Mate In Six

I MISSED an entertaining mate-in-six in my round three game from the Berks & Bucks Challengers.

White has just played 29.Rh1-h2 in William Golding (1574) - Spanton (1946)

White was losing whatever he played, despite being two pawns up.
The game saw 29...a5 30.f3 e3 31.Rc2 Qxc2+ 32.Qxc2 Rxc2 33.Kxc2 e2 34.Rg1 e1=Q 35.Rxe1 Nxe1+ 36.Kd1 Nxf3 37.h5 a4 1-0
However, in the diagram position, analysis engines give a mate-in-six: 29...Rxb3! 30.axb3 Qc1+ 31.Qxc1 Rxc1+ 32.Ka2 Nb4+ 33.Ka3 Nc2+ 34.Ka4 Ra1#

Bad Run Prolonged

DREW one game (to a 1704/145) and lost the other (to a 1639/148) in the final rounds today of the Berks & Bucks Challengers.
That meant I lost a further 23.2 elo, bringing my tournament loss to 51.4, which reduces my live rating to 1923.6.
Statistically, this may have been my worst tournament ever, narrowly eclipsing the 50.2 elo I lost at Southend last year.
Major adjustments are going to be needed ahead of 'Paignton' next week.
CORRECTION: It appears from the Berks & Bucks website that I actually lost 52.4 elo, bringing my live rating to 1922.6.
Playing blunder chess AND getting simple maths wrong - I must be tired! Or perhaps I am suffering from a touch of the Tartakowers - the Russian-born, to Austrian parents, grandmaster gave a lecture in which he admitted that, despite his many chess successes, he had never managed to beat a fully healthy opponent (the quote has also been attributed to other masters).

Bugbears Continue

FACED juniors in my two games today at the Berks & Bucks Challengers, beating one (1584 Fide/128 ECF) and losing to the other (1762 Fide/158 ECF).
That gave me an elo loss for the day of 12.8, and 28.2 for the tournament, reducing my live rating to 1946.8.
Once again my twin bugbears - playing too quickly; overestimating my position - played big parts.

Old Bugbears

PLAYING at the 54th Berks & Bucks Congress, where I have been placed in the Challengers, which is both Fide rated and ECF graded.
In round one I lost to a junior (1684 Fide/162 ECF) after turning down two draw offers, and in round two beat a player with neither a rating nor a grade.
The common theme of both of today's games, from my perspective, is that of playing too quickly and hugely overestimating my position for most of the time.
I keep telling myself to correct these bugbears, especially the former, which, in theory, should be easily corrected, but they persist.
The round-one debacle has cost me 16 rating points, knocking my "live" rating down to 1959.

B+N v R+P

FINISHED the Olomouc Seniors with a draw against a Polish 1998.
My opponent offered a draw before the game started, but I wanted to play.

Position after 17.h2-h3 in Jan Kusina (1998) - Spanton (1946)

Retreating the knight offered zero winning prospects (against anything like reasonable play), so I speculated with 17...Nxf2!?
After 18.Rxf2 I saw little advantage in delaying capturing, eg by 18...Rac8, so the game proceeded 18...Bxf2+ 19.Kxf2 Rad8 20.Rd1 Rxd1 21.Nxd1 Rc8 22.Nc3 f5 23.Ke3 Kf7 24.Kd3
Here I played the solid 24...g6, which is fine if all Black wants is a draw. But more in keeping with my 17th move was 24...g5!? threatening to activate my pawn majority.
The game continued 25.Bc1 Ke6 26.Bf4 Rd8+ 27.Kc4 Rc8+ 28.Kb3 Rd8 29.Na4 Kd5 30.Nc5 Kc6 31.h4 Re8 32.g3 Re1
I now gave up on creating winning chances, and offered a draw.
33.Nd3 Re7 34.Ne5+ Kd5 35.Nc4 Kc6
JK now offered a draw, which I accepted.
This meant I finished fourth, edged out of the prize money on tiebreaks, having scored +4=4-1 for a Fide rating gain of 22 elo.

Chess Blindness

A REMARKABLE example of chess blindness occurred today in my round eight game at the Olomouc Seniors.

