Exmouth 50+ Update

YOU may recall I was offered a draw by my first-round opponent, whose move it was in the position below:

Black has just played 46...Nd4-e6 in Susan Selley (100) - Spanton (168)

I confessed to having involuntarily laughed at the offer, my only defence being I was caught by surprise as my advantage was so big (Stockfish10 reckons Black is more than +7.5 ahead).
With that in mind, I did not publish the conclusion of the game.
However, it seems Black's advantage is not so obvious to everyone.
One friend, graded 128, said White should exchange pieces as he could not see a way for Black's king to penetrate White's position.
This can be easily dismissed as 47.Bxe6 Kxe6 is hopeless after, for example, 48.Kd3 Ke5 49.Ke3 (49.g4 Kf4) c4 etc.
I can well imagine another player with a similar grading correctly rejecting 47.Bxe6 out of hand as clearly losing.
The point is two players of similar overall strength can nevertheless have huge differences in particular aspects of their abilities, eg endings, openings, attack, defence, etc.
With this in mind, I think it will be instructive, at least for some people, to see how the game finished.
47.Bd5 Ng7
Aiming for the g3 pawn.
48.Bf7 Kf6 49.Bc4 Nh5 50.g4
If 50.Kf3, then 50...Ke5 etc.
50...Nf4 51.Bf1 Ke5 52.Kf3 Kd4 53.h4 c4 54.hxg5 hxg5 55.Kf2 c3 56.Ke1
Or 56.Kf3 c2.
The remaining moves were:
56...Kxe4 57.Kd1 d5 58.Bb5 Kf3 59.Bd7 d4 60.Kc2 Nd5 61.Kd3 Nb4+ 62.Kxd4 c2 0-1
Here are the final standings for the 50+ tournament:

Pos	Name	Grade		Code	1	2	3	4	5	A	B	C	D
1	Robin BW Moss	201A	FM	115892C	w16+	b3=	w13+	w5+	b7+	4½	5	1051	210
2	Mike P Waddington	188A	FM	153139G	b14+	w6+	b7-	w4=	w3+	3½	5	950	190
3	Graham Bolt	175A		106951C	b12+	w1=	b8+	w7+	b2-	3½	5	966	193
4	Jonathan C Wells	186A		121366A	b10+	w7-	b12+	b2=	w6=	3	5	870	174
5	Alan M Brown	186B		142337L	w9=	b16=	w11+	b1-	w13+	3	5	879	176
6	Jeff R Dawson	172A		109469F	w15+	b2-	w9=	b16+	b4=	3	5	870	174
7	Jamie Morgan	160A		161561A	bye+	b4+	w2+	b3-	w1-	3	4	749	187
8	Stephen P Dilleigh	182A		109679F	w11+	b13=	w3-	b9=	b10=	2½	5	795	159
9	Ian J Clarke	156A		139005D	b5=	w14=	b6=	w8=	b11=	2½	5	832	166
10	Steve K Dean	154A		134631D	w4-	bye=	b17+	b13=	w8=	2½	4	650	163
11	Graham Hillman	135A		292522K	b8-	w17+	b5-	w15+	w9=	2½	5	715	143
12	David R Rogers	132A		118154D	w3-	b15+	w4-	b14=	w16+	2½	5	768	154
13	Tim R Spanton	168A		132638H	b17+	w8=	b1-	w10=	b5-	2	5	801	160
14	John CH Nyman	157A		116344K	w2-	b9=	w16-	w12=	bye+	2	4	534	134
15	John Jeremiah	109A		309150J	b6-	w12-	bye+	b11-	w17+	2	4	416	104
16	Paul A Aston	158E		105937D	b1-	w5=	b14+	w6-	b12F	1½	5	745	149
17	Susan Selley	100C		268136F	w13-	b11-	w10-	bye+	b15-	1	4	324	81

Index:

