The second match of the league season, and it was an interesting one with Anstey 1 and 3 both playing at home on the same night, which resulted in a lively night (as lively as chess can get). Loughborough had brought a relatively strong team, but it was to be expected as most players in the league are rated 1300 or above. No matter though, the Anstey players put up a good fight even though we had been out rated.
The Anstey 3 players for the night were Mike Griffiths, Noor Datoo, Oskar Rudczenko, and John Graham-Brown. Noor and John are still new players to Anstey, but they are still showing bright potential for the future.
Board 1: Peter Hickman plays white; Mike Griffiths plays black
The game starts with a d4 and d5, with white playing a very solid pawn structure of e3 and c3 to protect the d4 pawn. White playing his bishop on d3 with Mike developing his knights and protecting d5 with e6. Quite a strange and unusual opening, but quite interesting and different. Mike had said it was an even and tight game with both players taking space in the centre with pawns and developing their pieces around said pawns.
A little later, a few more trades with white pulling an intermezzo, and after the dust settles an even trade had occurred. Black then offers a queen trade which white accepts, and we have an endgame at large. A little later on is where things get a little hairy, as white moves his light squared bishop with a discovered attack against black’s last remaining rook and a check against black’s king. The bishop was placed perfectly as it was x-raying the rook through the black king, so Mike had to make the unfortunate choice of taking a bishop and trading it with a rook. Not a good situation, but it had been forced. Having trouble defending his position with two bishops against a bishop and a rook, Mike resigned a few moves after the fateful exchange. Anstey 0 – Loughborough 1.
Board 2: Noor Datoo plays white; Keir Hayden plays black
Both players open with an e4 and e5 opening, with Noor launching a queenside attack as black had castled queenside. Throwing his pawns forward and developing his pieces towards the black king, Noor became slightly worried about his own king and he castled soon after black castled. Black tried to block the attacks with his own pieces, moving his forces to defend the king, but Noor kept coming.
Black was putting up a fight though, as he had started to get a hold of the center of the board, but black’s king was soon to get exposed as Noor destroyed the defending pawns. Soon there was only pieces on the queenside and Noor started to give continuous checks making black dance with his king all over the board. With black’s king staying on the queenside, Noor wasn’t going to be short of checks, and eventually traded a rook for black’s queen.
Noor had a seemingly better position, as he was up a queen but his opponent had two rooks, which can be better than a queen if the rooks are working together continuously. This can be very hard to do, and with black’s pawns scattered it seemed to be almost over, almost. Black had started to consolidate and eventually did get a fortress, Noor was defending himself very well too but his attacking chances were dwindling as time passed.
Noor was very close to being mated by the two rooks, but he spotted a way to perpetual check black and got a forced draw. Even though this was a draw, it’s a good personal victory for Noor as he drew someone who was 300 rating points above him, which is very impressive. Anstey 1/2 – Loughborough 1 1/2.
Board 3: Ric Dawson plays white; Oskar Rudczenko plays black
On board 3, a queen’s pawn opening was played, with Nf3, Bf4 from white and c5, Nc6 from black. Quite a normal start to a d4 opening: black tries to put pressure on the d4 pawn and white tries to defend it and make a solid center. Although, early on, black blundered the b pawn by playing b5 and when white played Bxb5 black was going to be in a very bad position. The pawn blunder wasn’t too bad as white didn’t have much to take advantage of it. However, it did give white a better position which was quite dominant, and with an inaccurate bishop move black was in serious trouble. The queen came in to attack and because white’s knight was on e5, the only move that didn’t lose was king to e7. This move staggered black’s development, blocking in black dark squared bishop.
Black was in a worse position, but it wasn’t completely clear how white should proceed, so white forced a queen trade by giving a check, and we were put into an endgame. Material was equal, white had more space but black was catching up with development. Black traded off the undeveloped bishop for white’s powerful dark squared bishop, which cut through black’s position. A few more shuffling of pieces and black tried to open the center with f6, e5 and white responded by taking the (soon to be) open file. Rooks were traded off, and only knights were left standing, with the position in white’s favour still as white could advance his knight with his king, but black had to keep the king on the queenside as white could easily make a pasted pawn.
