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.

Oh dear

Sorry Pete but I couldn't resist putting this game up, I doubt I'll get an easier game against you than this :)

DeanMaddenvPeterBrace.pgn

Draw against Nathan

My run of good form continued into the game against Nathan last night. I played quite well until the end game where I made my bishop bad and let him get his strong knight in. However he had to sacrifice the knight after it was trapped, and I was up a bishop for two pawns. But he had much the better position.

After a bit of maneuvering we got to a repeating position where he offered a draw. It looked pretty drawish so I accepted. However after analysing with the computer it looks like he was way ahead and could get the bishop back for free if he just took with the c rook. I don't know how we both missed that!

DeanMaddenvNathanAtkins.pgn

First place!

I don't know how I managed it but I won both games on Sunday, making me outright winner with five wins out of five and £150. First time I've ever won anything! Both were tough long games with the last one lasting 3hrs 55mins. Was exhausted at the end.

One thing I've learnt from the experience is that I'm suited to open unbalanced tactical positions, I felt I was able to calculate more deeply, and when I realised a threat wasn't really a threat I could concentrate on launching better attacks. Also a fair amount of luck went my way.

DeanMaddenvKeithHodgson.pgn


First game was against Keith Hodgson from Bramhall. He played the Petroff defence which I've had very little experience playing against. Thankfully I remembered the moves I wanted to play, in the past I've really blocked myself in.

However he was better out of the opening with a strong knight. But this simplified down and on move 32 I offered a draw, as it was a very even endgame and I thought if anyone was going to win it was him. Luckily for me he turned it down!

So it worked out to be 7 pawns against 7 pawns. 43...d4 is where he made the mistake and over-committed a pawn allowing my king to get in between them. This meant I was a pawn up.

In the position above I played Kb5 but a much easier win would have been Kd6, where he wouldn't be able to stop my e pawn. I initially miscalculated and thought the a pawn had less moves to make to promote by pushing the g pawn as well, but realised he could promote his e pawn at the same time. But luckily my king had the much better position to block his pawn where as mine was unhindered. So he soon resigned.

RichardCantliffvDeanMadden.pgn


Final round was against Richard Cantliff from Fenton. I was hoping an easy short game as was already quite tired. I knew that a draw would make me outright winner, with a loss still giving me a share of 1st prize.

For the third time I faced 1.d4, this time he played what he told me afterwards was the four pawns attack, something I'd never encountered before. But he told me the crucial thing he forgot was Kh1 as f4 exposes the castled king.

A big miscalculation by me was 21...Nxb4 and I thought it had cost me the game. I overlooked that Nb2 would protect both minor pieces from my queen. But he made a bigger mistake and put his rook there instead, allowing Qc5 checking his exposed king and winning a knight and pawns.

In the position below I was sure there was a mate somewhere but couldn't figure it out.

There was actually a mate in 5: 34... Rh1+ 35. Kg3 Nh5+ 36. Kh4 Bf6+ 37. Qg5 hxg5+ 38. Kg4 Qf4#.

I lost the momentum and it simplified down but I still had the advantage. He was by now very short of time, I just played what I thought were sensible moves until his clock ran out. I might have struggled to convert the win otherwise!

A very pleasing overall result, beyond anything I'd imagined.

Leek Congress day 2

Had a great day at the Leek congress, won both my games so am now on 3 out of 3, with two more games to come tomorrow. A score of 3 is already my best ever result in a tournament.

Second round game was against fellow Spondon member Louise, I felt sorry for her as she blundered early on, and didn't get any chance to fight back.

DeanMaddenvLouiseBrace_0.pgn

Round 3 was against Ray Thomas from Market Drayton. Managed to get it into another open tactical game, and have been calculating well in this tournament. Ray offered a draw after 16 moves but I turned it down as wanted to go for the win.

RayThomasvDeanMadden.pgn

It was the most even game so far, I managed to get a pawn up but couldn't protect it so had to give it back. I managed to activate my remaining rook before his, and because of the back rank threat he played h3, realising when he let go of the piece that the square was attacked with my knight leading to mate. If not for that it was looking very drawish.

Wish me luck for the next two games tomorrow!

Grzybowski

Had a great win to start off the Leek congress, played the highest rated player in our section, 112 ECF compared to my 83. And to make it even better, he had a surname I can't pronounce so feels like I've beaten a Russian GM.

KarolGrzybowskivDeanMadden.pgn

I seemed to outplay him tactically, very surprising. We played with digital clocks, 2 hrs each for entire game. I've rarely played with them but unlike most people in English chess I think they're great. You know exactly what time you have left, don't have to bend over to try to work out what you've got left and then only have a rough idea. And I don't trust the accuracy of the mechanical clocks, clubs seem to have kept them for decades, and don't need to worry that it's not wound up.

I was up the exchange on move 16. I was surprised when he played 23.f5, not sure if he missed 23...Qxb5 or if it was a miscalculated last throw of the dice.

So I was up two rooks for a bishop. But Queens were still on the board so had to be careful he couldn't perpetually check me. After I forced the exchange of Queens it was over.

Two games today then two tomorrow. Good start but plenty still to do.

New season

First match of the season tonight was against Ian Gregory in the Spondon club championship. Predictably I got smashed, I never seem to know what to do when the opponent throws their pawns forward. Any advice on what I could have done better would be appreciated.

DeanMaddenvIanGregory.pgn

Derbyshire Individual tournament

Just a quick plug that I'm the new controller of the Derbyshire Individual tournament which runs over the league season as a seven round swiss. More details at http://www.derbyshirechess.org.uk/

In other news, I'm still playing chess but not much blogging. Tend to twitter more these days. Just sent my entry form off for the Leek Congress over the weekend of 11th-13th Sep.

