Millar Cup v Herne Bay (h)

Broadstairs     3                Herne Bay   4

1 David Faldon (175) 0-1         Bernie Kooiman (185)
2 Bob Page (145) 0-1         Gordon Botley (182)
3 Paul Carfrae (131) 0-1         Bob Pooley (155)
4 John Couzens (118) 0-1         Mick Micklethwaite  (131)
5 Reg Pidduck (106) 1-0         Paul Arnold (116)
6 Michael Doyle (89) 1-0         Ronnie Melhuish (103)
7 Michael Jenkinson (86) 1-0         Jamie Dawson (73)

David Faldon writes:

Truly a match of two halves. Our bottom three boards all played splendidly and scored three wins in very different styles. Mike D was impressively quick and ruthless, crashing through with a vicious king-side attack. Mike J took a bit longer, outlasting his opponent and winning a neat pawn and knight ending. Reg’s game was the most double-edged, as he lost a rook for a knight early on, but his opponent played a few waiting moves too many and Reg pounced with his ‘bad’ Dutch bishop (the one on the same coloured squares as all his pawns) playing the star role. Our top boards didn’t fare so well. Bob, Paul and John all defended difficult positions hard against higher-rated opponents but without success. Strong players sometimes play well. These results left the match tied at 3-3 and for a change the top board game decided the match. Despite playing black, I had an advantage early on but a slip allowed Bernie the chance to sacrifice a knight. Taking the knight would lead to a draw but I refused it and tried for the win (mainly because I’ve never yet beaten Bernie in a dozen or so attempts). Unfortunately my ‘winning plan’ had a big hole in it which Bernie spotted: 3-4. Congratulations to Herne Bay on yet another hard-fought victory.

Game of the Week 6

Wei YiAs the Tata Steel Masters Tournament enters the final straight, it has been an eventful few days for Wei Yi. After eight successive draws, he must have read our last post because, as predicted on this very site, he came out with all guns blazing in round nine to defeat David Navara – the pair are pictured right – in a cracking game. Navara, thereby, features for the third time, suggesting after his loss to Hou Yifan – sadly, defeat to Magnus Carlsen today was her fourth in a row – and victory over Fabiano Caruana that it has been a real rollercoaster week for him. In an interview after his win, Wei Yi admitted that judgement should wait until he had played Caruana the next day. Unfortunately, the world number five was a step too far for the 16 year old Wei who crashed to his first defeat in the tournament. His time will come, however. In the meantime, enjoy the following game which only confirms what we already knew, that he is a very exciting prospect.

White: Wei Yi (2706)            Black: David Navara (2730)

Tata Steel Masters 2016

Black resigns

Hargreaves Shield v Ramsgate (h)

Broadstairs  2½     Ramsgate  1½

1. Paul Carfrae   (131) 0-1    Steve Guy (138)
2. John Couzens (118) ½-½    Malcolm Snashall (122)
3. Bob Cronin (112) 1-0      Josh Vaughan  (77)
4. Andy Flood   (111) 1-0      Terry Green (56)

Andy Flood writes:

In this match Broadstairs entertained local rivals Ramsgate, the 2015 runaway champions of the Hargreaves Shield. First game to finish was on Board 2 where John shared the points and agreed a draw with the tenacious Malcolm Snashall who played one of his typical mistake-free games. On Board 1 Ramsgate were beginning to establish an advantage, whilst on the bottom board the home captain was mating his opponent to establish a promising lead.

Broadstairs Bob on Board 3 was giving our Josh, playing for Ramsgate, a lot to think about and Josh eventually lost on time. This ensured victory for Broadstairs before Paul resigned from a losing position in the dead rubber. Well done, team – two wins out of two matches.

Tata Steel latest

After eight rounds of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee the leaderboard is beginning to take shape. By virtue of Fabiano Caruana’s defeat this afternoon, of which more later, Magnus Carlsen has opened up a half-point lead with five rounds to go. However, there are three others just half a point behind Caruana, including last year’s runner-up Ding Liren, so there is still plenty to play for. Ding’s round 8 game with Broadstairs favourite, Wei Yi, raised a few eyebrows as a draw was agreed rather earlier than many would have liked.  All sorts of accusations were made by those following online but it wouldn’t have been such a surprise if that had been the result whether they played 27 or 72 moves as Wei has drawn all his games hitherto to stand at 4/8 just one and a half points behind Carlsen, ready to time his late run for glory. At the other end of the tournament sits Michael Adams in last place. He is still without a win but has achieved five draws and should be heartened by his 85-move draw today with Pavel Eljianov, especially as he was two pawns down in a long endgame.  

“Where will my first win come from?”

Michael Adams

 

Alas for Hou Yifan who, after a promising start, has lost her last two games, today to Wijk aan Zee season-ticket holder, Loek van Wely, his first win of the tournament. Here is his assessment of the game:

Loek van Wely interview     

The game of the day was David Navara’s win against the previously unbeaten Fabiano Caruana. As we featured David’s defeat against Hou Yifan in the last update, it seems only fair to redress the balance here.

White:  David Navara (2730)           Black: Fabiano Caruana (2787)

Tata Steel Masters 2016

Black resigns

Tata Steel Update

Hou Yifan

This is Hou Yifan.  She is 21, has an ELO grade of 2673, is number 68 in the world and has been a Grandmaster since she was fourteen, the youngest female chess player ever to have achieved the title. She is currently playing at the Tata Steel Masters Tournament in Amsterdam where she is, not surprisingly, the only female player among some of the giants of modern chess. She has the second lowest grade of the fourteen competitors yet after four rounds she shares second place on 2½/4 ahead of world number one, Magnus Carlsen (2/4), and Britain’s strongest player, Michael Adams, who has made a wretched start and is currently last with 1/4 after two defeats.

Readers may think that I may have some vested interest in promoting Chinese chess after singing the praises of Wei Yi, Ding Liren and recently Yu Yangyi but my aim is merely to highlight the current strength of chess in China.  Wei Yi (on 2/4 at Tata Steel) is 16, Ding Liren (2½/4 and last year’s runner-up behind Magnus Carlsen) is a comparative veteran at 23 and Yu Yangyi is 21.  Russia and the Soviet Union may have dominated world chess in the last century but it is China leading the way in this one. Here is Hou Yifan’s swashbuckling win against world number 25 David Navara of the Czech Republic today.

White: Hou Yifan (2673)            Black: David Navara (2730)

Tata Steel Masters 2016

Black resigns

Leading the way after four rounds is world number 5, Fabiano Caruana with two wins and two draws from his four matches and many think he should have won against Anish Giri this afternoon. There is still plenty to play for – could there be a Chinese victory? You read it here first!