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Volume 76 No.2 May 2011 £3.95 UK $9.95 Canada Dressed for success How London is becoming the chess capital of the world www.chess.co.uk Drunken Knights Vs Wood Green The strongest ever English League match! Drunken Knights Vs Wood Green The strongest ever English League match! Tournament Reports Amber (Blindfold + Rapid), 2011 European Championships, 4NCL Tournament Reports Amber (Blindfold + Rapid), 2011 European Championships, 4NCL Chess and Football Chess and Football
Transcript of Dressed for success - Home | The Week in...
Volume 76 No.2 May 2011 £3.95 UK $9.95 Canada
Dressed forsuccessHow London is becoming the chess capital of the world
www.chess.co.uk
Drunken Knights Vs Wood GreenThe strongest ever EnglishLeague match!
Drunken Knights Vs Wood GreenThe strongest ever EnglishLeague match!
Tournament ReportsAmber (Blindfold +Rapid), 2011 EuropeanChampionships, 4NCL
Tournament ReportsAmber (Blindfold +Rapid), 2011 EuropeanChampionships, 4NCL
Chess andFootballChess andFootball
Chess.May.21/4/11 21/4/11 14:51 Page 1
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- European Individual Championship Vladimir Potkin headed a
stellar field of GMs in Aix but the English competitors -
professional and amateur - had their moments.
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(British League) and the final ever Melody Amber tournament.
- By Hook or by Rook! Tim Woolgar looks at the phenomenon
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ContentsChess
www.chess.co.uk 3
Chess Magazine is published monthly.
Founding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc †
Editor: Jimmy Adams
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Executive Editor: Malcolm Pein
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FRONT COVER: Astrid Sund, Co-Director" of
Wallace Chess, dresses up as the Black Queen for
the launch of chess in Holland Park, London.
Wallace Chess runs camps every holidays and
Sunday coaching for children in London. It was
founded by two time Australian Champion and
IM John-Paul Wallace for further information visit
www.wallacechess.com
Cover Design: Create Services
Cover Photo: Ray Morris-Hill
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EditorialMalcolm Pein on the latest developments in chess
European Individual Championship, Aix les BainsVladimir Potkin headed a stellar field of GMs in Aix but the Englishcompetitors - professional and amateur - had their moments.
Problem AlbumColin Russ presents Werner Speckmann compositions
Melody AmberThe Amber light changed to red in Monte Carlo - Levon Aronianhad the honour of the ‘last tango in Monte Carlo’.
4NCL British Team LeagueAndrew Greet reports on the fourth weekend in Daventry, with allthe contenders in their final pools. Some superb chess.
RAC Centenary CelebrationThe Royal Automobile Club celebrated its 100th birthday in style,with ten GMs taking on 100 opponents in palatial Pall Mall.
CSC at the RACThe day the Chess in School and Communities squad took onEngland’s top GMs! Sabrina Chevannes tells the amazing story.
A Knight to RememberMore like ‘Bunfight at the DK Corral’, as Drunken Knights shot it outwith Wood Green at The Plough. Ended up at Boot Hill, though...
CHESS in the 1940s (Part 3)John Saunders relates how BH Wood upset the chess establismentby nearly winning the British Championship in 1948.
Interview: Michael SteanSean Marsh talks to the man who was Korchnoi’s second - andEngland’s third (GM)! Some revelations about Baguio 1978...
How Good Is Your Chess?GM Daniel King presents a game played by Jan Gustafsson.
Readers’ LettersYou have your say ... should we feature ‘whowunnits’ in CHESS?
Home News / Overseas NewsA round-up of what’s been happening in Britain and elsewhere
Chess and FootballIt’s a game of ‘futbol’ out there... Antonio Gude looks at how theSpanish football media makes use of chess for its metaphors.
By Hook or by Rook!Tim Woolgar looks at the phenomenon that is Chessboxing.
All Aboard!Harvey Dearden investigates what happens when chessplayersrefuse to ‘get ‘em off’... intrigued?
Positional ExercisesGM Jacob Aagaard tests your positional chess IQ
Find The Winning MovesThree pages of tactical teasers from recent tournament games.
StudiesBrian Stephenson presents a gem by Gia Nadareishvili.
