Club Championship week 5

After 11 moves against Anthony Ker I looked over at Russell Dive's game against Ross Jackson and was interested to note that I had adopted almost exactly the same setup as he. Indeed, I ended up with quite a promising position, before it all went horribly wrong. Both 2007 club champions kept their 100% records, Brian Nijman defeating Daniel Baider rather more quickly than the latter is used to these days.
In the B grade all three games that were played ended in draws. Thus Martin Hill lost his 100% record, but is still easily in the lead, With Alan Aldridge once again not playing.
In group C, the favourite Paul Bowden drew level with the leader Blaise Drinkwater, with a draw against Edmund Salem. Blaise dropped a full point to John Marney.

Full results:

A grade
Dive 1 Jackson 0
Sellen 0 Ker 1
Marner 0 Croad 1
Nijman 1 Baider 0

B grade
Hill 1/2 Forster 1/2
Brockway 1/2 Hewson 1/2
Shierlaw 1/2 Kay 1/2

C grade
Salem 1/2 Bowden 1/2
Pattekar 1 Krueger 0 (default)
Drinkwater 0 Marney 1
Foster 0 Proctor 1

Club Championship week 4

Apologies to anyone who tried unsuccessfully to click on last week's image to enlarge. No, it's not your computer, the Blog people must have changed the program. This time I saved as a GIF image, and it seems to work.

A host of Black victories in group A! This group is still dominated by Russell Dive. He defeated his highest rated rival, Anthony Ker, so is on target to make a clean sweep, and justify his Olympiad selection (as if any justification were required!). Having said that, joint club champion Brian Nijman is also on 100% (with 2/2 compared with Russell's 4/4), so anything could happen. I had another disaster, losing a drawn position in an opposite coloured Bishop ending against Nic Croad. It was after midnight, so I must have turned into some kind of pumpkin.
In group B Martin Hill is leading on 4/4 with Alan Aldridge absent and remaining on 3/3. Does anyone have the result of Nicholls vs Stracy? I am missing that one.
In group C Blaise Drinkwater regained the lead, as his opponent did not show up, and Paul Bowden could only manage a draw against Somesh Pattekar.

Full results:

A grade
Sellen 0 Croad 1
Ker 0 Dive 1
Jackson 0 Marner 1
Nyberg 0 Nijman 1

B grade
Nicholls ? Stracy ?
Hewson 0 Hill 1
Kay 1/2 Brockway 1/2

C grade
Marney 1 Foster 0
Bowden 1/2 Pattekar 1/2
Krueger 0 Drinkwater 1 (default)

Club Championship week 3

Lots of unplayed games this week, so positions are a bit unclear. In the A grade Russell Dive has twice as many points as anyone else, and it's only week 3! Anthony Ker finally got an opponent, and beat him. Group B is much better, because there have been no postponed games so far. The field is still very polarised, with a big gap between the top and bottom halves. Defending B grade champion Alan Aldridge is on 3/3, as is Martin Hill. Great result for Alistair Nicholls drawing with Bill Forster - both players now half a point behind the leaders, along with Andrew Brockway, who is also having an excellent tournament. Only 1 game played in the C grade - Blaise Drinkwater losing his 100% record to Paul Bowden, (Blaise now on 2/3, Paul on 2/2).

Many thanks to Anthony Ker for organising a Chess Club team at the Bridge Club fundraising quiz on Saturday. We were awarded 1st prize (actually had the prizes on the table!), but then there was an appeal, and another team drew level. We lost the tie-break. Heart-breaking. Still, for those of you who missed out, there may be an impromptu performance of our prize-winning rendition of "Mamma Mia!" some Tuesday, if you don't watch out.

A grade

Dive 1 Sellen 0

Marner 0 Ker 1

Nyberg 0 Baider 1

Van der Hoorn 1/2 Jackson 1/2

B grade

Forster 1/2 Nicholls 1/2

Aldridge 1 Hewson 0

Hill 1 Kay 0

Brockway 1/2 Rabina 1/2

Shierlaw 0 Stracy 1 (default)

C grade

Drinkwater 0 Bowden 1

Cross tables: (click to enlarge)

Club Championship Week 2

In the A grade defending 2007 champions Russell Dive and Brian Nijman are both on 100% (2/2 and 1/1 respectively). Brian was fortunate that his opponent Ross Jackson self destructed in a reasonably promising position. Daniel Baider seemed to be doing ok in Baider v Dive, but Russell had it all worked out, trapping White's Knight on the 7th rank in a R+N vs R+B ending.
Anthony Ker is the last player in the A grade on zero, but that is because his opponents have not shown up!
In the B grade there is a neat split, with half the field on 2/2, and the other half on 0/2.
New boy Blaise Drinkwater leads the C grade on 2/2, 1 point ahead of the field - congratulations to you Blaise.
Thanks to Andrew Brockway for the opening suggestion on my round 1 disaster (see below). Nice to see I could have lost much quicker! If anyone else has any comments or content they would like to submit, please feel free to do so.

