Walker Shield v Sheldwich P.S. (a)

                                       Broadstairs  4        Sheldwich P.S.   0                                       

1 Andy Flood (110) 1-0 Oli Garrett (76)
2 Bob Cronin (103) 1-0 Zeno Burns (58)
3 Michael Doyle (91) 1-0 Adam O’Meara (46)
4 Fredy Reber (58) 1-0 Will Horsford (44)

Michael Doyle writes:

It was a resounding success on Friday as Broadstairs won convincingly 4-0 over Sheldwich despite losing our first match at the start of the season to Bridge. It was Sheldwich’s first season in the Thanet and East Kent Chess League and although they had  four juniors they played well beyond their grades. On  board three our captain Mike was the first to finish. His opponent, Adam, had overlooked his queen en prise and was taken by the knight. A few moves later Mike checkmated with a rook and queen: 1-0. Next to win on board two was Bob C. He had his opponent’s queen trapped on move nineteen and it was all over in the few moves: 2-0.  On board four was Fredy, who won the George Stiggers Trophy for the most improved player last season. He was attacking with a knight fork and queen and it ended with a beautiful pawn mate on g5: 3-0 up.  The last game to finish on board one was Andy, our top player against ten-year-old Oli, who played like a seasoned pro. Andy was down to a rook and pawn ending and Oli was the same but in the end Andy forced his pawn to queen and we won 4-0. Well done lads and to Sheldwich juniors who put up a good fight.

      

Ju Wenjun strikes back

As I write, Game 10 in the World Championship is in progress. After nine draws, everyone is hoping for a decisive result in one of the three remaining games but at the moment the computer has the position as 0.00 which is as equal as you can get. Of course, with only three games left, an error by either player might be decisive not just in that particular game but in the contest overall. Is Carlsen prepared to wait until the tiebreaks where he may well have the edge?

So, if it is drama you are looking for, check out the Women’s World Championship instead. The other day we saw the challenger, Kateryna Lagno take a 1-0 lead in the second of the four-game final. The current World Champion, Ju Wenjun, therefore needed to win one of the two remaining games to take the match to a tiebreak. She tried desperately to win with the white pieces in Game 3 but was forced to accept a draw with an opposite colour bishop ending. That therefore left the last game played today when she would have to win with black to hold on to her crown. This is what happened.

White:  Kateryna Lagno (2556)      Black:  Ju Wenjun (2568)

 2018 FIDE Women’s World Championship Game 4

It’s worth playing through the game. To give you an idea of how games can fall apart even at the highest level, the computer had the position as dead equal after Black’s 27th move. After 28.Kh1? it had Black as winning and after 29.Qh5? it said that Black can mate in ten moves. There is a brief interview with Ju Wenjun recorded after today’s game on the official website here. The tiebreaks start tomorrow and consist of two 25 min + 10-sec increment rapid games, then if needed two additional 10+10 games, two 5+3 blitz games and finally a single Armageddon game, where White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4, but a draw counts as a win for Black.

The other World Championship

                                   Ju Wenjun

Those of you impatient for a first win for either player in the World Championship match between Carlsen and Caruana in London may be interested in the other World Championship final currently taking place in Siberia.

                               Kateryna Lagno

This is the women’s World Championship which follows a slightly different pattern to the men’s. It’s a knockout competition, initially with 64 players and we are now down to the final two: GM Ju Wenjun of China, the current World Champion, and GM Kateryna Lagno of Russia. (The world number 1, Hou Yifan, a favourite of Broadstairs Chess Club, is currently taking time out of chess to pursue a course at Oxford University.) Those people looking for gender equality in prize money should look away now – while the winner in the men’s competition will walk away with one million euros, the entire prize fund for the women’s tournament is $450,000 with the winner getting a mere $60,000. It must be worth an invite to the 50th Thanet Congress next August. Incidentally, the topic of women (or lack of) in chess is discussed in a Guardian article (click here.)   

One last difference between the finals is the length: while Carlsen and Caruana are battling it out for twelve games + the possibility of tie breaks (rapid plays, blitz games and eventually armageddon), the women will only have four classic games + tie breaks if necessary. In such a short final, there is little margin for error as Ju Wenjun found out in Game 2 played today. No rest days for the women – Game 3 is tomorrow and Game 4 if needed on Thursday.

