Junior Club - 2012 competition Final round

Round 5 is the final round of the junior club's competition.  Dylan only had to turn up to win, which he did and is therefore the club's champion for 2012.  There was, however a serious match to play.  Aidan had missed a week, but otherwise had a perfect score.  Top of the table was going to be a heavyweight clash.  The games were:

Dylan    Aidan
Harry   James
Joe      Tom
Raj      Dhillan
Leia     Nicola

Game one: Aidan seemed to win a pawn early, but had moved his f-pawn, with Dylan's bishop on b3 Black couldn't castle, even though he did, but very honestly pointed out his mistake!  With his king stuck in the centre Aidan couldn't fend off Dylan's 'hack' attack.  Yes Dylan is a bona fide hack attacker, which I think is rung one of the chess development ladder.  I remember my own junior days attacking with similar vigour, now I grind out 80 move draws...
Aidan is aiming to skip rung one, as he plays more strategically, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this boy will develop into a very strong player.

Game Two: Harry methodically outplayed James.  Nothing fancy, just won more material and James is now good enough to recognise when a game is hopeless and resigned.  Harry goes about his business with calm determination and is developing into a fine junior player.

Game Three: Joe was too strong for the improving Tom and quickly won his game.  Joe is one of the oldest at the club and has improved the quickest out of all the players.  If he keeps improving he will challenge Dylan's and Aidan's supremacy next year and then it could be adult games for him....

Game four: Raj has just started coming to the club and is good friends with Dhillan.  Dhillan has been coming for longer and that extra experience helped him win the game, just.

Game five: Battle of the girls, which the determined Leia won.  Both players are decent players and I had no idea who was best.  Perhaps they equally matched.

Well done Dylan club champion 2012.

The final standings are:

	Name	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Score
5	Dylan	W,6      3	B,1          3	B,3         3	W,4     3	W,2    3	15
3	Joe	B,9       3	B,4         3	W,5        1	B,2      1	W,6    3	11
4	Harry	B,10     3	W,3        1	W,11      3	B,5       1	W,9    3	11
2	Aidan	W,7     3	X	B,6          3	W,3     3	B,5     1	10
9	James	W,3     1	Bye        3	B,7          2	W,6     3	B,4     1	10
7	Leia	B,2      1	X	W,9         2	B,12    3	W,11  3	9
11	Nicola	Bye     3	X	B,4          1	W,8     2	B,7     1	7
12	Dhillan	X	X	Bye          3	W,7     1	B,13   3	7
6	Tom	B,5      1	W,8         2	W,2         1	B,9      1	B,3     1	6
8	Caroline	W,1     1	B,6          2	X	B,11    2	X	5
13	Raj	X	X	X	Bye     3	W,12  1	4
1	AJ	B,8      3	W,5       1	X	X	X	4
10	Jamie	W,4     1	X	X	X	X	1

Round boxes show Colour, Opponent and score gained.

3 = win, 2 = Draw, 1 = loss.  X = No show 

Blackpool Chess congress

During the weekend of the 9th, 10th and 11th of March I attended the 36th Blackpool chess conference.  This event has been the highlight of my chess year for many years now.
The venue was the magnificent Barcelo Imperial hotel on the North shore of Blackpool.  The event was extremely well run and the venue perfect.  See http://www.blackpoolchess.org.uk/.

There were six sections from the open down to the standard.  Over 400 chess players took part, which makes this event one of the largest in the country.

Before going I promised myself I would try and share my feelings on my own games, with a couple of diagrams here and there.  I was playing in the Median which is the third strongest section.

Friday
My first game stared with me playing Black using the Caro-Kann in an unusual White set-up.  After the opening White had left himself with a weak pawn on c3 and a weak square on c4.  His knight is out of the game.  I felt I had a decent plus here and was enjoying the game ready to try and build pressure by doubling rooks on the c-file.

White chose this moment to launch a king-side attack with the rook lift Re3-h3.  White enjoyed some pressure on h7, but with the knight on f6 Black easily withstood the attack and was able to bring his out-of-play knight back into the action.

  White resigned.  The White rook is struggling for a move, note the nice knight fork on f3!  He still has the weak pawn and off side knight, with his attack dead and an exchange down the fight does look over.

