Walker Shield v Bridge (a)

Broadstairs  1         Bridge   3 

1 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1     Bill Tracey  (e110)
2 Bob Cronin (103) 0-1     Graeme Boxall  (83)
3 Michael Doyle (90) 1-0     Ray Rennells (81)
4 Jordan Leach (46) 0-1     Ian Redmond (70 )

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 4:   JORDAN DEBUT.  Ian Redmond’s experience told as he got the better over our Jordan playing his first game in a Thanet League competition. 1-0 down

BOARD 3:  IN-FORM MICHAEL. The turning point came when Michael’s discovered check won a rook and cleared the the danger of Ray’s advanced pawn. 1-1

BOARD 1: LETHAL KNIGHT. Bill Tracey looks quite a find for Bridge at this level as I had trouble containing his knight which caused havoc deep inside my defence. I finally had to sac my own knight to avoid a mate but to no avail and had to resign. 2-1 down

BOARD 2: STEADY GRAEME. Bob could do nothing about Graeme always finding the right moves once he got the positional advantage. With a final swap off of rooks and queens, Graeme was left with a passed pawn out off Bob’s reach. 3-1 down

With only half a point now from two away matches, our home games will be vital to get back parity. Thanks to Bob for driving duty.

Russian Chess Championships

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                    GM Alexander Riazantsev

The 69th Russian Chess Championship has just concluded in Novosibirsk with a victory for Alexander Riazantsev. If this name is new to many people, this is not surprising. His ELO grade of 2651 made him only the eighth seed of the twelve in the tournament so while his victory does not quite sit alongside Foinavon winning the Grand National or Leicester City winning the Premier League, it was still a surprise. For the uninitiated, Riazantsev was born on September 12 1985 in Moscow and has been an international grandmaster since 2001. While he remained undefeated throughout the eleven rounds, his score of 7/11 included eight draws so it is fair to say that he can attribute his success to the fact that he achieved more wins (3) than any other player. However, just as the saying goes that the loser in chess is the one who makes the last mistake, the reverse is also true – that if you are going to win any game in a tournament, make it the last.  Here is Riazantsev’s crucial last-round victory.

White: Dmitry Jakovenko (2714)            Black: Alexander Riazantsev (2651)

Russian Chess Championship 2016

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                     GM Alexandra Kosteniuk

If the men’s result was unexpected, the same cannot be said for the women’s championship where Alexandra Kosteniuk won her second title with a score of 8½/11. Her total included seven wins with only one defeat and victory in this, her penultimate game, gave her the title with a round to spare. It is worth noting that after White’s 59th move, the computer says that ‘Black is much better’ but after Black’s reply 59…a4? it has the position as ‘equal’, by 62…Qb3 ‘White is much better’ and after 64…Qa4? ‘White is winning’.

White: Alexandra Kosteniuk (2537)            Black: Evgenija Ovod (2362)

Russian Women’s Chess Championship 2016

 

Short beats Hou Yifan

Nigel Short has beaten Hou Yifan 3½-2½ in their special six-game challenge match as part of the 20th Hoogeveen Chess Tournament in the Netherlands. With three wins and three draws in the match, there was some entertaining chess for spectators following live and online. Hou Yifan’s only win came in the last game with the result decided and, while entertaining and worth checking out,  it is only fair, especially as we featured one of Hou’s wins in the last post, to show the decisive fourth game that gave Short a 3-1 lead. For details of all the games, go to http://www.chessgames.com.  Conscious, perhaps, of his once-controversial views on women’s chess, there was no gloating from our Nige, who tweeted after his win: ‘Delighted to have secured victory against the Women’s World Champion, with one game remaining.’    

White: Hou Yifan (2639)            Black: Nigel Short (2673)

Hoogeveen Chess Tournament 2016

Walker Shield v Woodnesborough (a)

Broadstairs  2         Woodnesborough   2 

1 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1     David Erwee  (108)
2 Bob Cronin (103) 0-1     Mark Towlson  (101)
3 Michael Doyle (90) 1-0     Roy Dawson (71)
4 Michael Jenkinson 1-0     Ethan Latymer (e50 )

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 4. Our Michael J took less than an hour to put us 1-0 up

BOARD 3. Michael D. took a bit longer. After a queen swap off he completed a clever mate with two bishops, a knight and a rook. Wow 2-0 up and looking good (so we thought)

BOARD 2 With the position of the match where it stood Mark Towlson was having none of the draw offers our Bob was making and slowly turned the game his way with a one pawn advantage.       2-1 to us.

BOARD 1 David Erwee picked off a knight early on in our game after I stupidly left a pawn pinned and unable to retake. I then tried to make a comeback from his then all out attack on my kingside but he was too good for me and finished me off by 10.20.

Result: 2-2 draw.   2016 played 1 drawn 1 – we are still unbeaten JUST!

Hou Yifan v Nigel Short

short-and-houRegular visitors to this site will know that we take a keen interest in upcoming Chinese grandmasters, especially Wei Yi and Hou Yifan. Well, the highlight of the 20th Hoogeveen Chess Tournament running from 15-22 October in Hoogeveen Town Hall in the Netherlands is a 6-game classical match between Hou Yifan and Nigel Short. Before the match Short confirmed that he had once stated that ‘men on average play better than women’ but clarified it by adding ‘Hou Yifan is not average’! The first game took place this afternoon (Sunday) and Short appeared to have the edge as the game entered its closing stages. Hou Yifan dug in, however, and held on for a draw. She will be hoping for the sort of form that seemed to elude her at the recent Isle of Man International except for this gem in round one.

White: Hou Yifan (2658)            Black: James Jackson (2311)

Isle of Man International 2016