Christmas Dinner

Twas a week before Christmas and inside the pub all the Broadstairs members were tucking into their grub…Yes, folks, in case you haven’t noticed, it will soon be Christmas which can only mean one thing: the Christmas Dinner.  The venue for this celebration has more often than not been the Tartar Frigate in Broadstairs harbour which is enigmatically described on its website as ‘one of the only 18th century flint restaurants in Kent’. Only how many? Without delving into the archives we can’t be sure how many club dinners there have been but we are confident that the Tartar Frigate pre-dates the first.

Tradition has it that we meet in another of Mr Thorley’s eating and drinking establishments, the Charles Dickens, before moving on to the Tartar Frigate where fourteen members sat down to a delicious meal, generously subsidised by the club. Actually, only thirteen were Broadstairs members – the fourteenth was our guest, Clive Le Baigue, an old friend of ours from Margate Chess Club.  Midway through the evening it was time for the quiz – another tradition. In the past we have had quizzes purely about chess, others about Broadstairs, occasionally a mixture of the two. This year David Faldon produced an amusing multiple choice quiz on all things chess related and otherwise. We even had a poetry recitation (‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost) from David Clifford, who added some Shakespeare for good measure.

 Alas, there were no prizes, not even for Richard Bowles’ splendid Christmas jumper (see photo above). Towards the end of the evening, people began to drift away as taxis called. David Clifford’s chauffeur – his grandson, Elliott Boyes once of this parish – turned up to say hello and before long it was closing time for the Tartar Frigate. But that was not the end for some. The Dolphin called and there was time for a few more drinks and one final photo of John and Clive doing their best to pretend that it was not really 12.45 a.m.  Please note that Clive is still wearing his tie, striking a blow for the sartorial elegance of chess players everywhere. Many thanks to all those who attended. The club now closes for three weeks for Christmas and the New Year, re-opening on January 8th 2018. Meanwhile, don’t forget the Christmas Quiz and finally a ‘Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!’

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Prize Quiz

Father Christmas popped into the club for a game of chess on Monday but he clearly wasn’t happy with the set he had to play with as you can see. However, he did suggest a few questions for the annual Broadstairs Christmas Dinner next Monday but I thought it best to advertise the quiz now. It’s a mixture of the fiendishly difficult, the trivial and the downright silly. (As I write this, not all questions have not been set so I hope they live down to the billing.) I am confident that no-one will get them all right so I am offering free entry to the 2018 Thanet Chess Congress to the first correct entry received by December 31st. Results will appear in the New Year.

  1. Here’s a tricky one to start with. In this position both players have played four moves and White was checkmated after Black’s fourth but only White’s position is shown. He must have learnt from me as his moves were as follows: f3, Kf2, Kg3  Kh4.  The question is…..what moves did Black make in order to ensure mate on move 4?
  2. A British Museum record of December 8 1832 states that ’67 chessmen carved about the 13th century from the teeth of the walrus, found in………’ Where?
  3. In which 17th century play was a game of chess first shown on stage?
  4. What do these four winners of the tournaments in brackets have in common:  Emanuel Lasker (New York 1893), Henry Atkins (Amsterdam 1899), Jose Raul Capablanca (New York 1913), Bobby Fischer (New York 1963/64)?
  5. Where can you find a chess board that belonged to Charles I with these words inscribed around the edge: ‘With these, subject and ruler strive without bloodshed’?
  6. According to the Polish/French Grandmaster, Savielly Tartakover, there are four types of chess player. What are they?
  7. Here’s an easy one: in which year was Broadstairs Chess Club founded?
  8. Who said ‘Chess…is a foolish experiment for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever’?
  9.  Whose first attendance at a chess tournament in Moscow is amusingly described here: “In front of a good-sized theatre….there was an unusually long line of people ….It had to be something sensational with this many people waiting for a chance to get in….I had apparently come in during the intermission yet the curtain was raised and the stage was lit….Then a buzzer sounded and people damn near trampled each other to get back to their seats. A boy, maybe ten or twelve, walks out from the wings.  He moves one of the props on the table. The joint is so quiet I can hear my wristwatch ticking. A guy comes out, walks to the footlights, announces something to the audience and the joint goes wild….This is absolutely the craziest show I ever saw.” 
  10. Finally, in a neat symmetry, let’s finish with another puzzle. White to play and mate in two moves.

