Keverel Chess

The Westcountry’s two remaining teams in the Inter-County Championship were both eliminated in the Semi-Finals on Saturday. In the Open Section, Somerset were edged out by Middlesex 7½-8½ with a remarkable set of individual results. Of the 16 games, Somerset won the top 8 boards by 6½-1½, but could only muster 2 draws on boards 9 - 16.

In the Minor Counties competition, Hampshire lost 7-9 to Hertfordshire, their only winners being Mike Yeo, Dominic Tunks and Andy Manning.

Time now to look forward to next season’s matches, which have been scheduled as follows:

Sun. 16^th Sept. 2012: Inter-County Jamboree at Taunton.

Sat 20^th Oct. 2012 – Rd. 1: Glos v Cornwall: Devon v Dorset & Somerset v Hants.

Sat. 1^st Dec. 2012 – Rd. 2: Devon v Cornwall; Hants v Glos & Dorset v Somerset.

Sat. 19^th Jan 2013 – Rd. 3: Hants v Devon; Glos v Somerset & Cornwall bye.

Sat. 9^th Feb 2013 – Rd. 4: Cornwall v Hants; Somerset v Devon; Glos bye.

Sat. 9^th March 2013 – Rd. 5: Devon v Glos; Dorset v Hants & Cornwall v Somerset.

In spite of their recent Quarter-Final loss to Surrey, Devon were first to register a win with this miniature. The moral is that if one is going to stray from the beaten track of known theory, one should be all the better prepared.

White: Dr. D. A.Toms (153). Black: M. Turowski (141).

Scandinavian Defence [B01].

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qe5+ 3…Qa5 is almost always played here. 4.Qe2 As White was already a half hour behind on the clock having arrived at the venue late, he was happy to speed up the simplifying process. 4…Qf6? Unsurprisingly, there is no game on record where this move has been made - it has little to commend it. 5.Nf3 Bg4? White is unsure what’s going on here, but is happy to play along and see where it leads 6.Qb5+ Bd7 Another golden rule broken – unnecessarily moving the same piece twice in the opening. 6…Qc6 allows 7.Ne5 Qxb5 8.Nxb5 Na6 9.Nxg4 winning a piece. 7.Qxb7 Bc6?? 8.Qc8# 1–0.

Last week’s problem was solved by 1.Rh2+! Kf3. 2.Rf2 mate.

This position arose earlier this year in a game between Stuart Conquest (W) and Bath’s David Buckley. Both players have lost only a pawn each, but Black’s defence is in a terrible tangle. How did Conquest take full advantage?

White to play and win quickly.