Welcome to another chess review where we comment on last week’s news from our own, county, country and the world. We will also take a look at what to expect next week.
In our own club we celebrated Oscar and Julian’s birthdays last week. Both young guys and prospective chess players, we wish them plenty of success both in life and over the board! In addition to the celebrations, our second team achieved a second win in a row following difficult start of the season.
For next week, our first team is being hosted by Latimer in six board league game. Although a little depleted, we sent a strong team to compete, captained by Matt. We wish them to play good chess and bring the victory home.
In the county, there were plenty of games played last week. In Division 1, Braunstone 1 and Syston 1 achieved comfortable wins against Shepshed 2 and Thurnby, respectively. In the second division Ashby 1 drew at home against Kirby Muxloe 1 while Wigston’s second team lost to Wigston’s third. In Division 3 there were no games played, while in the fourth division Melton Mowbray 3 lost to Market Harborough 3. The game Braunstone 2 vs Ashby 3 was postponed.
Worldwide, the TATA Steel chess tournament has finally come to an end with the world champion in classical chess Magnus Carlsen solidifying himself as the greatest player of our time securing another tournament win with 9.5/13 score. Shakriyar Mamedyarov came second best, while Richard Rapport finished third. The tournament presented many exciting battles with the game Dubov-Gujrathi being a favourite so far for game of the year. An analysis of the game by GM Hikaru Nakamura is availble in the below video:
Your own Anstey Chess club has received attention from Your Local magazine in Anstey.
In half page article, our own chairman Ben makes sure that the local community is aware of everything going on in the Methodist Church every Thursday from 7 pm.
After a short summary of the first two games of the season for our club, Ben takes us on an informative journey starting with our venue along with several acknoledgments. Our own ansteychessclub.co.uk is also mentioned, while important information is provided about Junior Chess classes.
All in all, a very good article from our club leader, so make sure to take Your Local magazine, turn on page 16 and enjoy it!
On 27th January it was a busy night in the Anstey Chess club. Our second team engaged in a serious four-board battle against the experienced team of Heathcote Arms 2 in an attempt to achieve second win in a row and get their revenge for a crushing 4-0 defeat back in October. In the opposite corner of the Anstey Methodist Church, the casual and first team players engaged in the usual sharp and fun chess battles typical for club nights. The cherries on the top were our birthday boys Oscar and Julian who brought plenty of treats and chocolate to the party. We wish them all the best and plenty of wins to come their way!
The league match started promptly at 7:30 with a variety of opennings on all boards. The most dedicated player to the club motto was Matt who opened up with Phillidor defence; he was obviously the only one to get the memo.
Another busy night at the Anstey Chess club
While Boris is under immense stress, Hal is as chill as Guinness Extra Cold.
John and Deepa engaged in a positional battle in which Deepa seems a lot happier
John and Peter enjoying advantage in the middlegame against the ‘En passant?’ duo Boris and Ben
Club night going on with 4 boards, lots of chess and plenty of fun
Intense games with Boris and Oscar notating their opponent’s moves
Plenty of action during club night
Mike and Mick, serious players heading into a serious endgame
Deepa decided to stay solid while Ben tried openings he does not understand
Mick is closely observing club night games, while the captain Oscar is watching closely the match
Ben and Peter in a sharp positional battle
Stressful games on all four boards with Boris looking like he is about to have a mental breadown
The big guns, John and Mick, in another typical positional battle during club night
Typical Anstey Chess club night – lots of chess and lots of fun
On board 2 the top performer Hal decided to take the centre with e4 and d4 which were met by a strange variation of a Queen’s Indian defence. The captain Oscar had a difficult task engaging in a very weird variation of the Indian game, while Boris’ game took the direction of the Caro-Kann exchange variation. The Bulgarian was so flustered by Bd3 that threw the cap of his pen at Hal’s shoulder – all players agreed that it was not his proudest moment.
Around 20 minutes into the match Boris managed to take advantage of a blunder by his opponent and secured the first win for the night and for himself in general. Our joy unfortunately did not last long as the birthday boy Oscar was backed in the corner and although he fought hard against immense pressure, his opponent managed to capitalise on the position. As Oscar is the third best performer for the club, we are sure that he will bounce back from this experience and get back on winning terms.