The king side was being teared open, with horses kicking and charging at each other, but unfortunately black had pushed his pawns a bit too far. White gathered up the loose pawns, allowing a unchallenged pawn to pass. Black had no choice but to resign. Anstey 1/2 – Loughborough 2 1/2.
Board 4: John Graham-Brown plays white; Stuart Gordon plays black
With a traditional and popular e4, black played c5 with the adventurous idea of playing a sicilian. John responds with a calm Nf3 and black plays e3, and even though this is a very theoretical opening John plays pretty well against his opponent. With a solid opening of the center with d4, a pawn trade happens and then a knight trade straight after that. With an open sicilian on the board the game only went from known theory to chaos. As soon as both sides castle, black queen side and white king side, black immediately goes for a pawn attack on the king side with g5, and even though John can take it that didn’t stop black from hunting white’s king.
The black queen attacked John’s king repeatedly, driving the white king onto the e file, and the hunt finally stopped with the queen’s final attack blocked by the f pawn. John didn’t take this attack lightly, and attacked the black position as soon as he got the chance, with a bishop check and snatching a few pawns with his queen. However, his queen became trapped with black’s rook moving in to block the queen’s only escape, and John tried to minimise the damage by taking black’s rook as a trade, but after this white became over whelmed and, soon after the loss of the queen, white got check mated on the queen side. Final score: Anstey 1/2 – Loughborough 3 1/2.
Final Words
The final score of 1/2 to 3 1/2 puts Anstey at a modest 7th place out of 9 teams. Not a great place, but it is still the start of the season, with 16 more matches to go so anything can happen from now until the end.
Quite an unfortunate end to an exciting night of sicilians, strange positions and good games. Anstey have got some practise, as all chess players do, but the games were quite even still in terms of gameplay, as 3 of the 4 Anstey players were outclassed by rating. Unfortunate yes, but we are and will prevail to playing the game we love with our faithful comrades. Thanks all for reading, and I hope you have had a good read; we’ll see you next week against Melton Mowbray.
Our second team proves ‘too hot to handle’ in the six-board home game against Market Harborough 3 as our venue enjoys another busy club night
Ben is welcoming the away team as the players are looking to start their clocks
Last Thursday (13/10/2022) our second team were scheduled to play against Market Harborough 3(MH3) at home. The game was crucial for the confidence of Anstey 2 as the players suffered a disheartening defeat in the previous round. Our guests from the southeast of Leicestershire requested six boards which meant that Leo and Valdas had to step in and join the usual suspects Brian, Boris, Ben and Bob (a.k.a. the B-team). The away team arrived early and with all players ready and set on time the games started promptly at 7:30pm.
David Curran(MH3) vs Brian “The Griller” Foreman (Anstey 2) 0 – 1
Brian was scheduled to play the strong attacking player David Curran. Looking revived after a busy Summer Cups schedule, our top board sat down in his characteristic quiet calming manner and met his opponent’s Queen’s Gambit (yes, just like in the series, go and watch them on Netflix if you haven’t already) with his usual Slav-ish setup. A quick Bg5 from the away team player saw ‘The Griller’ placing a beautiful knight on e4, attacking the bishop and eyeing deliciously looking squares in the enemy territory. The players started their development and brought their pieces quickly on the central ranks of the board. White decided to expand on the queen side (Q-side) and chase our teammate’s queen away, subsequently closing down the centre of the board. Seeing this development, our teammate exchanged his dark-squared bishop for its white-coloured counterpart and recaptured the said bishop with an engine-like Kxe7, connecting his rooks on the eighth rank. Brian continued the development of his pieces, placing a beautiful knight on g4, eyeing the king side (K-side) castled white king. The away team player did his best to chase the knight, falling victim to a nice Nxe3 tactic from Black and further parting ways with his freshly castled rook. Up an exchange, Brian started exchanging the rest of the pieces and before long White was the only player with a minor piece, while a pair of rooks had also headed for a cup of tea. In one last desperate attempt to create counterplay, the MH3 player decided to push the Q-side pawns, but with a strong battery on the e-file and looking to start munching on the white pawns and to threaten checkmate in the process, our teammate looked too dominant for White’s taste and the latter resigned.
