Keverel Chess

Posts Tagged ‘Cornish chess’

The final scheduled round of the Inter-County competition was held on Saturday. Devon managed to get out a strong side and cruised past Gloucestershire at West Buckland, winning 11½-4½. The details were as follows (Devon names first):-

1. D. Mackle 0-1 J. Stewart; 2. J. K. Stephens 1-0 D.Lambourne; 3. S. J. Homer 1-0 J. Waterfield; 4. D. Regis 1-0 J. Jenkins; 5. P. Medina 1-0 P. J. Meade; 6. J. Leung ½-½ P. Dodwell; 7. K. J. Hurst 1-0 P. Denison; 8. A. W. Brusey ½-½ A. N. Walker; 9. B.W. Hewson ½-½ M. J. Ashworth; 10. J. Underwood 1-0 B. Whitelaw; 11. M. V. Abbott 0-1 G. A. Brown; 12. O. Wensley 1-0 R. J. Dixon; 13. A. S. Kinder 1- 0 M. Claypole; 14. M. Shaw 1-0 A. Richards; 15. W. H. Ingham 0-1 P. Baker; 16. B. G. Gosling 1-0 P. R. Bending.

Meanwhile, knowing their opponents are capable of unexpected wins against any team that under-estimates them, Somerset took no chances against Cornwall and fielded a strong side at Exminster, eventually winning 9-3 over a 12 board match. The details were as follows (Cornish players 1^st):- 1. J. F. Menadue 0-1 J. Rudd. 2. M. I. Hassal 1-0 P. Krzyzanowski. 3. R. Kneebone ½-½ D. LIttlejohns. 4. S. Bartlett ½-½ A. V. Wong. 5. J. Wilman 0-1 P. Chaplin. 6. G. Trudeau 0-1 A. Footner. 7. C. Sellwood 0-1 D. Painter. 8. 8. D. J. Jenkins ½-½ C. Purry. 9. M. Hill 0-1 J. E. Fewkes. 10. D. R. Jenkins ½-½ N. Senior. 11. C. Long 0-1 G. N. Jepps. 12. P. Spargo ½-½ D. Peters.

Apparently, the Hants vs Dorset match was not played due to a misunderstanding over the start time – another disruption to this season’s carefully planned programme of matches.

(Since going to press, it’s emerged that the Dorset team turned up at the venue for a 1 p.m. start, as defined in an e-mail, by the Dorset captain. As no Hants players had shown by 2 p.m. Dorset left for home. 5 minutes later, Hants players started arriving for a 2.30 start. Sodd’s Law, once again demonstrating that if a thing can go wrong, it probably will.) 

The West of England Congress at Exmouth starts a week on Friday and the entry limit is almost reached. Enquiries about late entries to Alan Crickmore on 01752-768206 or e-mail plymouthchess@btinternet.com.

Last week’s problem was solved by under-promoting the pawn to a bishop, forcing Black’s king to d8 and then Rd4 is mate.

The British Solving Championship was held recently at Eton College, and was won by Colin McNab ahead of the usual winners, Nunn and Mestel. Paignton’s Jon Lawrence came a respectable 13^th out of 35 competitors. This one, by Charles Kemp, was one of the three 2-movers in the competition, worth 5 points each. It was first published in Plymouth’s Western Daily Mercury in 1919.

White to mate in 2.

Last weekend saw the start of the new Inter-County season, with Somerset drawing 8-8 against Hampshire, and Cornwall losing by the odd point to Gloucestershire.

Somerset names first in each pairing:  

1. J. Rudd 1-0 J. Tambini; 2. D. Buckley 0-1 M. Yeo; 3. P. Krzyzanowski1-0 I. Thompson; 4. D. Littlejohns½-½ D. Tunks; 5. A. Wong 0-1 A. McDougall; 6. P. Chaplin 1-0 O. Gill; 7. A. Footner 0-1 W. McDougall; 8. D. Painter ½-½    D. Fowler; 9. C. Purry ½-½ S. Knox; 10. N. Senior 0-1 C. Bellers; 11. J. Fewkes ½-½ P. Cooper; 12. G.Jepps 1-0 I. Stipcevic; 13. C. McKinley ½-½ F.McLeod; 14. S. Pickard 0-1 R.Marsh; 15. A. Champion ½-½ T. Davis; 16. R. Knight 1-0 S. Smith. Totals 8-8.

Glos names first in each pairing.

