Game of the Week 8

England’s achievement in finishing second in the World Team Championship is even more impressive when one considers that most members of the team suffered from various degrees of illness during the tournament. In the match against Iran the first reserve, Jonathan Speelman, played on board 4 instead of Gawain Jones who was too ill to play. What is less well known is that Speelman himself was also unwell but he played because he was less unwell than Jones. The fact that the veteran Speelman was playing at all is a reflection on the difficulty the England captain Malcolm Pein had in raising a team at such short notice as he explained in his interview. Michael Adams’ disappointing tournament is partly attributable to his not feeling 100% but he did manage to win a crucial game in the Iran match after Speelman’s early defeat. His opponent was Parham Maghsoodloo, winner of the World Junior Championship last year and featured on this site (click here). From 1-0 down, England fought back to win 3-1 which provided the springboard for their late surge to silver. Malcolm Pein described this as ‘a great win’. See what you think.

White:   Parham Maghsoodloo (2673)     Black:  Michael Adams (2708)

World Team Championship 2019 

Game of the Week 7

This Game of the Week features the player making all the running in the Broadstairs club championship and the only man to take so much as half a point off him. Clearly, mention in the Club News article of Richard’s 100% record acted as a minor jinx (although it did not prevent him from bouncing back to form in his next match). For Andy, it was another good result in what has been a fine season for him. The comments are Richard’s.

White:   Richard Clement (145)     Black:  Andy Flood (113)

Goodall Cup 2019 

Game of the Week 6

There was an article in the paper recently extolling the virtues of certain English expressions unknown to Americans which have to be explained by expats to their friends stateside. One of those mentioned was ‘car crash’ which as an idiom we understand as a minor disaster or calamity. This is probably the best way to describe the following game. White, aware of Black’s familiarity with the French Defence, decides unwisely to try something different. This was a mistake because while avoiding the French, he walked into Black’s other speciality, the Dutch. Marvellous – if it’s not the French, it’s the Dutch. I blame Brexit, he thought ruefully afterwards. In fact, despite the obvious discomfort of black pawns on d5 and f5, coupled with knights on e4 and f6, White managed to achieve some sort of respectability with the exchange of minor pieces. However, an ill-considered decision to bring his king to the queenside in anticipation of further exchanges proved his undoing and after Black’s clever 27….Qh4, Stockfish took a dim view of White’s position. From then, as they say, it was all downhill and Black finished the game neatly.

White:  Robert Page (142)      Black:  Reg Pidduck (102)

 Goodall Cup (Broadstairs Club Championship) 

Game of the Week 5

Congratulations to the Mick Croft Cup team in winning Broadstairs’ second trophy of the season with their fine win on Monday. As John’s report makes clear, it was a tense occasion with two evenly matched teams.  At 1-0 down, the next result was crucial. If Woodnesborough won that game, Broadstairs would have to take at least two and a half points from the remaining three games to win the trophy. Paul Johnson’s game looked like being the next to finish and the rook and pawn ending was far from easy. As spectators gathered around the board, full credit to Paul for holding his nerve and winning this vital game that proved to be the turning point in the match.

 

Mick Croft Cup Final v Woodnesborough  

White:  Raj Sookhurry (e110)      Black:  Paul Johnson (116)

Game of the Week 4

Here is a heavyweight clash for Game of the Week: numbers two and three in the club championship. Imagine Man City v Spurs.  Thank you to Trefor for sending this in. He modestly claims in his email that he is ‘not sure it qualifies as Game of the Week but the finish was quite nice’.  As we are becoming accustomed to seeing with Trefor’s games, his notes are a welcome addition and explanation to the game.  Don’t hold back if you think you have a game that is worth sharing with a wider audience. I suspect players are too modest to send them in but please do so – they are often much better than you think.

White:  Trefor Owens (167)      Black:  Shany Rezvany (163)

 Goodall Cup (Broadstairs Club Championship)