Keverel Chess

Posts Tagged ‘Dorset’

The third inter-county match being played on Saturday was that between  Hants and Dorset  U-160 at Southampton. Although Hants were outgraded on every board, they managed to squeeze through by the narrowest of margins. These were the details:-

Devon won their U-160 match against Dorset on Saturday fairly comfortably by 10-6. The details were as follows: (Dorset names first and were black on odd-numbered boards).

1. F. Pittman 0-1 A. Billings.  2. G. Searing 0-1 I. S. Annetts.  3. C. Winch ½-½ B. G. Gosling.  4. W. Legg 0-1 P. E. Halmkin.  5. C. Webb 1-0 F. Sugden.  6. W. Adaway 1-0 J. Allen.  7. P. Brackner ½-½ P. Dobber.  8. F. Falon 1-0 J. Morrison.  9. J. Balem 0-1 K. Atkins.  10. C. Ambrose ½-½ K. Alexander.  11. J. Kelly 1-0 def.  12. F. Kingdon 0-1 R. Wilby  13. K. Spooner 0-1 R. Oughton. 14. N. Mackie ½-½  15. J. George 0-1 R. H. Jones  16. S. Jones 0-1 J. Knowles.

Pictures etc. may be found in Blog section.

This was the game from Board 1, won by Devon’s new champion, Alex Billings, a pupil at Torquay B. G. S.

White: A. J. Billings (158). Black: F. J. Pittman (157).

Slav Defence – Schlecter Var. [D91]

1.d4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 Carl Schlecter’s (1874–1918 ) choice of continuing in this opening. 5.Bg5 Bg7 6.e3 0–0 7.Bd3 Re8 8.0–0 8…Bg4 White now invites the break-up of his kingside pawns, heedless of the inherent danger. 9.Qb3 Bxf3 10.gxf3 Qd7 11.Bxf6 dxc4 12.Bxc4 exf6 13.Ne4 Na6 14.Bxa6 bxa6 15.Nc5 forking queen and pawn. Black decides to sacrifice his a-pawn rather than defend it, in return for getting his queen into an attacking position. 15…Qh3 16.Nxa6 Qxf3 17.Qd1 Qxd1 18.Rfxd1 Rac8 19.Rac1 f5 20.Rd3 f4 21.Nc5 fxe3 22.fxe3 Rxe3 23.Rcd1 Not 23.Rxe3 because of 23…Bxd4. 23…Rxd3 24.Rxd3 Rb8 25.Nb3 Rd8 26.Rd2 f5 Black correctly pushes the pawn free from opposition. He has an extra pawn and a bishop for knight, sufficient for a win in most cases, all other things being equal. 27.Kg2 Kf7 28.Kf3 Bf8 29.Rc2 Rc8 30.Na5 threatening to win the c-pawn – how should Black respond? 30…c5 31.b4! Adding to the pressure, as the pawn is pinned. 31…c4 32.Nxc4 Bxb4?? 33.Nd6+ 1-0 Black resigned as his rook must fall. Black should have avoided the potential check – e.g. 32…Kf6 33.b5.

The solution to last week’s unusual task, impossible under modern rules, was 1.PxR promoted to another black rook and the king is checkmated as it cannot take its own piece and a rook is the only piece that could not interpose and delay mate by one move.

This week’s 2-mover has been devised especially for Westcountry Life by the Somerset composer, Dave Howard. It is a little more difficult than most of his problems but he advises that it is a “waiter”, that is, White’s first, or key move, poses no immediate threat, but whatever Black then does contributes to his own downfall – a form of chess suicide.

White to mate in 2.

Village halls do quite well out of inter-county chess matches; they provide a nice bit of trouble-free income for hard-pressed hall committees. They are usually spotlessly clean, well maintained, and possess all the necessary facilities -  stacking tables & chairs and a kitchen for refreshments. Cornwall have been using Exminster for most of their matches for decades; West Buckland is a regular venue, and little Luppitt, high in the Blackdown Hills, has been the regular venue for this match for about a decade.

Not that this familiarity helped one Devon player who got lost in the country lanes driving to the venue. He arrived half an hour late, but when they sat down to play, a mere three moves were made before his opponent’s mobile phone went off. The game lasted all of 2 minutes, but it levelled the score as Devon had already defaulted on one board.

The match was for the 2nd division trophy, the Wayling Cup,with grades having to be under 160. The teams were reasonably evenly matched at the top,  but Dorset’s strength tailed off relative to Devon’s in the lower reaches, and this told as the late results came in, the Devonians coming in 10 – 6 winners.

