Monthly update, September 2013

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Sean Coffey

A total of 52 games have been added to the archive this month: the full monthly list is available, as usual, by entering “-month2013-09” in the search box.

This month sees the return to the game of another veteran, Brian MacRéamoinn. He was a team-mate of mine at Dundrum for several years, including our 1985 Armstrong Cup win, the only time Dundrum won the Armstrong. He also played later that year in the European Club Cup match against MTK Budapest, discussed here last year. I think he hadn’t played for years, but this month’s collection has a dozen of his games. Though he seems a bit rusty, very understandably, he hasn’t lost his enterprising and entertaining style: he has never been one for boring chess.

bartlett-macreamoinn-2013One representative example is Bartlett-MacRéamoinn, Paignton Premier 2013, with Black to move, having just sacrificed two pieces in successive moves (knight on g4 and bishop on b2). After 26. … Ra2+ 27. Kc1 Rxc2+ 28. Kd1 Rxg2 29. Rxg2, Brian went wrong with 29. … Rh8? and lost; instead 29. … Qc4 would leave him very much in the game.

P.S. I have games from six people (for which thanks) that I have not had a chance to process and add to the archives yet. Apologies: in some cases I have been planning separate posts on the games, requiring some extra time.

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Kendall-Patterson, British U21 championship1967

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Sean Coffey

“BritBase is back!“, announces John Saunders on his blog. He clarifies that it never went away: rather he hadn’t been updating it for a couple of years, but now has restarted doing so.

Among the first few new items on the “What’s New” page there are two containing games by Irish players: the British championship subsidiary events in 1967 and 1968, with three games of Nick Patterson from the 1967 British U21 championship, and four of John Moles from the 1968 British U21.

Kendall-Patterson,British U21 championship 1967The eventful game Kendall-Patterson, British U21 championship 1967 reached the diagrammed position. Play continued 16. Re4 h6 17. Ng4 dxe4 18. Nxe6 e3 19. Nxd8 Bg6 20. Nxh6+ gxh6 21. Qe2 Nxd8 22. Qxe3 Re8 23. Qc3 and Black won fairly quickly.

In truth White has nothing in the diagrammed position. Nevertheless in the critical sequence above Black made some serious errors that could have resulted in a less favourable outcome. Where, and how could White have taken advantage? (Answer in a couple of days.)

There were several other Irish players in the 1968 championships at least: an Irish Times article from August 10, 1968 (p. 8) describes the progress of David Wilson, William Collins, and Michael Harkness (all Belfast) and Edward Lewis (Dublin) in the British Boys U16 championship, and Peter O’Kane, Martyn Matthews, Alan White, and Brian Ruderman (all Belfast) in the British Boys U18 championship, but none of their games appear in the BritBase collection. However the 1967 BritBase file has a game of “DC Wilson” from that year’s British Boys U16. Is this David Wilson of Belfast who played in the same competition the following year?

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Winawer Praxis

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Sean Coffey

This month’s issue of The New Winawer Report, now posted on the tnwr page, considers two games from the past few months, each featuring lines covered in previous issues.

rimkus-rekhtman-2013The first, Rimkus-Rekhtman, WS/M/428 ICCF corr 2013, is in a sacrificial line that has only emerged in the last few years. Watson’s recent Play the French, 4th edition evaluates the diagrammed position as =. The present game is of considerable theoretical interest: it seems to be only the second known example. It’s interesting as White follows the initial choices of Houdini 3.0–as this is a correspondence game under ICCF rules, he was allowed to use engines and may well have been running Houdini 3.0–but runs into severe difficulties and loses.

diepeveen-meessen-variationThe second game, Diepeveen-Meessen, Interclubs Nationaux (Belgian Team Ch) ’12-13 2013 was a roller-coaster game in which Black had a winning position not far out of the opening, didn’t find the best continuation and found himself dead lost, then was granted a reprieve, before finally blundering. With the better (and much more natural) continuation, the second diagrammed position could have been reached: yet another bizarre position from the Winawer. What is the verdict with best play? After examining it for a while I’m still not at all sure, but will hazard a guess it’s a draw.

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Williams-Collins, Cork Masters 2013

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Sean Coffey

williams-collins-2013The Quality Chess blog has a post today (“Bored to Death?”) covering Simon Williams’ win against Sam Collins at the Cork Masters this year. The starting point for the post is the diagrammed position, rather a simple-looking one, with Sam, as Black, to move. But if it was so simple, how was it that he was unable to hold it?

In addition to being a GM, award-winning author, and founder of Quality Chess, Jacob Aagaard is a successful trainer, and many of the posts on the (high recommended) Quality Chess blog consider various training-related issues. In this post, he gives a thoughtful–and very plausible–explanation of why “simple” positions can be difficult.

