Club Tournaments 2014-15

The Club Championship, Plummer Knight and Tasker Tankard are now online.

There will be no Denman Cup this year, but a standard play Mega Open on the noticeboard at the club and the Rapidplay Ladder which will remain open to regular players and new members. These will allow the more casual player to play graded games against a wide range of graded and ungraded opponents. This is slightly experimental so we shall see if copes better with the comings and goings at the club. Join them if you're unsure how many graded games you want to play.

Don't forget you can now arrange with your opponent to play matches on a Wednesday night until the end of March. This should suit those who want to be sure of a table and a quiet room to play their match. But this is also experimental and won't be repeated unless it proves worthwhile, so - use it or lose it - like the corner shop.

Good start to the season for Brighton 1

Last night we won 3.5 to 1.5 in our home fixture against Crowborough 1. The visitors were without county president, Robert Elliston, but we are still missing our normal top board player, Luke Rutherford, through illness. We welcomed to the side a strong player in Simon Wilks. Wins were obtained by Geoffrey James and Paul Batchelor, and John Henshaw, Simon Wilks and I drew our games. This was a good start to the season, but many hard matches lie ahead.

First match of the season

On WEDNESDAY 22nd October we have our first match of the season when Robin's team - 2nd - are at home to Jan's - 3rd. This is also our first Wednesday match night! Please come and watch if you like and there should be space to play as well. We need to make use of Wednesday nights if we want to keep them.

The following day the first team are playing Crowborough 1.

Club Tournaments 2014 -15

We are proposing to run three all-play-all tournaments this year with an Open Tournament in addition.

The Open Tournament is open to all and there is no requirement to play all your games as there may be up to 24 entrants. The tournament chart is already on the notice board and will not be online. This will remain open to new entrants and is for new and ungraded members, members who can't commit to play 10/11 games and members who want to play more than 10/11 games.

Open Tournament Rules: To make this work all entrants must respond to challenges - you can't be picky about your opponents. You can, however, drop out at any time. Also you are under no obligation to set up matches and can just wait to be asked if you prefer. Contact details of entrants are on the noticeboard by the chart.

So far: 14 entrants. This competition is already underway.

All-Play-Alls These are more serious tournaments open to graded players committed to playing  a maximum of 10/11 matches before the end of June. Withdrawal is only permitted under exceptional circumstances (so as not to spoil the competition for the others).

Club Championship: over 160 with a maximum of five players playing each other twice.

So far: Brian, Mustapha, Callum, Geoff

Plummer Knight: 120-160 with a maximum of six players playing each other twice.

So far: Oli W., Julian, Jan, Peter, Kevin, Neil

Tasker Tankard: under 120 with a maximum of twelve players playing each other once.

So far: Rob, Andrew C., Oli L., Alaa, Andrew S., Sue, Bob, Terry, Grant

All entrants to all internal tournaments must be current members of both the club and the ECF. All the above are standard play and will be graded.

Please contact Andrew, see post below, or me for any issues or late entries.

Tournaments

  The OT is now running. Members (with ECF membership) can join at anytime throughout the year.
  The other tournaments will soon be running. Entry to these is limited. Members are expected to play all their games in these tournaments. If you have not signed up at the club and you wish to enter you can contact me via email or phone 01273 699335. You need to be a member of the ECF and please contact me asap (as soon as possible).

Thursday 2nd October at 7:45 pm: Talk on Chess Problems

On Thursday 2nd October we are privileged to be welcoming Michael Lipton who has very kindly offered to give us a talk on chess problems. He is a past president of the British Chess Problem Society and a FIDE IM of chess problem composition. He is a retired Sussex University professor who is hoping for a game or two after his talk so I hope we will have some talent to take him on. The talk is free to members so please come along to this quite unique event. Please come in time for a 7:45 start.

My name is Chris Donlan and I write for Eurogamer, a games website based in Brighton. I was wondering if anybody attached to the club would like to spend an hour in our offices at some point playing a PC game called Chess 2, which expands on chess in some interesting ways. Ideally, I'd like to interview someone who really knows about chess to find out what they make of the game.

Please contact christian.donlan@eurogamer.net if interested.

