What A Mug

ALL 32 competitors in the 50+ Seniors tournament at the British Chess Championships received a commemorative mug courtesy of the tournament's sponsors, Hull & District Chess Association and Hull Culture & Leisure.

I felt like a different kind of mug after my round-three game today.
Just for a change, I got a great position out of the opening. The initiative fluctuated a little in the middlegame but I was pleased to get the following position from successfully using hanging pawns.

Black to play and get a decisive advantage in Nigel Blades (2072) - Spanton (1927)

The game went: 31...Bxb2 32.Qxb2 (32.Nb2 is met in a similar way) Nc2 33.f5!?Objectively it was probably better to move the e1 rook and give up the e4 pawn, but NB - rightly in my view - went for counterplay at the cost of the exchange.
33...Qe8 34.f6 Nxe1 35.Rxe1 Rd4 36.e5 gxf6!?
This is fine if followed up correctly, but opening lines to your king is very often a risky business. A more practical move was 36...Qd8 or 36...Qe6, and if White captures on g7, leaving the white pawn as partial cover for the black king.
However, my other main thought of 36...g6? would have been problematic after 37.Qd2, eg 37...Kh7 38.Nd6.
37.Qd2 Rcd8??
I had seen that White's last move made it possible for him to capture on f6, but somehow forgot it and played the text anyway.
Black is winning comfortably after NB's suggested 37...Qd8, or the analysis engines' 37...Qe6.
38.exf6 Qxe1+?
Panic stations.
I rejected the superior 38...Qf8 because of 39.Qg5+ Kh8?? 40.Qxh5+ Kg8 41.Re3, with mate to follow. In fact, Black is still in the game in this line after 39...Kh7 40.Qxh5+ Qh6, although it is definitely White for choice.
But 38...Qf8 would not save Black as White has a winning attack starting with 39.Re7. Stockfish9 gives 39...R8d5 40.Ne5 Kh7 41.Rxf7+.
39.Qxe1 d2 40.Nxd2 Rxd2 41.Qg3+ Kf8 42.Qg7+ Ke8 43.Qg8+ Kd7 44.Qxf7+
The rooks are no match for White's queen and advanced passed pawn. 1-0 (55 moves)

Small Margins

HULL can lay claim to a candidate for the world's smallest window.
It is in the wall of The George, formerly a coaching inn but now a pub in a street named - I kid you not - Land Of Green Ginger, which is in the old town.

Possibly the world's smallest window

The window is so narrow you may not be able to make it out in the photo, but it is to the right of the plaque, directly above the Welcome sign.

Apparently a boy used to be posted on the inside to warn staff when a coach pulled up (why he couldn't do that sitting outside the front door is not explained).

Whatever the truth, anyone looking through the window has a very small margin for spotting what is going on outside (or inside, for that matter, if in the street).

My win today in round two of  the 50+ Seniors at the British Championships also featured a small margin.

I was much too ambitious in the early stages on the white side of a Nimzo-Indian, but by the time we reached the middlegame I had gained a pleasant edge.

Position after 15...h7-h6 in Spanton (1927) - Nigel S Towers (1834)

Here I played 16.g4 to prevent Black gaining counterplay with ...f5. Instead he played 16...f6, presumably to stop me trying to open lines with g5.

The game continued 17.Be3 Nc7 18.b4 b6, and now I began rerouting my knight: 19.Nf2 Bh7 20.Nh1

NST played 20...a5?!, which allowed me to close the queenside with 21.b5

With the centre and queenside blocked, the game will be decided on the kingside, where I still had hopes of opening lines for my bishops and heavy pieces.

After 21...g5 22.Ng3 Ne8 I should have increased the pressure with something like 23.Kf2 Kf7 24.h4.

Instead I jumped in prematurely with my knight: 23.Nf5?

There followed: 23...Bxf5 24.gxf5 Ng7 25.h4 Nh5 26.Kf2 Nf4

After pressing the clock, NST offered a draw. I probably should have accepted, but played on with 27.Bxf4? exf4 28.Rh1 No prizes for guessing who has the better minor piece.