Position after 29.Rg1-g2 in Spanton (1946) - Jiri Kasparek (1746)

White is winning comfortably, but that was no reason for Black to play 29...Rg8?? nor for White to reply 30.Rh2??
Not that any harm was done; the game finished 30...Rxh2 31.Kxh2 1-0
ADDENDUM: Having posted the above, it suddenly dawned on me that 29...Rg8? was not quite as ridiculous as I thought. The best reply is certainly 30.Kxh4, although Black has not by any means lost a whole rook as he has 30...f5+
Nevertheless, during the game I failed to see that the h4 rook could be hanging. This, together with other tactical howlers I have been making in this tournament, suggest to me I must be much more tired than I realise.

Blunderthon Continues

HAD a lucky escape today after pushing too hard in a drawn position.

Position after 32.Bb4-d6 in Jiri Fiala (1849) - Spanton (1946), Olomouc Seniors round seven

I had already rejected two draw offers, and now made matters worse by playing 32...Nh5? without noticing White could reply 33.g4
Luckily for me, I had 33...Qg6 (not 33...Qf6?? 34.Be5)
JF played 34.Be5 anyway, and now 34...Ng7 would have given some drawing chances, although White is much better, eg 35.Qh4 Qf7 36.Bf4 h5! (not 36...Qg6 37.Qe7) 37.Kg3, which looks pretty grim for Black.
Instead I played 34...Nf6? and, luckily for me, my opponent was so intent on drawing that he played 35.Bxf6? and the game was indeed drawn a few moves later.
He should have played 35.Qh4, eg 35...Kg7 36.Qxf6+ (even better is 36.b4, according to Komodo9 and Stockfish9) Qxf6 37.Bxf6+ Kxf6, with a fairly straightforward pawn-ending win for White.

Worst Blunder Ever

MY game today may not feature the worst chess blunder ever, but it is certainly a candidate.

Black has just played 19...g7-g6 in Spanton (1946) - Josef Lys (FM2115), Olomouc Seniors round six

White has a continuing huge attack after the simple 20.Qg5. Instead I played 20.Qxh7+?? Kxh7 21.Rh4, only now seeing that Black has 21...Bh6.

Lesser Known English Variation

Spanton (1946) - Einar Lauritzen (2007), Olomouc Seniors, Round Five
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4!?
This early bishop development has been played by some very strong players, including Carlsen, Anand, Caruana and Nakamura, and scores very well for Black in ChessBase's 2018 Mega database. White has a huge choice of replies, with grandmasters trying everything from the standard English fianchetto of 3.g3 to the bizarre-looking 3.Na4.
I played what struck me as a principled reply.
3.Nd5 Be7!?
This is a favourite of Hector, and has also been played by Shirov.
I guess the point is that after 4.Nxe7 Qxe7, White has gained the bishop-pair but has no pieces developed and has not even opened a diagonal for either of his bishops. Nevertheless, it is hard to believe White does not have the better long-term prospects.
4.d4
Maybe it is not so hard to believe- at any rate, I went with the main line, which has been played by Karpov and Kasparov.
4...d6
The tempting 4...exd4 is much less popular, although 5.Qxd4 (White can also continue in gambit-style with 5.Nf3!?) Nf6 6.Nxe7 Qxe7 7.Bg5 does not seem anything much for White after 7...Qb4+ or 7...Nc6.
5.Nf3
Giving Black the option of ...e4, which will be a recurrent theme for much of the rest of the game.
5...c6!?
This move, more-or-less obliging White to capture on e7, has been the choice of Gulko.
5...Nf6 looks like it has the same effect, while developing a piece, but I was surprised after the game to discover it is not in the 2018 Mega.
5...e4 seems premature as Black is stretched to defend the advanced pawn after 6.Nd2.
6.Nxe7 Qxe7 7.d5?!
I rejected the uninspiring 7.e3 because of 7...e4 8.Nd2 d5, although my main analysis engines, Stockfish9 and Komodo9, strongly prefer White.
The text seems to be a novelty, but probably not a good one. White's position should prove hard to hold together.
7...Nf6 8.g3 c5?!
But this lets White off the hook. It may seem natural to block the centre to restrict White's bishop-pair, but the main effect of the move is to take pressure off White's centre, and I was hopeful I would have time later to open the position for my bishops.
9.Bg2 0-0 10.0-0 Na6
S9 and K9 prefer 10...e4, but like White after the simple retreat 11.Ne1.
11.a3 Bd7