Another great performance from the ‘The Griller’ as he deservedly temporarily claims the top spot in the club rankings this season.
Boris is focused on the opening while Brian is throwing a rather critical look at board 2
Borislav ‘Boris The Toaster’ Lazarov (Anstey 2) vs Gary Joy (MH3) 1 – 0
Coming from a decisive loss against Wigston 4, Boris was looking to get back on the winning track against one of the prospective MH3 players Gary Joy. Boris opened with his typical d4, met with d5 and Slav setup from his opponent who also rushed to get his bishop out of the characteristic triangular pawn structure. ‘The Toaster’ seized the moment to put a pause on any development on the board and started expanding on the K-side with tempi on the bishop. The latter piece was hidden on h7 and the MH3 player offered an exchange of the dark-squared bishop, providing the opportunity for our teammate to finish his development, placing all of his minor pieces on good squares in the centre of the board. Both sets of bishops left the battlefield by the initiative of the away team player who managed to finish his development as well, looking to castle soon. Unfortunately for the MH3 player, our teammate stroke with g5, not giving the opportunity to Black to castle straight away. The latter player underestimated the power of the g-pawn and let ‘The Toaster’ to push it to g6 and further take on f7 with a check. With the black king in the centre, Boris started loading pieces pointing towards the K-side and started preparing e4. Black tried to create a fortress using his two knights which were trying to exchange themselves and cut diagonals and files for the white queen and rook which were lurking in the vicinity. Our teammate was so preoccupied with his plan that he even missed taking a free rook, but nevertheless the tight grip of the white pieces was gradually squeezing Black’s position and before long e4 happened on the board. The centre started opening with a subsequent e5 being played and after an exchange of knights and a check from the black queen, White managed to grab the two black centre pawns, then pick up his knight before getting a mate in one position to seal the deal on board two for Anstey 2.
Great win for ‘The Toaster’ who gets back on the winning track and is looking to help out the first team next Thursday.
George Gowers (MH3) vs ‘El Presidente’ Ben Vaughan 1/2 – 1/2
Arguably the hardest task of the evening was set for Ben who was scheduled to play the County Champion from the summer George Gowers. The game started with the Tarrasch version of the French defence, whereby our teammate decided to develop with pressure on the d4 pawn. The players started the battle for the centre and before long they found themselves in a very tense position, both castled K-side, with the centre of the board ready to explode any minute. Unsurprisingly the centre was opened in a couple of moves and in his typical tactical style the MH3 player delivered ‘the Greek gift’ to our teammate with Bxh7+ to which the Anstey Chess Club chairman unmoved took the bishop and further sacrificed the exchange to remain with a bishop and knight against a rook and pawn, albeit with a little insecure king position. The position became highly tactical, with plenty of space for both sets of pieces and the potential for a spectacular finish for either side. The away team player brought his bishop to the attack on the K-side, while ‘El Presidente’ shuffled his knight back to a more active position and brought his queen back to the seventh rank, offering the exchange of queens. Ben’s opponent accepted the offer and our chairman re-took the queen with his dark-squared bishop. At this point ‘El Presidente’ heard Brian’s opponent resigning and after a brief look on Boris’ board our teammate decided to offer a draw which after careful consideration his opponent accepted. Both players headed for a quick postmortem where Ben was surprised to first see that the engine’s evaluation differs from his own and he was not in any major trouble, and second to hear that his opponent had given him the respect to prepare before the game in the French defence.
Overall, a solid performance for Ben who is looking to get back on the winning track, hopefully in the rematch against Wigston 4.
