Tuesday 28 April 2009

Sunday 19 April 2009

Intro Cup Semi Finals - Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club

It was an interesting (and sunny) afternoon at the famous Hastings Chess Club for our Intro Cup Semi Final's match. We had defaulted on board 4, leaving three players: Myself, John and Jim on boards 1 through 3. If we won two of our matches, we could still win, depending on which boards did so.

Jim won his match and John lost. Had I played on (and won) we would have won the semi-finals. My opponent offered a draw and after some consideration, I accepted.

It was a tricky decision for me:
  • I felt really hemmed in, in my position,
  • I was dying a time death (I had 19 minutes left whilst my opponent had about 47) - my only hope was to move much quicker, leading to more damning mistakes,
  • He was rated much higher than me,
  • I really didn't think I could turn the game around and better a draw and
  • I was absolutely busting for the toilet!
Having said that, that didn't stop me agonising over my decision on the way home -- a part of me felt I should have gone for it anyway.

Here is the game for you to play through -- would you have accepted the draw? Ignore the annotations on your first pass through so you aren't biased by Chessmasters cutting remarks ;-)



Play chess online!



Stephen Moon

Friday 17 April 2009

Interesting Game



Play chess online!



Come across this position which I though was quite interesting.

It's white to play and win. The reason I find it interesting is that white played what I would have considered a fair move and lost not because of the move but perhaps because he missed a great chance of winning. These ratings are just below the GM level they are both good players.

The situation is white to play and win.
Read from move 26 Qe4.

1. Qe4 (1. Qh4 {Played move and went on to lose.}) 1... g6 2. Rxh7 Re6 {best
move but black cannot hold out for too much longer.} (2... Kxh7 {White quickly
mates.} 3. Qh4+ Kg8 4. Rh1 Kg7 {Or any other move.} 5. Qh7#) 3. Bxe6 Kxh7 4.
Qh4+ {Interesting Rh1 is not quite so good Black can hold on for a bit longer.}
(4. Rh1+ Kg7 5. Qh4 {In this case Black can escape.} Qxe5 6. Qh7+ Kf6) 4... Kg8
5. Rh1 fxe6 (5... Qxe5 6. Qh7#) 6. Qh8+ Kf7 7. Rf1+ Ke8 8. Qxf8+ *

Keith Thompson

K. Thompson v A. Aidyn, Harvey League






Keith Thompson

Semi Finals 2008-2009

Home

Away

LEWIS CUP

Club

MET 1 – Beckenham 2

MID 2 – Rainham 1

Club

MID 1 – Maidstone 2

MET 2 – Lewisham 2

STEVENSON CUP

Club

MET 1 – Dartford 2


MID 2 – Sevenoaks 1

Club

MID 1 – Folkestone 1

MET 2 – Chislehurst 1

EN PASSANT CUP

Club

MET 1 - Lewisham 4

MID 2 – Folkestone 2

Club

MID 1 – Maidstone 4

MET 2 – Chislehurst 2

HARVEY CUP

Club

MET 1 – Petts Wood 2

MID 2 – Medway 1

Club

MID 1 – Maidstone 5

MET 2 – Sidcup 1

TOM FULLER CUP

Club

MET 1 – Charlton 3

MID 2 – Weald of Kent 2

Club

MID 1 – Snodland 3

MET 2 – Beckenham 5

INTRO CUP

Club

MET 1 – Beckenham 6

MID 2 - Weald of Kent 3

Club

MID 1 – Hastings & St.L 3

MET 2 – Sidcup 3

Current Rankings 01.04.09

Metropolitan inter-club competitions
2008/9

31.03.09











grading

P W D L Adj penalty GP MP Pos. limit











County Cup









Lewisham 1 6 5 1 22 5 1
Charlton 1 6 3 3 19 3 2
Beckenham 1 6 2 1 3 15 2.5 3
Maidstone 1 6 1 1 4 16 1.5 4











Lewis








160
Beckenham 2 6 4 1 1 21.5 4.5 1
Lewisham 2 6 3 1 2 18.5 3.5 2
Dartford 1 6 2 4 17.5 2 3
Phoenix 1 6 1 2 3 13.5 2 4










Stevenson








140
Dartford 2 6 5 1 22 5 1
Chislehurst 1 6 3 1 2 19 3.5 2
Phoenix 2 6 2 4 15 2 3
Lewisham 3 6 1 1 4 16 1.5 4










En Passant








120
Lewisham 4 6 6 25 6 1
Chislehurst 2 6 4 1 1 22 4.5 2
Phoenix 3 6 3 3 18.5 3 3
Dartford 3 6 3 3 17.5 3 4
Petts Wood 1 6 1 2 3 14.5 2 5
Charlton 2 6 1 1 4 15 1.5 6
Beckenham 3 6 2 4 13.5 1 7











Harvey








100
Petts Wood 2 5 3 1 1 17.5 3.5 1
Sidcup 1 5 3 1 1 16 3.5 2
Lewisham 5 5 2 1 2 -0.5 15.5 2.5 3
Chislehurst 3 5 2 3 14 2 4
Phoenix 4 5 1 2 2 13.5 2 5
Beckenham 4 5 1 1 3 13.5 1.5 6











Tom Fuller








80
Charlton 3 6 6 19 6 1
Beckenham 6 6 3 1 2 12 3.5 2
Sidcup 2 6 3 3 12 3 3
Lewisham 7 6 2 1 3 11 2.5 4
Phoenix 5 6 2 1 3 11 2.5 5
Lewisham 6 6 1 2 3 8.5 2 6
Petts Wood 3 6 1 1 4 10.5 1.5 7










Intro.









Beckenham 6 4 2 2 10.5 3 1 60
Sidcup 3 4 2 2 5.5 1 2

K. Thompson v K. Smith, Harvey League






Keith Thompson

A. Evans v K. Thompson, Fuller League






Keith Thompson

Greek Gift



Play chess online!



Ian McAllan