Saturday
The morning game started as a modern Benoni.  This is an opening I'm not that up on.  White ends up with a triangle of pawns on c4, d5 and e4, but Black quickly challenges White's pawns and an exchange is made on d5.  I chose exd5, which is not the strongest move, but is solid.  Both players developed quietly after the initial activity.

White has just played Bf1 ready to chase the bishop with h3.  I had thought I could play h3 earlier, but didn't like the sac Bxh3!
White does chase the bishop and manages to exchange for the knight.  White tries to control the e-file, which Black challenges.  The rooks are exchanges leaving White with a queen on the open file.

At this point I thought I was better because White controls the open file, enjoys the bishop pair and has a target on d6.
Play continues with Black forcing off the queens and then makes a knight sac on d5.  White manages to hold, as he realises that Nc3, Nxa2, Nc3, a2,a1Q is a strong plan.  White had to counter sac a bishop to stop the pawn.  The following position was reached.

    At this point I was looking to hold the draw!  But Black doesn't play well and manages to go into a knight + pawn v bishop ending with 2 minutes left.  After about 90 moves  a draw was agreed.

The afternoon game started with White playing a Colle with an early f4.  This isn't a Colle at all and Cox calls it the Stone wall attack. I played Cox's Colle set-up regardless and arrived at this position.

After exchanging on d4, the White position looks a little split down the middle.
Black moves his knight and plays f5 and enjoys an easy game.  White forces the queens off and after a bit of jockeying for position this position is reached.

Perhaps neither side is better, but I was happy with my knight on d5.  Black has to find a plan and activate his pieces.  I tried to open the a-file and gain control there hoping to invade with my king .  Unfortunately this back fired slightly and White was able to double his rooks along the 7th rank via the a-file.

White offered a draw her, which I was very happy to accept.

Sunday
I was a little disappointed Saturday evening, as I thought I had decent positions in my games and should probably have been at least a half point better off.

The morning game started off as a Tarrasch defence, with me as White.  The game quickly reached a thematic isolated queen's pawn position.

White has the pawn blockaded.  The general idea is to exchange minor pieces and win the isolated pawn.  As highlighted this plan starts quickly with Nf5.  After a flurry of exchanges White has an active rook and does manage to bag Black's weak pawn.

 And the rest, as they say is a matter of technique.
I did convert the point here, but I didn't find it easy.  There was a lot of shuffling and false starts.  In fact my indecisive play was Black's downfall, he just got fed up trying to hold and seemed to make little mistakes every 5 moves or so, until I won another pawn, when his king was pushed over.

The afternoon game started with White playing d4 with an early Bf4.  Black exchanges a dangerous bishop and fights for space and the centre.

Play continues with White playing for a king-side attack, while Black counters on the queen-side.  White's attack picks up pace and Black has to defend.

Black has just moved his knight to the unusual g8 square, but this forces White to depart with another attacker.  White manages to organise a second wave, but I'm not feeling as uncomfortable during this second attack, as I felt it was going to come to nothing and White had invested so much time.

The pawn on a3 acts a s a 'peg' to hang a rook on b2.  Black's plan is simple.  Double or triple on the b-file whatever it takes and then land a rook on b2, after exchanges axb2 should promote.

White just couldn't hold from here.  After a few more moves an exchanges White resigned.

3 Wins
2 draws
0 defeats

A good congress.

Junior Club - 2012 competition round 4

Round 4.

By now the kids are starting to get used to competition.  Rules are stricter, quiet is called for and the kids eventually concentrate.

The draw was made as follows:

Board1   Dylan   V    Harry
Board2   Aidan   V    Joe
Board3    James  V    Tom
Board4    Nicola  V   Caroline
Board5    Dhillan  V   Leia
Raj Bye

Board5
Leia eventually ground Dhillan down.  Although the game drifted along for ages Leia had a material advantage, which Dhillan eventually decided was going to win for Black and resigned.

Board4
Nicola had the game sewn up.  She had several forced mates with queen and two rook advantage, but stalemated Black's king.

Board3
This was a close game, but James tricked his way to a decent win, much to Tom's dismay.

Board2
This the last to finish and was very close.  Aidan sacrificed his queen to checkmate on the back rank.  A familiar motif to adults, but for a juniors to spot was a good move and a sign of Aidan's improvement.  The fact that Joe pushed Aidan all the way is testament to his.

