Suffolk Chess

With only three or four matches remaining, the subsidiary competition for the Player of the Year in each division is hotting up.

The rules state that if a person plays for more than one team in the same division, only the points scored for the team for which he has scored most points, will count.   This applies only in Division 1, as in Divisions 2 and 3 each club has only one team.   The percentage tables on Dave Wild's website do not allow for this.

This is believed to be the current situation:

Division 1

Nick Savage (Ipswich A)     4½ pts
Leon Burnett (Manningtree A)     4
Adam Taylor (Manningtree A)     4

Division 2

John Peters (Bury St Edmunds C)     6 pts
John Feavyour (Saxmundham A)     5
Ed Kirkham (Adastral Park)     5
Alonso Paez (Ipswich D)     4½

Division 3

Phil Hopkins (Felixstowe)     8 pts
Bob Jones (Bury St Edmunds D)     6½
Roger Smith (Ipswich E)     6

There will be a further update nearer to the end of the season, when there are only one or two games remaining.

The positions in all three divisions of the Suffolk League are extremely close.   This is reflected in the number of match draws recorded to date, with over 35% of all results ending 2 - 2.

In Division 1 only three points separate top and bottom, with Ipswich C, currently at the foot of the table, having the ability to leap to the top with two matches in the next nine days.

In Division 2, just 1½ points separate the top four teams.   The other two teams, Stowmarket A and Saxmundham A, play their outstanding match on Tuesday and can catch up and overtake some of those above them.

Five points separate top and bottom in Division 3 with only 1½ points between the top four teams.

The matches this week and next may be crucial to this season's promotion and relegation.

Here are the current league tables:

Division 1

Team	Played	Points
Manningtree A	6	13½
Bury St Edmunds A	6	12½
Ipswich A	7	12½
Bury St Edmunds B	6	12
Ipswich B	6	11
Ipswich C	5	10½

Division 2

Team	Played	Points
Bury St Edmunds C	7	15
Sudbury	7	15
Ipswich D	7	14
Adastral Park	7	13½
Stowmarket A	6	11
Saxmundham A	6	10½

Division 3

Team	Played	Points
Bury St Edmunds D	9	19½
Stowmarket Rooks	9	19
Ipswich E	9	18½
Clacton	8	18
Felixstowe	9	15½
Manningtree B	8	15
Saxmundham B	8	14½

Increments - or 'Fischer timing' - whichever you prefer, although the former seems to be gaining precedence.

We've had the ability to use increments in the Suffolk League for the past season, but how many times has it been used?   Not many, I suspect.

Often, this is because of the hassle of re-setting the clocks.   But it can be made easy if you pre-set your clocks.

Several clubs now have some DGT 2010 digital clocks, including Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Manningtree, Stowmarket and Saxmundham.   This is how to pre-set them:

1.   Switch on the clock;
2.   Press the + button to 18;
3.   Set the time on both sides to 1:15;
4.   Set the bonus to 10 seconds on both sides.

That's it.   The clock remembers those settings, so the next time you switch on the clock, all you have to do is to go to '18', press enter and the middle button and it's ready to go.

For normal settings (1:15 + 15 minutes to finish), the magic number is '05'.   Use a similar procedure to set the clocks at 1:15 and 0:15 for the second period.

If you pre-set all your clocks on both the 05 and 18 settings, then all you have to do is ask your opponent what timings they want.   If 'standard', use '05'; if 'increments', use '18'.

The main benefit of using increments over a 15-minute finish is that no claim of a draw can be made under the 10.2 rule (opponent making no effort to win by normal means).   That rule really needs a qualified arbiter to sort out, which most captains are not.

Whilst on this subject, I wonder if it would be better to amend the timings from 1:15 + 10 seconds per move to 1:00 + 20 seconds per move?   The former gives you only 10 seconds to make each move when you run out of your original stock of time, which is rather too quick.   20 seconds is more reasonable, and closer to the 30-second increment used in FIDE rated events, such as the 4NCL and the e2e4 tournaments.

The downside is that games could, in theory, last longer than three hours.   With the current increment of 10 seconds, a game would need to continue for more than 120 moves to exceed the three-hour limit.   With a 20-second increment (and 1 hour), three hours are reached after 90 moves.   But very few games last that long; you would be well into your second scoresheet.

Your views will be welcome in the comments below.

The 12th annual Tradewise Gibraltar Masters finished yesterday, with three GMs on 8/10 taking part in a Blitz play-off, won eventually by Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov (pictured right).

Suffolk's David Spence had an excellent tournament, scoring 50% (2 wins, 2 losses, 5 draws and a half-point bye).   His rating performance was 2339, which meant that his 'live' rating will increase by some 20 points to 2236.   The full cross-table can be viewed here.   Seeded 150 out of 256 competitors, David finished in 115th place.

Two other East Anglian players took part.   Ashley Stewart (Cambridge City) scored 4½ points, for a rating increase of 28 points (to 2066), whilst Broadland's Roy Hughes scored 3½ points to lose just one rating point.

I hope to be able to show one or two of David's games when he returns to the UK.