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August

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Two posts back I said that we were in a lull at the senior level. It seems I spoke too soon, as this month several enterprising players have had a busy tournament schedule outside Ireland. 79 games are available, including:

Andrew Philip Smith at the British Championship
Matthew Dignam and Anthony Bourached at the British Championship Major Open–won by Matthew Dignam
James McDonnell in the British Championship 1st and 2nd Week AM Opens
Pete Morriss in the British Senior Championship
Alexander Baburin and Sam Collins in the 3rd Riga Technical University Open
Alexander Baburin in the 24th Porto Giorgio Open
Conor O’Donnell and Paul Wallace in the e2e4 Coventry Open
Paddy Divilly in the e2e4 Coventry U1950.

hill-mcdonnellHere’s a game with a dramatic end: James McDonnell is Black against Clive Hill, the eventual tournament winner, in the first round of the 2nd Week British Championship AM Open. White has just played 53. d5.

(a) how should Black continue, and what should the result be with best play?
(b) what move should Black avoid above all else, and why?

See the game for a solution to question (b)!

Update, 2 November 2013: Clive Hill corrects the record (see comments): the white rook should stand on g6 rather than g8. This version indeed makes more sense, and it seems Black was dead lost. The archives now show the corrected version.

Posted in Games, Puzzles | 1 Comment

34th Capablanca Memorial, Havana 1999

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Alexander_Baburin_Havana_1999

The “Other tournaments” page gives details of tournaments held outside Ireland that involved Irish players. The first on the list was an easy choice, as Hastings 1895 ranks as one of the most famous of all tournaments.

But there are many others of interest, and now the 34th Capablanca Memorial, Havana 1999 has been added. Ireland was represented by Alexander Baburin, who finished in the middle of the table, roughly in line with rating in what was a very strong tournament (average rating 2550).

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An Argentine variation

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Argentine variationThe latest issue (#8) of The New Winawer Report has been posted (along with the games). This one considers a provocative sideline, in which Black adopts an alternative to the usual setup, via 10. … dxc3 and 11. … b6, reaching the diagrammed position. This was introduced in Argentina in the ’40s, and was pioneered by Rossetto and Eliskases for years.

In many variations of the poisoned pawn Winawer Black’s position holds together via a miraculous-seeming series of “only moves”. This Argentine variation tempts fate by spending an extra tempo: surely there must be a refutation? In fact many tempting White approaches lead nowhere, as illustrated by a crushing correspondence win by the late Tom Clarke, and even the almost-universal recommended antidote by White allows Black to survive. But it seems there’s a refutation after all …

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EU Youth Championship 2013

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Sean Coffey

Though there’s a lull in activity at a senior level in the summer, it’s the time when junior chess hits high gear. So many events are scheduled that it’s hard to keep up with them all.

The Glorney Cup events were held in Wales late last month, and resulted in an historic win for the Irish team in the Bernadette Stokes Cup (U12). Congratulations to the team: Pádraig Hughes, Ross Beatty, Tom O’Gorman, Michael Higgins, Fiachra Scallan, David Halpenny. I haven’t seen any games from this event, though. The live boards covered the Glorney Cup (see the games archive for Irish games) and the Glibert Cup (not yet in the archive). See Pat Fitzsimons’ report on the ICU web site.

Danny Dwyer at EUYCC2013Later the European Union Youth Chess Championships were held in Mureck, Austria. (Not to be confused with the European Youth Chess Championships, to be held in Montenegro in September/October; it’s hard to keep track.) The Irish players were Diana Mirza (St. Michael’s & Adare C.C.s), Tom O’Gorman (Shankill), and the Irish U8 champion Danny Dwyer (Blanchardstown), pictured here (from the tournament web site). Diana Mirza recorded a major success, winning a Gold Medal in the U13 event for best girl, finishing joint second overall. Tom O’Gorman finished 6th in the U11 event and Danny Dwyer finished 11th in the U9 event. (See Rory Quinn’s blog.)

The organisers did a tremendous job in making games available, and all the Irish games are now available in the archive.

Update, 24th August 2013: all the Irish Gilbert Cup games (except one) have now been added to the archive. The exception is a game containing an illegal move, which complicates the processing quite a bit. In addition, 19 games from the Irish Championship AM Tournament (1st: John Hughes) have been added.

Update, 30th August 2013: the final Gilbert Cup game, Petrie-Ní Mhuireagáin, Scotland-Ireland (2), has now been added, complete with illegal move.

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Lothar Schmid 1928-2013

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Sean Coffey

“Lothar Schmid, Chess Referee” ran his recent obituary in the New York Times, referring to his distinction of serving as arbiter in Fischer-Spassky, Karpov-Korchni 1978, and Karpov-Kasparov 1986, while the Daily Telegraph led with his extraordinary collection of chess books, comprising over 50,000 items. He was of course also a very strong player, attaining the grandmaster title in both over-the-board and correspondence chess.

