Sixth-round game played in the Mindsports IM Group B at the London Mindsports Centre, London W6 on 18 February 2023
After a 10-year break from high-level chess, Vladimir Li returned to competitive action in this IM norm event played at the London Mindsports Centre in February 2023. He enjoyed a largely successful event, scoring 5/9, adding six Fide rating points and enjoying three wins, including this memorable one.
Li, Vladimir2288
Oragwu, Chukwunonso2195
Mindsports IM Group B6
February 18, 2023 – London
Annotated by V. Li
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.d4exd44.Nxd4Bc55.Nb3Bb66.Nc3Qf67.Qe2Nge7I was expecting this sideline among things that could happen.8.h4!Nd49.Nxd4Bxd410.Rh3!h611.Nb5Bb612.Bd2d513.Rf3All prep so far.13…Qxb2This move got me out of book. I was not too worried, but could not yet find a refutation. I thought that White’s next two moves were forced.14.Bc3indeed forced.14…Ba5The point behind 13…Qxb2.15.Qd1A good move which seemed forced during the game. The second part of this statement is not correct though.I rejected15.Nxc7+Kf8not seeing anything obvious. Stockfish shows that16.Bxa5Qxa1+17.Kd2is close to winning.15…Bxc3+Only at this point did I figure out how to proceed after 16. Rxc3 Qb4 – I found a useful double attack.16.Rxc3Qb4Otherwise, the queen is getting trapped. After 16…Qb4, I had found the tactic Qd2, Ne6+ and Rc8+ but spent about 20 minutes trying to understand the difference between 17.a3 and the immediate 17.Nxc7+. At the end, I could not see anything substantial.16…O-O17.Rb1Qxa218.Ra3is obviously winning.17.a317.Nxc7+may have been even stronger.17…Kd717…Kf818.Qd2d419.Ne6+Bxe620.Rc8+Rxc821.Qxb418.Qd2d4looked crushing too but I could not find a forced win and decided to eliminate this option.17…Qa5After17…Qxe4+18.Re3Qf419.g3the black queen can no longer continue protecting c7.19…Qf620.Nxc7+Kf821.Nxa818.Nxc7+Kf819.Qd2This is the double attack I managed to find after move 15: the threats are Nxa8, Ne6+ and Rc8+.19…d4I calculated19…Rb820.Na6an improved version of 20.Ne6+.20.Ne6+Bxe621.Rc8+Rxc822.Qxa5dxe423.Qxa720…bxa6?21.Rxc8+20.Ne6+I also considered20.Qxd4Nc621.Qd6+Kg8which looked promising, but I could not find a direct follow-up. That is why I decided that it would be better to win the queen. Stockfish shows what I missed:22.Qg3!Rb823.O-O-Oand this is winning which did not seem that obvious to me.20…Bxe621.Rc8+Rxc822.Qxa5as planned.22…Nc623.Qb5b624.Qa4Kg824…Ke725.Bb5Bd725.Bb5Na526.Bd3Nc627.h5f6Here I spent another 15 minutes trying to prevent any counterplay.28.Rd1!?with the idea of Bd3-b5. I think it is a decent decision – helps win d4 without losing c2.28…Kf729.Bb5Na530.Rxd4Now White needs to try to deliver a checkmate while Black’s knight is on a5.30…Rc731.Bd7Rb832.Qb5Rbb733.Bxe6+Kxe634.Qf5+Ke735.Qg6Ke636.Qe8+Re737.Qg8+Rf738.f4Rc739.Rd5Nc640.Qe8+with a checkmate to follow.1–0
First-round game played at the Kingston Invitational on 24 July 2023
This was one of the games played in the first round of the Masters section at the 2023 Kingston Invitational. If Vladimir Li could win it, he knew his Fide rating would rise about 2300 and he would thus secure the FM title. With so much riding on the game, he had done some serious preparation and it paid dividends.
