Hargreaves Shield v Woodnesborough (a)

Broadstairs  1         Woodnesborough  3 

(Board positions based on July grades)

1 John Couzens (125) 0-1     Dennis Stokes-Carter                                 (118)
2 Andy Flood (117) 1-0     David Erwee (108)
3 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1     Mark Towlson (101)
4 Bob Cronin (103) 0-1     Bryan Rodwell  (90)

Andy Flood writes:

A confident, unbeaten, top of the league Broadstairs team out-graded their opponents on all four boards. Requiring two wins from their remaining two matches to secure the championship, there could surely only be one result! First to finish was John on Board 1, and Woodnesborough were leading 1 – 0. The remaining matches were relatively even, Reg slightly ahead with a predicted win on Board 3 and likely draws on the other two boards. As the evening drew on, Bob Cronin’s position deteriorated to what looked like a loss but with clever pawn play at one stage it looked like he might scramble a draw. However, his opponent overcame the resistance and Broadstairs were 2 – 0 down.

Reg, with his two-pawn advantage, would surely secure the first point of the evening. However, an awful bishop proved to be of less value than a pawn and Broadstairs were 3–0 down and the match was lost. Thinking from the earlier positions that a win was needed on Board 2, Black had abandoned the strategy of locking up the pieces to one of opening up the game. With White attacking on the king side and Black on the queen side, Black broke through and a pawn became a certain queen. White resigned, the game was won but the match was lost 3 – 1.

With one match to go to secure the Championship, Broadstairs need to beat Woodnesborough and hope close friends Margate do the neighbourly thing and secure a win against rivals Bridge. Congratulations to Woodnesborough for winning the match and coming a close second in the competition for the most difficult-to-find venue in the league for which Bridge are worthy champions with ‘The Pavilion’.

 

 

Walker Shield v Bridge (h)

Broadstairs  3½         Bridge  ½ 

1 Reg Pidduck (107) ½ -½     Graeme Boxall (83)
2 Bob Cronin (103) 1-0    Ray Rennells (81)
3 Michael Doyle (90) 1-0     Ian Redmond (70) def
4 Michael Jenkinson  (83) 1-0     Stuart Honey (68)

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 3:  A WALKOVER.  Michael waited for the allotted half-hour but Ian could not make the match. 1-0 up

BOARD 2: ANOTHER WIN FOR BOB.  Our Broadstairs Bob soon looked in control with a piece up early, but Ray was having none of it and kept Bob at bay for a game fight. Finally Bob sacked his Queen to then gain a pin on Ray’s queen and Ray resigned with Bob in control with Rook and pawns against pawns. 2-0 up

BOARD 3:   CLOSE GAME. Graeme came at my Dutch Defence with a lot of aggression and soon had me backed up and going nowhere. I then got the chance to swap off his most dangerous piece (a black squared Bishop) which allowed me freedom to breathe a sigh of relief and offer a draw, which was accepted. 2½-½ up

BOARD 4: WELL DONE,  MICHAEL J.  Last to finish, Michael pushed to the very end to complete our first win in the Walker this season .

3½-½ win.   We now have Played 6  Won 1   Drawn 4  Lost 1  (Margate with 5 wins from 7 games now look untouchable to win the Walker this year.)

FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship result

Tan Zhongyi of China has won the FIDE Women’s World Championship after a tense final, eventually winning on the second rapidplay game. Tan, a mere WGM and only the ninth seed in the competition, beat Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine in the final, a result that must have surprised many people. Anna was second seed behind the favourite Ju Wenjung and when the latter was knocked out (by Tan) in the quarter-finals, Anna must have fancied her chances. Furthermore, she had a clear run to the final, winning all her classical games whereas Tan had already played 28 games of various lengths including two victories in an armageddon finish. The second of these occurred in the semi-final against Harika Dronavalli of India. The sixth game of this match as reported in the last posting (click here) lasted an incredible 162 moves with Harika winning a bishop + knight ending. Tan bounced back to win the match in the final ninth (armageddon) game lasting 99 moves with a maximum five minutes for Black, remember – one move every three seconds on average. Altogether, there were 661 moves in the match! In the final Tan took the lead in Game 2 after the first game was drawn before Anna levelled in Game 3 with a wonderful attacking game against Tan’s French Defence that I wish I had employed against Michael Green in our recent Millar Cup defeat at Bridge.