About half-way through his game, Matt found himself with undeveloped light-square bishop and rook, as he was busy taking his opponent’s king out for a walk. In the meantime, Hal was stretching and doing yoga and all sorts of other activities, but not castling.
Ten minutes later, Matt had finally decided to develop his bishop and had his opponent in what people would refer to as a pickle. Next to him, Hal had his opponent’s king squeezed in the corner and his face had the distant expression of a person deciding what takeaway to order tonight.
With twenty minutes to go, Matt found himself a piece up and he was making sure that his opponent’s king will hit his step count target. On his left, Hal’s opponent was shaking his head like Ben’s fans when watching his puzzle rush blunders, while Hal seemed confident in his attack on the board and his choice of takeaway for tonight.
Not long after, Matt won decisively while Hal found himself again with a significant time advantage in an infamous favourite of his – the rook and pawn endgame. His opponent decided that he had enough and offered a draw which our top performer gladly accepted, just a little annoyed that he could not offer a draw himself by making signs characteristic for exorcists and enthusiasts in the rituals targeted at summoning a demon.
In summary, it was a good night for our second team players who proved that they have learned from their previous loss against a solid and strong opponent. Our second team find themselves in the middle of the Division 4 table mid-season with 2 wins and 1 draw.
In the other corner of the room, there was plenty of action with first team players Ben, Mick, John, Julian and Mike playing casual chess and observing the league match from a distance. We were happy to welcome again John who is slowly becoming a regular attendee of our club nights. In addition, two new strong players, Pete and Deepa, decided for the first and hopefully not last time to join us for some chess and fun. Eventually, the evening finished on a high note, with the birthday boys Julian and Oscar bringing treats for every taste. Both young guys, we wish them many years to come and many games over the board to be played with plenty of wins to be accomplished!
Welcome to another Sunday chess review where we take a look at selected events to remember from the past week and to look forward in the next.
In our own Anstey Chess club we had another amazing club night, a report from the evening and a gallery of photos can be seen on Club Night – 20/01/22. This week we are looking forward to another club night for our first team and casual players, while the second team will have to face Heathcote Arms 2. We wish them good luck and two wins in a row.
In the area there were several competitive games in all divisions. In Division 1 Braunstone 1 won over Wigston 1, while Shepshed’s first two teams had to play each other, with the first team taking the honours. In the second division, Melton Mowbray 1 delivered a crushing 3 – 1 defeat to the unfortunate team of Loughborough 1. In Division 3 where our own Anstey 1 plays, Market Harborough 2 did not leave any chances to the team of Kirby Muxloe 2, the game finished 8.5 – 1.5 for the division leaders. In the fourth division, Wigston 4 an Loughborough 2 shared a point after a 2.5 – 2.5 draw. To follow all action in out own county, follow the LRCA website.
In the country, the Independent published a piece about “the real-life” Beth Harmon (fictional character from the Queen’s Gambit series on Netflix), the first World Women’s Championship winner Vera Menchik. More on Vera Menchik can be found on chess.com.
Worldwide the main topic in chess as usual is the world champion in classical chess Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian is again aiming to write history by achieving 2900 ELO rating and his road starts at the TATA Steel Chess tournament held in Wijk in the Netherlands. Currently the world champion is in first place, followed by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov who is trailing by only half a point. Meanwhile, Vidit Gujrathi is hovering around the third place a full point behind Carlsen, while Anish Giri received a point by default after Daniil Dubov got himself in a “Covid-y” situation. Full coverage of the tournament, as presented by chess.com on YouTube can be found on our own website. Just head back to the home page and scroll down to the bottom or click here.
On 20 January Anstey Chess club opened its doors for another club night. With attendance of 8 people in the Methodist Church in Anstey, the night started with four sharp battles. While some were preparing for the Nottingham Rapid tournament next month with a 20/10 time limit, others decided to keep it casual and refuse the timers.
We welcomed our new member John who played interesting solid games against some of our top experienced players. Matt also decided to join us and is now becoming a regular attendee of our club’s events. He used the opportunity to crush Boris both as white and as black and then went on to play a more challenging game against Julian. In the other corner, Mick tried hard to focus on his games despite Boris’ and Ben’s occasional irrelevant comments, which seemed funny only to themselves. Although the distractions were substantial, Mick played in his usual sophisticated style and led successfully several sharp tactical battles.
