Author: Culcheth Chess Club - Admin

Vital Victory – authored by Nick B team Captain

Such was the importance of winning this match against fellow strugglers, Winwick I sought to field the strongest permissible team to not only win it, but also to win it by a distance. Thanks to everyone being available I was able to do just that, and thanks to some excellent incisive chess by the whole team we won by the greatest distance possible. By contrast, Winwick could not field their two strongest players so we outgraded them by an average of 200 points per board – that’s a very wide margin at this level.

And so to the games:

The first game to end was Keith Maudsley’s encounter with the Winwick captain, Mike Fleming. If you play the Sicilian Defence as Black these days you need to have something in your repertoire to deal with Alapin’s 2.c3 which has gained immensely in popularity in recent years. Unsurprisingly Keith was well armed for this variation and achieved equality very quickly and then gained the initiative with a subtle Queen manouevre coupled with some energetic pawn thrusts. On the back foot, Mike overlooked a Knight fork which won a whole Rook and resigned a few moves later. 1-0

You know you’ve got a strong team when the likes of Andy Coe are playing on bottom board. The opening was a symmetrical English in which Black elected not to exchange a pair of Knights on d4 thus remaining slightly cramped. Andy built up pressure along the d-file and following exchanges saddled Black with doubled f-pawns and an isolated d-pawn which was extremely weak. This pawn weakness essentially cost Black the game because in trying not to lose it he blundered a rook. 2-0

Ilya Dubov’s game against Dave Stuttard on Board 2 was perhaps the quirkiest of the evening. Dave is a naturally attacking player who is prepared to take risks to get his opponents out of their comfort zone and this style of play was evident in his opening pawn gambit against Ilya’s Caro-Kann set up. This gambit really did not look sound, but it looked positively sensible compared to the exchange sacrifice which he played in the early part of the middlegame which gave him attacking opportunities along the h-file. However, the attack was very easily repulsed by Ilya and after the Queens came off the endgame was R + 5 pawns v Knight + 4. There were still a few tricks and traps to be navigated and on his own admission Ilya could have played this phase a little better, but enough is as good as a feast and he secured the point (and, more importantly from my perspective, the match). 3-0

On Board 3 Tom Vout could have done with a quick win against Ken Johnson because he had to be in London first thing for an important business meeting and was booked on a train at the rather unattractive hour of 05.57! However, players as experienced as Ken do not tend to concede easy victories to anyone and so it was on this occasion. Tom built up a very promising position using his favourite Grand Prix system against the Sicilian Defence and his thematic pawn advance f5 was particularly effective because not only did it ‘attack’ Black’s pawn on g6, but also his Bishop on e6 which had no flight squares. So Ken was forced to play gxf5 shattering his K-side defences. Tom set about probing Black’s K-side weaknesses with his Queen and Knight whilst his doubled Rooks on the e-file were a serious menace. Ironically Ken’s first (and only) aggressive incursion into Tom’s position, Qa2, simply cost him a Knight and shortly afterwards, the game. 4-0

By contrast to Andy Coe’s game, the English opening by Rob Furness against Richard Clissold on Board 1 was anything but symmetrical. Rob described it to me afterwards as his ‘anti-stodge’ system in which he felt he was hanging on by the skin of his teeth for much of the game. Knights relying on each other for protection are notoriously vulnerable and Rob had to be on his guard to prevent Richard being able to bag both Knights for a Rook. However, by clever manouevering Rob’s Knights finally became pillars of strength and infiltrated deep into Black’s position. Desperately short of time, Richard went astray as the Knights escorted Rob’s a-pawn towards its queening square and he resigned in a hopeless position. 5-0

This victory lifted us off the foot of the table and two points clear of Winwick with a far superior points difference. Whilst this does not guarantee safety it does mean that I shall be able to offer opportunities to play for the Mighty Bees to lower graded players in our remaining matches, none of which are easy.

After our humbling recent visit to Atherton where we were soundly defeated 4.5-0.5 we faced St Helens who were now tied with us at the top of the division. A reminder of how things stood going into the match below:

We made two changes born of necessity for this vital fixture, Marek Mazek and Rob Furness making way for Ilya Dubov and Tom Vout.

St Helens arrived with a strong lineup captained by Mark Ellis and Championed by the leagues strongest player Martin Brown on board one. This is how we both lined up:

The first result of the night came relatively quickly on board four, Ilya was facing Phoenix Lamb recent conquerer of Damian in our Peninsular Cup fixture. Ilya would have been more on his guard then Damian was in that game, with Phoenix having demonstrated his tremendous tactical ability. After an early central skirmish Ilya’s experience told as he steered the game to a decisive conclusion 1-0

The next result came on board two in the ‘battle of the Captains’. Mark deviated from his normal Scheveningan Sicilian going into a mainline Najdorf with e5. Mark’s early aggression came at the cost of a lack of kingside development and White soon had control of the position. Mark tried to breakout with an f5 lunge but in the end Black’s position was just too restricted and Mark resigned with 2 of his pawns about to drop off the board without any counterplay. 2-0

McCarthy V Ellis (Bigger Board)