1. D. Lambourne ½-½ J. Menadue; 2. J. Jenkins 0-1 M. Hassall; 3. P.Meade 1-0 L. Retallack; 4. D. Vaughan ½-½ S. Bartlett; 5. P. Dodwell 0-1 J. Wilman; 6. P. Denison 1-0 G.Trudeau; 7.G. Taylor (154) 0-1 C. Sellwood; 8. M. Claypole ½-½ J. Nicholas; 9. M. Ashworth ½-½ D. J. Jenkins; 10. R. Dixon 0-1 C. Reeves; 11.A. Walker ½-½ C. Long; 12. P. Baker 1-0 D. R. Jenkins; 13. A. Richards ½-½ A. Barkhuysen; 14. P. Bending ½-½ P. Spargo; 15.I. Blencowe ½-½ D. Lucas; 16. double default. Totals 7-8.

Rudd’s game featured a finely-calculated ending by White.

White. J. Rudd (220). Black: J. Tambini (203).

Nimzowitsch Defence [B00]

1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5 3.dxe5 Nxe5 4.f4 Nc6 5.Bc4 Bb4+ 6.c3 Ba5 7.Nf3 Bb6 8.Na3 d6 9.Qe2 Qe7 10.Bd3 Nf6 11.Nc4 0–0 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.0–0 Re8 14.Re1 d5 15.e5 Ng4 16.h3 Qc5+ 17.Kf1 Nh6 18.Be3 Qf8 19.Qc2 g6 20.g4 f5 21.exf6 Qxf6 22.f5 Nf7 23.g5 Qd6 24.Bf4 Nfe5 25.Nxe5 Nxe5 26.Qh2 Qf8 27.Rxe5 Rxe5 28.Bxe5 Bxf5 29.Bxf5 Qxf5+ 30.Kg1 Qxg5+ 31.Qg3 Qxg3+ 32.Bxg3 c6 33.a3 Kf7 34.Rf1+ Ke6 35.Bh4 Ra4 36.Bg5 Re4 37.Kf2 Kf5 38.Bd2 g5 39.Kg3+ Kg6 40.Re1 Rxe1 41.Bxe1 Kf5 42.Kf3 h5 43.a4 g4+ 44.hxg4+ hxg4+ 45.Ke3 Ke6 46.Bg3 Kd7 47.Kd4 Ke6 48.b4 Kd7 49.a5 c5+ 50.Kxd5 Kc8 51.Ke6 cxb4 52.cxb4 bxa5 53.bxa5 b5 54.a6 If 54.axb6 Kb7 ensuring a draw. 54…b4 55.Kd5 b3 56.Kc6 b2 57.a7 1–0.

Last week’s position ended with Black’s unanswerable combination 1…Qh1+ 2.Bxh1 Nh2+ 3.Ke1 Rg1+.

Here’s an ending from Wenman’s little book “100 Remarkable Endings” in which the great American master, Marshall loses in 14 moves to Alapin (W). What remarkable 2 move combination did White play to force the win?

White to play and win.

At the weekend the first blows were traded in this year’s Inter-County Competition, with Somerset and Hants meeting at Mere. while Gloucestershire met Cornwall at their usual venue of Exminster Village Hall.

Both matches were very tightly contested, with the first match ending in an 8-8  draw, and Cornwall losing by the odd point to Gloucestershire. This may presage a series of close encounters for the rest of the season.

Next weekend, Devon II meet Dorset in an U-160 match at Luppitt. Will this one go down to the wire?

Full details are as follows:- 

After the earlier matches this season in which Devon beat Cornwall (11½-4½) and Hampshire beat Devon (10-6), simple logic would dictate that a Hants-Cornwall match should be a very one-sided affair. Yet the Cornish are always capable of turning the logic of the chessboard on its head, and they beat Hampshire 7-5 at Gittisham Village Hall last Saturday, thanks to wins by Robin Kneebone, Gary Trudeau, Theo Slade, Colin Sellwood and David Jenkins, backed up by draws from Messrs Hassall, Retallack, Bartlett and Wilman. Hampshire’s three winners were Ian Thompson, Tom Anderson and Lawrence Pearman.

As reported last week, Theo Slade became the West of England U-12 Champion the previous weekend, and was not overawed on this occasion by making his debut on Board 7. This was his game in which he exploits his opponent’s unwise captures.

White: C. Priest (151). Black: T. Slade (147).

Queen’s Bishop Opening [D02].

