Issues raised at the AGM

Post from Clive

Below is a brief summary of salient some of the issues that were raised at the AGM

Treasurer’s Report

Phil Daley presented the financial reports for the year. The accounts reflected a surplus of £8.

The fee levels were discussed for the forthcoming year they would be:

• Full members (gainful employment)£30
• Students,Senior Citizens & Unemployed £20
• Family membership £30
• Juniors £10
• Casual £2 per night

All members are responsible for their own ECF membership

PD requested the club recognise Dave Chatfield as Assistant Treasurer, this was seconded by Nathan Barnes, all in favour.

NECL

The number of teams to enter in NECL league next year are to remain at 4. The number of teams to enter in NECL knockout next year was agreed at 3.

NECL Player of the Year

This has been won by a Colchester player for the 2nd year in a row (Eldar Lachinov last year) – this year Alex Orava is player of the year with 7.5/8 (mostly on top board for the B team). A small trophy to be presented to Alex. Of the top 6 in the player of the year listings, 5 are Colchester players

Appointing more match captains

Matt Stemp and Michael Wagstaff offered their services as match captains.

Election of Officers

Roger Sharman stated there were no new applicants for any committee position, and that the existing Officers were prepared to stand again. The following Officers were therefore elected un-opposed:

• Chairman: Roger Sharman
• General Secretary: Clive Bellinger
• Treasurer: Phil Daley
• Match Secretary: John Duff-Cole
• Tournament Secretary: Nathan Barnes

Match Nights

Setting-up for match nights.  There have been occasions when NB has been the only person setting-up boards and tables - if he arrived early then he has no problems with this but he does have a bit of an issue with not being helped when other people are there.  Non-drivers who play in matches should be responsible to arrive at 19:00 to set up for the match.

Organised Coaching sessions

It was discussed that it may be possible to arrange an organised coaching sessions from a strong player. It was agreed that Clive, Nathan, and Matthew would look into the possibility.

Player of the Year Award

It was agreed the club would present a Player of the Year award. Nominations were to go to the Secretary prior to next year’s AGM, the Committee would then decide on the winner.

Club championship quarter-finals

The club championship quarter-finals have been completed, while there have been numerous upsets prior to this round this time the games were all won by the higher-graded player.

 

QUARTER-FINAL
Nathan Barnes	1 v 0	Simon Denney
Phil Daley	1 v 0	John Duff-Cole
Ed Goodman	0 v 1	Martin Harris
Mark Johnson	0 v 1	Brian Remmer

 

These results mean that Brian Remmer will win the Club Shield for best result by an U120 graded player (unless he wins the Club Championship which will mean a 4-way play-off between Simon, John, Ed and Mark will be needed). The draw for the semi-finals is:

 

SEMI-FINAL
Nathan Barnes	v	Phil Daley
Martin Harris	v	Brian Remmer

DITO 2

The previous post in this occasional series was an example of forgetting opening preparation, today is an example of playing your normal line without paying sufficient attention to the move order being used by your opponent and is taken from the same tournament.

When playing the first game in your first tournament for nearly two decades it always helps if your opponent has a DITO...

Lines where Black plays an early ...d5 in the Symmetrical English are quite common as instead of trying to maintain symmetry Black tries to grab the initiative. 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 leads to a fairly common position:

There are numerous possibilities after this e.g. 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nc7 is the Rubinstein System, a complex line often seen in grandmaster play.

Today's DITO shows an example of ...d5 being played too early in a Symmetrical English, taken from Barnes, N (ECF:146) - Burrows, J (ECF:164)(2014).

2.g3 is the 4th most common move in response to 1...c5; Nc3, Nf3 and d4 are the more frequently seen alternatives. The game continued in a normal manner 2...Nc6 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nc3

However, 4...d5? just throws a pawn away. The difference from the line shown at the top of the post is that White has played Bg2 instead of Nf3 and so d5 is attacked three times and only protected twice. Black has not noticed the move order difference and has lost a pawn. It is going to get worse though...

Black still hasn't noticed that the knight is not on f3 and played 5...Nxd5??

White is a piece up after just six moves and the rest (should be) simple.