Black offered a draw after playing 11...Bc8-d7

12.Nd2
Discouraging ...e4 and preparing to possibly occupy the c4 square in the event of ...b5.
12...b5 13.Qc2 Rab8 14.Rb1 Nc7 15.b3 bxc4 16.bxc4
Protecting the d5 pawn, although it seems 16.Nxc4!? was just about possible, eg 16...Nfxd5 17.Rd1, when the engines reckon White has reasonable compensation for the pawn.
16...Rb6 17.Rxb6 axb6 18.Bb2 b5 19.f4!?

19.f2-f4!? initiated sharp play. More solid was 19.e4

19...Ng4!?
Also sharp was 19...exf4 20.Rxf4, when grabbing a pawn with 20...Qxe2 is extremely risky after 21.Bxf6. The engines give 20...Qe3+ 21.Kh1 Ng4 22.Ne4 with unclear play.
20.Qc3 f6 21.h3 Nh6 22.Kh2!?
I could not see anything concrete for White, so I decided to move the king to a safer square while giving added protection to h3 and g3.
22...bxc4 23.Nxc4 Bb5 24.e4 Bd7?
Planning to send the c7 knight into d4, but Black's forces prove awkwardly placed to meet White switching play from the kingside to the queenside.
Afterward, EL said he should have played 24...Bxc4, but this runs into similar problems as in the game.
The engines give 24...Nf7, but S9 reckons White is better after 25.Rb1.
25.Qa5?
The right idea, but the wrong execution. Better was 25.fxe5 fxe5 26.Rxf8+ followed by advancing on the queenside.
25...Nb5?
Keeping to his plan of getting the knight to d4, but he should have played 25...Bb5, and then, after 26.Qc3, the same reply as suggested at move 24, ie 26...Nf7.
26.Qb6?
Not the best. Again, 26.fxe5, or 26.a4, was correct.
26...Nf7?
Too late now. Black probably had to try 26...Ra8, although S9 gives White the upper hand after 27.fxe5 fxe5 28.Ra1.
27.a4 Nd4 28.Bxd4
Possibly even stronger was, again, 28.fxe5.
28...exd4?!
This makes it easy for White by leaving the c4 knight protected by a Black pawn from frontal assault. But 28...cxd4 is met, as in the game, by 29.a5, when the passed White pawn will win material as 29...Rc8 is simply met by 30.Qb4.
29.a5 Ba4 30.a6 Ra8 31.Ra1 Bc2 32.Qb7 Qd8 33.a7 1-0

Olomouc - Czech Tour

AM playing in the seniors tournament at the summer chess festival, a Czech Tour event in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Olomouc is today a university city, but was formerly a major medieval centre whose city fathers so distrusted piped water that they kept the city's fountains, which are now a major attraction.

Much of Olomouc's city wall, which withstood sieges from the Mongols and Frederick the Great, still stands

I began the tournament by beating the only other English entrant (Ray Kearsley - 1603), and followed this up with an endgame win over a 1794.

In rounds three and four I drew against a 2099 and someone with my own 1946 rating.

Perhaps the most interesting of the four games was my round-two win.

White to make his 37th move in Wiep Terpstra (1794) - Spanton (1946)

My opponent had been focused on drawing from the get-go, and here he sought further simplification with 37.e4?
This allowed me to gain an endgame edge by 37...dxe4 38.Rxe4 Qd5 39.Rxe3 Qxf3
White faced an unenviable choice here, but after 40.gxf3 Kf7 he made matters worse by letting me make what at first glance might seem a surprising exchange: 41.f4? Rxe3!
This 'improves' White's pawn structure, or rather straightens it out - in fact the pawn ending is now a simple win for Black.
42.fxe3 f5 43.Kf2 Ke6 44.b4
Other moves are equally hopeless, eg 44.b3 Kd5 45.Ke2 Ke4, with a win similar to the game, or 44.Ke2 Kd5 45.Kd3 a4, and White's king will have to give way.
44...axb4 45.axb4 Kd5 46.Ke1 Ke4 47.Ke2 h5 48.h4 g6 49.Kd2 Kf3 0-1 (60 moves)

Gr-eight!

