Game of the Week

The race for this year’s club championship has finished and the result is a tie between David Faldon and David Horton who will share the Goodall Cup.  It is an especially worthy achievement for David Horton to be joint winner in this his fiftieth year as a member of Broadstairs Chess Club. He first won the Goodall Cup in 1966. It is also a notable achievement for David Faldon as this is his fifth victory in the competition either outright or as joint winner in as many years.  Congratulations to both Davids.  With so much at stake, it seems entirely appropriate that their match should be played right at the end of the season.  David Faldon had to win to share the trophy which he did but no-one expected the game to be over quite so quickly or to be decided in such spectacular fashion.

White: David Faldon (175)     Black:  David Horton (167)
Broadstairs Club Championship 2015

 

 

Championship summary

The British Championships are over for another year and Jonathan Hawkins emerged as the outright winner following his sharing of the title last year.  Hawkins was the only winner from the top four boards in the last round to finish with 8½/11. The Best Game prize went to Glenn Flear for the second consecutive year, this time for his win against Mark Hebden.  It featured as Andrew Martin’s Game of the Day for round four and can be seen and heard here.  Alternatively, you can play it through yourself without Andrew’s comments.

White: Glenn Flear (2450)     Black:  Mark Hebden (2500)
2015 British Chess Championships (University of Warwick)

For those curious to know, Broadstairs’ David Faldon scored 3/5 in the U180 section, losing his fourth game but winning in round five to finish 8=/36. Next year the championships move to Bournemouth – well worth a visit.

Game of the Week

There are two weeks remaining of the current season at Broadstairs and with three tournaments still to be completed, attendance at the club is very encouraging for August. Here is an entertaining game played this week from the final round of the Summer Swiss tournament, the trophy for which is awarded to the player with the best grading performance over the five rounds. Don’t forget the Thanet Chess Congress August 21-23. To enter, go to www.thanetchess.org.uk.

White: Phil Pearson (e60)     Black:  Michael Doyle (89)
Broadstairs Summer Swiss 2015

British Chess Championships latest

The British Championships are into the second week and it is tight at the top. At the time of writing (Monday p.m.) two players lead with 5½/6: GM Danny Gormally and GM David Howell. The latter once beat your correspondent at the Thanet Chess Congress, employing the Marshall Gambit to good effect and kindly demonstrating afterwards where I went wrong. Very decent of him, you probably think, especially as he was only seven at the time but that’s another story. Behind the leading two comes GM Nicholas Pert on 5/6 followed by seven others on 4½/6, one of whom is last year’s joint champion, GM Jonathan Hawkins. In the last half-hour, however, he moved up to join the leaders with this quick win that caught the eye.

White: Jonathan Hawkins (2554)     Black:  Alistair Hill (2159)
2015 British Chess Championships round 7 (University of Warwick)

 

Game of the Week

Our own David Faldon has played three of his five games in the U180 tournament at the British Chess Championships and is handily placed on 2/3.  This latest Game of the Week features his win yesterday in Round Two. David may or may not consider this a Game of the Week but it is interesting for us to track his progress regardless. News of all the games can be found on the British Chess Championships website where results from all the various competitions including David’s U180 section are posted. Incidentally, for those who enjoy commentary on a top game with a chess lesson thrown in, I recommend Andrew Martin’s Game of the Day on the main website.

 

White: David Faldon (175)     Black:  Neil Coward (167)
2015 British Chess Championships: Under 180 (University of Warwick)