A grade
Baider 0 Dive 1
Sellen 1/2 Marner 1/2
Jackson 0 Nijman 1
Croad 1 Nyberg 0

B grade
Nicholls 1 Shierlaw 0
Stracy 0 Brockway 1
Rabina 0 Hill 1
Kay 0 Aldridge 1
Hewson 0 Forster 1

C grade
Marney 0 Salem 1
Foster 0 Pattekar 1
Proctor 0 Drinkwater 1

Club Championship begins

Results of round 1 of the 2008 Wellington Club Championship:

A grade
Marner 0 Dive 1
Croad 1/2 Baider 1/2
Van der Hoorn 1 Sellen 0
Nyberg 1/2 Jackson 1/2

B grade
Aldridge 1 Rabina 0
Hewson 0 Nicholls 1
Hill 1 Stracy 0
Forster 1 Kay 0

C grade
Brockway 1 Shierlaw 0
Krueger 1 Proctor 0
Bowden 1 Marney 0
Drinkwater 1 Foster 0

Here is my dreadful game against Mark van der Hoorn. If you have a weak heart, or a violent antipathy to bad chess, please stop reading now!

White: Mark van der Hoorn
Black: Ian Sellen
Opening: Sicilian Grand Prix Attack

1. e4 c5
2. Nc3 Nc6
3. f4 g6
4. Nf3 Bg7
5. Bc4
I have previously faced 5. Bb5, the great favourite of another member of the club.
5. ...... e6
6. f5
A thematic pawn sacrifice is looming.

6. ....... gxf5
Mark says that 6. .... Ne7 is correct, but I am already out of my opening book!
7. d3 Ne7
8. 0-0 0-0
9. Qe1 d5
10. exd5 Nxd5
11. Bxd5 exd5
12. Qg3
It is hard to say that White has enough compensation for the pawn.
12. ...... Kh8
13. Bf4 Rg8



14. Ng5??
White wants to get on with his attack quickly, but this is a serious mistake, which underestimates Black's defensive idea, and ends up losing material.
14. ....... Bd4+
15. Kh1 Rg7
Now White is in serious trouble. He decides, rather than retreating the Queen to break the annoying pin on the g file, to sacrifice the Knight.
16. Nb5 f6
17. Nxd4 cxd4
18. h4 fxg5
19. hxg5
Many players would have already resigned in this position, but Mark van der Hoorn is renowned for his fighting qualities in hopeless situations!
19. ..... Kg8
20. Rae1 Bd7
21. Bd2 Qf8
22. b4 a6
23. Qc7


23. ...... Qb8?
There are many ways to win this position for Black, but this is not one of them! I was hoping to exchange Queens, thinking that White would run out of squares to run away to, but I soon realised this would not happen.
24. Qb6 Qd8
25. Qc5 Qf8
26. Qxd5+ Qf7
The loss of a pawn, while not at all necessary, nevertheless has the advantage of opening lines for the somewhat useless white squared Bishop.
27. Qc5 Re8
28. a4 Qh5+
29. Kg1 R7e7
30. b5 Rxe1
30. ........Re2 may have been better, setting up lethal threats on White's 2nd rank.
31. Bxe1 axb5
32. axb5

32. ....... Ne7?
Actually, Black should probably just let White take this Knight on c6 and just play something like 32. Qxg5, as with the Bishop taking back on c6, the threats on g2 and the back rank should be enough to kill White off.
33. Qxd4 Bxb5
34. Bc3 Qg6
35. Re1

35. ....... Bc6??
The losing move. Black is still winning after 35. .... Kf7, when White has run out of tactical ideas. Now Mark wins in efficient style.
36. Re6! Qxg5
And now it's mate in 4
37. Qh8+ Kf7
38. Rf6 Black resigns