1.d4 e6 2.Bf4 d5 3.Nf3 Bd6 4.Bxd6 Qxd6 5.e3 Qb4+ 6.Nc3 Qxb2 7.Nb5 Qb4+ 8.c3 Qe7 9.Qa4 c6 10.Nxa7 A very dangerous move – trying to grab cheap pawns like this often rebounds. 10…Bd7 11.Ne5 f6 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.Rb1 13.Na6 Now the jackdaw knight is trapped. 14.Nxc6 Nc7 If 14…bxc6 15.Bxa6. 15.Qc2 bxc6 16.Bd3 f5 Sealing off the centre from White’s attacking pieces and freeing f6 for his knight. 17.0–0 Nf6 18.Rb7 With the centre sealed, White must try to dominate the b-file in order to generate some activity. 18…0–0 19.Rfb1 Ne4 20.c4 Nd6 21.R7b6 Rfc8 22.c5 Ndb5 23.Qb3 Ra3 24.Qc2 Now another piece is trapped. 24…Na8 25.R1xb5 cxb5 26.Bxb5 Qe7 27.Rd6?? The rook can be taken for nothing, but Black doesn’t spot this at first. 27…Ra7 28.a4? Clearly White doesn’t notice the danger either, but Black needs no second invitation. 28.Ra6 would avoid further unequal loss of material. 28…Qxd6 White resigned in view of 29.cxd6 Rxc2.

Meanwhile, at Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset I comfortably overcame Devon I by 10½-5½, even though two Somerset players failed to turn up and reserves had to be drafted in at the last minute, both of whom won their games. By way of compensation, Devon’s 2^nd team won equally comfortably (10-6) and thereby retained the Wayling Cup. More details next week, together with the results from the East Devon Congress which continues today in Exeter.

Last week’s 2-mover by Dave Howard was solved by 1.Ng8!

The British Solving Championship was held last weekend at Eton College and the new Champion is the Scottish GM Colin McNab (61/65 pts), followed by J. Mestel (59) and J. Nunn (56). The best non-seeded competitor was David Hodge. This 2-mover is one of the problems used in the competition.

White to play & mate in 2.

Cornwall may have been rocked by an earthquake last Saturday night, but it had nothing to do with their chess match against Devon earlier in the day, which involved no such shocks and went mostly according to expectations. It was the same old story for the Cornish – quite capable of holding their own on the top boards, but liable to fall away as their lack of strength in depth took its toll. In this case, the top 5 games were shared 2½ each, featuring four Black wins, but the lower 11 boards could only muster 4 draws. An illustration of the difference in strength can be seen by comparing the match on Bd. 5, where the experienced Simon Bartlett (162) was reasonably close in grade to John Stephens (173) and quite capable of securing a result. Yet whereas the Cornish team fell away sharply below that, Devon’s Bd. 16 player was the same grade as Bartlett (Pollock – 162). Having said this, playing the Cornish side is never a formality and they can never be taken lightly - they are quite capable of beating any WECU team who thinks otherwise, and Devon’s captain, Brian Hewson, knows better than to fall into that particular trap for the unwary.

The details were as follows (Cornish names first and were White on the even numbered boards):

1. J. Menadue 1-0 K. Hurst. 2. L. Retallick 0-1 S. Homer. 3. M. Hassall 1-0 B. Hewson. 4. R. Kneebone 0-1 J. Wheeler. 5. S. Bartlett ½-½ J. Stephens. 6. G. Healey 0-1 M. Abbott. 7. G. Trudeau 0-1 A. Brusey. 8. J. Nicholas 0-1 T. Thynne. 9. J. Wilman 0-1 D. Twine. 10. C. Sellwood ½-½ W. Ingham. 11. A. Barkhuysen 0-1 J. Leung. 12. G. Lingard ½-½ O. Wensley. 13. C. Reeves ½-½ A. Kinder. 14. M. Hill 0-1 A. Billings. 15. D. R. Jenkins 0-1 P. Brooks. 16. R. Smith ½-½ R. Pollock.

Saturday also saw the start of the London Chess Classic at Olympia, where the World’s top 4 take on England’s top 5 players in an 8-round All-Play-All. The tournament is unusual in that it follows football’s lead in awarding 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw. This is in the hope that the Grandmasters will fight more tenaciously for a win, rather than settle for tepid draws, as they often tend to do.

Last week’s position ended with 1.Rxg7+ Kxg7 2.Re7+ Kg8 3.Qxf6 followed by Qf6+ and Qh7 mate.

The New Yorker, Fred Reinfeld, (1910-64), was a controversial writer  of chess books, derided by some who equate the rapidity of his output for superficiality, and praised by others for making the game accessible to the general public. This position is taken from one of his 100+ books. His heading for the diagram is “The first move is obvious…”, and for the solution “The end comes with surprising suddenness”.