IMPORTANT SUBSCRIPTION NOTICE FOR RETURNING MEMBERS

Subscriptions for returning members are still £50 ( £30 concessions) at the moment until 7th October, after which it will rise to the new rate or £55 ( £35 concessions).  Please pay promptly to get the discount.  You can pay any committee member ( if cash ask for a receipt), or by cheque payable to the club, or by bank transfer - see details on the application form under Membership on the website.

Geoff

Tuition classes for juniors

I am planning to start free tuition classes for juniors from about the ages of 7-14 at the Avenue Bridge Club on Wednesday 1st October from 6-7 p.m. It is hoped that these classes will then continue on a weekly basis until March next year. The classes are intended for young players, who have had some experience of playing friends at home or at school or have entered competitions in connection with the Sussex Junior Chess organisation. It is not necessary for juniors to be brilliant players and I am expecting a wide range of ability. However, I am afraid that it would be difficult to integrate anyone into the group who does not know the rules. Although the classes will almost certainly start on 1st October, I have to obtain the usual CRB clearance first.

Enquiries can be made using the box at the bottom of the Membership page of the club website. Please give name, age and chess experience of child.  Sue

News from Glastonbury

Carl has made an impressive start to a new chess career with the South Bristol Chess Club. Forget Star Baker, check out their Player of the Week!

Sinquefield Cup

Well 'Fabulous' Fabian Caruana finally slumped to a draw against Magnus Carlsen last night, leaving him with a paltry 7.5/8 in the strongest field ever assembled :-)

Seriously, this is an historic performance; apparently they've now calculated his current TPR (tournament performance rating)  around 3150. Caruana has already won the competition on +7 score with two rounds to go. At the start of the tournament the average rating of the field was 2801; Caruana has now taken his live rating to 2836, the third highest of all time and putting him in second place to Carlsen.

Of what I've watched last nights game against Carlsen was astonishing, and their earlier encounter was great viewing too, as Sue says, this is probably the most professional chess coverage ever, really good.

If you don't watch anything else, I'd recommend the interview with Carlsen after round 7, it isn't very long and it get's really funny at about 2'45" , had me laughing out loud :-)

http://new.livestream.com/chess24/sinquefieldcup

http://www.2700chess.com

Cheers, Kevin.

The strongest tournament ever held

Hope you are all following the 2014 Sinquefield Cup where Caruana is on 7/7 against 5 of the world's top nine. Statisticians are pinching themselves and the commentators are going dizzy with incredulity. He's playing Carlsen again tonight as white. The live video is also much better than any I've seen before - starts at 8:00 pm GMT.

AGM of the Sussex Chess Association

The Annual General Meeting of the Sussex Chess Association will be held at the Lewes CC, St Mary's Supporters Club, Christie Road, Lewes, at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday 9th September.

The organisation started in 1882 and is responsible for arranging county fixtures and competitions. It also produces a magazine once a year, which coordinates chess within the county.

You do not have to be of county standard or even a strong player to attend. Anyone who is a club member is welcome at the meeting.

Michael's draw with a grandmaster in a simul

In May 2013 Ray Keene gave a ten board simul at the Hove Club in Fourth Avenue. He won eight of these games while Sue Chadwick and Michael Cain did well to obtain draws.

Ray won the British Championship in 1971 and represented England in eight olympiads. He gained the title of grandmaster in 1976 and in 1985 was made an OBE for services to chess. He also has a strong Brighton connection and is an honorary member of our club. To date he is the only grandmaster ever to have represented the club in matches. He organised the Brighton international tournaments from 1979 to 1985 and the publicity from this may have helped our club when we were trying to stay at our premises in Pavilion Buildings. Ray has been chess correspondent of The Times since 1985 and has written over a hundred books. He is also an exceptional organiser and was involved in the organisation of the 1986, 1993 and 2000 World Championships.

I know from playing Ray on a few occasions when I was a young player that he has a highly original, hypermodern style which is difficult to cope with.