Li, Vladimir2294
Ratnesan, Ranesh2216
II Kingston Invitational 2023 - Masters1
July 24, 2023 – Kingston University Penrhyn Campus
Annotated by V. Li
This was my first game of the second Kingston invitational (my debut in the event). If I was able to win it, my live FIDE rating would exceed 2300 and I would secure the FM title, which added a bit of importance to this game. I noticed that my opponent had frequently played the same line against the Alapin Sicilian (2.c3) which seemed a bit better for White. Given that the tournament was round-robin with the pairings announced several days in advance, I was able to prepare very deeply.1.e4c52.c3d53.exd5Qxd54.d4cxd45.cxd4Nc66.Nf3e5This is possible, but perhaps should not fully equalise. White is now gaining the bishop pair in the open position by force:7.Nc3Bb4□forced, otherwise d4-d5 or Nc3-b5 will win on the spot.8.Bd2Bxc3□9.Bxc3e49…exd410.Nxd4⩲10.Ne5Nxe511.dxe5The pawn structure is symmetric, but White has small advantage thanks to the bishop pair.11…Ne712.Be2O-O13.Qa4My prep was this relatively rare move instead of a more common 13.0-0.13…Bf5This natural move is already a small inaccuracy. But the reason is not obvious at all.13…Qc6allowed Black to obtain a better version of the endgame.14.Rd1Qc615.Qxc6Nxc6And now comes some amazing stuff:16.Kd2!!Rfe817.Ke3!That is why 13…Bf5 was a bit inaccurate (this can hardly be expected!). Here my prep ended with White being clearly better in this endgame. Funnily, Ke3-f4 is now a real threat. Plus, I was about 15 minutes ahead on clock.17…g5?did not look right. It was better to allow Ke3-f4.17…Rac8⌓18.Kf4Be619.a3⩲17…h6⌓18.Kf4Ne7and, in both cases, White is still clearly better but the game goes on.18.h4It felt right to include the h1 rook. I was planning 18…Nxe5 19.Rd5 which is a relevant tactical nuance.18…Nxe5?!19.Rd5!White is not forced to take hxg5. Now White is winning a pawn while keeping the position open.19…f619…Ng4+20.Bxg4Bxg421.Rxg5+is the issue with 18…Nxe5.20.hxg5Be621.Rb5On move 19, I originally had thought of playing 21.Rd6, but having reached this position realised that 21.Rb5 should be more unpleasant to face for my opponent.21…Rab822.gxf6Ng623.Rbh5Nf8Here, I spent about 20 minutes trying to find a direct win. I failed and decided to go for the position after 25.Bb5 and 26.Rh4 further activating a rook.24.Rg5+Ng625.Bb5Red826.Rh4The good thing is that since move 17 every move has carried a threat.26…Bd5I did not expect this move, but was able to spot a simple tactic:27.Rxd5!Nxh4or27…Rxd528.Bc4Nxh429.Bxd5+Kf830.Bb4+28.Rxd8+Rxd829.Bc4+As they teach, bishops usually work very well along with a passed pawn.29…Kf829…Kh830.f7+30.Bb4+30…Ke831.f7+Overall, quite a clean game. Thanks to the deep preparation, I got everything: two bishops, attack, extra material and time advantage. Thankfully, I was able to keep focus till the end.I also considered31.Be6for a few minutes but decided that 31.f7+ was simpler.1–0
Surrey League division 5 (Minor Trophy) match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 6 November 20
Kingston 4, the additional Surrey league team we are fielding this season, is designed to help blood new talent, and it was great to see three juniors making up half of the team as a strong Dorking second team came to visit. Kingston went 1-0 up when board 3 was defaulted – Dorking’s captain unfortunately couldn’t find the Willoughby Arms. In his defence, it can be a little tricky: hidden away in a maze of identical-looking streets in north Kingston.
Sean Tay, playing on board 1 for Kingston, tried a knight sacrifice in order to open up a path to White’s king, but his opponent managed to find an escape route and expertly saw out the piece advantage to tie the match at 1-1. Ed Mospan, who has made a welcome return to the club this season, won an excellent attacking game on board 2. He advanced his queenside pawns early, eventually managing to break through and clinching a great win against his higher-rated opponent to make it 2-1 to Kingston.
Normally, it’s the juniors’ games which finish first, but here Kingston’s youngsters were playing with poise and patience. Ethan Bogerd, making his club debut, went a piece down against the experienced Peter Lawrence, but had compensation thanks to a passed pawn on the flank that he managed to advance quickly. Ethan put his opponent under immense pressure, bringing all his pieces into the attack, but Peter held his nerve and defended resolutely, managing to swap off and consolidate, eventually making the piece advantage tell and levelling the match.
Jaden Mistry, whose chess has progressed rapidly since making his Kingston debut last season, was playing excellently on board 4, carefully advancing his queenside pawns and maintaining a small advantage. But his opponent managed to halt their progress with a well-placed knight, and, while Jaden nimbly switched his attack to the kingside, his opponent was just in time to promote while also stopping Jaden’s pawn, which had reached the seventh rank. That win gave Dorking a 3-2 lead.
The final game saw young William Lin on board 6, grinding out a rook-and-four-pawns endgame. Completely unfazed by the occasion, the match score and the crowd of onlookers, William played confidently and precisely, creating a passed pawn on the flank and marching his king up the board to offer support. His opponent, in contrast, played too passively, with his king and pawns out of the game, leaving his rook to do all the defending.