EXTENDED my unbeaten streak for Battersea to eight games with a backs-against-the-wall draw tonight with a 205 in the Summer League in what will almost certainly be my last game for the club before the new season starts..
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

SL...............…..White......167.........205...…...................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 +10=8-9 for a grading performance of 175.

Blunder!

BLUNDERED horribly in my last-round game in the 50+ Seniors at the British Chess Championships.

Position after 40.Kb1-c2 in Stephen Dilleigh (2016) - Spanton (1927)

I had been on the back-foot for much of the game, but here Black seems to be OK. I wavered between 40...Rb7, with ...e5 and ...f5 to come, and the immediate 40...e5 (also suggested by Graham Bolt when we went over the game  in Hull's Punch Hotel).
40...Rb7? 41.Rxe6
I had mistakenly thought my last move forced 41.b3.
Black is doing well after 40...e5 (analysis engines also like 41.f5!?) 41.Ra6 Rc7+ (GB's 41...Rb7 is also good). More problematic is 41.Be1!, although Stockfish9 reckons the position is equal after the passive 41...Ra7.
In any event, my 40th move was a mistake, which I quickly compounded.
41...Rxb2+ 42.Kd3 Be5?? 43.Bxe5 Kf5 1-0
Black is fine if White moves his rook, but 44.Bxb2 is another matter.
All in all, I played some horrible chess in Hull - missing opportunities that came my way and giving opponents unnecessary chances, but even so I picked up seven Fide elo (and my ECF performance was about 177), so I cannot complain.

Missed Opportunity

I QUICKLY built an overwhelming advantage in my game today in round six of the 50+ Seniors at the British Chess Championships...and blew it even quicker.

White to play and win in Spanton (1927) - Martin J Simons (2008)

White is winning, and lots of moves preserve that winning advantage, but most direct is the simple 16.Rh4.
I rejected it because I could not see anything convincing after 16...g5. But Stockfish9 finds a way to get into the attack the one white piece (apart from the king) that is not doing anything: 17.Rb5! c5 18.d4! Nxe4 19.Qc2.
I played the tame 16.Ng4? The game continued 16...Bxg4 17.Bxg4 Ne6 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Rh4 Ng8 20.Rxh6 Nxh6 21.Qxh6+ Kg8 22.Qxg6+ Kh8 (not 22...Qg7? 23.Qxe6+) 23.Qh6+ Kg8 24.Qg6+ ½-½.
Maybe I should have played on with two pawns for the exchange, but I was far from sure White had an advantage, and I was somewhat disheartened by the feeling I must have missed a win.
We did look at continuations in the postmortem, and the position seemed fairly equal.

Problems With The Albin

LOST badly today against Fide Master Terry Chapman, who came armed to meet my Albin Countergambit.
Chapman (2200) - Spanton (1927)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 Be6
This recommendation of Grandmaster Rustam Kasimdzhanov has been scoring better for Black than most major lines in the Albin.
6.Nbd2!
More popular is 6.e3, when 6...dxe3 7.Qxd8+ Rxd8 8.Bxe3 looks very good for White, at first glance, as he has got rid of Black's cramping d4 pawn without having to accept doubled pawns. But after, say, 8...Nge7 9.Nc3 Nf5, it turns out White has difficulties based on his uncastled king and the vulnerability of the e5 pawn. My record in this line, after 8...Nge7, is +5=2-1.
The text is stronger, I believe, and scores much better in ChessBase's 2018 Mega database.
6...Nge7 7.Nb3
White scores a very impressive 71% with this move in Mega 2018.
7...Nf5
7...Bxc4 was tried in Ivan Ivanisevic (2664) - Igor Khenkin (2655), 2008 Serbian Teams Championship. That game continued 8.Nbd4 Qd5 9.Qc2 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qxd4 11.e3 Qxe5 12.Bxc4, when White was a pawn up and had the bishop-pair in an open position (1-0, 44 moves).
8.Qd3 Be7?!
TC said in the postmortem he had been expecting 8...a5, with the idea of following up with ...a4 to displace White's queen's knight, and that does seem better than my choice.
9.Bf4 g5!? 10.g4 Nh6
Other knight moves are also unappetising.
11.Bg3 Nxg4?!
Probably better was 11...Bxg4.
12.Nbxd4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Nh6?
This retrograde move, coming after a series of indifferent moves, is definitely bad. I should have got on with development with 13...Qd7, although White is still much better.
14.Bg2 c6 15.0-0 Qd7 16.Ne6?!
Rather unnecessary as White's knight is at least as good as the bishop it captures. Bringing a rook to the d file made sense.
16...fxe6 17.Rfd1 Qxd3
My king is more exposed than White's, so I more-or-less had to swop queens.
18.exd3 0-0-0 19.d4 Nf5 20.d5 Nxg3 21.hxg3 exd5 22.cxd5 cxd5 23.Bxd5
After massed exchanges, we are down to a late-middlegame in which opposite-coloured bishops give some hope of drawing chances, but TC eventually wins in a surprising way.
23...Kb8 24.Kg2 Rhf8 25.Bf3 Bc5 26.Rxd8+
Also strong is 26.e6.
26...Rxd8
Can you guess White's next move?