New Books In BriefAll the latest books, DVDs and software
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Contents May 2011_Chess mag - 21_6_10 27/04/2011 17:38 Page 1
www.chess.co.uk 23
ON 16 APRIL the Royal Automobile
Club celebrated the centenary of
its Pall Mall Clubhouse and chess
circle with a 100-board three-round
simultaneous display. Ten of Britain’s
highest-rated grandmasters took part.
The ten grandmasters - actually nine
GMs and one WGM/IM - took on ten
teams of ten players drawn from the
members of the Royal Automobile Club
Chess Circle, the leading players from
the other London Club teams that
compete for the Hamilton Russell Trophy,
ex-Varsity players and two teams of
juniors – one from the English Chess
Federation and one drawn from Chess in
Schools and Communities (a charity with
a mission to promote chess in state
schools and communities). Where games
were still unfinished after one hour, GM
Ray Keene officiated as adjudicator.
The grandmasters’ scores were as
follows: Stephen Gordon 29 (out of 30),
Mickey Adams, David Howell, Nick Pert
27½, Gawain Jones, Luke McShane, Jon
Speelman 27, Simon Williams 26, Julian
Hodgson 25½, Jovanka Houska 23,
making a total of 267 points.
The teams scored as follows: 1 Hamilton
Russell Clubs 8/30, 2-3 RAC 2, Ex-
Varsity 6½, 4 RAC 1 4½, 5 Junior Chess
3, 6 RAC 3 2, 7-8 RAC 4, RAC 5 1, 9
RAC 6 ½, 10 Chess in Schools and
Communities 0, making a total of 33
points. In total, 13 games were lost by
the grandmasters, 12-year-old Isaac
Sanders beating David Howell and 10-
year-old Matthew Wadsworth beating
Mickey Adams.
RAC Centenary Simul 2011
I.Sanders - D.Howell
16...¥d6?? 17 ¥xd6 £xd6 18 £xf6!gxf6 19 ¦xe8+ ¢g7 20 ¦xc8 White has
more than enough material for the queen
but still needs to demonstrate good
technique to finish the job. 20...d4 21 b3
¦b8 22 ¦xb8 £xb8 23 ¤b2 £e8 24 ¤c4h5 25 a4 c5 26 ¤d2 f5 27 ¥xf5 £e2 28¤c4 h4 29 ¥d3 £e6 30 ¤d2 £e5 31¤f3 £f4 32 ¦e1 ¢f6 33 ¢f1 ¢g7 34¢e2 ¢f6 35 ¢d1 £b8 36 ¦e4 £b4 37¢c1 £c3 38 ¢b1 1–0
RAC Centenary Simul 2011
M.Wadsworth - M.Adams
16...£a5?? Black is fine after 16...£b6.
17 ¤xd5! £d8 18 ¤xe7+ £xe7 19 ¥xc6bxc6 The youngster’s technique is
impressive... 20 f3 ¥g6 21 ¦c1 £b7 22 £c3 h6 23 e4 ¢h7 24 b3 £a6 25 £c2 ¤h5 26 ¥e3 f5 27 exf5 ¥xf5 28 £c4! £xa2 29 g4 ¥g6 30 gxh5 ¥f531 ¥f2 £d2 32 £xc6 £g5+ 33 ¢h1 £d234 ¦f1 ¥d3 35 £c1! £e2 36 ¢g2 £a237 ¦g1 £xb3 38 £c7 £d5 39 £e5 £d740 ¦c1 1–0
Play was followed by a gala dinner and
prize-giving attended by RAC members
and guests. Organisers were Stephen
Meyler and Sheldon Marshall.
Standing: Jon Speelman, Luke McShane, Gawain Jones, David Howell, Simon Williams.
Sitting: Stephen Gordon, Julian Hodgson, Jovanka Houska, Michael Adams and Nick Pert.
Ph
oto
: Jo
hn
Sa
un
de
rs
Standing: Conor Murphy, William C Hansen, Joseph Levene, Joshua Cavendish, Isaac Sanders.
Sitting: Ravi Haria, Jack Breindel, Jonathan Pein, Jennifer Ehr, Matthew Wadsworth.