I enclose the score of his game against Michael Cain in the above-mentioned simul. Ray would of course have been under pressure to move almost immediately and it would have been difficult to calculate anything complicated. On the other hand this is another example of Michael reserving his best chess for these occasions:

Play Online Chess

[Event "10 board simul in Hove"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "3.5.2013"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Raymond D Keene"]
[Black "Michael Cain"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Bg5 d6 6. Qc2 Nbd7 7. e4 {This move does not seem to lead to any significant advantage for White. After 7 e3 b6 we have reached the position of the 7th game of the 2nd World Championship match between Kasparov and Karpov played at Moscow in 1985. 8 Bd3 gave White the better game.} e5 8.
d5{Black has a comfortable position after this move, though the alternatives 8 a3 and 8 dxe5 do not promise much for White.} Nc5 9. Nd2 Bxc3{9...a5 was an interesting alternative.} 10. bxc3 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Bg3 Nh5 13. Be2 Nf4 14. Bxf4
exf4{14...gxf4 would have given Black a more compact pawn structure. It might seem that such a move would have weakened the king position, but, if 15 g3 Qf6 16 Rg1 Kh8, and Black is quite safe.} 15. Nb3 b6{Black might have tried 15...Nxb3 16 axb3 f5, though 17 Bd3 would have been a little better for White.} 16. Nxc5{16 g4 was better preventing Black from playing f5 and planning h4 without having to worry about the reply g4.} bxc5 17. h4{A mistake which gives Black a definite advantage. 17 g4 could be met with Rb8. 17 h3 is safe and about equal.} g4 18. f3{This move does not seem to help White, but it would be difficult to suggest a good alternative.} f5{Over elaborate. Simply 18...g3 would have given Black a very good game. Now White can gain counterplay along the b1/h7 diagonal and also eventually down the e file.} 19. Bd3{Also to be considered is the complex variation 19 fxg4 fxg4 20 e5 Bf5 21 Bd3 Bxd3 22 Qxd3 Kg7 23 e6 f3! and if 24 g3 f2+ while 24 Qe4 can be met by h5 and if 25 0-0-0 (25 e7 Re8) Qf6. In these lines White must play very carefully and Black seems to have an advantage.} Qe7{Loses a tempo as Black moves the queen to the better square of f6 three moves later.} 20. O-O-O fxe4
21. Bxe4 Bd7{21...Rb8. Qf6 and g3 were all to be considered.} 22. Rde1 Qf6 23. h5{23 fxg4 Bxg4 with a small advantage for Black was also to be considered.} g3 24. Bg6 Rab8 25. Kd2{White naturally plays his king to a safe place. However, a critical line, which indicates that White's play down the e file balances the danger of Black's rooks down the b file, goes 25 Re2 Rb6 26 Bh7+ Kh8 27 Rhe1 Rfb8 28 Re7 Rb1+ 29 Qxb1 Rxb1+ 30 Kxb1 Qxc3 31 Bc2, which seems equal.} Rb6 26. Rb1 Bf5{A mistake which gives White a definite advantage. Black was better after 26...Rfb8.} 27.
Bxf5 Qxf5 28. Qxf5 Rxf5 29. Rxb6 cxb6 30. Kd3 Re5 31. Kd2{A mistake. 31 Rh4 would have given White a substantial advantage. After 31 Kd2 Black has the equalizing move 31...b5. 1/2-1/2

Brunswick Chess Festival 2014

Hi Brighton Chess Club,

Thanks for everyone who came down to the Brunswick Festival on Saturday. Unlike the rain last year we enjoyed a warm breeze and wonderful sunshine.  It was great to see the general public showing interest, taking photos, watching the games and playing chess with us. I really enjoyed the day and hope you all did too.

I would like thank the people of Brunswick Festival for allowing Brighton Chess Club to take part. I spoke to the main organiser "Jon The Van" and he said Brighton Chess Club can take part again next year which is great news for the Chess Club.

Click link to see pictures; Brunswick Chess Festival Pictures

Also here is a short video clip, just to give you an idea of how busy it was during the day.

Short Video Clip

Thanks Again

Michael

Geoffrey's excellent result in British Seniors

Geoffrey James recently came second in the British Seniors at Aberystwyth with 5.5 points out of 7. This was his highest score in the competition, though in 2009 he came first equal in the event with 5 points. Geoffrey is the club's longest serving member having first enlisted in about 1960. He is at present the club treasurer, but has also carried out the duties of secretary and match captain in the past. He has won the county championship seven times and the club championship a record seventeen times. He has also made over 400 appearances for Sussex, second only to John Cannon of Horsham in county history. Geoffrey has kindly supplied notes to his win in round 6 of the British Seniors:

Play Online Chess

[Event "British Seniors at Aberystwyth"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "31.7.2014"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Geoffrey H James"]
[Black "Tom Bimpson"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Be3 Qb6 5. Rb1 Ng4 6. Bg5 e5 7. Nf3 h6 8. Bh4
Nd7 9. Be2 Qc7 10. h3 Ngf6 11. O-O Be7 12. a4 O-O 13. Qd2{13 b4 with a Q-side push might be stronger as in James v Har-Even Greece 2011} a6 14. Ra1 b6 15.
Bg3 Kh7 16. Nh4 g6 17. Kh1 Bb7 18. f4 b5 19. fxe5 dxe5 20. dxe5 Nxe5 21. Qf4
Nfd7 22. Bg4 Bg5{Stronger is 22...f5 23 exf5 g5 24 Qe4 c5 25 Nd5 Bxd5 26 Qxd5 gxh4 27 f6 Bxf6 with equality} 23. Qf2{If 23 Qxf7+ Rxf7 24 Rxf7+ Nxf7 25 Bxc7 Nf6 26 Nf3 Ng4 27 hxg4 and Black is O.K.} Nxg4 24. hxg4 Qb6 25. Nf3 Qxf2 26. Nxg5+ hxg5 27.
Rxf2 f6 28. Rd1 Rf7{28...Bc8 is forced.} 29. e5{The winning move} Nf8 30. Ne4 Ne6 31. Rd6 1-0

Dates for your diary

Saturday 16th August
The club will be transferred to the Brunswick Festival in Brunswick Square - weather permitting. The Bridge Club will be closed for the day.

Saturday 6th September @ 3:00 pm
The Annual General Meeting. Subscription renewal time. All current members will receive the relevant documents in the next couple of weeks.

Saturday 27th September
Home to Dieppe Chess Club for our annual friendly fixture. Score currently level so we are putting out the strongest team we can muster! (And so are they.)

Resourceful play by Michael Cain

Ezra Kirk gave a simultaneous display at the club on 21st June and did not lose a single game. He took on eleven players and was held to a draw by Michael Cain and Arthur de Silver, but defeated everyone else. In the 2012-13 season he won against grandmasters Keith Arkell and Tony Kosten to establish himself as the highest rated player in the country for his age. More recently he has played little competitive chess as he has been taking several exams. He is already a FIDE master and plans to spend a year entering chess competitions to try to become an international master before going to university. We wish him the best of luck in his quest, though he probably has the potential to become not just an international master but also a grandmaster. I enclose the score of Ezra's game against Michael Cain in the recent simul. It is very difficult playing eleven players at the same time particularly when one is expected to make every move very quickly. However, we must also give credit to Michael for a resourceful display. Michael seems to produce his best chess in simultaneous displays as he also drew last year with grandmaster Ray Keene in this form of chess. On other such occasions he has given Nigel Short and Luke Rutherford very good games before eventually losing.

Play Online Chess

[Event "11 board simul in Hove"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "21.6.2014"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ezra G Kirk"]
[Black "Michael Cain"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
[A10]