Colchester D: season round-up

Colchester D finished the season in 5th place in Division 3. They won 5 matches, drew 1 and lost 3 (despite being out-graded in 8 of their 9 matches).

 

The player statistics (by board) are:

 

Board 1 (Total 1.5/9)
Pete Smith	0.5/4
Simon Denney	1/3
Mo Jaufarally	0/1
Ed Goodman	0/1

 

Board 2 (Total 4.5/9)
Simon Denney	1/1
Brian Remmer	0/1
Mo Jaufarally	2/2
John Duff-Cole	0.5/2
Ed Goodman	1/3

 

Board 3 (Total 6.5/9)
John Duff-Cole	1/1
Ed Goodman	3/4
Mark Johnson	2.5/4

 

Board 4 (Total 5/9)
Mo Jaufarally	1/1
Denzel Gonzales	0.5/2
Shazia Jaufarally	1/3
Mark Johnson	2.5/3

Colchester C: season round-up

Colchester C finished the season with a 3-1 win against Billericay B and a 3.5-0.5 loss against Brentwood C. The team were in with a a chance of winning the league up to the last match but, in a very close division ended up finishing 4th - if the first match of the season (against Colchester D) had gone as expected then they probably would have won the division.

Date: Apr-2015
NECL Division 3
Brd	Col	BILLERICAY B	Result		COLCHESTER C	Col
1	b	Dale Bailey (133)	0	1	Martin Harris (121)	w
2	w	Chris Van Veen (113)	½	½	Simon Denney (114)	b
3	b	Ken Young (112)	½	½	John Duff-Cole (87)	w
4	w	Charles Newman (105)	0	1	Mark Johnson (71)	b
		(avg=115)	1	3	(avg=98)

 

Date: Apr-2015
NECL Division 3
Brd	Col	BRENTWOOD C	Result		COLCHESTER C	Col
1	b	Robert Davies (130)	½	½	Mike Wagstaff (148)	w
2	w	Timothy Weaver (127)	1	0	Martin Harris (121)	b
3	b	Chris Phillips (105)	1	0	Mohammud Jaufarally (99)	w
4	w	David D'Cruz (100)	1	0	Mark Johnson (71)	b
		(avg=115)	3.5	0.5	(avg=109)

 

Nine league matches were played by the C team, with five wins, two draws and two losses. The player statistics (by board) are:

 

Board 1 (Total 5.5/9)
Mike Wagstaff	0.5/1
Clive Bellinger	2/3
Phil Daley	1/1
Martin Harris	1.5/3
Pete Smith	0.5/1

 

Board 2 (Total 6/9)
Martin Harris	2.5/4
Pete Smith	2/3
Simon Denney	1.5/2

 

Board 3 (Total 5.5/9)
Martin Harris	0/1
Simon Denney	3/3
Brian Remmer	1/2
Mohammud Jaufarally	1/2
John Duff-Cole	0.5/1

 

Board 4 (Total 5/9)
Brian Remmer	1/2
John Duff-Cole	2/3
Denzel Gonzales	1/1
Shazia Jaufarally	0/1
Mark Johnson	1/2

HOCCC: Capablanca visits Ipswich

The text and game below are taken from the 28th October 1919 edition of the East Anglian Daily Times. The only alterations made are those necessary to "translate" from descriptive to algebraic notation. There are errors in the comments in the game (e.g. in the note for move 33 it says that g4 would allow chances of a draw when actually it would allow a Black mate in 8 moves). Just over a year later Capablanca became world chess champion.

 

CAPABLANCA'S VISIT

COLCHESTER PLAYER'S GAME

Senor Capablanca, the Cuban chess master, writing through the manager of his tour, says that the arrangements for the exhibition at the Town Hall, Ipswich, on Thursday evening were excellent, and that he will remember his visit with the greatest pleasure. He states that he had some very interesting games.

