Christmas Quiz 2015

Following a distinct shortage of correct answers to last year’s quiz, it has been decided to make this year’s a little easier.  In fact, it is so easy that if you feel too embarrassed to have a go yourself, pass it on to the nearest two year old and if it’s too easy for him or her, give it to the dog. The questions are designed so that everyone with the most basic knowledge of the game can score eight or nine out of ten but can you get all ten correct?

  1. Where was the 1972 World Chess Championship between Fischer and Spassky played?
  2. Who comes next in this sequence: Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca…….?
  3. Which journalist is the current President of the English Chess Federation?
  4. The musical ‘Chess’ was the result of an unlikely but successful partnership between which three men?
  5. The recently-completed London Chess Classic was the third and final stage in the Chess Grand Tour. Where were the first two events held?
  6. Which former British chess champion has more recently been seen offering his views on television programmes in Gogglebox?
  7. Who was the FIDE President who famously stopped the Karpov-Kasparov World Championship in 1984?
  8. What German word is used to describe a situation where whatever move a player makes will by force weaken his position?
  9. Here are a couple of tantalising questions to finish off with….The Erasmus High School, Brooklyn included among its pupils at one point in the 1950s a future World Chess Champion and a future Oscar-winning actress and singer. Name them.
  10. Which former world chess champion played 86 games unbeaten between July 15 1972 and April 26 1973?

Good luck and Happy Christmas to all our visitors.  Answers in the New Year.

 

Game of the Week 4

Here is an exciting miniature from last week’s victory over Ramsgate. As David pointed out in his match report, it is unusual for him to be the first to finish but Brian’s uncompromising approach meant that a quick win was always likely and the only question was who would be the winner.  It did not take long to find out…

White: David Faldon (175)            Black: Brian Westover (153)

Millar Cup: Broadstairs v Ramsgate

 

London Chess Classic

The London Chess Classic, the third and final leg of the Chess Grand Tour 2015, began on Friday 4th December and continues until Sunday 13th and what a stellar line-up there is:

 Carlsen                   Caruana           Nakamura           Topalov              Grischuk
          Anand                  Giri                Aronian                Adams           Vachier-Lagrave

Each tournament in the Grand Chess Tour has a prize fund of $300,000 and there is a bonus pool of $150,000 for the top three finishers in the Grand Tour based on their overall performance to make a total prize fund of over 1 million dollars. Round 3 begins this afternoon (Sunday) and after two rounds there has only been one victory.  Here it is.

White: Veselin Topalov (2803)                                 Black: Anish Giri (2784)

London Chess Classic 2015      Rd 1

41.Kd3 Qd2+ 42.Kc4 Rc8+ and mate next move.

 

 

 

Swindle of the Century (part 2)

White: Larry Evans                                 Black: Sammy Reshevsky

US Championships 1964

Spoil alert! If you have not read the previous article, the ‘Swindle of the Century (part 1)’, it is recommended that you do so before reading this one which gives the game away. The challenge was to work out the result of the game which did not – contrary to all all appearances – end in a win for Black. If you read the article and resisted the urge to Google the answer, here it is.

The game ended in a draw! 1….Qxg3 may have seemed the obvious move but how often has the obvious move proved to be the wrong one? The correct move was 1….Qf6! If 2. gxf4 then 2….Qxh4 wins. Instead, this is what happened:

1….Qxg3?  2. Qg8!!

Larry Evans describes what happened next:

“Reshevsky still had no inkling of the plot.  He actually thought I was reaching out to shake his hand, which is a customary gesture when resigning.”

    2…..Kxg8

3. Rxg7+!!    Draw agreed

Black must either capture the rook (stalemate) or face perpetual check. Larry Evans describes his opponent’s reaction:

“Reshevsky’s face turned a delicate shade of scarlet.  He laughed wryly at his own stupidity….”  It wasn’t long afterwards that the the result was dubbed ‘The Swindle of the Century’.

 

Millar Cup v Ramsgate (a)

Broadstairs     5                Ramsgate     2 

1 David Faldon (175) 1-0         Brian Westover (153)
2 Bob Page (145) ½-½         David Williams (151)
3 Paul Carfrae (131) ½-½         Steve Guy (138)
4 John Couzens (118) 1-0         Malcolm Snashall (122)
5 Bob Cronin (112) ½-½         Brian Williamson (96)
6 Andy Flood (111) 1-0         Fred Hiron (86)
7 Reg Pidduck (106) ½-½         Josh Vaughan (77)

David Faldon writes:

Our second Millar Cup win of the season was a healthy step towards our goal of regaining the Thanet Shield from Ramsgate, last year’s winners. For a change, board 1 was first to finish. My risky plan of early queenside castling triggered a huge all-in assault as Brian sacrificed three pieces for an attack, but the white king proved hard to catch. The exchange variation of the French doesn’t have to be dull. The next four games to finish were the four draws, but none of these was exactly dull either. Bob P on board 2 found a nice move to defuse some annoying pressure and Bob C on board 5 scored his first half-point of the season with a very well-judged game from beginning to end. The board 7 game was equally well-played on both sides. The most exciting of the draws, however, was on board 3. Paul got a passed pawn to the sixth rank and seemed poised for victory, only for Steve to save himself with a clever rook-for-bishop sacrifice. By the time the last of these four draws was agreed, both of the remaining games looked very promising for us, and so it proved. First John wrapped up his game on board 4 when he took his passed f-pawn in for a touchdown and then Andy completed our 5-2 victory with a neat demonstration of the mischief you can cause with two knights against two bishops. All in all, a very satisfying win. Let’s hope this good form can carry over into the new year.