Juniors on Arctic trip to play the Russians

If you were wondering where half our star juniors had got to this season they've been off in Murmansk playing the Russians - and teams from Paris and Rotterdam -  see Mike Forster's blog and photo gallery where Callum Brewer and Edward Gray can be spotted along with Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman.

British Championship prize winners 2014

Two successes for club members at the British in Aberystwyth: Geoffrey James came second in the British Senior Championship on 5.5/7 and Callum Brewer came joint third in the Under 14s on 5/7. They can both be seen collecting their prize money between 23:30 and 26:00 at the closing ceremony. Congratulations young and old.

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:

Play Online Chess

[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

Callum goes global!

Congratulations to Callum on being asked to represent England at the World Schools Individual Championships in Greece during May. He is extremely excited and will be going to a special training weekend for the England Squad in March. Plus his new rapid grade of 158 makes him the joint highest U12 rapid player in the country. We will be officially adopting him as our mascot ..... errr no, sorry, we can't - I made that one up.....

Hi Robert,

good spot... unfortunately they have the position wrong in the Times as well as the event. However Callum did play Akshaya and she did win...

Since the British Callum played in the UKCC 2012 CHALLENGERS "C" section where he came joint 4th (top under 11).  This tournament starts in the schools, the top players progress to a county competition, this is followed by a South and North section and then the finals.

Last weekend he played for the England Squad against a team from France, unfortunately we lost to the French but Callum had a good second day in an individual rapid play tournament being the highest placed England player. Tomorrow (well later today) Callum is off to Belgium to play for the England Squad again... dad only has to get him to st Pancras this time...

Shaun

[See club noticeboard for the Winning Move cutting. Sue]

Times Winning Move

Today (Fri 31 Aug) in the Times newspaper,Raymond Keene's Winning Move puzzle features...Callum Brewer.

Callum's Summer

Callum, has had a busy summer, representing England at the Glorney Cup competition, taking part in the U12 section, the Stokes Cup, he scored 5/6 and helped England win the section.

Callum also had great time at the British scoring 4.5/7 in the U12s, coming joint 3rd.

Callum is really happy that people were following his progress at the British and appreciates the support.

Shaun

Listening to live commentary of British Championships, I swear I can hear Callum suggesting moves to Andrew Martin in the commentary room :-)) Callum is going great guns on 4.0/6.0 in the Under-12s, well done Callum!!

Exciting finishes

Congratulations to the first team on proving to be the best and coming top of the Mid-Sussex League.

We have two matches left, both to be played tonight: the fourth team, playing away, are already assured of promotion to the second division, and the second team only need to beat Woodpushers 2 at home this evening to make it into the first division next season - no pressure! So many congrats to the fourth team on the success of a very determined effort and best of luck tonight for the second team. With a bit of luck, and an extra team, we will be back to two teams in each division next season. (I can't, unfortunately, make it tonight so perhaps someone could blog the result?)

Also big congrats to our talented nipper Callum who took part in the England Squad Trials at the weekend; he didn't just win a place on the U11 England Team, he came joint 2nd! He has already been booked for two fixtures and is very excited!!