We append below what was stated by Senor Capablanca to be the best game played against him. The finish of the game is particularly good, but the play is of interest from the commencement:-

[Event "Simul at Ipswich"] [Site "?"] [Date "1919.10.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Capablanca, J. R."] [Black "Robinson, T."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [Annotator "Comments from original article, author unknown"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1919.10.28"] [EventType "simul"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 {Avoiding the more analysed variations of 2...Qxd5, etc... and also the dangers of the b4 Gambit. Blackburne favours this move. It was also played by Capablanca against Chajes in the New York Tourney, 1915.} 3. Nf3 {Apparently an innovation by Capablanca. 3.d4 or Bb5+ may be played.} Nxd5 4. c4 Nb4 5. d4 Bf5 6. Na3 {Although this move is forced (a privilege seldom granted by Capablanca), Black's knight remains a weakness through the whole game, and the ultimate failure of the defence is brought about by its necessary retreat to a6 on move 24.} e6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O N8c6 10. Qd2 Qd7 11. Qc3 Rad8 12. Rfd1 Bf6 13. Ne5 Qe7 14. f4 Be4 {To prevent White's light-squared bishop attacking Black's f6 knight and obtaining command of the diagonal e4-d5.} 15. Bf3 Bxf3 16. Nxf3 Rd7 17. Nb1 {The knight is now of little used on a3, and must come into play somehow. The move has the semblance of a trap, as the moves which follow are unusual and intricate, but the result is the loss of a move for black and a weak queenside. Such a move as Nb1 would not be played by Capablanca unless something definite lay behind.} e5 18. fxe5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Bxe5 20. Nd2 Bf6 21. Nf3 Rfd8 22. Re1 Qf8 23. Qb3 c6 24. a3 Na6 {White is step by step improving his position, and Black gradually goes to pieces (see note to move 6).} 25. Bf2 Re8 {Black cannot allow the command of the open file.} 26. Rxe8 Qxe8 27. Re1 Re7 28. Qxb7 {A brilliant coup, inaugurating the final breakthrough. There appears to be nothing better for Black, as Ne5 was threatened.} Rxe1+ 29. Bxe1 Bxd4+ 30. Kf1 Nc5 31. Qxa7 Be3 32. b4 Qd8 33. Ne5 {g4 would have allowed chances of a draw, but this move is also part of the combination.} Qf6+ 34. Ke2 Ne6 35. Qb8+ Nf8 36. Qxf8+ {And wins, for 36.Kxf8 37.Nd7+ Black king moves 38.Nxf6, and Black has still his bishop en prise. A good example of the skill with which Capablanca takes advantage of small weaknesses, gradually accumulating, until the resulting decisive move is possible.} 1-0

DITO

DITO (Disaster In The Opening)

This is the first in an occasional series of posts about openings going badly wrong in the hands of experienced players (no beginners falling for Fool's Mate here). The guilty will be named. Today's example is Lamont, R (ECF: 169) - Barnes, N (ECF: 146)(2014).

To show that nobody is safe we will start with a DITO of my own at the 2014 Bury St Edmunds congress.

This was my first chess tournament for nearly 20 years and the first day had gone well (scoring 2 out of 3 against higher-grade opposition). The morning of the 2nd day didn't go quite to plan. I had stayed overnight in Bury St Edmunds - not realising that the church bell would ring every 15 minutes throughout the night (so I knew exactly what time it was when I couldn't sleep).

I was a bit groggy at the start of the day but was pleased to see my opponent go for a line that I (thought) I knew well.

On move 3 I played c5 entering a respectable line (though not the main line) against the Advanced Variation of the Caro-Kann.

White accepted the pawn (the first person to do against me since I had started playing chess again), which is the critical response to 3...c5, and after 4...e6 played 5.Be3 protecting the pawn.

So far, so normal. However, I now couldn't remember the continuation to play. At the back of my mind something was telling me to go with 5...Nh6

The idea is to swing the knight to f5 where it will attack the bishop on e3 and start to put pressure on White's weakened pawn structure in the centre. This is generally considered to be the best plan. But I couldn't remember if this was right or not. After a few minutes thought I was confident that I had worked out something a bit better than Nh6...

A temporary sacrifice of a bishop that will regain a pawn and leave Black with a decent position. After White captures the bishop the queen can come out with forking White's king and bishop.

But this overlooks the obvious...

Black has lost a piece and the rest is simple for White.