Bds. 9-16. J. Balam awaits his lost opponent.

Bds. 1- 16.

On Bd. 1 Billings (W) on his way to a win against Pittman.

Peter Halmkin (R) vs Warren Legg

WECU Life VP, Frank Kingdon, takes on Rob Wilby.

Bd. 8 Fallon vs Morrison & Bd. 7 Brackner vs Dobber.

Both Devon and Cornwall were involved in their first matches of the new season at the weekend. At Luppitt, near Honiton, Devon II met Dorset where the Devon side had a distinctly new look as team captain, Brian Hewson, had been forced to draft in a number of new players; in fact, almost half the team were debutantes. Nor did they let the side down as the 7 “debs” notched up 5½ points, half the team total as Devon ran out comfortable 11-5 winners. Devon’s winners were: Oliver Demerger; John Gorodi; Alex Billings; Peter Halmkin; Jeff Leung; Ken Alexander, Freddie Sugden and Tony Tatam. Draws were secured by Messrs Howard, Gosling, Clarke, Kennedy, Stinton-Brownbridge and Jones.

Meanwhile, at Exminster, near Exeter, Cornwall were fielding a slimmed-down team of 12 players against Gloucestershire instead of the more usual 16, due to their increasing difficulty in finding county-strength players prepared to travel the long distances involved. The result was two fairly evenly-matched teams who finished 6-6. Cornwall’s individual victors were Ian George; Gary Trudeau and Dave Lucas.

Here is a sharp win by Freddie Sugden, a pupil at Torquay Boys Grammar School and one of the Devon Debs.

White: M. Fielding (109). Black: F. Sugden (127).

King’s Indian Defence – Classical Variation [E90].

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 Nbd7 8.Be2 Ne8 9.Ng5 a5 If now 9…f5 as he was probably planning 10.Ne6 10.0–0 Nc5 11.Na4 h6 12.Nxc5 dxc5 13.Nf3 b6 14.Qd2 Kh7 15.Ne1 Nd6 16.Bd3 f5 now he can play it 17.exf5 gxf5 18.f4 e4 19.Be2 Qf6 20.Rb1 Rg8 Black is now seizing open lines and diagonals as he prepares to attack. 21.Qd1 Ba6 22.b3 a4 23.Kh1 axb3 24.axb3 Bb7 25.Rg1 Ra2 26.g4 Qc3 attacking d3 27.Rg3 Bd4 adding to the pressure. 28.Bc1 e3 29.g5 Ne4 threatening Nf7+ 30.g6+ Even if White tries to defend f2 with 30.Rg2 White can simply continue with 30…Nf2+ 31.Rxf2 exf2 32.Nf3 Rxe2 33.Qxe2 Qc2 34.Qf1 (not 34.Qxc2?? f1=Q+) 34…Qe4 and Black’s attack is proving irresistible. 30…Rxg6 31.Rf3 Nf2+ 32.Rxf2 exf2 33.Nf3 33.Ng2 would have held things up for a few more moves, but the result is inevitable 33…Qxf3+ 34.Bxf3 Rg1+ and White resigned because of 35.Qxg1 fxg1=Q or R mate.

Last week’s pyramid-shaped problem was solved by 1.d6!, after which White can meet every one of Black’s tries with a different mate.

In this position, the pawn has been rushing forward in order to queen.

How should White now proceed to ensure a mate in 2?

White to mate in 2

 The picturesque village of Luppitt, tucked away in a steep-sided valley in the Blackdown Hills near Honiton, has become a regular venue in recent years for this annual WECU Division 2 match between neighbouring counties. The Village Hall there, with its clean spacious rooms, ample parking and rural quiet makes an idyllic setting.

Both Captains were hampered by the unavailability of team regulars, but Devon’s Brian Hewson had the greater reserve-pool to draw on and gave the Devon team a fresh look as almost half the team had not represented their county before at this level – the Devon Debutantes are asterisked below and scored 5½ of the 7 points available to them. Dorset were consequently outgraded on all 16 boards and a big win for Devon was not surprising, though several Dorset players fought well to get results from unpromising positions.

 The new faces may be spotted below…..

The top boards waiting for the starting pistol.

Bds. 8 - 1 commence hostilities.

Tony Tatam (l) vs Norman Mackie

Dorset Captain, John Kelly, (l) chats with Mike Stinton-Brownbridge

Devon Debutante, Oliver Demerger, on his way to a win against former Somerset stalwart Colin Winch.

Devon players, Jon Munsey, Jeff Leung, Peter Halmkin & Mike Stinton-Brownbridge.