Blunder of the Week

Welcome, once again, to the familiar world of Blunderland, a place we have all visited far too often but which never fails to entertain us when it is someone else’s misfortune we are witnessing. If you have ever been in this situation and thought to yourself, ‘Why doesn’t this ever happen to top players?’, take heart from this excruciating oversight from the Women’s US Championships currently taking place in St Louis. In the black corner we have the top seed IM Anna Zatonskih (2451) and in the white corner, the 16 year old WIM Jennifer Yu (2196). It is Round 1 and perhaps Anna viewed the pairing as a gentle full toss to get off the mark. It clearly was not that but at least she had a draw. White had just played 57.d6 and the following position occurred:

At this point the computer has the position as 0.00 i.e. dead equal. What could possibly go wrong? That pesky pawn is uncomfortably close to queening but dealing with that shouldn’t be a problem.  Well, have a look at the position and be honest – how many of you would have played the seemingly logical 57…..Rd1+??  That is precisely what Anna played and who knows what was going through her head were she able to see the computer’s analysis jump from 0.00 to ‘White can mate in 8 moves’ ! What had she overlooked? Why, of course, 58. Kc2!  Black resigned.   To Anna’s credit, she won her next game in 23 moves, has won three out of her four games since this defeat and is currently joint leader with 3½/5 while Jennifer, notwithstanding her good fortune in Round 1, has only won once since and is on 2½/5.

If you come across any similar blunders worth sharing – either your own or any you have seen or read about – please send them in so that next time we are feeling miserable after our latest disaster, we can console ourselves that even the best in the land get it wrong sometimes.

 

Thanet Chess Congress 2017

The 48th Thanet Chess Congress will be held from Friday August 18th to Sunday August 20th at its usual venue of Canterbury Christ Church University, Broadstairs Campus, Northwood Road, Broadstairs, Kent CT10 2WA. Thanks to generous sponsorship by John Couzens Roofing, Chandlers Builders Merchants and Cramptons Thorley Taverns, the organizers have been able to introduce a number of initiatives this year. Firstly, the prize money has been increased in all sections. Secondly, there will now be five categories with the introduction of a Challengers section for those graded under 170 – with only twenty points separating top and bottom in each of the middle three categories, chances of winning a prize will be higher.  Thirdly, entry for GMs and IMs is free and only £5 for U15s. Accommodation is available at the University if you book early and the food in the canteen is highly recommended. If you haven’t played at Thanet before, there is no better time to make this your first visit. If you don’t fancy playing all five rounds, take a bye and enjoy Broadstairs in the summer.  Further details are available at the new dedicated Congress website http://thanetchesscongress.co.uk where you can enter online or download an entry form if you prefer, find information about travel to and within Thanet, choose from the different types of accommodation available and check out all the results from last year. Early booking is recommended. Good luck!

 

 

Millar Cup v Bridge B (h)

Broadstairs  ½         Bridge A   6½ 

1 David Faldon (179) ½-½         Richard Eales  (198)
2 John Couzens (125) 0-1        Shany Rezvany (170)
3 Andy Flood (117) 0-1         James Essinger (163)
4 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1         Arnaud Wisman (159)
5 Bob Cronin (103) 0-1         Patrick Burns (146)
6 Michael Doyle (90) 0-1         Chris Stampe (127)
7 Fredy Reber (e50) 0-1         Bill Tracey (124)

David Faldon writes:
Bridge B team arrived with a team almost as strong as their A side, outgrading us by an average of 45 points per player. I can’t remember such a huge difference in grading in any match I have ever been involved in. Of course we were huge underdogs, but as John said before the match, “Miracles do happen!” Unfortunately there was no miracle this week and Bridge made their expected huge score. Still, everybody put up a good show, especially Reg (last to finish) and Fredy (in his first game for the club). If we play as well in our last two matches of the season (Margate home and away) then we can hope for a couple of positive results. Many thanks to everyone that played and congratulations to Bridge on their win.

Club News

Regular visitors to this site might be wondering what is happening at the grass roots level of the ordinary chess club. It’s all right posting news about Wei Yi, Wesley So and Hou Yifan but what about the Thanet Chess League? How is Broadstairs doing? What about the club championship? Who is winning? Is the club about to pack up at Easter as many seem to do these days (Answer: no, we keep going until August).   Broadstairs enters three teams in the Thanet Chess League so let’s start this round-up with the one most likely to win something this season: the Hargreaves Shield team.      