Four boards and plenty of action
Mick and Ben dicussing poisitions and groceries in a casual chat
Julian and Matt in a serious tactical battle
Julian looks happy with his position while Matt is seriously thinking
Boris and Ben confused by the move ‘En passant’ while Mick is not impressed at the back
Julian and Hal started their preparation for the Nottingham Rapid tournament with time controled games against each other. Always class acts, both engaged in a few battles with Julian showing interesting lines to the always eager to learn Hal. The latter decided to leave a little earlier and Julian went on to play challenging games with Matt.
Ben and Oscar played a few games in preparation for next week’s game against Heathcote Arms 2. Following the educational play, Oscar took on the newcomer John while Ben and Boris irresponsibly went on to discuss our new website and watch Liverpool’s game (a happy coincidence) over a pint in the club’s old home The Stadon.
While Matt and Julian were finishing off their last game, Mick engaged in a conversation with Ben and Boris who played a little blitz after coming back from the pub.
Overall, it was another entertaining fun night in our club. Join us next week for more fun and a serious challenge for our second team. We will be open from 7pm in the Anstey Methodist Curch.
I initially learned about chess at school but daren’t play due to the fear of losing – especially against younger players at the time! What got me first interested was the Short v Kasparov match in the mid-90s with Raymond Keene, Daniel King and Carol Vorderman providing analysis and stats. I was fascinated by this game that had everyone’s attention on Channel 4 at the time.
Short-Kasparov, London 1993
I re-connected with chess when my brother challenged me to a game on Facebook using chess.com. Unfortunately for me, my brother consistently beat me and I wanted to improve and try to beat him for a change! I engaged with chess.com’s content and met some other friends online and gradually improved with their guidance. I had regular battles with the same people and some of them are my Facebook friends to this day! I also met a couple of mentors online who taught me not to try and win after 10 moves but to develop pieces, fight for control of central squares and factor in King safety. Chess is a slow game and you won’t beat your opponent by merely throwing 2 or 3 pieces at them. Develop fully, get control of the centre and launch an attack. It sounds so simple!
Eventually I got the moral-boosting win over my brother and subsequently turned my attention to my mentors. I found it useful that I was explaining my thought processes during the correspondence games (3 days to make a move), whilst they were doing the same in the game chat. I built on the knowledge that I accrued and I found that I was talking much better during every game. My analysis got better and my visualisation improved. I eventually got a deserved draw against my main mentor Reini in a correspondence game, which felt like a win! Another mentor called Paul was banned for cheating (clearly not as good a teacher as he thought) but I still learned from him not to rush moves. It was okay to play a quiet ‘waiting move’ to allow your opponent to make a mistake. (He played a lot of such moves, clearly he was cheating and gradually crushed me using an engine to assist).
Experienced in OTB battles, the author is an avid French defense player
Having improved quite a lot since my early chess days, I decided to join a chess club, back in 2010. I joined Wigston chess club in South Leicestershire – my second chess home. I became good friends with several members over the years there. I thought I would walk in and beat everyone but that certainly did not happen! It sounds silly but having played online for so long, seeing the pieces in front of me in 3D was actually quite a surreal experience!
I was schooled for a few weeks but they decided I was good enough to play for them. I won my first competitive OTB game for them, which added to my ego trip! I went on to lose or draw the next 6 or 7 games after that. The point was that I kept coming back week after week and I learned very quickly that you learn from your losses and not from your wins.
I moved to the Glebelands estate in North Leicester where I found that the chess bug would not go away. I put an article in a local magazine targeting areas like Cropston, Woodhouse Eaves, Rothley and Mountsorrel and I was pleased to receive some interest about chess in the area. I then started teaching chess to adults and children that were keen to learn at the library in Anstey.
Eventually there was enough interest from 6 or 7 players to start up a chess team. I really had no idea that I had it in me to start a chess club but I owed it to myself and my fellow chess players to try. I made enquiries with businesses in Anstey about hosting us for competitive chess and we had the ideal offer from the Stadon on Bradgate Road. We had the use of a room upstairs and this was paid for by drinks purchases. It really was too good to be true! Throughout the process I have tried to make the club non-profit as I did this for the players, not for myself.
