Spondon club championship v Bert Loomes

Last night I had a long 71 move match against Bert Loomes (117 ECF) in the Spondon club championship. I got into very bad time trouble towards the end, throwing away what looked like a winning position and losing. I haven't had time trouble this bad for a while, so not sure if it was me playing too slowly, or if it was just that this match was a lot longer than my average matches. Anyway, there's a lot I can learn from this match and I hope it helps me to improve.

He played the french defence, with a fianchetto on the queenside. It looks like once he castled queenside, I should have started pushing my queenside pawns forward a lot quicker, and been a lot more aggressive. Instead I concentrated on trying to defend his kingside attack, when counter-attack would have been better.


I miscalculated 36.Ne3 above, for some reason I didn't even notice it was being attacked by a pawn until I put the piece down. But luckily for me it was actually the best move, as the pawn was also defending his rook. He missed the knight fork on the next move leaving me up the exchange.

Around this time I started running out of time. Giving up my knight was a mistake. His h-pawn was an annoyance I couldn't figure out how to stop. Maybe I should have offered a draw around this time, but I guess it's better to play it out and learn from it.

The game was still winnable towards the end, but I missed most of the best moves, don't know if I would have played better with more time. With perhaps a few more minutes I might have realised I should have pushed my a-pawn to promotion.

Martin Gibson

Had a nice win in the Spondon club championship tonight against Martin Gibson (63 ECF). Interesting game which was even until I managed to break through on his kingside, and a nice mate to finish it.

Warwickshire Chess Congress 2011

12/02/11:

Round 1:

Had a very pleasing win against Paul Williams (99) with black. It felt like I got my focus back 100% on the game for the first time since my break.

He played 2.f4 after 1.d4 Nf6. Haven't seen this before, but decided to carry on with the Kings Indian defence. It was looking very drawish in the middlegame.

I was happy when he played 19.Bxe4, as it looked to me (and I may be wrong), that it left him with a bad bishop that was blocked by all his pawns. And also left me with the bishop pair on a board that was opening up.

I liked my bishop on e4 and was hoping something would come out of the theoretically good position. I've been reading up on positional strategy recently which I think will improve my game and make it less dependent on tactics.

I managed to get a passed pawn, then supported it with another passed pawn. I was surprised he didn't try to sacrifice his remaining bishop at the end to stop the pawns.

Round 2:

Lost with white against ungraded junior Aaron Vitarana. I started playing too fast in the opening and didn't even consider 7.Bxf7 until after I'd castled. I was playing speculative moves without taking the time to analyse them deeply.

26.Nxe5 was the big mistake. I calculated I'd win a pawn, but didn't visualise the back rank mate threat. Taking with the bishop first would have been ok.

Round 3:

Lost with black against Gabor Csepregi (116). He played well and deserved the win. Towards the end he forced me to give up my Queen for a rook. So it was Queen and 4 pawns versus Rook and 4 pawns. I realise it's a winning position for him, but didn't see any reason to resign immediately until he showed he could convert it.

After his last move, I was studying the position, and could tell it was lost, but was just checking if there was anything left I could try. I was just about to resign when my elderly Russian sounding opponent started to speak to me.

"I think it is about time for you to give up. Why are you playing on now? We have a long journey home, what is the point in playing any longer?"

I felt it was very bad manners of him to speak to me at all during a game, and even worse to suggest I should resign. I have every right to use all my time to play on as long as I want. I felt furious inside, and no longer wanted to continue the game, and as I was about to resign in any case, I toppled my king, quickly shook his hand and left. I have nothing to gain out of getting into an argument with an old man.

Anyway, it was a good game apart from that. He had an interesting opening against the Kings Indian. It came down to Queen and 2 rooks each, and he had a big attack which forced me on the defensive. By move 34 I only had a minute on my clock to reach the time control of 36 moves. I quickly went for a couple of checks, but unfortunately this was the error that allowed my Queen to be trapped to prevent mate. A shame it had to end on such a sour note.

13/02/2011:

Round 4:

Lost with white against Christine Constable (102). I thought I'd got my knight into a good position on d6, but it proved to be my undoing. She did well to convert the extra minor piece into a win. I was hoping to take all her pawns and leave her with bishop and knight mate but it didn't work out.

Round 5:

Won my final game with black against Anthony Taylor (92). On move 13 he looked to be winning a rook and pawn for a knight and bishop, but for some reason he didn't take the rook, leaving me a knight up for a pawn. Move 17 he blundered his bishop, so I thought being up two minor pieces would leave me plain sailing. But he mounted a good attack on my King, which had me very worried. I should have released my rook on a8 much sooner. Eventually though he resigned when he'd have to exchange Queens to stop mate leaving me up a rook and bishop.

Stockport Rapidplay 2011

Yesterday was my first time at Stockport. 127 players had entered when I checked on arrival, with more late entries afterwards. Think it must be biggest turnout I've played in.

Round 1:

Black against Stuart Hamilton (ECF grade 67) from Rhyl. He played an offbeat opening, Nf3, d3 etc. Quite even until I got a passed pawn which he had to spend a lot of time defending. Eventually he had to try bringing his King across so I gave up the pawn and took a pawn from the other side. Luckily for me, him taking my pawn allowed a fork of king against his rook. He moved the pieces to play it, then realised the error and tried putting the pieces back and moving something else instead. I said to him we're playing touch move, and he admitted defeat.

Round 2:

Lost with black against junior Jennifer Neil (92). Scandinavian defence. She took a long time over her moves, and was very short on time at the end. I had about 20mins left. She played well to set up a mating attack which I just couldn't stop.

Jennifer kindly allowed me to take a photo of her scoresheet, so was able to go over the game (I don't keep score in rapid games due to time trouble).