Notts Congress Rd4&5

Sunday was a bad day for me after a good first day. I threw away round 4 with a mistake on move 8, miscalculating the resulting position from some trades. I missed a chance to get back into it by not playing Rxd4 below.


PeterMellorvDeanMadden.pgn

Round 5 was the most frustrating game for me. I was ahead but threw it away by not visualising properly.

I was happy that I spotted 11.Ncxe5 below (11...Bxc5 12. Nxe5 Qxe5 13. Bc3 skewers the Queen to the rook). Fritz says 11. Ba5 is even better.

In the position below I played 33 Nxg6. For some reason I thought him taking with the Queen would leave his Rook undefended. Obviously didn't think it through.

Shortly afterwards he put me out of my misery.

DeanMaddenvRonaldWatson.pgn

Notts Congress Rd3

Round 3 of the Nottingham congress I played Sean McDonald. He played the Pirc defense and I tried to play a symmetrical Kings Indian Attack against it. His big mistake was missing the Knight fork on move 33. I got into deep time trouble in this game, and stopped taking score with a few minutes left, it ended up with King and Rook versus King when he resigned with me having a minute or two left. Move 54 was the one that sealed it for me.

DeanMaddenvSeanMcDonald.pgn

Nottingham Congress 2009

I'm playing in the minor section of the Nottingham Congress, lost the first game but didn't play too badly. The mistake in the end was deciding to exchange the knight for the bishop. Could maybe have hung on for the draw if I hadn't done that. Second game was a bit too easy, against an ungraded player who I don't think has encountered the Fried Liver before. Games:

MichaelZhangvDeanMadden.pgn

DeanMaddenvArjunNehra.pgn

Mick Orridge - RIP

I was saddened to hear last night that Mick Orridge, a local player, had passed away on Saturday. He was a genuinely nice guy, and I'll miss him a lot.

I've been told he had been diagnosed with cancer late on in the last few months. He was always energetic and full of life, much more so than a lot of people younger than him.

This season was his first as chairman of Spondon chess club, he'll be missed by everyone.

His funeral is on Friday 17th April 2009 at 1:15pm at Derby crematorium. He wished for donations to be made to Macmillan Cancer Support instead of flowers.

Derbyshire Individual Rd.2

I played Harry Ratner in the Derbyshire Individual championship Tuesday night.

DeanMaddenvHarryRatner.pgn

I didn't enjoy the game very much, and misplayed the opening. I should have played 7.Nc3. He launched a good attack on my queenside, and I didn't get much of an attack going towards his kingside which was my aim.

When I was starting to hate the position, I tried opening it up and making it quite sharp. But it didn't really phase him and Harry deserved the win. Hopefully one of these days I'll beat him, but I say that everytime!

The main tactical mistake was in the position below. I played d4, it's one of those moves where you realise the mistake as soon as you let go of the piece, but for whatever reason it didn't register when thinking about it before touching the piece.


This weekend should be fun, it's the Spectrum Chess Derbyshire congress.

English Chess Forum

Just a quick note to let people know that the English Chess Forum has had to move location to http://www.ecforum.org.uk/. It was originally the English Chess Federation official forum, but the ECF has decided to disassociate itself with it, blaming it for losing sponsors. Looks more like they don't want freedom of expression to me. Anyway, the ECF has removed any links to it, but I'd recommend the forum to all English players as a good way of debating issues and keeping up to date with the latest news and politics.

Leicester Congress 2008

I played in the amateur (u80ECF) section of the Leicester congress over the weekend of 10-12th October. Better late than never, here's how I got on.

Unusually for this time of year, we had some very bright and sunny days. The venue unfortunately had no blinds or curtains in the smallish hall we played in, meaning a lot of players were looking directly into the sun in the afternoon games. This was a bit of a let down as the venue for last years congress was much better and bigger.

Anyway I ended on 2/5, with four draws and one loss out of the five games. Too many draws, and I feel like I had good winning chances in most of the games including the loss. But I was happy to play in some good competitive games and a few of them went to interesting end games.

DeanMaddenvRichardGreenwood.pgn

Game 1 on Friday night was against Richard Greenwood (69ECF) of Northampton. It got down to a Queen and Rook endgame, and I felt he had a stronger position. I had a chance of perpetual check and took it, as he had a mating threat on f2. However it looks like I could have played Re2 and have better chances.

PeterBracevDeanMadden.pgn

Game 2 on Saturday morning was against fellow Spondon player Peter Brace, I was hoping they might keep players from the same club apart. It was pretty much a fair draw with no big mistakes by either of us.

DeanMaddenvColinRoss.pgn

My sole loss was against Colin Ross (73ECF) of Littlethorpe, who apparently reads this blog, so I can't saying anything nasty about him :).


In the position above, Colin chose to sacrifice his knight by taking g4, which looks to probably be a mistake, although he does get 2 pawns and opens up my king. As the pieces were traded off he got a passed pawn on the h-file which caused me a lot of trouble.


In the position above I threw the game away by playing Qxg3, totally miscalculating that h1Q, Bxh1 leaves my Queen undefended. Qf8+ would have given me possible winning chances.

LucaszKacprzakvDeanMadden.pgn

The Sunday morning game against Lucas had a massively tactical opening, so I thought it'd be over quick, but it dragged out into a long game and I had little time left on my clock at the end.

It worked into a Queen, Rook and more pawns versus Queen and 2 Knights. I should really have won this game, but didn't kill him off.

DeanMaddenvDorothyBlampied.pgn

The last game against Dorothy was bit of a non-event. I was very uncomfortable with the sun in my face, and was very thankful to accept a draw offer after 20 moves.