William was able to force an exchange of rooks and promote his pawn, securing a 3-3 draw in the match. An excellent performance from the youngster, who after the game remarked that he was more excited to be up way past his bedtime than with his crucial victory. Oh to be young!
Surrey League division 1 match played at the Guildford Institute on 6 November 2023
All good things come to an end. The first team had not lost since the pandemic, but the run perished on a cold Monday away at Guildford. Depleted by the absence of several regulars, we still had the rating edge on the top three boards but were outrated on the lower five.
Your reporter was one of the absentees, but returned from a bridge tournament in Athens halfway through the session. By that time, Alan Scrimgour had drawn a short game on board 6; an innovative placement of his bishops against the Caro-Kann had not come off, and the tension soon evaporated.
On board 8, Stephen Moss, who had kindly deserted the fourth team to fill a gap, had misplayed the opening against a youngster who was moving very quickly. Stephen was already starting to feel time pressure when he found an opportunity in this position.
He played Nxa7+ Rxa7 Bxb6+, and had hoped this would win the rook outright, leaving him the exchange ahead, having missed Rc7. The combination still won a rook and two pawns for two minor pieces, and the three connected passed pawns on the queenside looked good. But after White lost an important tempo, the black king was well placed to hold them up without the support of the white rook, while on the other side the black pawn majority supported by the two bishops soon overwhelmed White.
John Foley on board 5 had a fairly short draw. He had had the better of the black side of a Caro-Kann up to the position below. It looked natural to equalise material and attack the white queen with 12… Nxe5. But it was better to be patient: 12… d4 13. Ne4 (or Na4 Qa5 14. b3 Nf5 and either the g- or e-pawn will fall) Qxb2 14. Nd6+ Kf8 15. Rc1 Rd8 16. Qb5 Qxb5 17. Nxb5 Nxe5 and Black has a significant advantage. Thereafter the game soon petered out as a draw; still a decent result as Black.
Jon Eckert on board 7 came under some pressure in the opening as his king was forced to d7. But he found some counter-chances, and his opponent’s sacrifice of a piece for two pawns, although dangerous, looked unsound. However, Jon ignored a routine recapture in favour of a move which he wrongly thought was winning, and found himself two pawns down in an ending. Bishops of opposite colours gave him a chance, but his opponent lost or sacrificed his bishop for another pawn, and Jon’s bishop could not hold all the pawns.
David Rowson’s Alapin Sicilian resulted in an IQP (isolated queen’s pawn) position with which he never felt comfortable, as he struggled to get middle game play sufficient to compensate for the long-term weakness. He felt under pressure before the point at which Stockfish first felt his position was materially worse. In the position below, David played the natural Be3, when Qe3 was recommended. After 22… Bb8 23. Rc5 Qd6 threatening mate in two, 24. f4 was forced, but that left the white king far too exposed and Black soon won decisive material.
David Rowson’s game was nevertheless still alive for long enough that we had chances to hold the match if our top three scored heavily. Peter Lalić, who has recently threatened some “slowdown” chess, holding level middle games and grinding his opponents in endings, stayed true to his earlier “rushdown” principles against Surrey county captain Clive Frostick, gambiting an early pawn for free play. Eventually that free play led to regaining the pawn, but that left too little tension in the position and a draw was agreed.
When I first toured the room, I found it difficult to understand the games on the top two boards. And having played them through with help from electronic intelligence, I still find them difficult!
David Maycock played an early g5 in front of his castled king which most of us would not have considered, and which encouraged his opponent to play h4.
I was surprised when David accepted the pawn sacrifice, apparently opening up his king, but it seems to be the best move.; White is too undeveloped to exploit the open files, the h4 pawn is well protected, and for the moment controls g3. The advantage fluctuated until White finally regained the lost pawn with 25. Rxh4, which misplaced his rook.
David found 25…Be4, which contains the sort of trap which often wins games. Any sensible rook move roughly holds the balance. Instead the natural 26. Bxe4 allowed Rxe4 pinning the knight on g4 to the rook on h4. After 27. f3 f5 (the point of Be4 was to clear the way for this pawn, in turn opening an attack by the queen against the rook on h4 while the pawn hits the knight on g4) 28. Rh1, David could have won two pieces for a rook with Rxe2 followed by fxg4, but instead played a crushing exchange sacrifice; after 28… fxg4 29. fxe4 Nxe4 he was dominating the board, and with Qg5 and Rf8 set up an irresistible attack.
In the position below, Black is threatening Bf4+ and g3, trapping the K. White could only find Ng3, giving up the knight and losing in short order.