The remaining boards took note of this scoreline…

On board 5 Tom Vout was facing Ray Smith, their game had reached a materially level, Rook and pawn ending with lots of pawns still left on the board. Tom spoke with the captain and after confirming that a drawn match would be good news for us given the board count +/- he offered a draw. Ray accepted in a position where afterwards Tom stated that he felt he might have had a good chance of winning. We very much appreciate Tom selflessly sacrificing a handful of his rating points to help secure the result in this manner! 2.5-0.5

Board 3 Jonathan was once again facing Steve Potter. Their opening followed a well trodden path between the pair where Jonathan first equalized as Black and then began to apply pressure. Steve was putting up stronger resistance then the last time the pair met however. An interesting moment in this game came when Jonathan played the temporary pawn sacrifice b5! This allowed him to sucessfully activate his rook to b2 and infiltrate White’s position. Finally a pawn fell and a second pawn was about to drop when Jonathan (again with the match score in mind) offered a draw rather then try to win the position while getting slightly low on time. “That’s Cruel!” said Steve faced with the prospect of a lost on the board position but knowing accepting the draw would cost his side the match. In the end the reality of the position on the board necessitated an acceptance which gave the team a decisive scoreline with 1 board to play. 3-1

Potter V Smith (Bigger Board)

On top board featured two of the leagues highest rated players Martin Brown V Thomas Quilter. This game was refreshing in the fact that most of us have played each other countless times over the years, however as Tom is new to the area it was the first time these two had faced off. A fierce battle ensued and by the time all the other boards had ended each player had 6 pawns and a rook however crucially Martin had two Bishops against Tom’s Bishop and Knight with the Knight lacking any advanced outpost. Martin is excellent in technical positions like this and he went on to probe and probe until finally a Black pawn fell. Tom didn’t give up and tried everything to complicate with both players low on time, but Martin’s play was flawless giving him the win 3-2.

So the match concluded in our favour once again restoring a two point cushion at the top with just two league fixtures left to play! Thanks again to everyone who took part, special thanks to Jonathan and Tom for offering draw’s in positions they would normally play on in to secure the match.

Opportunity Lost Authored by Nick – B team captain

This match was of particular importance because not only was the B Team in need of a point or two to ease our relegation worries, but also it provided an opportunity to improve the A Team’s prospects of winning the Division 1 title by denying their closest rivals a victory. The fact that we very nearly succeeded in winning, never mind drawing, the match only to be frustrated by the archaic default time control imposed by the WDCL made for an exasperating experience and an opportunity lost. So, what actually happened?

Well we got off to the best possible start when St. Helens could not field a full team and had to default on Board 5. Somewhat irritating for Alex Robinson who had taken time off from his normal Wednesday evening work activities to play in this encounter, but his mere presence was enough to secure the point.

Martin Brown has been described to me by another very strong player at the club as a ‘class act’ and there is no doubting his immense chess skills which have earned him a master-strength rating of close to 2200. Therefore, Rob Furness as Black had quite a challenge to overcome on Board 1. Despite Rob’s aggressive intent Martin steadily built a positional, then gained a material, advantage when Rob opted for a complex line rather than make a simple recapture. Unfortunately Rob’s position collapsed shortly thereafter, forcing him to resign after 31 moves . All square. (1-1)

On Board 3 Keith Maudsley faced Phoenix Lamb who recently won with a terrific combination against Damian and is clearly developing into a strong player with a great future. Against Keith’s Sicilian Defence he played the Alapin 2.c3, a variation which is gaining in popularity at this level and is not without venom. In the face of White’s initiative Keith held firm, deliberately avoiding the sort of complications that he felt would suit his opponent better. But eventually Keith had to chance his arm with a K-side pawn advance coupled with a Bishop and Queen manoeuvre which threatened checkmate. The initiative had changed hands and the winning chances were well and truly owned by Keith. But what he did not have was sufficient time to bring home the win so a draw was agreed. Still all square. (1.5-1.5)

On Board 4 Andy Coe was always well in control of his encounter against the St. Helens captain, Ray Smith. He thought long and hard before capturing his opponent’s loose pawn on c4 which gave him the slightest of material advantages but Black was not without his own resources. It is still open to debate whether it was Tarrasch or Tartakower who first coined the phrase “all rook endgames are drawn”, but a brief look at the closing moves of this game would lend weight to the axiom. Rubinstein might have been able to win for White but even he would have required more time than was available to Andy by this stage. So a draw it was. Still all square. (2-2)

And so finally to Board 2 where Tom Vout was confronting ‘the man in the fabric mask’ aka Steve Potter. Tom had typically taken and maintained the initiative building a very solid position in the process tying a Black Knight to defensive duties on the b8 square. Steve’s attempt to drum up attacking chances on the K-side were relatively easily neutralised and Tom’s patient build up bore fruit as he invaded Black’s position via the c file. But Steve is a very resourceful player and good at muddying the waters – especially when his opponent is short of time; and Tom was very very short of time. After the exchange of Queens and with only about 30 seconds remaining on Tom’s clock Steve offered, some would say ‘sportingly’, a draw which Tom declined, some would say ‘surprisingly’, believing he had sufficient time to win the obviously won game on the board. But the regrettable truth was that Tom did not have sufficient time and his flag fell so he lost even though, as it transpired afterwards, he had a forced mate in 6 moves. (3-2 to St. Helens)

It would be churlish not to congratulate St. Helens on their victory – especially after defaulting a board. But somehow it feels as though the true winner was the clock coupled with an anachronistic WDCL rule.