1. c4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. d4 c6 4. Nc3 d5 {Sometimes called the Grunfeld-Slav Defence.}5. g3 {Not the best. If White wants to fianchetto his White-squared bishop, it is better to play 5 cxd5 first.} dxc4 {Correct, giving Black an advantage.} 6. a4 {To stop Black playing b5. If 6 Bg2 Nf6 7 0-0 0-0 8 e4 b5 or Bg4 are both better for Black.} Bg4 {The best move is probably 6...c5 attacking the White centre. If 7 dxc5 Qxd1+ 8 Nxd1 Na6 with the better game. If 7 d5 Bxc3+! 8 bxc3 Nf6 is also strong for Black. Finally if 7 e3 Nf6 8 Bxc4 0-0 9 0-0 Bg4 is still better for Black.} 7. Ne5 {Black gets a definite advantage now. Better was 7 e3.} Bxe5 8.
dxe5 Qxd1+ 9. Nxd1 f6 {Better was 9...Nd7 and, if 10 Bf4, then f6. In this line 11 exf6 could be met with e5.} 10. exf6 exf6 {Better was the developing move 10...Nxf6 with an advantage.} 11. e4 {A mistake which loses a pawn for nothing. Better was 11 Bf4.} Bf3 12. Rg1 Bxe4 13. Bxc4 Nd7 14.
Nc3 Bf3 15. Bf4 {Better was probably 15 Be2.} O-O-O 16. Kf1 {Again Be2 seems to be the best chance.} Re8 {The correct move was 16...g5 and if 17 Bd6 Nh6 18 Be6 Rhe8 19 Re1 Ng4 with a strong position.} 17. g4 {Better was 17 h4 to stop Black playing g5.} Ne5 {17...g5 was very strong. Now the game is more or less level.} 18. Bxe5 {White should have played 18 Re1 so that Black would have had to lose a tempo to break the pin by moving his king. After 18...Kd7 or Kd8 White could then have played Bxe5. This might seem similar to the game but White would benefit from his rook on e1.} Rxe5 {18...fxe5 was better and would have given Black a definite advantage. The f6 square would have been vacated for the Black knight and there was the potential to play e4.} 19. Rg3 Bd5 20.
Bxd5 cxd5 21. f4 Re6 22. Nxd5 Ne7 {The game now looks drawish.} 23. Nc3 {Possibly Ezra decided against exchanging knights as he still hoped to win the game. However, it could be argued that a Black knight on c6 would have been stronger than a White knight on c3 in this type of position.} Rd8 24. Rc1 {24 Re1 would have been more or less level.} Kb8 {24...Nc6 looks better.} 25. Rc2 {Again 25 Re1 was a safe drawing line.} Rd4 26. Rf3
Nd5 {26...a6 might have given Black an edge. The exchange of knights brings about a similar position to what might have happened if White had played 23 Nxe7.} 27. Nxd5 Rxd5 28. Rfc3 {Surprisingly this move seems to give Black an advantage as White has difficulty defending his pawns. 28 b3 looks better.} a5 {Much better than 28...a6 as it establishes a bind on White's queen side pawns and gives the Black king a little more space.} 29. Rc4 {29 b3 might still have been the best move.} h5 {Not the best move. Black could have got an advantage by 29...Rd1+ 30 Kf2 Rb6 because of the weakness of the White pawn on b2.} 30. h3 {30 f5 gxf5 31 gxh5 would have taken all the pressure off White.} h4 {Black could have played 30...hxg4 31 hxg4 Rd1+ 32 Kf2 Rb6 with perhaps a slight advantage - cf. my note to Black's 29th move. 30...h4 is a bold move with the potential for Black to seize control of the third rank with his rooks. White must now play very carefully.} 31. Kg2 {This seems to be a mistake. White should play 31 Rc8+ Ka7 32 R2c5. If then 32...Rd1+ 33 Kf2 Rd2+ 34 Kf3 Rxb2 35 Rxa5+ Kb6 36 Rac5, which looks drawish.} Re3 32. Rc8+ Ka7
33. R8c5 {33 Rf8 and 33 Rg8 both lead to complex variations in Black's favour.} Rdd3 34. Rxa5+ Kb8 35. g5 f5 36. Rb5 {36 Rac5 also comes into consideration, though here also White is in difficulties.} Rxh3 37. Rc6 {This move seems to lose. White may be able to draw by 37 Rc3 Rhg3+ 38 Kh2 Rd2+ 39 Kh1 Rxb2 40 Rxb2 Rxc3 41 a5 and if 41...Rc5 42 Rb6 Rxa5 43 Rxg6 Ra4 44 Re6 Rxf4 45 Re1. As Black's king is a long way away from White's passed pawn and White has a threat of Rg1, the position may be drawn.} Rhg3+ {It appears that this move wins for Black. A rather amusing finish would be 38 Kf2 h3 39 Rxg6 h2 40 Rg8+ Kc7 41 Rg7+ Kd8 42 Rbxb7 hi=N+, which mates in a few moves. White could play 42 Rg8+ and try to keep checking, but eventually Black's king escapes from the checks and his 'h' pawn will prove to be the decisive factor e.g. 42...Kd7 43 Rg7+ Ke8 44 Rg8+ Kf7 45 Rh8 Rh3 etc. Also if 42...Kd7 43 Rxb7+ Kc6 44 Rh7 Rh3 etc. These lines were not tested in practice as a draw was agreed.} 38. ½-½
1/2-1/2

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.

New ECF grades out

The new grades are now on the Members page of the website. Congratulations to Brian whose greater involvement in the club this year has resulted in both winning the Club Championship and making the top of the list. His interest and help with other people's games has also been much appreciated.