Mike Healey’s game with White against Roger Emerson on board 2 was even harder to follow, not helped by extreme time pressure. Computer analysis shows that it was only in time pressure that he wriggled out from being slightly worse, and at one point lost, to winning. The last 20 moves, which is when much of the action happened, have had to be reconstructed.
This was the position after White’s 30. Kh2, close to the point when he stopped recording (ie had less than five minutes on his clock):
It seemed to me that White now had the edge, with more room for manoeuvre, and Black’s queen’s bishop even sillier than White’s. But Black has a strong plan here: Bb7 followed by Bc8 lines up a dangerous attack against White’s king.
In the position below, White is lost. Black can play 34… Nxe4, and Qxe4 is not possible because of Qxh3 mate. The white pawn on d5 is weak, and Black can play Nd2 to swap off the white king’s bishop, which would otherwise be activated by the loss of the d4 pawn.
After Black had missed that chance, this position was reached, with White to play his 43rd move:
Now White is on top, and after 43. Nxb5 g5 (hoping to exploit the pin on White’s f-pawn) 44. e5 set problems (an attack on the queen and on the knight on h7) which Black failed to solve. (Remarkably, Stockfish says this position is equal, whereas White could have won with the highly unnatural Na7). Why, when White is winning a piece? Because the black counter-attack is dangerous. The last critical position arose after 49. Kf1:
Now 49… Rh2 followed by 50. d7 Bxd7. 51. Qxd7 f2 would have forced White to play for perpetual check by 52. Qc8+ Kg7 53. Rxg5+ Qxg5 54. Qg8+. Instead Black played 49… Rg3, and after 50. d7 Bxd7 51. Qxd7 Kg7 52. Qd4 Qxd4 53. Nxd4 Black resigned; the three extra pawns do not compensate for two extra pieces.
This was the last game to finish, and by the end it was clear that it was only a consolation goal for Kingston, but to have games of this originality and excitement on the top boards is indeed consolation for lovers of our game who can look beyond mere results. For the rest of us, we hope to do better when Epsom come to Fortress Willoughby at the end of the month.
Peter Andrews, Kingston 1 captain in Surrey League division 1
Chess and games camp for 7 to 11-year-olds from 18-21 December at Holy Cross Prep School, Kingston upon Thames KT2 7NU
John Foley
Following the successful summer chess camp which the children enjoyed, parents asked if I could run a camp to coincide with the Christmas holidays. Happy to oblige, the camp will run at a local Kingston School.
Update: the Camp will be running a week later than originally advertised because many schools would not yet have broken up if we had adhered to the original date.
The camp is for any child who enjoys playing board games. Prior knowledge of chess is not required. The event comprises lectures and demonstrations on various games such as draughts, halma and chess. We have a compendium of 36 instructional games. The children practise the games against other children and the instructors. There are some fun puzzles and maths-related activities.
The children who attend will obtain more confidence in playing games and will have spent an enjoyable few days in a friendly environment.
This is not a chess training event. It is an event to delight and inspire children who enjoy games and like having their brain stretched.
Surrey League division 5 (Minor Trophy) match played at the North Star, Chessington on 18 October 2023
This was a game played in division 5 of the Surrey League between two players with an ECF rating of around 1600. It is not chess of an especially exalted standard. There are mistakes aplenty, and the game is one of those typical evening-match rollercoasters where the evaluation oscillates wildly, especially as time runs short. Ed Mospan, a Kingston stalwart who has returned to the club this year after a pandemic-induced break, enjoyed the game, felt he learned a lot from it, and offered this annotation. It is evening chess, played at 75 minutes a side with a 10-second increment, in its rawest form. Anything can happen, and both sides will have chances. Ed makes the final error and could have reacted badly to losing a winning position. But he’s not made that way. Instead he makes the best of it and prepares for the next friendly encounter. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” as Nietzsche (who really should have played chess) so sagely put it.