Photo
: John S
aunders
RAC Centenary_Chess mag - 21_6_10 27/04/2011 15:07 Page 23
24
Saturday 16 April 2011 was a special day
for a select few children who are part of
the Chess in Schools and Communities
scheme in Newham and Hackney. They
got to dress up in their smartest clothes
and visit the prestigious RAC private
members’ club in central London. Some
of the accompanying parents had never
seen such a grandiose place, let alone
the children.
Chess in Schools and Communities had
been invited to enter a team to challenge
the ten grandmasters as part of the 100
board simultaneous. To my amazement,
none of the children were nervous, but all
were excited to have a chance to give
the masters a good game and hopefully
be victorious in the process!
The day started off at 1pm with a lovely
buffet of crudités and a marvellous drinks
selection in the club’s Committee Room.
The CSC team selected their food
carefully so as to build up their energy for
the forthcoming encounter but avoided
eating too much, however tempting it
might have been so as not too become
too drowsy. They had three long games
of chess ahead of them against the
strongest opposition they have ever, and
possibly may ever, face.
The games kicked off at approximately
2.15pm and CSC’s first opponent was
announced – International Master and
Women’s Grandmaster Jovanka Houska.
Since the children were relatively new to
chess, I would tell the team a little bit
about their opponents’ background.
When I mentioned that Jovanka was our
England Women’s team top board, they
replied with: “Does that mean she’s
better than you?” When I confirmed that
Jovanka was quite a lot better than me,
they looked at each other in horror and I
think that was the moment they realised
just how hard these games were going to
be for them!
Jovanka played against the children with
complete grace, taking each of the game
seriously. Some of the children had only
started learning chess in September,
when I conducted my first lesson at their
respective schools.
Nevertheless, they lasted an extremely
long time. A couple of the games had to
go to adjudication after the allotted one
hour was up which just showed how well
they actually played. Owen Rami from
Ravenscroft Primary School played an
extremely brave and attacking opening
where he sacrificed a piece to take the
initiative and keep Jovanka’s king in the
centre of the board. He placed his queen
in view of Jovanka’s knight, but he knew
that it couldn’t be captured because the
knight was pinned to her king. His moves
were very confident and put Jovanka
under a little bit of pressure, causing her
to think for longer on his board.
Unfortunately, Owen’s mistake came
when Jovanka craftily wriggled out of
danger, castled and unpinned her knight.
The game of the match was played by
Harry Tanner from William Patten
Primary School who played some very
impressive chess. I had to do a double
take when passing his board as he had a
winning move! Jovanka had blundered!
Harry had ten times longer than Jovanka
to think about the position and spot the
winning move. Could he find it? Jovanka
was truly hoping not! She arrived back at
his board and thankfully (in Jovanka’s
eyes!) he had missed the tactic! She was
safe and now in a winning ending.
Jovanka has just played 21...¦c4 which
appears to leave White’s queen in a bit of
a tricky situation. If Harry were to move
his queen out of danger, 22...¦g4 mate
would follow. However, White has a very
clever move up his sleeve. Can you spot it?
Harry Tanner - Jovanka Houska
White to Play and Win
(answer at bottom of following page)
So at the end of round one, CSC had
scored 0/10 which was a popular score
among the teams of ten.
Just as the children were revelling in their
excitement but discussing how difficult
that game actually was, I decided to
inform them that their opponents were
only going to get harder! Their jaws
dropped and they could not work out how
this was actually possible! Then it was
announced – their round two opponent
was going to be former British Champion
Julian Hodgson!
Julian was slightly more successful
against the CSC team, bringing his
experience of teaching children of this
standard to bear. He knew exactly how to
Spencer Clement and Diogo Violante of Ravenscroft School have both realised
what the Grandmaster is threatening and they don't like the look of it!
CSC Sabrina RAC_Chess mag - 21_6_10 27/04/2011 15:17 Page 24
www.chess.co.uk 25
finish them off in style. The children were
all bemused when the extremely strong
grandmaster was putting all of his pieces
en prise. They would turn to me and say:
“Can’t I just take that?!” I would simply
reply with: “Of course you can, but you
must think what will happen if you do!”
Just from this game, they learnt the ideas
behind decoy tactics and “removing the
defender”. I was impressed to see how
much they were learning from playing the
grandmasters. My top player for this
round was Spencer Clement from
Ravenscroft Primary School
who showed tremendous concentration
throughout the entire game.