P W D L GP+ GP- MP
Broadstairs 5 2 2 1 10.5 5.5 6
Bridge 4 2 1 1 8.5 7.5 5
W’borough 5 2 0 3 10 10 4
Margate 4 1 1 2 7 9 3

Until last week, we were confident of retaining the Hargreaves Shield (U140) but the defeat by Woodnesborough has thrown the competition wide open. Even victory in our final match against Woodnesborough at home may not be enough – we need Margate to get at least a point from one of their matches against Bridge.

The Walker Shield (U115) has been our strength in recent years, winning the competition in both 2015 and 2016.

P W D L GP+ GP- MP
Margate 7 5 2 0 20 8 12
Bridge 6 3 1 2 13.5 10.5 7
Broadstairs 6 1 4 1 12.5 11.5 6
Herne Bay 6 1 2 3 8 16 4
W’borough 5 0 1 4 6 14 1

Sadly, the hat-trick is already out of reach as the table shows. With two points for a win and one for a draw, even victories in our last two matches will not be enough to prevent Margate winning this particular competition.  Nevertheless, hope springs eternal for 2018 which is more than can be said for our chances in the Blue Riband of Thanet Chess, the Millar Cup (no grading limit). Only a long search in dusty archives can reveal the last time Broadstairs won the Millar Cup. Your correspondent has been a member for over thirty years and it has not occurred in that time. In recent years competition for the Millar Cup has been a private battle between Bridge and Folkestone with other clubs merely making up the numbers.  It must be rather similar for teams in La Liga facing Barcelona and Real Madrid in which case Broadstairs historically are the Osasuna of the Thanet Chess League.  Actually, that’s a little unfair as Osasuna are currently bottom of La Liga and Broadstairs are currently in …er… mid-table.

P W D L GP+ GP- MP
Bridge A 7 7 0 0 35.5 13.5 14
Folkestone 8 5 1 2 40.5 15.5 11
Bridge B 7 5 1 1 30.5 18.5 11
Broadstairs 7 2 0 5 16.5 32.5 4
Herne Bay 6 1 0 5 10.5 31.5 2
Margate 7 0 0 7 13.5 35.5 0

Meanwhile, what is happening at the club? As everyone knows, the heart of any club is what goes on within: the club championship, domestic competitions and drinking in the pub afterwards. At Broadstairs the main club competition is the Goodall Cup, named after W.F.Goodall, the last Club Secretary but one who died in 1950…yes, you read it right: 1950. David Faldon is defending his title and with ten wins out of ten so far, he is in pole position once again although he still has to play the three highest-graded members after himself. Who else could win? Well, Ian Hames is also unbeaten but has dropped half a point while Nick McBride‘s surprise defeat recently means he will probably have to beat Ian and David to stand any chance.

The knockout competition, a time handicap for the John Couzens Vase is in its early stages but not too early for your correspondent who has already been knocked out (again) by Viktor Selyukov.  Entries are being taken for the Summer Swiss which begins at the end of April and the annual Blitz tournament has been pencilled in for July 3. The club will remain open until August 14, the last Monday before the Thanet Chess Congress of which more anon.

Hargreaves Shield v Woodnesborough (a)

Broadstairs  1         Woodnesborough  3 

(Board positions based on July grades)

1 John Couzens (125) 0-1     Dennis Stokes-Carter                                 (118)
2 Andy Flood (117) 1-0     David Erwee (108)
3 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1     Mark Towlson (101)
4 Bob Cronin (103) 0-1     Bryan Rodwell  (90)

Andy Flood writes:

A confident, unbeaten, top of the league Broadstairs team out-graded their opponents on all four boards. Requiring two wins from their remaining two matches to secure the championship, there could surely only be one result! First to finish was John on Board 1, and Woodnesborough were leading 1 – 0. The remaining matches were relatively even, Reg slightly ahead with a predicted win on Board 3 and likely draws on the other two boards. As the evening drew on, Bob Cronin’s position deteriorated to what looked like a loss but with clever pawn play at one stage it looked like he might scramble a draw. However, his opponent overcame the resistance and Broadstairs were 2 – 0 down.

Reg, with his two-pawn advantage, would surely secure the first point of the evening. However, an awful bishop proved to be of less value than a pawn and Broadstairs were 3–0 down and the match was lost. Thinking from the earlier positions that a win was needed on Board 2, Black had abandoned the strategy of locking up the pieces to one of opening up the game. With White attacking on the king side and Black on the queen side, Black broke through and a pawn became a certain queen. White resigned, the game was won but the match was lost 3 – 1.

With one match to go to secure the Championship, Broadstairs need to beat Woodnesborough and hope close friends Margate do the neighbourly thing and secure a win against rivals Bridge. Congratulations to Woodnesborough for winning the match and coming a close second in the competition for the most difficult-to-find venue in the league for which Bridge are worthy champions with ‘The Pavilion’.