Murugan Kanagasapay
Edward Mospan
Chessington 2 v Kingston 4
October 18, 2023 – Chessington
Annotated by Edward Mospan
1.e4d62.d4My opponent takes the centre. Let him have it for the moment. Occupation does not mean control. I’ll go with a touch of hypermodernism. Let’s develop the g8 knight, with a threat – a threat is always good.2…Nf63.Nc3A logical continuation – development of the knight to c3, adding protection to the e4 pawn. An early advance to e5 would have been in my favour with3.e5dxe54.dxe5Qxd1+5.Kxd1Ng43…c6Right I’ll go with the Czech defence, stopping the knight having any ideas of hopping over the fence.4.f4My opponent is in an attacking mood tonight – the Austrian attack.4…Nbd7With this move I develop another piece, adding pressure to both e5 and c5 for a future pawn push. I’m not too worried about hemming in the light-squared bishop, as it does not yet have any good squares to go to. Bg5 would lead to loss of tempo resulting in an exchange. Besides, the knight on d7 has other plans.5.Nf3The knight develops to its most active square. White wants to grab more space, with pressure applied on the e5 square.5…Qa5An early excursion for the queen with the intention of adding support to the e5 square,while pinning the knight to the king,. The e4 pawn is now under attack from the knight.6.Bd2Unpinning the knight.6…Qc7My first inaccuracy. After calculating the e5 push I go and retreat the queen to c7, fearing a discovered attack. It helps my opponent to develop with tempo. I should have pushed e5. After that the queen would either take control of the fifth rank or control e5 from c7. Anyhow with Qc7 I still control the e5 and c5 squares, and the queen is out of attacking range.7.e5My opponent pushes e5, acquiring more space and cramping Black’s position.7…dxe5Capturing releases the tension in the centre. Black is hoping for a half-open file. I’m expecting my opponent to take with the d-pawn, whereupon the knight will jump into d5. If White exchanges, the c-file becomes half open and Black holds the centre with e6.8.fxe5White now has the half-open f-file, but is still a couple of moves from castling short or long. With the f-file open I’m guessing kingside castling. Anyway on with the knight jump. The knight really only has one good square.8…Nd59.Ne4No exchange this time, which would have given me a central pawn.9…e6This move fixes the pawn structure, releasing the black-squared bishop to guard d6,c5 and b4. I didn’t realise it during the game, but engines say this position gives White a healthy edge because of my hemmed-in white-squared bishop. If I castle kingside any time soon I am in danger of being overwhelmed.10.Qe2With the idea of either castling long, but White should attack the knight on d5 immediately to establish a positional bind10.c4Nb411.a3Na612.c5f513.Nd6+Bxd614.exd6Qd815.Bxa6bxa616.Bg5Nf617.Ne5O-O18.Bxf6Qxf619.O-O10…a6Another inaccuracy from me. My idea was to prepare b5, preventing c4, but I should have just played b5 or undermined Black’s position with c5.11.c4My opponent finally hits out at my knight on d5. The plus side is that, with that move, queenside castling would now be dubious. Kingside castling looks more likely. c5 would lock in my bishop and I would have a cramped position.11…Nb4Going back to b6 would mean having to say goodnight to my knight thanks to the Ba5 pin and the threat of a c5 push.My knight has no retreat squares, but my opponent cannot play a3 yet due to Nc2.12.Bc3My opponent was probably thinking here’s a free knight for the taking. Escape route required.12…a513.a3Na614.d5An enterprising move, offering a pawn for an attack on the uncastled Black king, but it’s an error. White should keep the bind and seek to plant a knight on d614.Nfg5h615.Qh5g616.Qh3Be717.Bd3Bxg518.Nxg5Qd819.Ne4Qe720.O-OKd821.c5Kc722.Nd614…cxd515.cxd5Nac5I feared the direct attack down the e-file. d6 looks worrying, but I felt the queen would be OK on c6 if the pawn advances and I would eventually be able to undermine the supporting pawn on e5.16.Qc4? A blunder by White which immediately blows his advantage.16…Nb6Attacking the queen and d5 at the same time.17.Qb5+? Compounding the error because I get to develop my bishop with tempo.17…Bd718.Qe2Nxd5I now have an edge, but even better would have been18…Nxe419.Qxe4Nxd519.Nd6+A good move., opening up the a1-h8 diagonal. This is why I should have peeled off the knight on e4 and not given my opponent counterplay.19…Bxd620.exd6Qxd621.Rd1White doesn’t take on g7, presumably fearing a counter-attack down the g-file.21…O-OKing safe,g7 covered, rooks connected, two pawns up. Bliss!22.Ng5A rather speculative foray by the knight, or so it seemed to me.22…Qf423.Bd2Qf524.Qc4Rac8A perfectly OK and natural move, but engines find a more emphatic way to press home Black’s advantage24…Ba425.Qxc5Qe5+26.Be2Rac827.Nxf7Qxe2+28.Kxe2Rxc529.Ng5Bxd1+30.Rxd125.Be2Bg4 is coming. Queen on the f-file prevents White from castling for