White to play and win.

Cornwall may have been rocked by an earthquake on Saturday night, but it had nothing to do with their chess match against Devon earlier in the day, which involved no such shocks and went mostly according to expectations. It was the same old story for the Cornish – quite capable of holding their own on the top boards, but liable to fall away as their lack of strength in depth took its toll.

In this case, the top 5 games were shared 2.5 each, including 4 Black wins on Bds 1 – 4, but the lower 11 boards could only muster 4 draws. An illustration of the difference in strength can be seen by comparing the match on Bd. 5, where the experienced Simon Bartlett (162) was reasonably close in grade to John Stephens (173) and quite capable of securing a result. Yet whereas the Cornish team fell away sharply below that, Devon’s Bd. 16 player was  the same grade as Bartlett (Pollock – 162).

Having said this, playing the Cornish side is never a formality and they can never be taken lightly - they are quite capable of beating any WECU team who think otherwise, and Devon’s captain, Brian Hewson, knows better than to fall into that particular trap for the unwary.

The match was played at a new venue, the Burraton Community Centre, Saltash, and Devon had White on the odd-numbered boards.

Cornwall had a miserable time of it last year in the West of England stages of the Inter-County Championship, losing every single match. However, a new season has brought a change of fortunes as they drew 8-all in an evenly-matched affair against Gloucestershire last Saturday at Exminster.

Here are the details (Cornish names first and had Black on the odd-numbered boards).

1.J. Menadue (192) ½-½ N. Hosken (192). 2.L. Retallack (178) 1-0 C. Mattos (179). 3.M. Hassall (175) ½-½ I. Gallagher (177). 4.S. Bartlett (162) 1-0 J. Jenkins (177). 5.G. Healey (149) 0-1 D. Vaughan (165). 6.G. Trudeau (147) ½-½ P. Dodwell (162). 7.J. Nicholas (146) 0-1 P. Meade (161). 8.J. Wilman (141)1-0 A. Richards (140). 9.C. Sellwood (140) 1-0 P. Baker (147). 10.G. Lingard (137) 0-1 G. Brown (137). 11. C. Long (133) 0-1 M. Ashworth (132). 12. M. Hill (130) ½-½ I. Blencowe (130). 13.D. R.Jenkins (127) ½-½ R. Francis (129). 14.D. J. Jenkins (124) 0-1 P. Bending (124). 15.R. Smith (123) ½-½ M. Claypole (122). 15.T. Slade (122) 1-0 C. Harvey (109).

Both teams included promising youngsters and for Gloucestershire 12 year old Michael Ashworth of the Wotton Hall club, Gloucester, won his game, while the even younger Theo Slade (10) of Marhamchurch near Bude, won his for Cornwall. He is probably the youngest player to debut for Cornwall since Michael Adams, who then aged 8 with a grade of 101, played against Devon in November 1980, and look what happened to him.

The Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) held their annual Individual Rapidplay tournament last weekend at Newport Pagnell, won by Paignton’s Keith Arkell on 6/7 points, just ahead of Danny Gormally, Thomas Rendle and John Richardson who were 2^nd=, half a point behind. Fifty competed.

The popular Guernsey Chess Festival which has been held all this week at the Peninsula Hotel and finishes today, regularly attracts a number of westcountry regulars of all strengths, who happily mix in with the overseas Grandmasters and  Guernsey locals. More details next week.

In last week’s position, White could simply play 1.QxR with the threat of 2.Qf7+ Kh8 3.Qg8 mate, and Black cannot take the queen because of 2.Re8 mate.

The laws of chess used to state simply that when a pawn reaches the furthest rank it may be exchanged for any piece, neglecting to specify that the new piece should be of the same colour as the pawn. This oversight was corrected in comparatively recent times, but before then, how might this lack of total clarity have enabled to White to mate in 1?

Using old Laws of Chess, White can mate in 1.

A number of the westcountry’s traditional early season events are fast approaching. Tomorrow afternoon sees Devon’s team blitz tournament at the Newton Abbot club for the Thomas Cup. Blitz chess, which allows about 10 minutes per payer per game, is even quicker than RapidPlay where the limit is usually 30 minutes, a relative luxury.

If this is more to your taste, there’s the Chipping Sodbury RapidPlay on Saturday fortnight. Details may be obtained from Graham Mill-Wilson on 07790-167-415.

At the other end of the scale is the 12^th Seniors Congress at the Royal Beacon Hotel, Exmouth, starting on Monday 7^th November, when there is just one game per day and each player has the luxury of 3 hours thinking time. Details from me on 01395-223340 or e-mail jones_r53@sky.com.

