John’s most daring move

IMG_2027After six years – or is it seven? – the boat that John Couzens’ son Dan has been building is finally complete and Wednesday December 10th was the day set for its transfer from John’s garden to Ramsgate Harbour.  Here we see the proud owner on board although John is the first to admit that it is very much Dan’s project.  The day was bright and dry with none of the wind that was forecast although things did not go quite to plan. A burst water main caused by the giant crane followed by a burst tyre on the crane itself threatened to ruin the day but John, ever the optimist, was sure there would be time to complete the job and the BBC were there to record it (see the clip below).

Post by BBC South East Today.

Chess and the Church

by ⋅ Image

This is the Telegraph’s Matt on women bishops.  Chess pedants may suspect from the alignment of the board that Matt is not a player.  While we are on the subject, it may be worth a look at the strongest churchmen and women of all time according to The Complete Chess Addict (Fox and James 1987):

cartoon1. Fr Ruy Lopez – yes, that Ruy Lopez

2. Fr William Lombardy – GM, twice U.S. Champion, Fischer’s second in 1972

3. Rev G.A.McDonnell – perhaps the strongest of all churchmen, third in London 1872

4. Rev J.Owen – competed with Morphy and Zukertort, beat Anderssen in London 1862

5. Pope Leo XIII – brilliant as Cardinal Pecci before being elected Pope in 1878

6. Pope Innocent III – according to the authors, he stated that ‘killing after a game of chess is not a crime’

7. St Teresa of Avila – the patron saint of chess players, apparently

8. Thomas Becket – played chess with Henry II who turned out to be a bad loser

Among a powerhouse of reserves are included two more popes, Billy Graham, Cardinal Richelieu, Thomas More and Thomas Cranmer. A match between the latter two would be an interesting clash of styles.

 

 

Game of the Week 6

White: Bob Page (141)                            Black: Alan Atkinson(182)

(Millar Cup: Broadstairs v Bridge B)  

Bob Page writes:  

Purists will find plenty of errors from both players in this game but it’s not every day you beat someone with a grade 41 points above your own. Some members have asked to see it so here it is. Comments – good or bad! – are welcome.

Millar Cup v Bridge B (h)

Broadstairs 1½    Bridge B 5½

1 David Faldon (170) 0-1           Richard Eales (201)
2 Bob Page (141) 1-0           Alan Atkinson (182)
3 Paul Carfrae (132) 0-1           Mark Mortimer (159)
4 John Couzens (131) 0-1           Shany Rezvany (157)
5 Andy Flood (e114) 0-1           James Essinger (155)
6 David Wheatley (106) 0-1           Patrick Burns (e137)
7 Reg Pidduck (104) ½-½           Shahid Sahi (107)

David Faldon writes:

Let’s look on the bright side. We improved on our first meeting with Bridge (1-6) and Bob won a splendid game on Board 2 against a very strong opponent. Bob (white) played the King’s Gambit and soon achieved a promising position, winning a pawn. His opponent did get a passed pawn in compensation, but Bob managed to block it. At some point it looked like a draw might result, but black tried a bit too hard to remove the blockade and Bob spotted a chance to get both of his rooks onto the seventh rank with a crushing attack. The other half point came on Board 7 when Reg also won a pawn but at the cost of a totally sterile position. Reg had eight pawns and a bishop all on white squares while his opponent had seven pawns and a bishop all on dark squares. At the end Reg (or his opponent) could have played 20 moves in a row and still not been able to make progress. Of the other games, we had some winning chances on Boards 1 and 6 but in both cases the Bridge players came up with clever defensive ideas to spoil the fun, while on Board 4 John got in his characteristic sacrifice on f7 but this time it didn’t do him any good. All in all a bit of a disappointing final score that didn’t reflect all the effort we put in against a side that outgraded us by 30 points on average. None of the games was completely one-sided and everyone can take heart that we still have two more chances to beat Bridge this season!

Game of the Week 5

White: John Couzens (131)                            Black: Colin Gregory (117)

(Millar Cup: Broadstairs v Margate)  

John Couzens writes:

Have a look at this game. It is not for the faint-hearted and the old saying ‘fortune favours the brave’ fits the mad move 9. Nxf7! It could have gone either way and I now realise I should have taken the bishop on move 10 instead of Kf1. I think it would have won me a piece in the centre.  Colin texted me today to say he’d missed 12….Qh4+ wins the bishop and probably the game. Put your seat belt on and hold on tight!