now.25…Nf6Covering the g4 square. The knight on c5 is also ready to jump to e4, with a discovered attack on the white queen and a threat of mate on f2.26.Nf3Engrossed in my own plan I overlooked the knight blocking the f-file. Now my opponent will be able to castle. Darn!26…Nce4Let’s harass the white queen. I can drop the f6 knight on to g4 and then f2.27.Qd3Bc6An inaccuracy. Ba4 is again much better, harassing the rook. Engines point out a winning sequence, though medium-strength club players are not engines of course27…Ba428.b3Rfd829.Qe3Ng430.Qf4Rxd231.Qxf5Rxd1+32.Bxd1exf533.bxa4Rc134.Ke2Ngf235.Re1Nxd136.Rxd1Nc3+37.Kd2Rxd1+38.Kxc328.O-OThe white king reaches safety. At this point I’m running on fumes, with two minutes and a 10-second increment to play a complicated position. Blitz is not my forte!28…Rfd8Activating my other rook. I’m eyeing knight to g4 and a queen check on c5.29.Nd4Good move – double attack on my queen.29…Qg6Getting complicated. and very double edged. Starting to worry about a back rank mate in some positions if Nxc6.30.Bxa5Bang goes a pawn. I was aware that it had been hanging for a while, but never got around to protecting it. White has the added advantage of gaining a tempo with an attack on my rook. Most of my advantage has now evaporated.30…Rd531.Nxc6I have to recapture because of the killer fork on e7.31…Rxc6Given my back-rank worries, bxc6 might have been safer, though engines prefer this way of recapturing. If bxc6, 32. Qa6 produces a level position. Not immediately recapturing and stopping the check on e7 with Re8 is also possible31…Re832.Nd4Rxa532.Qb3Another good move. I can’t take the a5 bishop because of the back-rank mate. I’m down to 50 seconds plus the increment.32…Nc5Protecting the b-pawn and attacking the white queen, though I have to be aware that Bf3 could be a threat.33.Qb5Qg5With the idea of Qe3 Nfe4,. But I should really push h6 to give the king an escape square. That would produce a level position.34.Bf3The expected pin.34…Qe3+Onward charge. Tick tick tick. I need to get a move on or I will lose on time.35.Kh1Nce4Right idea, wrong knight. Heavy loss of material if my opponent finds the right move – Qxb7, picking up the rook because of the threat of mate.36.Qe2? My opponent missed the win. Phew! Twenty seconds left. If I play this correctly I’m winning again. But I don’t. I should have played Qxe2 Bxe2 Rxd1. If Rxd1 the Nf2 check picks up the rook. If Bxd1 I am better.36…Rxd1?White can’t take the queen because Rxf1+, Qg1, Rxg1+ is winning for Black. But I had overlooked something rather serious.37.Rxd1Now I can’t take the White queen as Rd8 is checkmate.37…Nf2+One last-ditch attempt before my flag falls. In reality, the only way to keep the game going – and even then I would still be on the ropes – is37…Ng3+38.hxg3Qh6+39.Kg1Rc838.Qxf2The end. The Black queen is now doomed. An interesting and enjoyable game.One could get depressed about such reverses, but life is too short. Not unlike an evening league chess game!1–0
Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 30 October 2023
Hammersmith paid us the respect of bringing a very strong team to Kingston. An example of this was that their board 6, Bajrush Kelmendi, had been on board 1 when Hammersmith played Wimbledon in their first match of the season. We could still be quietly confident, however, especially as on top board we were delighted (and very thankful) to have a new club member, namely IM Ameet Ghasi, with an ECF rating of 2608.
Unfortunately for Hammersmith, their board 5 did not make it to our venue, so at 8.30pm (the default deadline) we were already a point up. That, however, was the only easy point we would gain. My own game was the next to finish. Over the years I have played Bajrush much more often than any other Hammersmith player, so I know that his idiosyncratic opening play (a kind of Hippopotamus Defence this time) is allied to a very quick sight of the board (he doesn’t waste much time between moves) and a sharp tactical awareness. Having said that, I have to own up to not coming up with a decent plan. My confidence coming out of the opening soon drained away, and I was on the back foot when we reached this position:
Black has just played 28…Ng4 threatening mate. I replied29.Bg3overlooking the clever29…Rxe1I now, belatedly, saw the combination, but had nothing better than to go along with it.30.Bxd6Bd4+31.Qxd4So Black won the exchange, and I resigned four moves later when it was clear that my passed d-pawn was no compensation.Sadly, I have to return the queen as31.Kh1loses to31…Nf2+0–1
Black has just played 28…Ng4 threatening mate. I replied 29. Bg3, overlooking the clever 29…Rxe1. I now, belatedly, saw the combination, but had nothing better than to go along with it. 30. Bxd6 Bd4+ 31. Qxd4. Sadly, I have to return the queen as 31. Kh1 loses to Nf2+. So Black won the exchange, and I resigned four moves later when it was clear that my passed d-pawn was no compensation.