 

 

 

 

 

Praggnanandhaa – remember the name…

             Portrait of a prodigy

How old were you when you gained your first GM norm? What do you mean, you haven’t got one? OK, when did you become an IM? You mean you aren’t even an IM?! Meet 12-year old IM Praggnanandhaa who qualified as the world’s youngest ever international master in August when his grade reached 2500 and he has achieved his first GM norm in the World Junior Championship that has just finished in Tarvisio, Italy. To put this in perspective, Praggnanandhaa was the 26th strongest player in the tournament, he beat the number one seed, GM Jordan Van Foreest (2616), in Round 4 and two other grandmasters on his way to an unbeaten 8/11. Draws in his final three games meant that he narrowly missed out on a medal with players 1-3 all finishing on 8½/11. First place would have given him the GM title outright.  While Praggnanandhaa’s victory over Van Foreest may have grabbed the headlines, his win in Round 8 against another grandmaster that won him the first of his GM norms.

White:   IM Praggnanandhaa (2509)     Black:   GM Awonder Liang  (2558)

World Junior Championship 2017

 

 

 

Champions Showdown

Is it me or are chess tournaments becoming more complicated? The Champions Showdown which has just started in St Louis boasts that the games feature no increments or delays so we can expect a few exciting time scrambles. In fact, there could be many such scraps because although the tournament is only scheduled to last six days, there are so many games to be played that it resembles a series of penalty shootouts with no preamble of a proper match beforehand. Eight players are involved and so far as your correspondent can see, there is no overall winner. They are divided into four pairs: Nakamura v Topalov, Caruana v Grischuk, So v Dominguez and Carlsen v Ding Liren.  The first round consists of four games for which each player has 30 minutes. There are six games in round two with 20 minutes each, 10 minutes for the next eight in round 3 and finally only 5 minutes for the last 12 games in round 4. For each match the winner gets $60,000, the loser $40,000 – yes, $40,000 for losing! Why did no-one ask me? And that appears to be it. No semi-final or final and while three of the four games are under way with round 1 completed, Carlsen v Ding Liren begins on Saturday. Apparently, Carlsen had a prior engagement in Germany. The good news from that is that the tournament will therefore have to continue until Nov 16 with Carlsen’s match the only one left. Meanwhile, this is what happens at the highest level when you are short of time and losing:

White:   Alexander Grischuk (2785)     Black: Fabiano Caruana  (2794)

Champions Showdown 2017

Match drawn! While this was clearly entertaining for the spectators, it is not to everyone’s taste. As Mr Spock might have said, ‘It’s chess, Jim, but not as we know it.’ Caruana was of the same view:

‘I think it puts a lot of psychological pressure on the players from an early stage… Generally, a game shouldn’t end with one side losing on time in a completely won position, but it’s ok for one tournament.’ 

Perhaps the tournament should have been played last weekend to coincide with Fireworks Night.

Swindle of the Week

        Fortunately Black took his defeat well

You may have noticed that our roving reporter, Rook van Zugzwang, has been keeping a low profile recently. A glance at the following game may go some way to explain why. It may be a little unfair to describe it as a swindle but players of average ability may wonder how White managed to win especially after Black’s thirteenth move appeared to show that Mr van Zugzwang is well-named. However, the pendulum soon swung the other way and for the last twenty moves it was clearly White on top. 41.Kg8 would have been a better move than the one played but by then Black was lost. As it is not clear who was more embarrassed, White at winning or Black at losing, names have been changed to protect the guilty.

White: Rook van Zugzwang     Black: René en Passant

Broadstairs Club Championship 2017/18