A = Player's score

B = Number of graded games played

C = Total grading points

D = Estimated Grading performance And for the 65+: Pos Name Grade Code 1 2 3 4 5 A B C D 1 Alan K Crombleholme 172A 109109J b16+ w8+ w5+ b3= w9+ 4½ 5 1069 214 2 William Adaway 165A 285981G b25= w32+ b26+ w11+ b4+ 4½ 5 965 193 3 Kenneth I Norman 187C CM 116276H w22= w33+ b15+ w1= b8+ 4 5 962 192 4 Andrew F Footner 183A 110729L b14+ w6+ bye= b21+ w2- 3½ 4 746 187 5 Roger D de Coverly 177A 109494E b24+ w31+ b1- w25+ b11= 3½ 5 896 179 6 H William Ingham 163A 173310C w18+ b4- w28+ b20= w29+ 3½ 5 801 160 7 Peter E Halmkin 152C 147620J b11- w34+ b33+ bye= w21+ 3½ 4 695 174 8 Paul A Hutchinson 180E 113313F w23+ b1- w27+ b22+ w3- 3 5 863 173 9 Ian N Heppell 177A 112529B w15= b36+ w22= b23+ b1- 3 5 828 166 10 Jim A Johnson 176D 113689G b31- w35+ b37+ w19= b13= 3 5 774 155 11 Norman A Hutchinson 173A 240954K w7+ b21= w17+ b2- w5= 3 5 849 170 12 Adrian O Pickersgill 170A 117110A w17= b27= w42+ b18= w16= 3 5 741 148 13 Paul G Jackson 160A 162291C w26= b42= w36+ b17= w10= 3 5 760 152 14 Brian GE Gosling 156A 111446D w4- b29= w43+ w26= b35+ 3 5 737 147 15 Raymond J Gamble 155A 111035E b9= w37+ w3- b34+ w20= 3 5 789 158 16 Ronnie Burton 148B 107763G w1- b47+ w38+ bye= b12= 3 4 618 155 17 Martin C Page 143A 116612J b12= w38+ b11- w13= b31+ 3 5 824 165 18 Anthony Hart 140D 279788E b6- w44+ b46+ w12= b19= 3 5 754 151 19 Phil T Foley 139A 259148A w21- b48+ w41+ b10= w18= 3 5 726 145 20 Eddie Fierek 126A 291101C bye= w45= b31+ w6= b15= 3 4 626 157 21 Paul J Benson 162A 106631G b19+ w11= b30+ w4- b7- 2½ 5 769 154 22 Trefor F Thynne 158A 120405B b3= w46+ b9= w8- b25= 2½ 5 810 162 23 Ian McAllan 156A 115193K b8- w39= b32+ w9- b44+ 2½ 5 721 144 24 Ivor S Annetts 155B 105769J w5- b43= bye= w46+ b26= 2½ 4 552 138 25 Michael R Wiltshire 143A 126896L w2= b28= w45+ b5- w22= 2½ 5 733 147 26 Dinah M Norman 134A WCM 116277K b13= w41+ w2- b14= w24= 2½ 5 730 146 27 Paul Foster 130A 110795B bye= w12= b8- w44= b45+ 2½ 4 554 139 28 Malcolm A Roberts 128A 118034E bye= w25= b6- b39= w43+ 2½ 4 524 131 29 William F Harris 124B 245003D b41- w14= b40+ w30+ b6- 2½ 5 594 119 30 Ian Farrow 104A 110465C b35= w40+ w21- b29- w42+ 2½ 5 612 122 31 Tim F Woodward 153A 127076L w10+ b5- w20- b36+ w17- 2 5 700 140 32 Robert AJ Hurn 132D 178095F w43+ b2- w23- b45= w38= 2 5 612 122 33 Malcolm Belt 131B 173289E w44+ b3- w7- b38= w39= 2 5 600 120 34 Robert H Jones 129C 113895K b38- b7- w47+ w15- bye+ 2 4 414 104 35 Raymond J Kearsley 128A 127359A w30= b10- w39= b41+ w14- 2 5 566 113 36 Paul W O'Brien 128A 151595A b39+ w9- b13- w31- b46+ 2 5 654 131 37 Geoff W Naldrett 120A 116056E w48+ b15- w10- b42= b40= 2 5 561 112 38 Roger G Waters 118C 191066J w34+ b17- b16- w33= b32= 2 5 633 127 39 George W Phillips 100B 117056K w36- b23= b35= w28= b33= 2 5 605 121 40 Peter Carrick 87A 179333A bye= b30- w29- b47+ w37= 2 4 358 90 41 Hazel Welch 82A 104846G w29+ b26- b19- w35- b47+ 2 5 498 100 42 David Orr 129B 263201K b45= w13= b12- w37= b30- 1½ 5 558 112 43 Michael J Dow 118B 109828H b32- w24= b14- w48+ b28- 1½ 5 549 110 44 Ray K Hunt 109A 113241G b33- b18- w48+ b27= w23F 1½ 5 519 104 45 Philip L Gordon 105D 111426J w42= b20= b25- w32= w27- 1½ 5 560 112 46 Richard J Smith 123B 194728L w47+ b22- w18- b24- w36- 1 5 514 103 47 Robin J Cubbon 60A 140842C b46- w16- b34- w40- w41- 0 5 219 44 48 Douglas J Gardner 21D 315794F b37- w19- b44- b43- 0 4 44 11

Exmouth 50+ Round 5

FROM this morning's final round of the Royal Beacon Seniors:

Black to make his 32nd move in Alan M Brown (186) - Spanton (168)

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White is better thanks to his farside pawn-majority, but Black has very good drawing chances after 32...R3e7 or 32...a5. Instead there came:
32...R8e7? 33.Rxa7! (1-0, 47 moves)
My final score of +1=2-2 was an ECF grading performance of 160.2.