White:   Anna Muzychuk (2558)   Black:  Tan Zhongyi (2502)       

Women’s World Championship 2017

So with one game to go of the classical format – four games in the final as opposed to two in earlier rounds – the internet ‘experts’ still favoured Anna. The momentum was with her, everyone thought, except that Tan was White in Game 4 which was drawn and Anna must have felt that with Tan’s experience and record in the tournament at rapidplay games, perhaps her chance had gone. And so it proved: after Game 5 was drawn, Tan had the white pieces in Game 6 and time trouble was author of Anna’s downfall.

White:  Tan Zhongyi (2502)     Black:   Anna Muzychuk (2558)       

Women’s World Championship 2017

Whatever one’s views on the knockout system and rapidplay finishes for deciding something as important as a world championship, there is no doubt that there was considerably more interest and excitement in Tehran than in the snoozathon at Sharjah which did not even merit a final report on this site. Perhaps an analogy can be drawn between the two formats similar to that of T20 v Test cricket. Is the Tehran tournament the future of chess? Discuss.

 

 

Millar Cup v Bridge A (a)

Broadstairs  ½         Bridge A   6½ 

1 David Faldon (179) 0-1         Richard Eales  (198)
2 Nick McBride (171) 0-1           Vishnu Singh (192)
3 Bob Page (141) 0-1         Michael Green (170)
4 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1         David Shire (158)
5 Bob Cronin (103) 0-1         Robert Collopy (156)
6 Michael Doyle (90) 0-1         Emily Green (146)
7 Joshua Vaughan (86) ½-½         Bill Tracey  (124)

David Faldon writes:

A steamroller performance from Bridge A takes them to seven wins out of seven this season. None of our players played badly, the opposition were (mostly) just too good. The one exception was on board seven where Josh scraped a draw by perpetual check with just seconds (or was it one second?) on his clock at the end. Well played Josh! Many thanks to everyone for turning out on a cold February evening, and especially to Bob Page and Bob Cronin for driving.

Women’s World Championship update

The Women’s World Championship in Tehran is nearing its climax with one finalist already known – GM Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine. Her sister, Mariya, who chose not to enter as a result of  the hijab controversy, said that she respected her sister’s decision to take part as it had always been her dream to be world champion. In football terms she is now only one game away from achieving this but in this tournament that one game might in reality be nine….If she has any advantage over her opponent in the final, it will be in the number of games played. In none of her matches hitherto has Anna been stretched beyond the classical format including a 2-0 victory in the semi-final. On the other hand, one of her possible opponents, WGM Tan Zhongyi of China, has already played twenty-one games of various lengths including victory in an armageddon finish in Round 2 and a 1.5-0.5 win over the favourite Ju Wenjun in the quarter-final. Her semi-final match with GM Harika Dronavalli of India is tied at 1-1 after the two classical games. Harika herself has had no easier time, having played twenty games so far with the prospect of another possible seven before either player reaches the final. On that basis you have to fancy Anna’s chances although you can’t question Harika’s resilience. Having lost the first game in the semi-final and knowing a draw in the second would not be enough, she was faced with having to win a knight and bishop ending.  If you want to see how to achieve this but don’t fancy playing through 162 moves, you might want to start the following game at White’s move 116 when Black gives up her last piece and the fun begins.

White:   Harika Dronavalli (2539)   Black:  Tan Zhongyi (2502)       

Women’s World Championship 2017