The battles on the top four boards were all lengthy and (to my eyes at least) tense. Lalić-Skulte opened with an unusual line of the Centre Game (1. e4 e5 2. d4 Nf6 3. dxe5 Nxe4). The two players castled on opposite sides, with Black’s kingside perhaps looking more vulnerable, though in exchange he had pressure against White’s central pawns. Peter sacrificed his e-pawn on e6 to open up the long diagonal for his black-squared bishop, and this position was reached:
Here 22. Ne5, threatening a fork on g6, was a strong possibility. Stockfish then recommends this line: 22… Qg5+ 23. Kb1 Bxd4 24. Ng6+ Kxh7 25. Nxf8+ Kg8 26. Nxe6 Bxe6 27. Rxe6 Bf6 with some advantage to White. Instead, Peter played 22. Bc3, which was also good, but he probably should have followed this up with Rxd5, eliminating the dangerous d-pawn. After 22…Qc7 23. Ne5 Rf2 24 Rd2 Rxd2 25. Kxd2 Nf8 25. Ng6+ this was the position:
There followed 26…Nxg6 27. Qxg6 Bg4 28. Qxh6, taking advantage of the pin on the g7 pawn, but 28. Qxg4 Kxh7 would have kept White in the game. Black’s next move, 28…d4, interfered with the pin and left Black with a won game after 29. Qh4 dxc3+, because Black has the resource g5 diverting the White queen and allowing Black’s queen to take the bishop on h7.
This made it 2-1 to Hammersmith, and with David Maycock’s position looking very difficult I was starting to get worried about the overall result. David had played the English Attack (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3) against his opponent’s Sicilian Najdorf, but had weakened his kingside by playing f3 and h3 and Thomas Bonn took full advantage of this.
On board 3, queens were exchanged early on and the position looked fairly level, or even a bit better for White, with Silverio Abasolo having to defend an isolated pawn on e6. However, he calmly and cleverly kept improving the position of his pieces, seizing open files and diagonals and not allowing Carsten Pedersen any real play. In this position he made good use of the e5 square:
18…Nce5 19. Nxe5 Nxe5 20. Ba2 Ba6 (seizing a key diagonal) 21. Rfe1 c5 22. Rd6 Bc4 23. Bb1 (probably not the best choice, but White was in time trouble) Rf8 (now taking the open file) 24. c3 Ng4 25. Ng3 Ref7 26. Rdd1 Rf2 27. Bd3 Bb3 28. Rd2 Rxd2 29. Bxd2 Rd8 (switching to the d-file) 30. Be2 Nxh2. Here Kingston had a stroke of luck, as Pedersen resigned with almost no time left on his clock. However, he could have played 31. Be3 (or, indeed, Bc1 or Bf4), leaving Black’s knight in serious trouble. Instead, 30…Rxd2 would have been clearly winning for Black.
So 3-2 to Hammersmith with only the top board game to finish. Ameet, playing the King’s Indian Defence against Marco Gallana, had achieved a strong central position. He won a pawn through an error by his opponent on move 20, and after that patiently but masterfully improved his position. This is how the game went:
I think it says something about the progress the first team has made in the last few seasons and our expectations these days that a draw with a very strong Hammersmith team almost feels like a loss. Nevertheless, we want to keep winning.
David Rowson, Kingston A captain in Thames Valley Leaguedivision 1
Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Royal British Legion, Hounslow on 30 October 2023
This was most definitely a match of two halves. Kingston B had a clean sweep on the top three boards, courtesy of Peter Andrews, Julian Way and John Foley, all of whom have ratings comfortably above 2000 – luxury casting for a second-team match. But Hounslow B roared back on the bottom three boards, winning all three to draw the match 3-3. It was something of a triumph for Hounslow B, who were outrated by an average of almost 250 points a board.
The first reverse for Kingston was on board 6, where Charlie Cooke blundered in the endgame and went down to defeat. 1-0 to Hounslow and it was clear that the evening was not going to be quite as straightforward as we had hoped. NIck Grey was up against the very capable (and doubtless underrated) junior Vibhush Pusapadi on board 4, and David Shalom on board 5 was engaged in an increasingly messy struggle against Barry Fraser.
Peter Andrews was well behind on the clock against Hounslow captain Frank Zurstiege on board 1 and serious time trouble was looming – the two players were playing an all-moves-in 90-minutes guillotine finish. But Peter had established a well-defended passed pawn in the guts of his opponent’s defences on c6, and that pawn was ultimately destined to win the game.
Peter pinpoints the position below as a significant one, where he made a distinctly counter-intuitive choice.