Just seven moves later, we reached the following position, which I thought was OK for White, but, according to the analysis engine Stockfish9, is winning for Black.

Position after 35.Rh1-g1

Luckily for me, NST blundered: 35...Nf7?? 36.Qxg4

Stockfish9 reckons Black is winning after the simple 35...Kf8, or even 35...h5!? The point about the latter is that 36.Qxf4? loses to 36...Ng4+! 37.Rxg4 hxg4 38.Qxg4 Rxh4.

Even after the moves played,  the game is far from easily won as the position remains very blocked and Black has much the better minor piece.

However, as in yesterday's game, I eventually got down to a rook-and-pawn ending, only this time I was the player with the extra pawn.

Position after 69...Kd7-d6

White is winning easily, but I managed to give Black drawing chances, and at one point I thought I might be losing!

The game went 70.Re2 h5+! Black's best chance - he must create counterplay and hope to pull off a swindle.

71.Kxg5 h4 72.Rh2 h3 73.Kg4 (73.f6 is easier, but the text is still winning) 73...Ke5 74.f4+ Kd4 75.Rxh3 Rg8+ 76.Kxf3 Kxc4 77.d6 Kxb5 78.Ke4 Kc6

After pressing his clock, NST fairly quickly offered me a draw.

79.Rh6?? b5

Black should now draw, according to my analysis engines, and during the game I thought I could be losing. Instead of 79.Rh6?? I should have played 79.f6 Kxd6 80.Kf5, eg 80...Rf8 81.Rd3+ Kc6 82.Ke6 etc. Also winning was 79.Ke5 Re8+ 80.Kf6.

80.f6 Rf8+?

80...b4 is a clear-cut draw, according to the engines, but not 80...Kxd6?? f7+.

81.Ke5 Re8+?

This loses trivially. Again, ...b4 was best. When I first looked at this position after the game, Komodo9 gave 81...b4 82.Ke6? Re8+ 83.Kf7 Re4, assessing it as dead equal. But Stockfish9 gives 82.axb4 axb4 83.Ke6 Re8+ 84.Kf7 Re4 85.f3 b5 86.Rh1 Re2 87.Rg1 b2 88.Kg6! Rg2+ 89.Rxg2 b1=Q, when Black has queened first, but White wins after 90.f7.

In this latter line, if 86...Kxd6, then 87.Kg6 Rg4 88.Kh5 Rg8 89.f7 Rb8 90.f6 c4 91.Re1 b2 92.Re8 Rxe8 93.fxe8=Q b1=Q. Both sides have queened and have a pawn, but according to the Nalimov tablebases, White mates in 28 moves starting with 94.Qe7+.

There may well be mistakes in this analysis, but in any event 81...b4 was definitely the move to play.

The game finished 82.Kf5 b4 (too late now) 83.f7 Rf8 84.Ke6 b3 85.Ke7 c4 86.Kxf8 b2 87.d7+ Kc7 88.d8=Q+ 1-0

Hull Of A Lucky Start

ARRIVED in Hull yesterday for the British Chess Championships, which are being held at Hull City Hall.

The venue is centrally located, and the main playing hall is thankfully well-airconditioned

My event, the Seniors 50+, began today, and I was paired with black against the No2 seed, Australian Murray D Smith (2262).
After an appalling opening, I managed to remain materially equal but was positionally lost:

Position after 17...Nb6-a4 in Smith (2262) - Spanton (1927)

White has many good moves here, but best seems to be 18.d6, when 18...exd6 19.Rxd6 costs Black material, eg 19...Nc5 20.Qd1 Re8 21.Ne5 etc,
If 18...Re8, then 19.Bg5 is very unpleasant, while 18...e6 is met by 19.Bh6 Re8 20.Ne5 with a winning attack.
MDS actually played 18.Rc1, which slightly surprised me, although White is still well on top.
I struggled on and gradually got back into the game, but was still worse here:

Position after 27...Kg8-f7

Looking at this late-middlegame position, two rules-of-thumb should spring to mind.
1. Rooks cooperate better with a bishop than with a knight.
2. All rook-and-pawn endings are drawn.
OK, the second rule-of-thumb is often wrong, but there is much to be said for bearing it in mind.
The first rule is more reliable, although again there are exceptions.
In any event, a sensible consolidating move such as 28.Kg2, 28.Rd5 or perhaps 28.Rcd1 would have left White with an edge. Analysis engines like 28.h4!?
The game saw 28.Bxc5?! Rxc5 29.Rxa6, when White had won a pawn, but had little chance of converting it after the simple 29...Re7
Play continued: 30.Kg2 Kg6 31.Rc3 Rec7 32.Ra4 Kf5 33.Rca3 h5 34.Rxa7 Rxa7 35.Rxa7 Rxc4
White's four isolated pawns, and Black's strong king's position, make a draw inevitable. The remaining moves were: 36.a3 h4 37.Rb7 Rc3 38.Rb5+ Kf4 39.Rb4+ Kf5 40.a4 Ra3 41.Re4 Ra1 42.Rd4 Ra3 43.Rb4 ½-½.

In The Black

TURNED out for Battersea in the Summer League tonight, beating a 120.
That means I at last have more wins than losses for Battersea, and my unbeaten streak for the club has reached seven games.
My updated first-season stats (CLL is Central London League; LL is London League; SL is Summer League):
Event..............Colour...Grade...Opponent's Grade...Result
CLL................White.....169.........183............................L
CLL................White.....169.........197............................L
LL...................Black.....169.........158............................W
CLL................White.....169.........158............................W
LL....................Black.....169........204............................L
CLL................White......169........203.............................L
CLL..................Black.....169........180............................L
Eastman Cup...Black......169.......199............................D
CLL.................Black.....163.........172*...........................L
CLL.................White.....163.........153...........................W
LL...................White.....163.........188............................D
CLL.................Black.....163.........166............................L
LL...................White.....163.........150............................D
CLL.................Black.....163.........175............................D
CLL.................White.....163.........174............................L
LL....................White.....163.........169............................D
CLL.................White......163........159............................D
LL....................Black......163........165............................W
LL....................Black......163........172............................L
CLL.................White......163........161............................W
LL....................White......163........177............................W
LL....................White......163........167............................W
CLL....…….…..Black...…163...….148...…..…………….W
SL...…..……….Black......163...…..176...………….…….W
SL...…………...White......163...…..186^...………………D
SL...…………...Black...…163...…..120...……………….W
*Opponent has no official grade. Last published grade was 172 in 1997, which was pre-recalibration, and he was in the 180s before then .
^Opponent has no official grade. 186 is a conversion of his Fide rating (he also has an ECF rapid of 185).
Overall for Battersea I am +10=7-9 for a grading performance of 174.

Win Streak Ends

TURNED out for Battersea in the Summer League last night, drawing with a player whose Fide rating translates to an ECF grade of 186 (he does not have a standard grade, although he does have a rapid one of 185).
That ended my five-game win streak for the club, but I now have a six-game unbeaten streak …
My updated club stats (CLL is Central London League; LL is London League; SL is Summer League):
Event..............Colour...Grade...Opponent's Grade...Result
CLL................White.....169.........183............................L
CLL................White.....169.........197............................L
LL...................Black.....169.........158............................W
CLL................White.....169.........158............................W
LL....................Black.....169........204............................L
CLL................White......169........203.............................L
CLL..................Black.....169........180............................L
Eastman Cup...Black......169.......199............................D
CLL.................Black.....163.........172*...........................L
CLL.................White.....163.........153...........................W
LL...................White.....163.........188............................D
CLL.................Black.....163.........166............................L
LL...................White.....163.........150............................D
CLL.................Black.....163.........175............................D
CLL.................White.....163.........174............................L
LL....................White.....163.........169............................D
CLL.................White......163........159............................D
LL....................Black......163........165............................W
LL....................Black......163........172............................L
CLL.................White......163........161............................W
LL....................White......163........177............................W
LL....................White......163........167............................W
CLL....…….…..Black...…163...….148...…..…………….W
SL...…..……….Black......163...…..176...………….…….W
SL...…………...White......163...…..186^...………………D
*Opponent has no official grade. Last published grade was 172 in 1997, which was pre-recalibration, and he was in the 180s before then .
^Opponent has no official grade. 186 is a conversion of his Fide rating (he also has an ECF rapid of 185).
Overall for Battersea I am +9=7-9 for a grading performance of 174.

