The quiet summer months mean that there has been no Game of the Week for some time so what about this alternative: Tactical Brilliancy of the Week? It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as easily, does it? Some of you might even prefer Blunder of the Week but have a look at the following and you may change your mind. Last month we featured one of our old – or not so old – friends, Wei Yi. What about our other favourite Chinese star, Hou Yifan, I hear you ask? Well, she has just completed a stunning win at the Biel International Chess Festival, becoming the first woman to win in the history of the tournament with a 2809 performance. She won her last three games and possibly her finest performance was in the penultimate round against the veteran, Rafael Vaganian. Have a look at the position below and see if you can guess Yifan’s next move (Black to play).

     [FEN"2r2rk1/p5pp/1p1qp1n1/3b1p1Q/1P1B4/P2BP3/3R1PPP/5RK1 w - - 0 17"]     

Hands up if you spotted 20…Bxg2!!  Now be honest…you didn’t, did you? The game continued 21.Kxg2 Qxd4!! and now 22.exd4 would have allowed Yifan to play 22…Nf4+!, winning back the queen. Vaganian tried to wriggle out with 22.Qxg6 but the there was no escape: 22…Qd5+ 23.e4 fxe4 24.Qxe4 Qg5+ 25. Kh1 Qxd2 and Yifan won after 33 moves.

Here is Martin Taylor, regular supporter (and sometime winner) of the Thanet Chess Congress, photographed by Brendan O’ Gorman at last year’s event in which he came second. He has entered once again this year and will face stiff competition if he is to win the Open this time. Already two International Masters, last year’s winner Alan Merry and now Richard Bates, defending his SCCU Champion title won only two weeks ago at the Weald Congress, have signed up. With two and a half weeks to go, it looks like being a competitive Open Tournament and numbers throughout all five sections are encouraging. If you have not yet booked your accommodation, you are advised to do so as Broadstairs is very busy in the summer. For more information, entry forms and online entry, visit the congress website http://www.thanetchesscongress.co.uk

While waiting for the Thanet Congress, our attention turns to the 2017 British Championship which has just begun in Llandudno. Among the various stars taking part is Broadstairs’ own David Faldon, who is in the Over 50 section. Whether he thought this was merely for players with grades over 50 is not certain but we hope he was not too surprised to be drawn against IM Paul Littlewood in round 2 against whom he achieved a draw which, together with his draws in rounds 1 and 3 represents a solid start. Unfortunately, none of David’s games is available so let’s turn our attention to the top seed (so far) at the Thanet Congress, IM Alan Merry. As I write, he has just won his round four game at the British and is currently on 3/4. Here is his win in round 1. For the latest news, go to http://www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk

White: Alan Merry  (2427)     Black: Ashley Stewart (2111)

British Championships 2017

   1.  e4   c5   2.  Nc3   g6   3.  g3   Bg7   4.  Bg2   Nc6   5.  d3   d6   6.  Be3   e6   7.  Qd2   Rb8   8.  Nge2   b5 9.  O-O   b4   10.  Nd1   Nd4   11.  Nc1   a5   12.  c3   Nc6   13.  Ne2   Ba6   14.  f4   Qb6   15.  f5   Ne5 16.  fe6   fe6   17.  Nf4   Bc8   18.  Bh3   Ke7   19.  Qf2   Nf6   20.  d4   cd4   21.  cd4   Nc4   22.  e5   Rf8 23.  ef6   Bf6   24.  Be6   Ne3   25.  Ne3   Bd4   26.  Ng6   

Back to the Thanet Congress and never mind the chess, I hear you say, what about the food? Well, take a look at the kitchen below which is a bit smarter than your average chess congress canteen. The analysis room is attached (see below) so there is plenty of room to have your lunch and go through your games.  Rook van Zugzwang, our culinary correspondent, reports:  “The food is good, well priced and the kitchen staff can cater for specific dietary requests – just ask. Here is a sample menu:

All hot lunches £4.50

Pasty, chips & baked beans

Pasta & meatballs with garlic bread & salad garnish

BBQ chicken drumsticks with chips and salad garnish

(V) Cauliflower and broccoli cheese bake with garlic bread

(V) Vegetable pasta bake with garlic bread

Burger & fries

                          Analysis room

Filled Jacket potatoes served with salad garnish

With one filling £2.30

With two fillings £2.90

Additional fillings 60p

Fillings:

Grated cheddar cheese

Tuna Mayonnaise

Coleslaw

Baked beans

Puddings £1.70

Selection of cold desserts

You can also have breakfast:

Build your own Breakfast –  choose from the selection below 60p per item

Free range egg (fried or scrambled)

Pork sausage

Vegetarian sausage

Back bacon rasher

Baked beans

Grilled or Plum Tomato

Mushrooms

Hash brown

Sauté potatoes

Fried Slice

Toast

If you were hoping for black pudding, bad luck but egg, beans, sausage, mushrooms and bacon for £3.00?! Who needs chess? If you’re staying elsewhere, give their breakfast a miss and eat here, I say.  If you haven’t booked accommodation anywhere, there is still room at the university. Go to the Congress website listed above for details of accommodation available.”

Regular visitors to this site must be wondering what has happened to Broadstairs’ adopted GM, Wei Yi. It’s so long since we heard from him that he must be at least 17 by now. Well, he is actually 18 which by chess standards is positively ancient. However, remember that he reached 2700 at a younger age than Magnus Carlsen and with his most recent rating 2746, he is 17th in the world rankings. Currently playing in the Danzhou Super-GM tournament, after four rounds he is the sole leader with 3/4. After two opening games with the black pieces, he had white against Ruslan Ponomariov in round 3, who was soon being bamboozled by a number of pawn sacrifices as Wei Yi cleared a way for his rook.

White: Wei Yi  (2746)     Black: Ruslan Ponomariov (2712)

8th Hainan Danzhou 2017

   1.  Nf3   Nf6   2.  c4   e6   3.  g3   d5   4.  Bg2   dc4   5.  O-O   Nbd7   6.  Qc2   Nb6   7.  a4   a5   8.  Na3 Ba3   9.  Ra3   O-O   10.  e4   e5   11.  Ne5   Qd4   12.  Qc3   Qc3   13.  Rc3   Be6   14.  d4   Na4 15.  Ra3   b5   16.  f4   Nb6   17.  g4   Ng4   18.  f5   Ne5   19.  de5   Bd7   20.  Rg3   Bc6   21.  Bh6   g6 22.  Rg5   c3   23.  bc3   Nc4   24.  fg6   fg6   25.  Bf8   Rf8   26.  e6   Be8   27.  Rd1   Rf6   28.  Rd8 Kf8   29.  Rb5   Ke7   30.  Rbb8   Bc6   31.  Rdc8   Re6   32.  Rc7   Kd6   33.  Rh7   a4   34.  Ra7 Kc5   35.  e5   Bg2   36.  Kg2   a3   37.  Rc7   Rc6   38.  Rc6   Kc6   39.  Rc8   Kd5   40.  e6   

Of course, a recurring problem at super GM chess tournaments is the high percentage of draws. In order to avoid this, the organisers have instigated some new initiatives to promote positive play. According to Chess.com, “the tournament has some of the toughest anti-draw rules you’ll ever witness – no draw offers are allowed (only theoretical draws or with the agreement of the arbiter), while if the players draw by repetition within 15 moves they have to start the game again. If they draw by repetition in 15 moves again both players lose! Nevertheless, we’ve only seen three wins in 15 games.” We shall have to wait and see what effect the new rules have at the end of the tournament.

