The much anticipated World Championship Match starts in just a few days.

World Champion Magnus Carlsen will battle his Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi over 14 games. The last two matches, both won by Carlsen have been a little disappointing for the fans, especially the match v Caurana where it seemed, to me, that the American Challenger was more concerned with not losing than he was with attempting to win! I don’t think that this will happen this time – Nepomniachtchi has a very individual and attacking style, in fact he is one of a very small group of Super Grandmasters to hold a plus score against Carslen in classical chess.

My prediction for the match?

I am going to hedge my bets and go for two distinct scenarios

1. Magnus will pick Nepo’s sometimes unorthodox openings apart and win comfortably

2. Nepo will take an early lead and keep finding enough chaotic and tactical positions to win the title.

What I am sure we won’t see is 14 boring draws

Here is a game played this year, it was a rapid game but still of the highest quality

 White:  Ian Nepomniachtchi       Black:  Magnus Carlsen

   1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5   d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Ne7 12. Nxf6+ gxf6 13.   Nc2 Bb7 14. Bd3 d5 15. Qe2 f5 16. O-O-O fxe4 17. Bxe4 Qc7 18. Bf3 O-O-O 19. g3   Kb8 20. Kb1 Nc8 21. Rhe1 Rhe8 22. Ne3 Nb6 23. Qc2 f6 24. Bg2 Rd6 25. Rd2 Red8   26. Red1 a5 27. a3 Nc4 28. Nxc4 bxc4 29. Qf5 Ka7 30. Ka1 Qd7 31. Qh5 Qc7 32. f4   e4 33. Rd4 Bc6 34. R1d2 Be8 35. Qe2 Bc6 36. Qe3 Qb6 37. f5 R6d7 38. Qh6 Ba4 39.   g4 Ka6 40. Bf1 Ka7 41. h4 Rb7 42. Qe3 Rdb8 43. g5 Bd7 44. gxf6 Bxf5 45. Qg5 Be6   46. Bxc4 Rg8 47. Qe5 Rg1+ 48. Ka2 dxc4 49. b4 cxb3+ 50. Kb2 e3 51. Qxe3 Ra1 52.   Qe5 Ra2+ 53. Kb1 Rxd2 54. Rxd2 b2 0-1   

Welcome to another Game of the Week – played in the recent FIDE World Grand Prix, a very important event where the top two placed would gain a spot in the 2022 Candidates

Enjoy the game and make sure to count the number of Queens!

 White:  Gelfand, B     Black:  Movsesian, S

FIDE Grand Swiss 2021

   1. d4 d5 2.   c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 b5 6. Be2 e6 7. a4 b4 8. e5 bxc3 9. exf6   cxb2 10. fxg7 bxa1=Q 11. gxh8=Q Qa5+ 12. Nd2 c3 13. O-O cxd2 14. Bxd2 Qxd1 15.   Rxd1 Qxa4 16. Qxh7 a5 17. h4 Ra7 18. h5 Ba6 19. Bf3 Rd7 20. h6 Rxd4 21. Bh5 Rd7   22. Qg8 Bd3 23. Bg5 Bg6 24. Re1 Bxh5 25. h7 Qb4 26. Rxe6+ fxe6 27. Qxe6+ Re7   28. Qc8+ Kf7 29. Qf5+ Ke8 30. Qc8+ Kf7 31. Qf5+ Ke8 32. h8=Q Re1+ 33. Kh2 Bg4   34. Qg6+ Kd7 35. Qf7+ Be7 36. Qhe8+ Kc7 37. Bxe7 1-0       

Played in a recent game, can you find the resource for White, missed by both players?

The Goodall was an exciting affair this week, with a dozen players involved

All of the games were exciting, maybe the most double edged was the clash between Paul and Trefor that eventually finished in a draw

Here are the full results

David   0 – 1 Manoj

Reg  1 – 0 Fredy

Paul V  0 -1 Arnaud

Mike  0 – 1 Dominic

Chris  1 – 0  Andy

Paul C  0.5 – 0.5 Trefor

 match report by Andrew Flood

A casualty of the fuel crisis, this crucial re-arranged Hargreaves Shield match saw Broadstairs, without Manoj on board 1, meeting Bridge, the only other team in the Hargreaves Shield.

The out – rating of opponents on the 4 boards were evenly matched at 2 – 2, but with Dominic Blundell out rating his opponent on board 2 and in recent months playing some of his best chess, it was no surprise that he was first to finish and notch up a point for Broadstairs. A rook sacrifice and forcing moves along the h rank saw his opponent mated (as can be seen in our recent Game of the Week)

Paul Carfrae on the top board secured an important half point, agreeing a draw having fought hard to get a slight advantage.

Board 3 saw the two team captains battle it out over 46 moves. Black obtained early positional advantage but couldn’t drive home any advantage until very late on in the end game when it was possible through tempo to successfully advance a pawn to become a queen forcing white to resign and a win for Black and Broadstairs

On board 4, new boy Paul Verrall, won his first league point and secured the 3.5 – 0.5 win for Broadstairs. Playing some very good chess, in a game which he did not look like losing, Paul advanced his centre pawns into an end game, and all the way to the eighth rank, before his opponent resigned after a solid 3 hours of playing.