Board1
My boys (Harry and Dylan) faced off for a head to head.  "You could agree a draw" I suggested.  No way this was going to be a fight to the death, which came quickly for Harry.

With a perfect score of 12/12 Dylan is now the new Darlington junior Champion at the age of 6!

Congratulations Dylan

Below the standings after round 4

	Name	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Score
5	Dylan	W,6      3	B,1          3	B,3         3	W,4     3	12
2	Aidan	W,7     3	X	B,6          3	W,3     3	9
9	James	W,3     1	Bye        3	B,7          2	W,6     3	9
4	Harry	B,10     3	W,3        1	W,11      3	B,5       1	8
3	Joe	B,9       3	B,4         3	W,5        1	B,2      1	8
7	Leia	B,2      1	X	W,9         2	B,12    3	6
11	Nicola	Bye     3	X	B,4          1	W,8     2	6
6	Tom	B,5      1	W,8         2	W,2         1	B,9      1	5
8	Caroline	W,1     1	B,6          2	X	B,11    2	5
12	Dhillan	X	X	Bye          3	W,7     1	4
1	AJ	B,8      3	W,5       1	X	X	4
13	Raj	X	X	X	Bye     3	3
10	Jamie	W,4     1	X	X	X	1

Junior Club: Competition game from round 3

Here is a game that was played in round 3 of the junior club competition.



1. d4 d5 Both players choose very good moves to occupy the centre and free a bishop.

2. f3? 

 White's idea is to play e4, but the weakening of the h4 - e1 diagonal is a big price to gain a strong pawn centre.  In fact if you consider 2...e6, 3.e4 dxe4, 4.fxe4 Qh4+  Black wins a pawn and there is no strong centre.  Another downside to f3 is it takes away the knight's best developing square.  Knowing when to make a pawn advance is difficult and I would much prefer to see pieces getting developed on move 2.  If you were to study opening play you would probably come to realise that a second pawn move is often good on move 2 and in double queen pawn openings 2.c4 is a very good move for White.  Perhaps we will discuss that in another article.

...Nc6 Perhaps e6 is better
3. c3 White doesn't need to protect his pawn on d4 as the queen is already providing adequate cover.  Too many pawn moves means that your pieces are not getting developed.  Bf4 would have been much stronger, as it not only develops a piece, but can offer emergency cover along that weak dark square diagonal.
...e6 4. e4 dxe4 5. fxe4

 ...Nf6?  developing a piece is usually the best thing to do, but we must always be on the lookout for moves that win material.  Here Qh4+ wins a big central pawn, takes away Whites castling rights and makes White's game really difficult.
6. Ne2?? Missing the attack on e4, White could have caused trouble for Black with another pawn move e5!  After all those pawn moves the first piece move is a blunder, chess is a cruel game.
... Nxe4 7. d5? loses another pawn, much better is Nd2
exd5 8. h4?

White has just made too many pawn moves, 7 pawn moves out of 8 is not good play.  Get those pieces out.  Moving pawns leave weak squares in your position, if your opponent can amass a superior force then the battle will be theirs and you will taste defeat.
...g6 Here ...Bc5 develops a piece but with the super strong threat of Bf2 checkmate, or supporting a knight fork on f2.
9. Bg5 I think this is the reason for h4, which shows White has a certain logic to his play, which could be honed into strong play.
 Be7
White now loses the plot completely over the next few moves
10. Ng3 Nxg3 11. Rh3 Bxh3 12. gxh3 Nxf1 13. Kxf1 Bxg5 14. hxg5

Black is a full rook up, but worse for White is that his king is fully open.  A good player will attack the White king in such open positions.
O-O 15. Nd2 Qxg5 Black smells a weak king and quickly moves his heavy pieces into the attack.
16. Nb3 Qf5+ 17. Kg1 Qxh3 Black's queen is well placed for the final kill, but she needs support.

18. Nd4 Nxd4 19. cxd4 Rae8! A good move as the rook will spring into the attack
20. Qc1?? The final mistake, as this allows the rook to land on e2 when White can't avoid check mate.

Re2 21. Qd1 Qh2+ 22. Kf1 Qg2# *
A good game between two juniors.  Black punished White for making too many pawn moves and blundering a piece or two.