Manoj is Broadstairs’ Chess King

After a very long tournament we have a new Club Champion

Congratulations to Manoj Natarajan

The Club Championship was, as always, tough and hotly contested and Manoj was the player able to rise above all challengers, all tricky positions and claim the crown.

Manoj played superbly throughout the season, both in this tournament and when representing Broadstairs in team matches. Manoj played many super games on his way to victory and he has chosen the following game to best show his skills and style. Fittingly this was the final game of the Championship and both players were aware that a victory would guarantee that Manoj would be the Champ.

 White:  Flood, Andy     Black:  Natarajan, Manoj

Broadstairs 1 August 2022

Broadstairs Summer Swiss

Congratulations to Paul Verrall, winner of the Broadstairs Summer Swiss.

Paul has been a very valuable club member this season, playing whenever possible and improving quickly. Paul was a very deserved winner of the Summer Swiss and will be a dangerous opponent, for everyone, next season

Missed Tactic

The following position was reached in a Goodall game yesterday.

White played e6 and eventually won after a tough battle, this morning my 12 year old student pointed out a better move. The calculation took him about 1 minute…which proves the old chess saying that ‘ If you see a good move, look for a better one ‘

See if you can find the move that I didn’t consider: actually there are at least 2 moves that are much better than e6!

White to Move

Candidates

The Candidates Tournament is due to start later this week. This is the event where the 8 qualified players fight for victory and the chance to challenge Magnus Carlsen for the coveted World Title

This time round though there may be more at stake, as Carlsen has stated that unless Alireza Firouzja wins the Candidates he won’t defend the title. Whether he means it, we will find out in due course: but it does mean that uniquely coming 2nd in the Candidates may not be such a bad result. Assuming that FIDE arrange a World Championship match between the top two finishers if Carlsen is serious.

Here is a very quick summary of the 8 warriors, followed by my prediction of who might win.

The players are, in alphabetical order:

Fabiano Caruana – USA

Ding Liren – China

Duda Jan Krzysztof – Poland

Firouzja Alireza – France

Nakamura Hikaru – USA

Nepomniachtchi Ian – FIDE ( Russian: he signed the anti-war open letter to Putin )

Radjabov Teimour – Azerbaijan

Richard Rapport – Romania ( Has recently switched federations from Hungary)

In my opinion a strong case could be made for 6 of the candidates, I won’t mention the two players whom I don’t think are up to winning!

My prediction for the top 2 places, and quite possibly, the competitors in the next World Championship are:

Richard Rapport and Ian Nepomniachtchi

As Nepo qualified for the last match v Carlsen lets look at a position from one of Rapport’s games

Rapport v Caruana – in this very sharp position what did Rapport play in this position? White to move