Suffolk Chess

Former Woodbridge School pupil Justin Tan (right) finished as runner-up on 7/9 in the recent Colin Crouch Celebration Chess Congress, gaining his first GM norm in the process.

Justin played four of the six Grandmasters in the 44-player tournament, drawing with all four.

His 'live' rating is now 2469.   He will of course need to attain a 2500 rating, as well as gaining two further norms, before he can be awarded the coveted GM title.

The event was staged in memory of IM Colin Crouch, who died a year ago, aged only 58.

Three teams are in with a chance of winning Division 3.   in fact, there's a possibility that there could be a three-way tie!   This is the current situation at the top of the table:

Ipswich E have played all their matches, and are just 1½ points clear of the next two teams.   Ipswich F play their remaining match, against bottom-of-the-table Felixstowe B, on 19 April.   A 4 - 0 win will secure the title for Ipswich F (on tie-break if needed - rule 7.1).   Bury St Edmunds D play their E team two days later, on 21 April.

Andrew Donnelly, who plays for Sudbury in Suffolk League Division 2 and for Bury St Edmunds in the Bury Area League, reached the position below on Wednesday in a match against Cambridge City's Ben Tarlow (155).   Andrew (Black, to play) was two pieces ahead but his king is misplaced, his bishop is pinned and the rook on h8 is useless, at least for the time being.   There is also potential for a White mate on d8 or e8.

Study the position for a few minutes and decide what move you, as Black, would make.   Andrew chose a move which won very quickly, but not because it was the best move; Ben followed up by a move that lost immediately.

Andrew played ... Bg4, attacking the White queen.   According to the computer, this is about the 10th best move!   Ben then played Qd8+??, and after ... Rxd8, Rxd8+   Ke7, White resigned as the rook on d8 is en prise after White takes the Black queen.

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The computer gives ... Qf6 as the best move.   Did you find it?

Andrew's own comments on this position are as follows:

"I've looked at this long and hard as I did whilst playing.   The position is complex with multiple threats from both sides.   From my perspective all I could see was queen takes on c6 threatening the rook on a8 and also threatening the knight on c3 which is already being attacked by the rook on d3.   It also attacks the e8 square potentially leading to a mate.   My rook on h8 is out of the game and looks like easy pickings if there is a check on the back rank.   Couple this with the threat of the rook coming to e3, threatening both the queen and e8 and the bishop on e2 and still attacking the knight on d3, I am in meltdown mode.   I looked at bringing the knight back to d5 to stop the rook coming to e3 but that surely loses to queen takes c6, rook d8, queen c5 check, king g8, and then pawn c4!   All I could think of at the time was bishop to g4 and exchange to a rook and knight with pawns v a rook and pawns.   A relatively simple win.

Now with a computer on board and no human pressure, queen to f6 tells us that I keep the two piece advantage and have a +7.1 advantage.   I never even looked at this but human pressure works both ways.   With my attempt to simplify down to a +2.8 advantage, I threaten the back rank mate if the queen takes the bishop.   An obvious bluff but my opponent being human sees the vulnerable rook on h8 and checks on d8, thinking that after Queen checks on d8, rook takes back, rook takes check, king moves to e7, and rook takes queen check on e5, he can pick up the h8 rook but of course I can take the rook on e8, game over.

Again I would emphasise that I looked at this long and hard and my opponent was not some patzer; he is a good player who despite being a couple of pieces down had a real chance of winning the game, (see my other preferred move of knight d5??).   I suppose my point is that had I made the best computer move, the game could have continued for many more moves; playing a more human move finished it two moves later!"

Peter Keffler, who died aged 92 last December, left a huge quantity of chess books, mostly brand new.   Many chessplayers will remember his well-stocked bookstall that featured for many years at local congresses (including the British Championships when they were held at Great Yarmouth in 2007).   In due course I will be selling these on his family's behalf, using my Amazon website.   I will also be willing to sell books privately to local players (thus avoiding commission and possibly postage), so let me know if there is any book that you would like, at a considerably reduced price.   I can provide a stocklist on demand.

He also had a substantial private collection of at least 500 books - see photo above.   The family is prepared to consider offers for the whole collection.   Unfortunately these books have not been catalogued yet.   Please if you are interested.

For only the second time this season both Felixstowe teams were in action yesterday evening at the British Legion.   The 'A' team faced Bury St Edmunds A in Division 2, drawing 2 - 2, whilst the 'B' team (Division 3) went down ½-3½ to Bury St Edmunds D.