White:  Kateryna Lagno (2556)      Black:  Ju Wenjun (2568)

 2018 FIDE Women’s World Championship Game 2

 

Mick Croft Cup v Bridge (a)

                                                   Broadstairs  4        Bridge   1 

1 Shani Rezvany  (163) 1-0   Alan Atkinson  (166 )
2 Paul Carfrae (141) ½-½   Emily Green (156)
3 Paul Johnson (116) ½-½   Peter Blundell (118)
4 Andy Flood (110) 1-0   William Peak (104)
5 Michael Doyle  (91) 1-0   Ray Rennells (80)

John Couzens writes:

 

What a night! Lovely informal atmosphere in the room until the games began,

Shany licking his lips when he found out he was up against Alan Atkinson,

Paul Carfrae laughing at my ‘you’re only here as cannon fodder’ jibe,

Paul Johnson still unsure if he was in Bridge Chess Club,

Andy and Michael ready for action.

I lost the toss and Graeme Boxall chose white on boards 1,3 and 5 (was

this a bad omen?)

Graeme, Susan Green and I retired to the tearoom downstairs to

drink coffee and gossip.

Before I’ve even finished my coffee, Andy Flood walks in the room

announcing he has won!

11 moves in approx 30 mins!

Great quick game that I hope he will send to Bob for the website.

Next Shany comes down for a cigarette and suggests Michael Doyle has a

won game!

Time to go up and have a look.

Michael has won Ray Rennells’ queen and bishop!!

To our surprise he loses his queen later but keeps a rook and pawn

advantage and forces Ray to resign after an hour and twenty minutes in 27 moves.

Two up!

Paul Carfrae was playing Emily Green and looked to have a good centre

attack but she is far too canny and blocked the position.

They agree a draw at 9.15.

Paul could have gone home then but the atmosphere in the room had changed .

Alan Atkinson had fallen for Shany’s rook sacrifice and now couldn’t

castle, Paul Johnson had won a knight for rook exchange against Peter

Blundell then gave the exchange back to secure a central passed pawn.

Looking good.

All we need at this point is a draw to win the match.

Graeme then takes me outside to let me know all they need is to win both

games to draw the match which on board count would mean a Bridge win!!

What tension!!!

Then Paul J takes his mind (and his bishop and rook) off his passed pawn

and promptly loses it!!

Next thing is we hear a groan of disappointment coming from Board 1 –

Alan Atkinson is in check with no way out!!

He doesn’t resign until he sees that Peter is now under time pressure

and has agreed a draw with Paul.

That’s it! We’ve won 4-1!

Great night with all my team playing as I’d hoped, well above their grades!!

The George Stiggers Trophy

Here is a delighted Fredy Reber holding aloft the George Stiggers Trophy with which he has belatedly been  presented. The trophy is awarded for the most improved player during the previous season based on the change in grades from July to July. Normally it goes to a player whose grade has gone up by about 5-10 points and at the AGM when the trophy is usually presented, this appeared to be the case with two players in the running whose grades had increased by nine points.  Fortunately, the trophy was not awarded at the time because of an error with the ECF grading list for July which affected several players in the club. As this might result in changes to existing grades, it was decided to wait until the ECF managed to sort it out before awarding the trophy.

It was only after the AGM that it was noticed that inexplicably Fredy had somehow been overlooked and not only was his grade improvement higher than nine points but it was a massive 30 points, making him almost certainly the most improved player since the trophy was first awarded. Having established the error, we then had to wait several more weeks until the engraver could return from holiday to complete the job. Finally, over two months later than scheduled, Fredy got his hands on the trophy and no wonder he looks happy. He then made a moving speech saying how he never imagined he would receive such a trophy when he joined the club two years ago.

George Stiggers, after whom the trophy was named, was a stalwart of Broadstairs Chess Club for many years and served as both Secretary and Treasurer from 1950 until his death in 1993. He captained the Millar Cup team – then the only league competition – and ran the club virtually single-handed. The trophy was created in his memory and has been won by many members of the club over the years. Well done, Fredy!