(Photo: Richard Hartley)

Chess at the Apex in Bury St Edmunds started on Tuesday.   The idea, being promoted jointly by St Edmundsbury Borough Council and Bury St Edmunds Chess Club, is to provide a free facility for playing chess, every Tuesday afternoon from 3.30 to 5.30.   Car parking in Bury is free on Tuesdays after 3.00, so it's possible park adjacent to the venue and play several friendly games of chess, all at zero cost!   Refreshments are available (at reasonable cost) from the coffee shop downstairs (coffee is £1.70 and tea £1.30).

This new venture should particularly appeal to retired and unemployed people, as well as youngsters after the school day ends.   An article is anticipated in tomorrow's Bury Free Press, which hopefully will encourage a few more people to attend next week.

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of giving a talk to ten members of the Saxmundham Chess Club on the Laws of Chess.

Topics covered included:   Actions that bring the game into disrepute; opponents trying to run you out of time; Interference by third parties; noisy venues; time scrambles; three-fold repetition; recording the moves.   Also covered were changes in the rules that will come into effect in July 2014, in time for the next season.

After the talk, members took part in a six-round Blitz tournament which was won by top seed Malcolm Lightfoot.

If any other Suffolk club would like a talk on the rules, let me know!

It's not easy being a team captain.   Not only do you need to find 16 players for a full team, but then you have to play your own games at the same time as keeping a watchful eye on the progress of the rest of your team.   Full credit, then, to Ian Wallis for winning both his games last Sunday!

He reached the following position in his second game, against David Martinez Villena (173) of Bedfordshire (White to play):

11. Nxf7?!   Kxf7   12. f5.   Looks dangerous and the complications are immense.   However I have not done anything wrong in the preceding play so I tried to convince myself that everything would be OK.   The difficulty was finding the right path.

12. ... Rf8   13. Qg4   (13. fxe6,   13. Qh5 and 13. Rf1 were other possibilities).

13. ...Kg8   (13. ... Nxe5! was even better.   After 14. fxe6   dxe6   15. Qf4+   Kg8   16. Qxe5 was all I had seen, but now 16. ... Qh4+ wins).

14. Bh6 (one of the few moves that I did anticipate.   I also looked at 14. f6 and planned to answer this with the same game move but 14. ... d5 would have been even stronger, the point being 15. exd6   Qxf6 retains the piece).   Relatively best was 14. Bg5 when Nxe5 again saves the day. 15. fxe6   dxe6 (15. ... Nxg4   16.   e7+   d5   17.   exd8=Q   Rxd8   18.   Bxd8   dxc4 is still winning but why give up material when it is not necessary).   16.   Bxd8   Nxg4   17.   Bxc7 and the pawn deficit is a minor problem compared to the lack of development and exposed K.

14. ... Rf7.   Now the N is now longer pinned.   My opponent hadn't seen this defence.   14. ... Qe7 was also possible:   15. fxe6   dxe6   16. Bf4   h5! and e5 will fall again (17. Qg3   Nxe5   18. Bxe5   Bf2+   19. Qxf2   Rxf2   20. Kxf2   Qh4+ etc).

15. fxe6   dxe6   16. Bg5   Nxe5!   By now this should be no surprise.

17. Qg3   (17.   Bxd8   Nxg4 with two pawns to the good was my expected continuation but White didn't fancy this.   His continuation was less challenging).

17. ... Bf2+   18. Qxf2   Qxg5   19. Qd2   (19. Qe2   Nxc4 was no better).

19. ... Qh4+   20. Kd1   Nxc4.   Although White continued for another ten moves the result was no longer in doubt.     0 - 1.

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The Suffolk First Team played against Norfolk and Bedfordshire at Newmarket today.   In the morning session Suffolk drew 8 - 8 with Norfolk, but beat Bedfordshire 9 - 7 in the afternoon.

These results, together with Cambridgeshire beating Bedfordshire and losing to Norfolk, leaves the league table nicely balanced, as follows (win - two points; draw - one point):

Team	Played	Points
Cambridgeshire	4	6
Suffolk	4	5
Norfolk	4	5
Bedfordshire	4	0

Four players won both their games: Shaun Munson, Ian Wallis (capt), John Peters and Silas Peck.   Top board Alan Merry and Mike Cook scored 1½ points.   Individual results can be seen here (scroll down to today's matches).

The final matches, against Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, take place on Sunday 3 March.   Two wins will see Suffolk as EACU Champions.

After five rounds of the Gibraltar Masters, Suffolk's David Spence is on three points, the same score as GMs Nigel Short and Stephen Gordon, and just 1½ points behind the joint leaders.

After an excellent draw in Round 1 against a 2614-rated GM, David lost to another GM in Round 2, followed by a surprising draw against a 1941.   But since then he has won his next two games, with today's in Round 5 being his best result to date, beating a 2419-rated FM.

To date David has gained 15 rating points, which would take his 'live' rating to 2231.

The other East Anglian Player, Ashley Stewart from Cambridge, is on 2½ points, with a similar rating improvement of 15 points.

One of the best moves seen so far occurred in the first round when GM Gata Kamsky was Black (to play):

Gata uncorked the brilliant 23... Nf2!

Black now threatens mate in one along the g-file, so White has to weaken his kingside further.   Either capture of the knight would end in instant disaster with the loss of White's queen.

The game continued 24. g4   Qh4   25. Nxc8   Qg3+ 26. Kf1   N2xh3 and White resigned.