Felixstowe A's two points takes them to the top of Division 2, albeit temporarily, probably.   They are one point clear of Ipswich D, but Felixstowe have finished all their matches for the season, whilst Ipswich still have two matches to play.

The ability to spot an opponent's weak move is one of the most important facets of the game.   The game may be level, but when your opponent slips up, it's essential that you capitalise on his mistake immediately.

Chris Davison, who plays for Bury St Edmunds B in the Suffolk League Division 1, travelled to Golders Green for one of their Rapidplay tournaments at the weekend.   Seeded ninth of the 22 entrants, Chris scored 4½/6 to finish in second place.   Two of his wins, both against higher-rated players, demonstrated his ability to make the most of his opponents' poor moves.

Playing White against 2136-rated Subramanian Aravind, this was the position after Black's 29... Bg7:

The game continued 30. Nb5   Rd7??, 31. Rxe6!   fxe6, 32. Bxe6+   Rf7, 33. Nd6   Kf8, 34. Nxf7 and White won quickly.

In the second game Chris was Black against the experienced Michael Healey (2213).   This was the position after Chris had played 28... Qd2 (note the board is reversed):

The game continued 29. Qf3   f5, 30. h4?   Rxb3!, 31. Rg1   Rxf3, 32. Nxf3   Qf4, 33. exf5  Qxc7   and White resigned.

This is Monday's blog....

Eleven teams from clubs around East Anglia participated in the annual EACU Team Championships, held yesterday at the Turner Hall, Newmarket, and organised by Patrick Ribbands.

Teams were entered from Norwich Dons, Broadland, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Linton, Royston and New England (Peterborough) in three sections: Open, 600 and 500.

The Open section (five teams) was won by Broadland on 5 points, followed by Linton on 4½.

The 600 section (three teams) was won by Royston on 5½ points, with Cambridge runners-up on 4.

The 500 section (three teams) was won by Bury St Edmunds on 5½ points, with Broadland second on 3½.

It was disappointing that so few teams had entered, and especially so that only one Suffolk club was represented.   For the winning Bury St Edmunds team, Colin Roberts won both games, with Chas Szentmihaly and 11-year old Jaden Jermy each scoring 1½.

Over this weekend, four Bury Knights members competed in the National Junior Squad Championships, held at Wokefield Park, near Reading.

The outstanding performance was by Adam John (ECF 116) left, who won the Under 10 section outright, scoring 4½/5.   On 3/3 after Saturday's games, he faced top seed Ezra Brass (139) in Round 4 today, and managed a draw.   In the final round he beat third seed Jeff Tomy (131).   Four players shared second place on 4/5.   Many congratulations Adam!

Other scores were Ralph Martin 2/5 and Alan John 1½/5 in the strong Under 14 section, whilst Tom Roy scored one point in the Under 12s.

Adam John is currently #26 on the ECF grading database for Under 10s, as can be viewed here.   After this performance, as well as some excellent league results, his grade should improve considerably in July.

The position below is a variation of last Wednesday's Suffolk League Division 1 game between Mark Le-Vine (White) and Adam Taylor (Black, to play).   In fact, Mark had just played Kg2-g1, but could have played Kg2-h3, creating this position:

Could you win, as Black, from here?   Without using an endgame tablebase, see if you can.

Analysing the game the following evening at the Bury St Edmunds club, Mark thought that ...Rf1 should win.   But the tablebase disagrees; it's a draw.

In fact there are two moves that will win, with best play, in 38 moves!.   If you're stuck, go to the Nalimov Tablebase and enter the position.

Bury St Edmunds' Chas Szentmihaly (pictured left), who is well into his 80s, is still capable of some fine chess.   Playing in a recent Suffolk League Under 125 Cup match against Saxmundham's Andrew Paige, the position below was reached with Chas (Black, to move).   A pawn ahead, with major pieces threatening, Chas is already winning.   He now produces an attractive finish:

The game continued:   42...Rg2+,   43. Qxg2   Bxg2,   44. Kxg2   Rg7+,   45. Kh2   Qg3+,   46. Kh1   Qxh3+,   47. Rh2   Qxf1#

A couple of weeks earlier, playing in the Bury Area League, Chas (White, to play) reached the following position against Cambridge City's John Cooper:

Already a piece down, but with a promising attack, Chas unleashed 29.   Bxg6+!!   The game continued 29... Kxg6 (not the best move, but all three replies are losing)   30.   Qe4+   Kf7,   31. Qh7+   Kf8,   32. Qe7#