We made our competitive chess debut as Anstey Chess Club in 2018. With the accrual of a Leicestershire stalwart or two plus little old me, we won the Division 4 trophy in the 19/20 season (that ended early due to COVID-19). We were deservedly awarded the title after we had the highest points average during that season.
Since then, more people have joined the club and we have now moved to the Methodist Church in the village, due to a long-term let at the Stadon. When I started this, I really didn’t think that we would grow as much as we have – it really is quite humbling.
Welcome to the very first ‘Sunday chess review’. Every Sunday we will try to summarise news from our own club along with main titles from our county, country and around the world. We hope you will find it informative and enjoyable and we will appreciate any feedback, so do not hesitate to leave it.
In our own Anstey Chess club we are preparing for a quiet week with only a club night on Thursday in sight. As usual in the last few weeks, masks are mandatory as the health of our players and guests is paramount for us.
Locally, a rapid OTB tournament has been announced to take place in Nottingham on 20th February. If rapid is your format, do not hesitate and book yourself in. More information on https://www.nottinghamshirechess.org/competitions/.
In the meantime, the ECF is scheduling a one-day Endgame Challenge Rerun on Saturday 29th January with IM Lorin D’Costa and GM Keith Arkell. The Endgame Challenge Rerun will cover fundamental endgames you really must know with theoretical positions and practical examples. More information on https://www.englishchess.org.uk/endgame-challenge-rerun/ .
On the international stage, the TATA Steel Tournament started a couple of days ago. At the end of today, Duda, Carlsen and Vidit Gujrathi are in the lead, only half a point in front of 8 other players, including Caruana, Mamedyarov and the always entertaining Daniil Dubov. More information on https://www.chess.com/news/view/tata-steel-chess-2022-round-2.
We hope you enjoyed the very first Sunday chess review. More to come next week.
Yes, I am one of them – the many who decided to get into/get back to chess because of the miniseries “Queen’s gambit”. Shortly after watching the series, I became part of the sea of aspiring chess beginners who wanted to try the game. The series reminded me the main features of the game of chess – ability to make sound decisions while applying sound strategic principles and logical thinking. Those traits are quite related to my daily work so I decided to start playing more often in order to develop them further.
And then it all started – only an year after I had 6000 games played online along with puzzles, tactics, patterns and I even signed up to the local chess club. In the eyes of the people around me, it looks a little like madness – every spare second on the phone or in front of the board playing, doing puzzles, studying positions, obsessed with chess. For the trained eye, the view is all too familiar – the love for chess is like the love for a person or a pet – rewarding, frustrating and (above all) addictive.
I had played before with my grandfather, my stepfather, my brother, my friends. My path strained from chess as the game proved oftentimes to be very demanding for my still developing and seeking cheap pleasures teenage brain. When I decided to get back into chess I rememberd only a little and frequently fell victim to the good old scholar’s mate.
The beauty of online chess, however, is that the ranking quickly places you where you belong and it is not long until you start winning some as well as losing some. The losses showed me plenty of weaknesses and it was not before long when I decided to pursue some knowledge in the correct ways of playing the game. The journey is still closer to its beginning than to its end (I hope) but I have already made quite a progress in my personal growth as a chess player.
The first thing to make a meaningful impact on my chess understanding was all the content on YouTube. A peson will be amazed about the vastness of videos on various aspects of the game – from specific openings to principles in approaching the endgame. From pawn structures and positional consideration to common tactical patterns and how to approach different positions. Following the channels of IM Levi Rosman (GothamChess), IM Eric Rosen and Stjepan Tomic (Hanging Pawns), I started building up ideas and getting a grip on certain positions in my games.
The scholar’s mate
Following my growing interest, I looked into books which made further impact on my ability to play. Started with two classics – Yasser Seirawan’s ‘Play Winning Chess’ and Irving Chernev’s ‘Logical Chess – Move by Move’. I doubt to ever change my mind that those two books are compulsory for every beginner wanting to pursue sound knowledge in the basic principles of the game. After going through the second book of Seirawan’s series ‘Winning Chess Tactics’ I am currently reading the third one ‘Winning Chess Strategies’. All in all, the books from Seirawan are excellent read with plenty of easily presented information and anyone to get their hands on them will benefit from it.
