Champions Showdown

Is it me or are chess tournaments becoming more complicated? The Champions Showdown which has just started in St Louis boasts that the games feature no increments or delays so we can expect a few exciting time scrambles. In fact, there could be many such scraps because although the tournament is only scheduled to last six days, there are so many games to be played that it resembles a series of penalty shootouts with no preamble of a proper match beforehand. Eight players are involved and so far as your correspondent can see, there is no overall winner. They are divided into four pairs: Nakamura v Topalov, Caruana v Grischuk, So v Dominguez and Carlsen v Ding Liren.  The first round consists of four games for which each player has 30 minutes. There are six games in round two with 20 minutes each, 10 minutes for the next eight in round 3 and finally only 5 minutes for the last 12 games in round 4. For each match the winner gets $60,000, the loser $40,000 – yes, $40,000 for losing! Why did no-one ask me? And that appears to be it. No semi-final or final and while three of the four games are under way with round 1 completed, Carlsen v Ding Liren begins on Saturday. Apparently, Carlsen had a prior engagement in Germany. The good news from that is that the tournament will therefore have to continue until Nov 16 with Carlsen’s match the only one left. Meanwhile, this is what happens at the highest level when you are short of time and losing:

White:   Alexander Grischuk (2785)     Black: Fabiano Caruana  (2794)

Champions Showdown 2017

Match drawn! While this was clearly entertaining for the spectators, it is not to everyone’s taste. As Mr Spock might have said, ‘It’s chess, Jim, but not as we know it.’ Caruana was of the same view:

‘I think it puts a lot of psychological pressure on the players from an early stage… Generally, a game shouldn’t end with one side losing on time in a completely won position, but it’s ok for one tournament.’ 

Perhaps the tournament should have been played last weekend to coincide with Fireworks Night.

Walker Shield v Ramsgate (a)

                                           Broadstairs  1         Ramsgate 3 

1 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1    Malcolm Snashall (107)
2 Bob Cronin (104) 0-1    Kenneth Keeler (91)
3 Josh Vaughan (98) 0-1    Bob Wallace  (85)
4 Michael Doyle (81) 1-0    Terry Green (47)

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 2. Bob’s game against Ken Keeler looked even for the first hour. When I looked again Bob was a piece down from which he never recovered. 1-0 down

BOARD 3. Josh got a rook and a pawn for a knight and a bishop early on and was pushing for a win. Bob Wallace then got the swap offs he needed and the end game went.   Josh, with just his king, and Bob with king, knight and bishop. All credit to Bob finding the right moves to get the checkmate. 2-0 down.

BOARD 4.  Captain Michael went a knight up and made it tell in getting a passed pawn, finally getting a touchdown to secure a win. (Michael is now 3/3 in the Walker) 2-1 down.

BOARD 1 Malcolm Snashall is my HEX . In all the years I have known him I have never beaten him.  I was a pawn down in an endgame where a draw now was not enough. In venturing out, he finished me off with a series of checks and the game was lost .( Looking forward to our next encounter Malcolm. ) A 3-1 loss.

We have now played 3, won 2, lost 1 in the Walker Shield.

 

Hargreaves Shield v Folkestone (h)

                                              Broadstairs  4         Folkestone   0 

1 Bob Page (135) 1-0  Andrew Haycock (e101)
2 Paul Carfrae (133) 1-0  David Erwee (96)
3 John Couzens 116) 1-0  Robert Twigg (e70)
4 Andy Flood (106) 1-0  def

Andy Flood writes:

Hats off to Folkestone who played some great chess and were very unlucky to leave Broadstairs with nothing but a 4 – 0 defeat. Whilst they had to concede Board 4 to start 1–0 down, they gave their Broadstairs opponents a real run for their money. On Board 1 Bob Page maintained his 100% win record going into a evenly balanced end game in which he was able to use his experience to go 1, 2 and then 3 pawns up to secure a win. Paul Carfrae on Board 2 was always in a strong position but David Erwee was finding the best defensive moves, creating a little bit of counter play before finally losing late on in the evening. Board 3 was the last game to finish, as Robert Twigg sought to beat the clock and find the killer moves. The Gullbuster – or the Giantkiller as he is now known – was comfortably controlling the early part of the game, going two pawns up. However, his opponent sacrificed a rook, broke though John’s defence and then chased the black King around the board going for a win. Whilst there were opportunities for White to pick up points through both a checkmate and a perpetual check, John resiliently held on to win on time.

So a good result for Broadstairs but Folkestone played well above their ratings and were unlucky to face the long drive back with nothing to show for their efforts. There is only one thing worse than driving home from Broadstairs to Folkestone on a Monday evening with no points and that is driving home from Folkestone to Broadstairs on a Friday evening with no points.

John the Giantkiller

David Faldon’s match report for last week’s Millar Cup match against Bridge made it clear that defeat isn’t everything and that every now and then you witness an “I was there!” game. Rather like the old story of London buses, you wait for one great performance and two come along at once. It’s a shame that the draw between Paul Carfrae (133) and Richard Eales (195) – which I hope we may yet feature on this site – was lost in the celebration of John Couzens’ victory over Alan Atkinson which provides us with this week’s Game of the Week. In the final position Black lost on time but by then the game was John’s. If you weren’t there – and I wasn’t! – play through the game below and see if you agree with John who said that it was ‘probably the best game I’ve ever played!’

White:   John Couzens (116)     Black: Alan Atkinson  (175)

Millar Cup v Bridge B

Millar Cup v Bridge B (a)

                               Broadstairs  1½         Bridge B   5½ 

1 David Faldon (174) 0-1   Vishnu Singh (205 )
2 Paul Carfrae (133) ½ -½   Richard Eales (195)
3 John Couzens (116) 1-0   Alan Atkinson (173)
4 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1   Robert Collopy (156)
5 Andy Flood (106) 0-1   Emily Green (156)
6 Bob Cronin (104) 0-1   Bill Tracey (125)
7 Michael Doyle (81) 0-1   Graeme Boxall (99)

David Faldon writes:

You had to be there at the end. If you weren’t … it was great! Yes, we were already 0-4 down after being steamrollered on the bottom four boards, but the last hour or so was brilliant. John on board three survived a somewhat dodgy position (2 pawns down for not much?) by counterattacking in his usual hyper-aggressive style. He got a pawn to the seventh rank, then his highly-rated opponent began a desperate pawn rush of his own. Would John work out how to defuse the rush? Of course he could, and we had a point on the board. Paul’s game on board two was almost as spectacular, in a completely different way. His almost-200-rated opponent put the pressure on early and got a passed pawn on the sixth rank, supported by bishop, rook and queen. Paul had to go into total defence mode, but it worked. His opponent could find no way through and as time ran down, a draw was agreed. The board one game was an anti-climax after John and Paul’s games, but it was fun while it lasted. I sacrificed for a huge attack, but my opponent held on for a hard-fought win. A 1½-5½ loss might sound bad, but just look at the grades of our opponents compared with ours. Many thanks to everyone that played, and especially to our two heroes, Paul and John, who drove the team to the match.