd5 Qh6 {Not 27...Bxd5 when 28 Nf4 brings White back into the game.} 28. Rh1 Rh7 {A very nice finish with White now losing a piece. A very mature game by one so young.} 0-1

Brighton retain the McArthur Cup trophy

Last Saturday the club's first team defeated Hastings 4-2 to hold the trophy for the sixth consecutive year. A few days ago we had received a setback when we heard that our top board player, Luke Rutherford, was ill and unable to take part in the match. We wish Luke a speedy recovery from his illness. When the match got under way, Hastings were unfortunate to lose on board two by default. We do not know why their player did not turn up, but this win took some of the pressure off the Brighton players. Draws were obtained by John, Mustapha, Chris and me and Paul gained an excellent win. Earlier in the year the club won the Mid-Sussex League first division and it has been a good season for the first team. Thanks are due to Paul for organising the side.

Hastings

A team of five players from DC and TT tournaments went to Hastings for the day on Saturday 10th May and played a similar team in rapid play games ( 59 minutes each ). Each player played two games and overall we won 7 points to 3 points.

McArthur Cup final preview

125 years ago Lewes defeated Horsham in the first ever McArthur Cup final. The competition, which began in the 1888-89 season, was named after Sgt. Major William McArthur of the Royal Sussex Regiment. He had been a founder member of the Chichester CC in 1877 and was a keen composer of chess problems as well as a prominent correspondence player. He had been a secretary of the Sussex Chess Association and following his death in 1888 a halt was called to competitive chess in the county for about a month as a mark of respect. Next Saturday, 10th May, Brighton play Hastings at Hove to decide who will win the trophy. In the early years of the competition Brighton and Hastings clubs were not allowed to field players of county strength and this led to a number of the smaller clubs lifting the trophy. It was not until 1965 that the competition was opened to all players and from that time the winners have usually been Brighton or Hastings. Teams from Brighton and Hastings first started playing each other in 1882 and few years have passed without such a match taking place. In the first World War difficulties in travel meant that Brighton and Hastings players were forced into playing each other by correspondence. In World War II Brighton and Hastings managed to play several friendly matches despite the fact that the Hastings CC suffered war damage. We welcome our visitors from Hastings next Saturday and the usual close match is expected. The teams are well-matched and it would be very difficult to predict the result.

Library

We have been fortunate to receive a donation of books from the library of the late Sir John Cornforth, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, who belonged to the club and was a noted correspondence player. The books include collections of games of well-known players and books on World Championship matches, as well as other items of interest. These are available for three week loan and form part of our Reserve collection, now in the glass fronted cabinet in the library. You will need my countersignature to borrow a Reserve book, and either Sue or I can unlock the cabinet.
Anthony

Anthony has also taken over the Library page of the website and updated our catalogue. Sue