The third tool to help me improve my chess play was the online platform Chessable. With their famous MoveTrainer accompanied by plenty of choice of free courses in all aspects of the game. The biggest difference in my game made two courses – Basic Endgames and Basic Chess Patterns, both short and sweet versions and free.
In conclusion, for the aspiring beginner the most important thing in my opinion is pattern recognition and tactics along with board vision. There is no point to study 23 moves deep lines in an openning if you are going to often blunder a piece on move 24 or 25, or crumble each time the opponent does not follow the book moves. Endgames are also important as being a beginner does not mean that you will not get to the endgame, and it is often embarassing to find yourself not being able to checkmate your opponent in Queen and King vs King endgame. Lastly, you might turn your attention to the openning as it is a big part of the game (although not as big as most people believe). As a beginner, I believe that the London system for white and King’s Indian/Pirc defense for black are best as they as rule contain the same ideas and moves against most of your opponents moves.
The bottom line is to enjoy playing and if you want to improve use all tools available – YouTube, Chessable, books and apps as they can do miracles for your game. And if you are not a 6-year old prodigy, study what you like and do not make it a chore. Good luck!
On 4th January our first team went to Syston to play the local second team in a four-board match. The match proved to be a test for our top players, who rose to the challenge with a spectacular 3-1 win.
John had the hardest challenge in front of him as he had to clash with an experienced over 2000 rated player. Although John showed the usual solidity and positional understanding which we praise him for, the task at hand proved to be too difficult after John missed a better move than what he played, which would have caused his opponent some difficulty. Subsequently John conceded the game after putting up a brave fight.
On the other side was our captain Ben who found himself playing against a dangerous opponent. Ben overran his opponent in the middle game and his opponent actually picked up a Knight when his Queen was under attack and conceded the game a couple of moves later. It was good sportsmanship for his opponent to admit this.
On board 3 Mick took on a hard challenge himself but was able to outmaneuvre his opponent at crucial times and hence securing the advantage of our team. A sharp tactical player, Mick showed again thorough understanding of the position in front of him and ability to take advantage of it, whilst his opponent’s clock ran low and Mick eventually won on time, in a better position.
Our second top-rated player Julian was scheduled to participate in the clash of 1600’s. Julian showcased amazing growth in classical chess understanding and play and secured the win very early.
Happy New Year to all our players and we wish them this victory to be one of many this year!
It has been a difficult season this year for the second team. Prior to our last encounter with Melton Mowbray 3, we found ourselves at the bottom of the table in division 4 of the Leicestershire chess league with only one draw and 5 losses. The trip to our neighbours’ venue in the beautiful town famous for their amazing pork pies, was crucial for our second team’s confidence and position in the league.
In the blistering cold on 12th January we were heading for Melton Mowbray’s chess club with the intention to play a five-board match when we received the news that Leo was not able to make it. Already scheduled five boards, our team started on the back foot, with Leo’s game lost by default.
The first person from our team to stand up from the board was Mike. As the top-rated player within the squad during the match, he took on our opponents top-rated player and after a solid positional game they agreed to a draw.
On board 3 Boris made his debut for our second team after months of deliberation. As usual, he decided to take the path of a complicated tactical battle which ended in a draw with both him and his experienced opponent left with dangerous prospects for strong attacks which eventually cancelled each other.
On the second board, Hal showed again why he is the new class act of the second team. With his opponent making a crucial mistake, Hal took the advantage and guided the game to a winning endgame. The infamously tricky ‘rook and pawn’ endgame proved to be hard test for Hal but he managed to keep the game solid and took advantage of another mistake by his opponent. This gave us hope as it led to a 2-2 result before the end of the last game.
Eventually, it all came down to our captain Oscar gradually took the reigns of the board and after about 30 moves he got his opponent in a pickle, with rook, pawns, bishop and king all under immense pressure and direct attacks. Eventually the play continued towards a winning endgame for Oscar when his opponent resigned. There could not have been any better end than our captain securing the win for our team.
We wish all our second team players good luck ahead and to keep it in the same spirit! The result place us in 7th position currently, with Melton Mowbray 3 having 3 more games to play.
Anstey Chess Club 