Meanwhile, Cornwall have already had theirs – the Kerrier Cup, held last Saturday at the Truro club. This was originally limited to the Helston and Camborne clubs in the Kerrier administrative district, but has gradually been extended to become effectively the Cornish Rapidplay championship. This year’s winner was, for the first time, Lloyd Retallick (Newquay), who beat the favourite, Jeremy Menadue (Truro), in the penultimate round. Grading prizes went to Richard Smith (Truro) who came 2^nd= and Ian Renshaw (Falmouth). The Junior prize went to Chris Piper.

Here is a game by two contenders for last year’s Seniors title.

White: J. K. Footner (175). Black: K. I. Norman (187).

Nimzo-Indian Defence – Bronstein Variation. [E45]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Ba6 Bronstein’s contribution to the opening theory. 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Nxc3 d5 8.b3 0–0 9.Be2 Nc6 10.0–0 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Bxc4 12.bxc4 Na5 13.Qe2 Qd7 14.Rb1 Rac8 15.Rd1 Qc6 16.Rb4 Ne4 17.Nxe4 Qxe4 18.f3 Qb7 19.c5 Rfd8 20.Bd2 Qc6 21.Rc1 Qd7 22.Rb2 Nc6 23.Rbc2 e5 Black tries to open up the centre, but this rebounds on him. 24.cxb6 cxb6 25.Qb5 bringing a third piece to bear on c6 and winning material. 25…a6 26.Qxb6 White side-steps the threat without loosening his grip. 26…Ne7 27.dxe5 winning a second pawn. 27…Rxc2 28.Rxc2 Nd5 29.Qd4 Qe7 30.Ba5! 1-0 Resigns, for if 30…Rd7 31. Rc8, or if it moves sideways, the knight falls.

The solution to last week’s problem by J.B. of Bridport was for the queen to shift one square to the right. 1.Qe7! leaving Black 7 tries –viz 1…Rxa3 2.Qb4#. 1…a5 2.Qa7#. 1…Bd3 2.Qe3#. 1…f5 2.Be5#. 1…Nf2 2.Bxf2#. 1…Nf4 2.Bf2#. 1…Rc4 2.Nb5#.

Here is another of Brown’s 2-movers taken from Brian Gosling’s biography.

White to mate in 2.

Back in March I referred to the lack of available information on the first West of England Champion in 1946, H. V. Trevenen, who was little more than a name in the record books. Since then I have unearthed a few more facts about him.

He was born Henry Vickers White Trevenen in May 1921, the son of Joseph, a stonemason, and Honor (nèe White) and lived in the family home of 17, Holly Terrace, Heamoor, near Penzance.

At the end of WWII, he turned up in Bristol, where, without any known previous track record, he won the Championship of the strong Bristol & Clifton Club in their first post-war season. On the strength of this he was invited to join three “old guard” players to play in the first West of England Championship. If his win was unexpected, the same could not be said of his victories in ‘48 & ’49, when the entry was extended to 8 invited players.

From 1950–‘68, he was an occasional participant in the WECU Championship and played for Cornwall on top board. He won the Cornish Championship in 1948, ’49, ‘56 and ‘68.  However, as the years went by, his form fluctuated greatly as he struggled with mental illness. He was committed to the Cornwall Mental Asylum in Bodmin, the old St. Lawrence’s Hospital. In fact, a chess club was listed at St. Lawrence’s as early as 1950, participating in Cornish league matches, and this may be an indication that Trevenen was a patient at that early stage, and help to explain his irregular appearances and apparent under-performance after 1950. The exact nature of his illness is not clear, but when the problemist David Howard, tracked him down and visited him there in the late 1970s, he seemed pleasant enough and they chatted amiably for an hour on chess matters. He remained in Bodmin until the autumn of 1982 when he developed intestinal problems and was transferred to Treliske Hospital, Truro, for exploratory tests. Within a few days he had contracted pneumonia and died there on 10^th November aged 61.

Trevenen’s chess career was tragically cut short at both ends; the war prevented most competition in his formative years and ill-health had taken over by 1950. The result is that he is a largely forgotten man in spite of his considerable achievements

Due to a mix-up, the diagram given on 18^th June was incorrect and did not match the solution given the following week – apologies for that. The solution to last week’s problem was 1.Bd5+ Pxd5 (forced) 2.Qf5 mate.

Here is another original 2-mover, just sent in by David Howard of East Harptree, who says it’s not too difficult.

White to mate in 2