The third international chess tournament to be held at Margate in the 1930s was another all-play-all featuring ten players including three heavyweights: the then world champion, Alexander Alekhine, the American GM Reuben Fine and the rising star from Estonia, GM Paul Keres. The tournament also featured several English players who had played in the earlier tournaments but were largely thought to be making up the numbers. Alekhine did not appear to consider Keres a threat. After an early loss he said: “The next seven rounds will show if I can give an extra point to Fine.” However, in round seven his oversight became all too apparent (see game below). Keres had emerged as a player of note as a 19-year old in the 1935 Chess Olympiad and in the next few years he became a strong player of international repute with a number of supertournament victories, notably the 1938 AVRO tournament, considered one of the strongest ever played. Today he is popularly regarded as the best player never to win the world chess championship.

At Margate Keres played Fine in the last round and and their draw resulted in them tying for first place with 7½/9 (both +6 -0 =3). Alekhine, who lost three games finished third on 6½. Keres blamed himself for not winning outright, saying afterwards, “I felt that I still lacked the necessary endgame technique.” Others did not agree and in his book ‘Paul Keres II: the Road to Mastery’, Joosep Grents quotes a contemporary commentator: “The extraordinary combinational ability of Keres left a deep impression on all the participants. If one takes into consideration that he is merely 21 years old, then one can certainly foresee his future fame. The only factor that speaks against him is his modesty. No player with aspirations of becoming a World Champion has ever been known for this characteristic.” 

White: Paul Keres       Black: Alexander Alekhine

Margate International Chess Tournament 1937

   1.  e4   e5   2.  Nf3   Nc6   3.  Bb5   a6   4.  Ba4   d6   5.  c4   Bd7   6.  Nc3   g6   7.  d4   Bg7   8.  Be3   Nf6 9.  de5   de5   10.  Bc5   Nh5   11.  Nd5   Nf4   12.  Nf4   ef4   13.  e5   g5   14.  Qd5   Bf8   15.  Bf8   Rf8 16.  O-O-O   Qe7   17.  Bc6   Bc6   18.  Qd3   Bd7   19.  Ng5   O-O-O   20.  Nf3   f6   21.  ef6   Rf6 22.  Rhe1   Qb4   23.  Qd7   

    Winners and losers celebrating in the pub

The annual Broadstairs Blitz took place at the club on Monday July 3rd. When many clubs are well into their ‘close season’, Broadstairs is still going and with three competitions yet to be decided, the club will remain open until August 14th. Last year the it was the Brexit Blitz and as it is hard to avoid the soap opera that is modern politics, this year the theme was was the Blunder Blitz: Superman v Blunder Woman  – no prizes for guessing who this was based on. Sixteen players, all from Broadstairs Chess Club, were divided into two teams, the Supermen and the Blunder Women. The teams were picked on current grades and on recent form it looked as if the the Blunder Women had the edge with Ian Hames and Paul Carfrae, Blitz specialists, on the same team. However, it did not work out that way.

The first two rounds were close with few surprises and the scores were level. In round 3 the Supermen took the lead and never looked back.   Further wins in rounds 4 and 6 extended their lead and in the final round, with the Blunder Women needing a 7-1 victory to win, the Supermen had their best round, winning 6-2.  Final scores: Supermen 36½ Blunder Women 27½.  Highlights of the evening were fine performances from David Faldon, 8/8 on Board 1 for the Supermen, and 4/8 for Joshua Vaughan (grade 86) for the same team. Your correspondent still cannot quite understand how he lost to Ian Hames, allowing his king to be taken with one second left on the clock.  The post mortem concluded that the Blunder Women lost because they made too many blunders. Afterwards most of the players adjourned to pub to celebrate another successful season: steady membership, victory in the Team Buzzer and the Thanet Shield and joint winners at the Jamboree.

Supermen: David Faldon, Alan Gosman, Bob Page, Andy Flood, Joshua Vaughan, Michael Jenkinson, Fredy Reber, Jordan Leach.

Blunder Women: Nick McBride, Ian Hames, Paul Carfrae, Reg Pidduck, Bob Cronin, Michael Doyle, Richard Bowles, David Clifford.