Game of the Week 12

Broadstairs’ recent victory at Bridge resembled a lap of honour as the team secured the Walker Shield with a 100% record. It is fitting, therefore, that we should feature one of their wins as the latest Game of the Week. Michael Doyle’s typically swashbuckling performance was not without the odd alarm and readers playing through the game may wish to pause after 15. Bc6 to consider how Black could extricate himself from what looks like a perilous position.   While it is fair to say that White’s 17th and 18th moves were not his best options, it was nevertheless a fine win for Black.

White: Ray Rennells (82)        Black: Michael Doyle (80)

Walker Shield:  Bridge v Broadstairs 

Walker Shield v Bridge (a)

Broadstairs  3½       Bridge ½

1. Andy Flood   (113) 1-0      Stuart Honey (e110)
2. Reg Pidduck    (104) ½-½      Shahid Sahi (107)
3. Bob Cronin  (101) 1-0      Graeme Boxall (98)
4. Michael Doyle (80)  1-0      Ray Rennells (82)

 

Reg Pidduck writes:

This win gave us 6/6 in the Walker Shield and with the grades being very even we expected a close match.

BOARD 4. SUPER SUB STRIKES AGAIN. Michael Doyle has a secret weapon, the Birmingham Defence (so named by Tony Miles). It suits his attacking nature as he came out all guns blazing to claim an early finish against Ray Rennells: 1-0

BOARD 2. A PHONE INCIDENT. I played my favourite defence (the Dutch) against Shahid. We ended up with a blocked pawn position with same coloured bishops and I offered a draw but he wanted to play on to see what would transpire. A very quiet phone ring then went off and it wasn’t until Graeme and Shahid both looked at me that I realised it was Shahid’s . I did not claim the game and we agreed the draw: 1½-½

BOARD 3. BOB ON TOP. Bob Cronin’s good form continued against Graeme Boxall as each time I looked he was always comfortable. He ended up in the endgame three pawns to the good and Graeme resigned: 2½-½. (Bob was unbeaten in all his five games played in the Walker Shield this season.)

BOARD 1. SOLID ANDY. Slowly and surely Andy wears his opponents down. Always looking assured, he never looked in trouble and, like Bob, ended three pawns up so Stuart Honey resigned: 3½-½ (Andy was unbeaten in all six games this season.)

Final score 3½-½  and the Walker Shield returns to Broadstairs.

In the six matches there have been 24 games in which we have scored 18½  points and dropped only 5½.   Well done team! (Congratulations, Reg – Ed)

 

Blunder of the Week part 2

Following on from the earlier Blunder of the Week – see April 1st – it did not take long to find a worse calamity than the one that befell your correspondent.  Step forward Lithuanian WGM Deimante Daulyte. The following position is taken from her game with Polish WGM Monika Socko at the recent World Championships.  Commenting on the position, GM Michael Adams said that White could win in any number of ways, adding dryly that 1. b6 mate had much to recommend. However……..

White: Deimante Daulyte (2397)                     Black: Monika Socko (2463)

Women’s World Championship Sochi 2015

1. Qa5??          Qxa5

resigns

Millar Cup v Bridge B (a)

Broadstairs  2½       Bridge B 4½

1 David Faldon (170) 0-1         Leon Wooldridge (190)
2 David Horton (164) ½-½         Alan Atkinson (182)
3 Paul Carfrae (132) ½-½         Robert Collopy (164)
4 John Couzens (131) 1-0         Mark Mortimer (159)
5 Andy Flood (113) 0-1         James Essinger (155)
6 Bob Cronin (101) ½-½         Lee Butcher (e149)
7 Michael Doyle (80) 0-1         Chris Stampe (133)

David Faldon writes:

The match got off to a furious start with results on the bottom three boards within an hour or so. Board 7 featured a Dragon opening with opposite-side castling and both sides attacking like mad. Unfortunately for us, Chris found a killer rook sacrifice which left Michael with no defence. The board 5 game seemed to be going our way at that point with Andy an exchange up but a sudden moment of blindness cost him a whole queen: 0-2. At about the same time Bob’s game on board 6 was agreed drawn after mass exchanges hoovered off all the pieces. Paul’s game on board 3 was next to finish – another draw – and then John on board 4 spotted a neat combination to finish off his higher-rated opponent: 2-3. This was a splendid result for John, compounded by the fact that he was almost certainly winning even without the final combination. Both games on the top boards could have gone either way, but in the end we only got a solitary half-point – David H’s complicated and hard-fought draw. All in all, the Broadstairs team put up a pretty good show – despite the final score – against a very strong Bridge B side that had already won the Millar Cup with a round to spare. Congratulations to David H, Paul, John and Bob for their results on the night, and of course to Bridge B, whose match record for the season of eleven wins and one draw is going to take some beating.

News of Former Members

            Toby Stock                    Oliver Finnegan

At the recent St Albans Congress two faces familiar to Broadstairs players were participating in their respective sections.  Toby Stock (left) was a member from 2009-2011 before moving to Mexico to be with his girlfriend. Now married and a father, he is back in the UK living near Cambridge, and has started playing chess again. He was in contention for a possible prize in the Challengers (U180) before losing his last game to finish on 2½/5.  Older players may remember Toby’s father, William, who played for Birchington for many years.  After twenty years he has emerged from a self-imposed chess exile and is playing for Rainham where he now lives.  At St Albans he scored 3/5 in the Minor section (U120).

On the right is Oliver Finnegan, who won the Goodall Cup (the club championship) in 2001 and played for Broadstairs for a few seasons at the start of the millennium. He now plays for Loughton in Essex and scored 2½/5 in the Major section (U160). He was disappointed and with a January grade of 158, that’s understandable. He asked after current members and said he saw David Wheatley and Clive Le Baigue recently. We may see him at the Thanet Congress in the summer.

Photographs by Brendan O’Gorman