Minority Attack

Spanton (168) - Steve Dean (154)
Royal Beacon Seniors 50+,  Exmouth, Round 4
Veresov
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 c6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.cxd3!?
6.Qxd3 is much more popular in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database, but Stockfish10 and Komodo10 narrowly prefer the text.
6...e6 7.Nf3 Be7 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 a6!?
Black castled in the two games to reach this position in Mega19, but Komodo10, at least for a while, prefers the text.
10.Rfc1 0-0 11.a3 Ne8 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Bg3 Qe7 14.b4 Bxg3 15.hxg3 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 Qxe5 18.d4 Qe7 19.Rcb1 Nd6 20.a4 b5
One of the standard responses to a Minority Attack when White does not have a light-square bishop. The idea is Black accepts a weakness on c6, but masks it by dropping a knight into c4.
21.Qe1 Nc4 22.Ne2 h5!?
Black seeks counterplay by weakening the white king's defences.
23.Nf4 h4 24.gxh4 Qxh4 25.Nd3?
It was probably time to try to bail out, for example with 25.axb5. The engines, especially Stockfish10, strongly dislike moving the knight from the kingside.
25...g6?!
A better way to double on the kingside was almost certainly 25...Rad8, intending ...Rd6 etc, not least because this also gives the option of ...Rg6 or even …Rf6 in some circumstances.
26.g3 Qh3 27.Nf4
Realising the error of my 25th move.
27...Qf5 28.axb5 axb5 29.Qe2 Kg7 30.Qd3

In this position Black came up with an unusual way to proceed

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30...Ra4!?
An imaginative way to switch the attack to the queenside, but the engines prefer 30...Qf6 or 30...Qg5.
31.Qxf5 gxf5 32.Nd3 Rfa8 33.Rxa4 bxa4 34.Ra1 a3 35.Ra2 Kf6 36.Nc5 Ke7
Not 36...Rb8?? 37.Nd7+.
37.Kf1 Rb8 38.Nd3 Rh8 39.Ke2 Rh1 40.Ne1 Rh8
The engines' 40...Nxe3!? 41.Kxe3 Rxe1+ 42.Kd3 Rb1 43.Rxa3 Rxb4 44.Ra7+ Kf6 45.Rc7 is also approximately equal.
41.Nc2 Ra8 42.Kd3 Nb2+ 43.Kc3?!
Trying for more than the position justifies.
43...Nd1+ 44.Kb3 Nxf2 45.Nxa3 Ne4 46.Rc2 Kd7 47.b5 cxb5 48.Nxb5 Rg8 49.Rc7+ Ke6 50.Rc6+ Kd7 51.Rc7+ ½–½

Exmouth 50+ Round 3

I LOST as Black to a player graded 201.

Morphing The French IV

HAD my fourth chance to try to play against the French Defence in the style of Paul Morphy this afternoon.
Spanton (168) - Stephen Dilleigh (186)
Royal Beacon Seniors 50+, Exmouth, Round 2
French Exchange
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.0-0 Nb4!?
Not a popular choice, especially when compared with 6...Nge7 and 6...Bg4.
7.Re1+ Nge7 8.Be2 0-0 9.a3 Nbc6 10.Nc3 a6
Protecting against White winning the bishop-pair with Nb5.

SD said in the postmortem that from here to the end he felt he never fully equalised, but then again was never in serious danger 

11.Bd3 h6 12.h3 Bd6 13.Ne2 Qd7 14.Bf4 Bf5 15.Bxd6 Qxd6 16.Ng3 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 Qg6 18.Rad1 Rfe8 19.Kf1 Qxd3+ 20.Rxd3 Ng6 21.Rd3 Kf8 22.Nf5 Nge7 23.Nxe7 Rxe7 24.Rxe7 Nxe7 25.Ne5 Rd8 26.g4
Restricting the black knight.
26...Nc8 27.b3 ½–½

Not So Funny

I REACHED the following position this afternoon in round one of the 50+ (junior wrinklies) section of the Royal Beacon Seniors at Exmouth, Devon.

Black has just played 46...Nd4-e6 in Susan Selley (100) - Spanton (168)

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At this point, rather than moving, my opponent offered a draw. I was so surprised that I am afraid to say I burst out laughing, and immediately said: "No!"
This is wrong on two counts: first, if someone offers a draw before moving, you should ask to see the person's move before deciding whether to accept the draw offer; second, and more important, I should not have laughed.
In my defence, I can point to the fact that I was almost two hours ahead on the clock (the time control was 40 moves in two hours followed by the rest of the game in one hour), and my advantage was so big that Komodo10 reckons I am the equivalent of about a rook ahead, while Stockfish10 reckons this is a gross underestimate, putting me at more than +7.5.
No doubt I have behaved in a similarly deluded way at the board when facing a much stronger opponent, but I cannot remember anyone being so rude as to actually start laughing (at least not externally).