After these two games, the children were
already fatigued and some quite
demoralised when they realised, in the
grand scheme of things, they were not
actually one of the best chess players
around! Round three found them paired
with GM Simon Williams, who is known
for his brutality on the chessboard.
Despite the CSC children being mostly
beginners, Simon did not show any mercy
and showed his true attacking nature in
each of these chess games. I had taught
the children Scholar’s Mate a few weeks
ago in order to help them prevent it
happening to them at a future tournament,
but instructed them that it was not a clever
thing to play, especially against those who
knew what they were doing. A few of the
children thought that the GMs would fall
for this “trick” and that they could obtain a
cheeky win against our country’s top
players, so when I forbade them from
playing it, they were not too happy!
However, three moves into their game
against Simon I heard a couple of cries of:
“I thought you said good players don’t go
for Scholar’s Mate – he’s trying it against
me!” I didn’t know what to say. I looked
over at the games to find Simon’s bishop
on c4 and his queen on h5. Cheeky! It
had been a long day and I think Simon
wanted to finish off this team a lot quicker
than the previous rounds! Nevertheless,
the children defended extremely well
against one of our country’s best attackers
and held their own for a long time. My
best game for round three was played by
Gabriel Monteiro who calculated many
moves deep to understand exactly what
Simon’s threats were and learnt a lot of
attacking techniques from the game which
he then went on to ask me more about.
I was most impressed with how much the
children learnt from the day and how
much more they wanted to learn! They
were so keen and extremely graceful
when they lost. Each of the children were
presented with a medal in a presentation
box to commemorate the once in a
lifetime opportunity.
The CSC children getting an autograph from one of their idols, Britain’s No. 2 - GM Luke McShane
Former British Champion
Julian Hodgson with two of his victims -
Gabriel Monteiro and Diogo Violante
Answer: White can just play 22 £xc4!
due to the pin along the d-file. Jovanka
cannot play 22...dxc4 due to 23 ¦xd8#
TournamentListings
Sunday 8 May
Cambridgeshire Rapidplay
PSL Club, 659 Lincoln Road,
Peterborough PE1 3HA
Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.cambschess.org.uk
Friday 13 - Sunday 15 May
Rhyl Congress 2011
Town Hall, Wellington Road, Rhyl
Contact: Stuart Hamilton (01745) 350367
Saturday 14 May
Golders Green Rapidplay
Golders Green Parish Church Hall,
London NW11 7QG
goldersgreenchess.blogspot.com
Saturday 14 May
Chipping Sodbury Rapidplay
Chipping Sodbury Town Hall
Friday 20 - Sunday 22 May
Sheffield Chess Congress
Firth Park Community Arts College
www.sheffieldanddistrictchess.org.uk
Sunday 22 May
95th Richmond Rapidplay
The White House, The Avenue,
Hampton, TW12 3RN MAP
www.surreyrapidchess.org
Friday 27- Monday 30 May
e2e4 Sunningdale Congress
De Vere Sunningdale Hotel, Sunningdale
Park, Larch Avenue, Ascot, SL5 0QE
www.e2e4.org.uk
Saturday 28 May
Poplar Rapidplay Tournament
Langley Hall, Saint Nicholas’ Church
Centre, Aberfeldy St, London, E14 0QD
www.spanglefish.com/docklandschessclub
Saturday 28 - Monday 30 May
44th Cotswold Chess Congress
St. Edward’s School, Cheltenham
Saturday 28 - Monday 30 May
Essex Chess Association Congress
Abbs Cross School, Abbs Cross Lane,
Hornchurch,Essex RM12 4YB
www.spanglefish.com/essexchesscongress
Sunday 29 May
Letchworth & Hitchin Rapidplay
St Francis’ College, Broadway,
Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3PJ
www.letchworthchess.com
The details of events given in Tournament Listings are
provided by third parties. CHESS Magazine does not
necessarily endorse these events and accepts no
responsibility for the accuracy of information appearing
in the listings, nor for any changes made at any stage
to the events by their organisers.
CSC Sabrina RAC_Chess mag - 21_6_10 27/04/2011 15:17 Page 25