But there is another aspect of his chess career that has been less discussed: he played the French Winawer, and indeed made important theoretical contributions, with both colours. His games seem now to be very far ahead of their time. The latest issue of The New Winawer Report considers three of his most significant Winawer games: Schmid-L. Pedersen, Max Blümich Memorial corr 1948-1951; Paoli-Schmid, Venice 1953; and Schmid-Díez del Corral, Clare Benedict Cup 1963. As is so often the case, even these much-analysed games still have much that has not previously been discovered …

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Irish championship 2013

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Sean Coffey

And they’re off … this year’s much-anticipated Irish championship has started. Already there’s a major shock in round 1 with Colm Daly (with White!) being routed by Ciarán Quinn.

With the demise of the LCU Blog, it’s not clear where any on-line discussion will take place this year (the tournament web site? Irish Chess Cogitations? Colm Daly’s Irish Chess Championships site? the Ennis C.C. blog?, ?). It’s best if there’s one main place. Unfortunately IRLchess isn’t suitable, as I’ll be away and out of email contact for the last three rounds.

However I’ve started the tournament report, which will be updated round by round until round 6, with a final wrap-up on the Monday after it finishes.

Round 2 update: The tournament report now incorporates round 2 (still missing the moves of the two games not shown on live boards). The game of the round was undoubtedly Rory Quinn’s spectacular win against Philip Short. It seems this was an outstanding piece of preparation, as Rory used a sideline of the Max Lange Attack that first appeared almost a hundred years ago, at least according to a Kenilworth C.C. article I found, analysing the game Fahrni-Tartakover, Baden-Baden 1914 (!). It was a clever idea also, because it seems Black’s approach against the main line 9. Ng5 (see for example P. Delaney-Hebden, Kilkenny 1999 from the archives here) is wrong against 9. Bg5!?. Philip Short duly followed the standard approach and came a cropper in short order. Devious thinking! (And therefore worthy of admiration.)

Elsewhere it seems there’s a view that Colm Daly’s round 1 loss was due to a simple blunder with 36. d5?. Colm himself says so at irishchesschmapionships.com, and I saw Jonathan O’Connor say the same thing in another forum. But while 36. d5? certainly made matters much worse, Black seems to be winning anyway, as the d-pawn can’t be saved in any case.

Round 3 update: Round 3 now added (missing moves from the last two boards in rounds 2 and 3, and also the game Hughes-R. Quinn from round 3). Rory Quinn is now in the sole lead with 3/3. Draws in Redmond-Fitzsimons and Ó Cinnéide-Orr allowed Colm Daly to approach within ½ point of the other top seeds with a win over Anthony Fox (the game score of which must be incomplete).

Rounds 4 and 5 update: Rounds 4 and 5 now added (missing moves from three games in round 5). Thanks to the organisers for uploading full pgn for the first four rounds! There was an interesting and crucial game in round 4 between Mark Orr and Colm Daly, well annotated by Colm on his tournament site (link included here). Rory Quinn’s momentum finally took a breather as he took ½ point out of two games with White. Elsewhere John Hughes is new to Irish chess but looks set to bring entertaining games: in round 4 he managed to salvage a draw from a position most people would long since have resigned (not without a lot of help from Ciarán Quinn), and in round 5 he had a won game against Mark Orr, needing only to promote a pawn, but veered off and eventually lost a K+B+N v. K ending.

Round 6 update: Colm Daly threw the championship wide open with a tremendous win as Black against David Fitzsimons. Where did White go wrong? (No peeking at engines!) Possibly he should have forced Black to resolve the K-side at some point? By 24. h3 for example: 24. … fxg3 25. fxg3 and surely White’s not losing? As it was Colm retained the option of a timely … f3 putting the White king in danger. 34. … Rf7! was a nice touch, holding the White king in place just as a convenient shuffle out of the danger zone with Kf1 was threatened. Elsewhere Philip Short had a great win against Mark Orr with a devastating attack that welled up out of nowhere. Mel Ó Cinnéide won against Rory Quinn, who doesn’t seem to be playing any worse than in the first three rounds but whose opposition has been much stronger, and John Redmond gave Jonathan O’Connor a belated birthday present, though he was running into trouble already at that point.

So now we’re left with six players all within half a point of each other with three rounds to go. Any one of them could win at this point, especially since some risks will have to be taken. (Good thing the organisers specified what happens in the case of a tie!)

Round 9 update: Most of the drama ended after round 8, when Colm Daly won, but David Fitzsimons lost to Philip Short. In the last round Daly and Short agreed a quick draw, making Colm Daly Irish champion for the sixth time. (Why did Short agree the draw rather than pressing for a win that would have given him the title?) The tournament report has been updated, though only 8 games from the last three rounds are available so far.

Posted in Irish championships, Tournaments | 11 Comments