Position after 26...Rf8xd8

27.Rd1!?
I was stunned by this voluntary exchange into an opposite-coloured bishops ending. It may well not be the best move in the position, but it does seem to be the simplest way to win.
27...Rxd1 28.Bxd1 Bd4 29.f4 Bxb2 30.a4 Kc7 31.Kf3 Kd7
Analysis engines Komodo9 and Stockfish9 give 31...h5 32.Ke4 h4 33.gxh4 gxh4, but reckon White is winning after 34.Bf3.
32.Ke4 gxf4 33.gxf4 a6 34.Be2 Ke7 35.f5
White's connected passed pawns cannot be stopped.
The game concluded:
35...Ba3 36.f6+ Kf8 37.a5 Bb2 38.Kf5 Bc3 39.e6 Bb4 40.Bf3 1-0

Quick Win

GOT back to winning ways today with a short but sweet win in round four of the 50+ Seniors at the British Chess Championships in Hull.
The game was effectively over in well under 20 moves, although my opponent played on to the bitter end.
Spanton (1927) - David W Stephenson (1817)
1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5
The first time this position has been on the board in one of my games.
3.Bf4
This London System approach has been played by Topalov, Tal, Petrosian and Nimzowitsch.
3...Nf6 4.Nc3?!
Overwhelmingly most popular is 4.e3.
The text switches the game into what is sometimes called a Barry Attack, at least when played against the King's Indian Defence. The combination of Nc3 with Bf4 is a sort of cross between a London (Bf4 with the queen's knight usually going to d2) and a Veresov (Nc3 and Bg5).
4...d6?!
It looks tempting to play this as ...e5 would (eventually) come with tempo. But I felt it was too early to decide whether Black's d pawn belonged on d6 or d5.
Best in the postmortem seemed to be 4...Bb4 with ...Ne4 to come. White can hardly claim an advantage after this.
5.Qd3!?
Seeking to enforce e4, which Black can only prevent with 5...d5. If that is the best move, and my analysis engines quite like it, then Black's fourth was a mistake.
5...b6?
After this, Black is close to being positionally lost.
6.e4 fxe4
On 6...Ba6 I intended 7.Qe3, and if 7...Ng4, then 8.Qd2 with a good game.
7.Nxe4 Nd5
Black is well behind in development, but this move does not make the situation worse as White is obliged to move his dark-square bishop. Nevertheless it is hard to believe Black should have done anything other than got on with bringing out his minor pieces.
8.Bg3 Be7 9.c3 0-0 10.0-0-0 a5 11.h4 c5?
Stockfish9 gives 11...h6, but reckons Black has the upper hand. Komodo9 gives the same move, and has Black as almost equal (at first - it later gives White a small edge). I am pretty sure Stockfish9 is closer to the truth.
After the text, Black is lost.
12.Neg5 g6 13.Re1
I spent some time looking at 13.Nxh7!? with the idea of 13...Kxh7 14.h5. It does seem to be sound, but in the end I could not be sure, and anyway my position was so overwhelming I did not need to sac.
13...Rf6 14.h5 Nc6 15.hxg6 hxg6 16.Qe4 Rf5
The analysis engines' choice, but there is a devastating reply.

Position after 16...Rf6-f5

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*
17.Rh8+!
Black played on with 17...Kg7, but his optimism was not rewarded.