Luck In Chess

THEORETICALLY chess is without luck - no dice are thrown, no cards are dealt and nothing is hidden from sight.
Model-soldier enthusiasts sometimes call wargaming "chess with a thousand pieces."
Chess players could equally call their hobby "wargaming without the luck."
But they never do, and the main reason is that in practice there are many forms of luck in chess.
A player flicks through an opening book at random the night before a big game, and next day his opponent walks right into the one line that has been prepared for him.
Or maybe during a game both players see a devastating move for Black, which is duly played to the joy of Black and the despair of White; but there turns out to be a flaw in both players' calculations and it is White who comes out on top.
I could give many more examples, but it has to be admitted all involve a degree of subjectivity.
This was brought home to me at Paisley, from where I returned yesterday after scoring +3=3-3 in the 125th Scottish Championship. That was good enough for a rating gain of 7.8 Fide elo.

Paisley High Kirk

I felt I deserved to have scored considerably less than I did, but during the tournament another English player, Robert Kane, came up to me and said he had been going over some of my games and felt I had been rather unlucky.
In particular he cited my round-four game against Irish FM David Fitzsimons.

Position after 19...Ng6-f4 in Spanton (1927) - Fitzsimons (2328)

White is doing fine here. True, the bishop is bad, but it is actively supporting White's play on the queenside, where White has more space and a target in Black's c7 pawn.
Now a move such as 20.Qc2 or 20.Qd1 would have served me well. Instead I fell into a trap which DS told me afterwards had, in a very similar position, ensnared Dutch GM Jan Timman in a game against England's Gawain Jones.
20.Qd2? N6xd5!
White must lose a pawn, the point being that 21.exd5?? Qg5 22.Bd3 Nh3+ costs White his queen.
I should have played something like 21.g3, and struggled on a pawn down. But I made matters much worse with …
21.Bc4? Qg5 22.Qa2? Nc3 23.Qb2 Nce2+! 0-1.
So, was I unlucky? RK thought so, but it has to be said that anyone who plays three question-mark moves in a row deserves all the "bad luck" he gets.

Paisley's former finishing mill, with Paisley Abbey in the background

The reason I felt I had a lucky tournament was games like my round-six encounter with Malaysian FM Zhuo Ren Lim.

Position after 37...Bb7-a8 in Lim (2167) - Spanton (1927)

 

I had been under the cosh almost the entire game, desperately defending my weaknesses at e6 and c6.
My last move (37...Bb7-a8) was designed to possibly allow a rook to go to a7, and to ensure that if White at some point exchanged light-square bishops, I would have hopes of counterplay down the a file.
But we had both seen White's next move …
38.b4 axb4 39.Bxb4 c5 40.Bxa8 Rxa8 41.dxc5 bxc5 42.Bc3
Analysis engines reckon the position is dead equal.
My next is perhaps not the best, but it proved good enough.
42...Ra4 43.Rxe6 Rxe6 44.Rxe6 Bf8 45.Qe2 Rxa2 46.Qxa2 Qxe6 47.Be5 Qc6+ 48.Kg1 Qe4 49.Kf2 Qh1 50.Ke3 Qe4+ 51.Kf2 Qh1 52.Ke3 Qh4+ ½-½
Going back to the diagram position, it seems Black's 38th deserves a question mark. Instead, he should play 38.Qd2 or 38.Bb2, or really almost anything non-forcing.
So, overall, did I have a lucky or unlucky Paisley? I still think the former … but then again, that is certainly subjective.

Good News ... Bad News

PLAYED in the U2200 section at the 63rd Hampstead Congress over the weekend, scoring +3=0-2 for a rating gain of 11.6 elo.
That sounds fairly satisfactory, but was actually rather disappointing in that I won all three games on Saturday before losing both my Sunday encounters.