The big mistake on my part was 17...g5 allowing the mating attack.

Round 3:

Things went from bad to worse when I lost with white against ungraded Gary Jones. Two knights defence. Was up a pawn from the opening, then up the exchange when skewered king against rook. Then somehow towards the end I threw away a rook, and he had a pawn advantage in bishop endgame. Was hoping he might run out of time and blunder but he played well.

Round 4:

Played terrible as black against Derek Marsden (93). Started 1. e4 d5 2. e5 c5 3. c4 e6 4. Nf3 Nc6. Didn't like the position. Got a couple of pawns lead but then he pinned my knight against the king and piled everything onto the knight. Should probably have castled earlier. He got a mating threat which meant I'd have to give up Queen for rook so resigned.

Round 5:

Easy win with white against ungraded junior A.S. Tathare.

Round 6:

Another easy win with white against Angie Howe (UG). She played a weird Scandinavian: 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qe5+. I played 4. Nge2 but looks like the book move is Be7. Anyway I chased the Queen around a bit while developing pieces and eventually it went back to it's starting position. I was slightly hampered in the game due to a stomach ache, but just played sensible moves and capitalised on mistakes.

So I ended up with 3 wins and 3 losses, which probably sounds better than the poor performance I gave. Need to cut out silly mistakes.

Spectrum Dudley Chess Congress 2011

29/01/2011

Round 1:

Got off to a disappointing start in my first trip to Dudley. All games are 36 moves in 90mins, then clocks back 15mins to finish. I was white against Stuart Calderbank (Grade 99). He played the Pirc defence. The first major mistake was 15.Rb1, allowing the Queen to fork the pawns on a2 and d3.


The next move I played was even worse because for some reason I hadn't even spotted the d3 pawn being attacked. I think my break from chess has left a lot of rustiness. It was a very frustrating game where I felt always on the defensive. The final mistake was 35.Bc4, overlooking Rxc4, bxc4, Rxb1.

Round 2:

Accepted a draw as black against Paul Broderick (102). Tried to get an attack going but nothing came of it. Draw probably fair result.

Round 3:

Another draw, this time against Maria Gonzalez (93) who plays for Hackney. She started off with 1...e6 which looked like a french, but it changed into something else (something like a hedgehog?). I offered a draw after my 37th move, which she declined. We finally agreed a draw after my 62nd move. I possibly missed a difficult win towards the end, but I was very low on time so happy with the draw.

30/01/2011

Round 4:

Lost with black against Peter Kearns (100). Scandinavian defence with 2.e5. 13...g5 was a mistake that I didn't visualise properly, should have played Nh4. When the g-file opened, I didn't notice the Queen looking down the b1-h7 diagonal until it was too late.

Round 5:

Last round was another draw as white against blind player Voldi Gailans (88). It was a two knights defence. Enjoyable game even though I was on the defensive for most of it. I couldn't see a way of winning the Queen and 3 pawns versus Queen and 1 pawn endgame, so accepted the draw.

Nice venue and run well as always by Spectrum chess. Bit disappointed with end result of 3 draws and 2 losses, but I think I was playing some strong players. Will hopefully return next year.

Nottingham Rapidplay 2011

I played my first competitive matches for over seven months today at the Nottingham Rapidplay. Ended up with four wins and two losses, pretty good seeing how rusty I was.

Entered Minor section as Rapidplay grade of 104 is under the 110 limit (my standard grade this year is 115). Games are 30mins each.

Round 1:
Won with black against junior Andrew Fergusson (grade 68). 1.d4 opening, played Kings Indian defence. After exchanges had bishop pair against knight and bishop. Became a pawn up after exchanging one of the bishops. Went to opposite coloured bishops with rook and about 6 pawns to 4 after forking bishop and pawn. Then pinned his bishop to king with rook. Promoted pawn to Queen and he resigned shortly after.

Round 2:
Lost with white against Matthew Wilson (ungraded - looked too good to be in minor section). He played french defense. He was up a pawn after I pushed e pawn too far. Then got up another pawn after attacking with knight and setting up a bishop-queen diagonal attack. Then I miscalculated to throw away rook when trying to get something out of nothing.

Round 3:
Lost with black against Joshua Field (58). He opened with the English 1.c4 but it transposed into a 1.d4 kings indian. Again I was vulnerable to attacking knight which won a pawn after threatening forks. Lost another pawn after more pressure, then resigned after sacrificing bishop to stop promotion, but couldn't stop another pawn.

Round 4:
Won with white against junior Russell O'Brien (92 rapid, 107 standard). Sicilian opening. Won a bishop for pawn in middle game after pushing f pawn and leaving bishop trapped nowhere to go. Swapped off pieces, got a bit scary with my king protected by just one pawn and open f and g files, but managed to get queen and rook in line forcing checkmate at the opposing end.

Round 5:
Won with black against junior Jonah Willow (UG). Scandinavian defence. He blundered a knight in middle game. I got a few pawns but then blundered knight back. Was bishop endgame with me having more pawns. He had to sacrifice his bishop to stop me promoting. Then it was a race to promote other pawns, but I could just stop his with my remaining bishop. Practiced my Queen v King ending.

Round 6:
Won with white against Ronald Watson (107). He played a Qd6 Scandinavian which I didn't have much of a clue how to play against. Got a good middle game though and broke through when attacked Queen with knight, meaning he had to move it leaving a nice rook and king fork. Struggled a bit when got towards end game with time running short. Eventually sacrificed two rooks for rook and bishop, leaving up a few pawns in pawn endgame. He couldn't stop me promoting one of the two flanks of pawns so won with 1min 30secs to spare.