Walker Shield v Folkestone (a)

                                             Broadstairs   2    Folkestone   2                      

1 Andy Flood (110) 1-0 David Erwee (100)
2 Bob Cronin (103) 1-0 Andrew Haycock (96)
3 Michael Doyle (91) 0-1 Robert Twigg (77)
4 Fredy Reber (58) 0-1 Mike White (62)

Michael Doyle writes:

Heading into the Christmas break on a cold winter’s night, Broadstairs had high hopes of victory in the Walker Shield with a long drive to Folkestone and with the home team outgunned on three of their four boards.  But it was not to be! First up on Board 2 was Bob Cronin who won after a blunder by South African Andrew Haycock following a middle game battle. Bob was the first to notch a score: 1-0. It went downhill from there when much-improved Fredy Reber blundered a rook after going to the washroom in a hurry: 1-1.  Captain Mike Doyle hoped to ease Broadstairs into the lead again with a queen and knight breaking through, preventing his opponent from castling. But no! It was a calamity! By trapping my queen with trickery, Rob captured it with his queen for a knight check on my king. 1-2.  It was down to Andy Flood, the last to finish, to save us from disaster. In the middle game it was even until David Erwee blundered a bishop and resigned. After a hard fought battle, the match ended in a draw 2-2. Broadstairs will be hoping that Christmas proves a turning point in our Walker Shield campaign.  Many thanks to Andy for driving and we look forward to the Christmas Dinner on Monday. A Merry Christmas to all our fans. 

Team Quickplay

Congratulations to the Broadstairs A team who have won the club’s first trophy of the season, the Team Quickplay. The official photographer was too busy checking the football scores on his phone and celebrating the big result on the night – Portsmouth 1 Charlton 2 – to take a photo of the winning team. Fortunately, another photo of the two Broadstairs teams was found in the archives and reproduced above and two pretty strong teams they look, too.

It is a shame that more clubs do not support these events. Broadstairs provided two teams of four but the only other club to take part was Margate. Last time the same three teams contested a league event – for the Team Buzzer a couple of years ago – Colin Gregory wryly commented that this was a two-horse race in which Margate could finish third. Well, it didn’t happen then but it did last night. The format was all-play-all twice and the final results had a perfectly symmetrical look. Broadstairs A dropped only two points  to finish with 14/16 while Margate, unfortunately deprived of some of their strongest players, could only score two points (2/16). The Broadstairs B team split the difference to finish bang in the middle (8/16). Full details can be found here.

Well done to the following Broadstairs players who won all their games: Trefor Owens, Shany Rezvany, Ian Hames and Paul Johnson and thanks to Margate Chess Club for hosting the event and to John Clarke for organising it. 

Broadstairs A: Trefor Owens, Shany Rezvany, Paul Carfrae, Ian Hames        

Broadstairs B: Bob Page, Richard Clement, Paul Johnson, Michael Doyle

Here is one of Trefor’s wins which he describes as ‘a pretty finish, even if I missed a mate in one!’

White:  Trefor Owens      Black:  Colin Gregory
Team Quickplay 2018: Broadstairs A v Margate

Walker Shield v Ramsgate (h)

                                                         Broadstairs 1.5     Ramsgate 2.5

1 Bob Cronin (103) 1/2-1/2  Malcolm Snashall (110)
2 Reg Pidduck (101)    0-1 Joshua Vaughan (94)
3 Michael Doyle (91)    0-1 Ken Keeler (93)
4 Michael Jenkinson (78)    1-0 Bob Wallace (88)

Michael Doyle writes:

Chess is not for people going mad but for mad people sane, says William Hartston, International Master. That’s how it was last night when Broadstairs hosted Ramsgate in the Walker Shield.  We got off to a good start on Board 4 when Michael Jenkinson beat Bob Wallace, resigning with a knight and bishop against the king. Then on Board 1 Bob Cronin had an impressive game with Malcolm Snashall, two queens battling it out for a draw. It was downhill from there with Reg Pidduck going down against a much improved Josh Vaughan, running out of time.  The last to finish was the Captain, Mike Doyle. His opponent managed to get his pawn through and our captain resigned.  What chance do we have of winning the shield when we played three and lost two? Not so says our secretary Bob Page for we have seven more games to go and it is all up for grabs.

Best wishes and Merry Christmas
Mike Doyle
Capt of the Walker Shield team

Oh Capablanca

This photograph might at first glance appear to be a typical example of yet another lazy attempt to make chess more sexy. However, this is not so. The lady in the picture is Juga, a Chilean singer and keen chess player. Yes, I know what you’re thinking but read on.  She has written at least two songs on a chess theme, one of which is ‘Oh Capablanca’ which she performed at the closing ceremony of the recent Chess Olympiad. This is what she said about the song: “ ‘Oh Capablanca’ describes my emotional voyage through a twisted chess game, in which I suffered from over-optimism. Right after the game, I wrote this song to relieve my grief for losing a ‘winning’ position, which later I analyzed only to find out that it was not winning at all!  I have always been in love with chess. ‘Oh Capablanca’ was born in the middle of a classical tournament I played in Rome in December last year. It was the 5th round and I really liked my position. I was playing with White, an Exchange Variation against a Caro-Kann Defence.”  Now that must resonate with all chess players so check – excuse the pun – out her song on the link below and see what you think. There is a touch of the James Bond theme about it and personally I love the reference to consulting Stockfish after the game to learn that actually her analysis was flawed all along!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21QpsK7LRM4

 

 

A Battle of Hastings

It’s December so what are you looking forward to? Here’s a clue – there are only 24 days to go until…..yes, you’ve got it. There are only 24 days until the Hastings Chess Congress begins. The view expressed here before is that Hastings is not quite what it was and the main reason for that is a five letter word beginning with ‘m’ and ending in ‘y’. The proximity in the chess calendar of the Tata Steel Tournament offering megabucks to all and sundry leaves Hastings with mere grandmasters while the super GMs head for Holland (Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren and Anish Giri are already confirmed entrants). That is not to say Hastings lacks good games. One of my first visits was for the 1988/89 tournament and I arrived on the Friday afternoon ahead of the Weekend Congress to catch the final round of the Open Tournament. On the top board was 12-year old Judit Polgar playing white against GM Glenn Flear. So if you were 12, facing a grandmaster, what would you play after 1.e4 e5 ? Why, the King’s Gambit, of course!

White:  Judit Polgar      Black:  Glenn Flear

Hastings Open 1988/89