The 61st Southend Easter Chess Congress starts on Friday, with seven rounds taking place over the four days of Easter (one round on Monday).
To date, there are 59 entrants in the FIDE-rated Open, including three Suffolk players: Alan Merry (seeded 3), Ed Player (7) and David Spence (13).
There's still time to enter, either in the Open, or in any of the graded sections: u170. u145, u120, u95. See here for details and here for an online entry form.
The EACU Team Championships took place today at Moreton Hall Community Centre, in Bury St Edmunds. Teams from clubs in the EACU played in three sections: Open, T600 and T500. The winning teams from all three sections were from Suffolk.
Results were as follows (all scores out of 8):
Photos below are of the winning Open team (Shaun Munson, Graham Moore, Silas Peck, Andrew Shepherd) and the T600 winners (Bob Jones, John Feavyour, Jaden Jermy, James Pack).
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But back to Alan. The tournament featured three Grandmasters and Alan scored 2½ points against them, beating Mark Hebden and Tiger Hillarp Persson, and drawing with Jon Speelman. Surprisingly, the GMs finished outside the top three, with third place going to the promising FM, Daniel Abbas.
Alan and Jack each go home with £1,125 prize money in their pocket.
Mark now attempted Kc6. An illegal move. What happens now? Richard thought there was some sort of penalty, and sure enough, one of the Saxmundham players knew the rule (shown below). So two minutes were added to Richard's clock and play resumed. The game continued for a few more moves until Richard offered a draw as he was then down to three minutes. He didn't fancy his chances of forcing the win before losing on time.
Richard says, "Maybe if the Suffolk League can go ahead with incremental timings (see here) we could avoid these uncomfortable compromises?
According to the FIDE Laws of Chess, the first completed illegal move is penalised by awarding the opponent two additional minutes on the clock. The second completed illegal move by the same player results in the loss of the game, unless the position is such that it is impossible for the opponent to win by any series of legal moves (e.g. if the opponent has a bare king) in which case the game is drawn. A move is completed when it has been made and the player has pressed the clock. In rapid chess and blitz chess, the first completed illegal move results in a loss.
PS. I was also unaware of the 10.2 rule whereby team captains have to rule on a potentially drawn position where one player has less than two minutes left on their clock and claims a draw because his opponent is not attempting to win by normal means. Do all team captains in the Suffolk League know this rule?"
Both teams were playing this evening at the Bury club and going into these matches the teams were level on 26 points. Bury E won their match 4½-½,. but Lemurs squeezed out a 5 - 0- win, to head the division for the first time this season.
Now, Linton must wait for Cambridge Gowns to play their last two matches. Gowns lie 6½ points behind Linton, but there are a possible ten points at stake. The final outcome will not be known until 27 April, when Gowns play their final match.
The game against Mark Hebden is a wild game with a number of errors from both players. It started mildly in a Four Knights, but soon exploded into a complex game with both players throwing pieces into the attack. At the end, Mark has queen and two rooks (and no pawns), whilst Alan still has six pawns! You can view the whole game on ChessBomb.
Organiser John Wickham reports that entries currently total 40, but he is expecting "a flood of entries" in the next week or so.
There are four sections: Open, u170, u145 and u120. The tournament is a British Championships qualifier, as well as being an ECF and EACU Grand Prix event.
If you don't have an entry form but wish to enter, contact John , or by phone at 07808 876785.
Ipswich are hoping to enter a team (contact if you're interested) and there's still time to enter teams from other clubs too.
It costs £20 per team to enter, so for £5.00, each player gets two graded long-play games, using 'Fischer' timing.
Jaden drew all five games, for a grading performance of 152. His lowest-graded opponent was 143. At the current rate of progress, his July 2017 grade should be as high as 150.
Results from the other Suffolk competitors (Graham Moore and Andrew Donnelly) will be published here when known.
Colin now missed the best continuation and went on to lose the game. Can you see it (answer below).
Answer: 17...Qb6+ 18. c5 Bxc5 19. Kf1 (only move). Colin now suggests 19... Bf2, although with best play (20 Nc4!), White can probably survive. Perhaps the best move (after 19. Kf1) is ... Bd6, renewing the threat on f2 and preventing White's threat of Bf4+.
But it's a complicated position and further analysis may reveal a better solution. Can you help?