“I looked at whether e5 does anything,” he says. “The answer is no. So I considered Bb2, which Stockfish thinks is best, letting him take on e4, which sorts out my structure and dooms his pawn on d4. And then it occurred to me that exf, wrecking my structure, might be a good idea, because recapturing is wrong (as soon became clear in the game), and if he doesn’t take it he will need to put something else on f6 and the pawn might become a nuisance for him. A bad structure is less of a problem when he doesn’t have the two bishops and when his pieces are short of squares.”
Engines don’t much like exf because of the two sets of doubled pawns, but Peter was drawing on a series of lectures entitled “The Myths of Positional Chess” which Kingston FM Vladimir Li is in the course of giving at the club. “I was confident Vlad would approve of this anti-positional dynamic decision,” Peter explains. “I hope Vlad doesn’t mind being blamed for some dynamic anti-structural moves which don’t work out over the next few months.”
Peter goes on to recount how his slightly anti-positional thinking paid off. “Stockfish says Black should play Nf6 21 Bb2 Qd7 22 Bxd4 Qxf5, and the position is level; the pawn on d5 falls soon. As played, Rxf5 allows Qg4, after which (when the rook retreats) he can’t play Nf6 because the loose bishop on h4 would hang; he will need to play Bf6 to hold the d4 pawn, and then the knight has no good squares while my queen is dominant.”
The sequence led to this position after 23…Rc8:
“The tempo-gaining 24. Rxc8 Qxc8 25. Rc1 which I’d envisaged from afar is perfectly fine (+2),” says Peter. “But I soon realised that Rc6 is much better. It threatens to double on the c-file; he can’t get at the rook (the knight on d7 is pinned by the queen on g4 against the rook on c8), and if he captures dxc6 gives me a winning advantage in any ending, as was soon demonstrated.”
Peter propped up the pawn on c6 with one on b5, traded off the heavy artillery. and that was that. How simple chess can be sometimes – establish an immovable pawn and win. That made it 1-1 to Kingston, but by now Nick Grey and David Shalom were sinking and it was apparent that the best we could do was draw the match. Fortunately we had two stalwarts capable of doing just that.
John Foley had a many-moves game against Eugene Gregorio, who puts pressure on the Kingston president by playing very quickly – John was well behind on the clock. The principle behind John’s eventual victory was not dissimilar to Peter’s game: insert an impregnable rook in the heart of your opponent’s position and dare him to take it, as shown below after 36. Re5.
Engines recommend 36…g5 here, but White would still retain an edge. Black chooses to simplify straightaway by exchanging rooks, leading to this position a few moves later:
The situation is unpleasant for Black, though not immediately terminal. But it became so soon afterwards when Black unaccountably gave up his d-pawn. White manoeuvred to exchange queens, and after doing so established this overwhelming position:
60.d660…Rg7The pawn is untouchable.60…Rxe6would be met by61.Bg4+Kxg4winning the exchange and soon the game62.Rxe6Bc6+63.Kf2Kf564.Re7g465.d7g3+66.Kg1Bxd767.Rxd7f368.b461.d7This is a “human move” winning a piece for two pawns, but the engine prefers to keep the pawns threatening61.e7g462.Bb7Kf663.Bc861…Bxd762.exd7Rxd763.Bd5Rd664.Re8a565.Rf8+Ke566.Kf3b567.Kg4Rg668.Rf5+Kd469.Rxg5Rh670.Kxf4Rh271.Rg2Rh872.Kf3Re8and won soon after.1–0
3-2 to Hounslow. Now it was all on Julian on board 2 to win his game and share the match. Julian played the King’s Indian Defence, and his opponent JJ Padam went for an unusual set-up that left the e-pawn somewhat marooned on e2. The position was level until on move 18 the Hounslow player exchanged his dark-squared bishop for a knight, evidently feeling that doubling Julian’s pawns on the b-file was compensation for giving up the bishop pair. Engines respectfully disagree. This was the resulting position, in which Black now has a definite edge:
It was all about piece mobility and king safety after this point, with Julian largely immobilising White. By move 36 (see diagram below), skilful play by Black had assured a winning advantage, with the connected b- and c-pawns ready to run for home and the black king sheltering behind a bishop, untouchable by the white king.
Julian gave up his e-pawn and expertly converted, helped by the rather random 38. g4 (38. Qc4 would have been a better try, but still loses). The text continued: 36. Qe7 c5 37. Qxe4 b4 38. g4 Bxf1 39. Nxf1 b3 40.cKg2 b2 0-1. The b-pawn cannot be halted. We had drawn the match, but Hounslow could feel the happier of the two teams given the rating differential. Whatever the numbers say, there is no room for complacency in chess.