Bob Grindrod (Anstey 2) vs Daniel Savin (MH3)
The last regular member of the B-team, Bob, had to face one of the season debutants in Daniel Savin. The young player from MH3 was flying high having drawn against the strong player John Redding in the beginning of the season. The game ended being a ‘swings and roundabouts’ exhibition in the engine’s records (Stockfish 15, depth = 20, powered by chess.com). Our teammate’s Queen’s Gambit was met by the Baltic defence (as per chess.com’s definition) whereby the away team player developed his bishop and g-knight quickly and spend an extra couple of tempi to first attack the white dark-squared bishop and then to double Bob’s pawns on the c-file after exchanging the knight. Both queens suddenly got activated, one attacking and the other defending the c3-pawn, and the players decided to leave it be and casually continued their development and even played dubious pawn pushes which made the engine dizzy due to the swinging of the evaluation bar. Eventually, Bob decided to tuck his king behind the K-side pawns, and then started taking space on the Q-side. After an engine like Kf7 from the MH3 player, our teammate continued pushing pawns on the Q-side, ignoring a K-side attack which made him bring his knight back to the very unattractive h2-square and then get his bishop attacked as well. Daniel opened the g-file, looking to attack the castled white king, while Bob brought his bishop back to protect the g2-pawn. The apparent battle for the g2-pawn continued while the engine went dizzy again, screaming for cxd5 from White on a sequence of at least 6 moves whereby Bob’s almost +2 advantage melted down to -2.2 at some point. Eventually, Black made the surprising decision to take on c4, fixing Bob’s pawn structure and leading the game back to equality.. Nevertheless, Black was unveiling a diabolic plan to skewer one of the white rooks with his light-squared bishop and our teammate decided to sacrifice his own bishop for a pawn and missed an idea to capture the black knight due to an absolute pin. Fortunately, Bob managed to fork the said knight and the black queen and managed not only to restore equality, having been in a -5.5 position, but for a brief moment found himself with +2.0 advantage, only needing to finally open up the centre. Unfortunately, Bob missed an interesting exchange sacrifice to open up the black king’s position and the game went back to equality. This time the MH3 player managed to get his king to safety on the Q-side and created too strong a battery to hold on on the h-file and with the time scramble already running in full steam, our teammate found himself on the wrong end of the position and resigned.
A hard day in the office for Bob, who is still fighting the rustiness. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to more exciting games from our teammate who will be back on the winning track sooner rather than later.
John Oliver (MH3) vs ‘Big Daddy’ Valdas Matutis (Anstey 2)
Stepping in to play for the second team, unlike most of his teammates, Valdas had to face one of the players who ‘have been around the block’ in John Oliver. Another Queen’s Gambit opening was met by a Semi-Slav setup from our teammate. Both players developed in the good traditions of the opening, albeit in its most solid variations. Before long, both players had castled K-side and had developed their pieces on logical squares. Pawns were exchanged on d5 and then the light-squared bishops went to watch from the sidelines, as ‘Big Daddy’ decided to use the chance to open up the f-file for his rook. Eventually, another set of central pawns and a pair of knights also left the battlefield, leaving White in the famous IQP (isolated queen’s pawn) situation, with a rook slightly misplaced on e4. The major piece was immediately attacked by the remaining black knight and had to retreat back to the first rank. Our teammate woke up his sleeping a8-rook and brought it to the game to support the d-file and the important white IQP’s safety net on d5. White tried to pin the black knight to the said rook, but Valdas moved it quickly and the MH3 player found nothing better but to exchange the knight for his dark-squared bishop and fix the pawn structure in front of the black king. Both players decided to double rooks on the central files, with White taking full control of the d-file, while ‘Big Daddy’ aimed the d4-pawn with his battery. The away team player tried to infiltrate Black’s position with his queen but our teammate defended well and even though there was still plenty of play on the board, the players decided that it is too equal and too risky for anyone to make a move for the win, and after shuffling a couple of pieces, both players agreed to a draw.
A solid appearance for Valdas who starts getting in good form and is looking to get his first win of the season, hopefully next week against Loughborough 3.
Ben has left his board to take a look at Valdas and Leo’s games
Leo Abraham (Anstey 2) vs Rene Butler (MH3)
One of the most interesting games was on board 6 where the away team captain Rene Butler was looking to challenge the ever-improving, probably most developed player from the Anstey Chess Club Leo. ‘The Lion’ opened up with his characteristic e4 which was met by the Sicilian defence from his opponent. The players started their development promptly, taking a slightly passive approach regarding the centre and ‘fianchetto’-ing their K-side bishops. Following short castling for both sides, the away team captain decided to exchange his light-squared bishop for one of the white knights. The players started shuffling their pieces, both looking for a nice setup to execute some sort of a crushing attack on their opponent’s position. The players exchanged knights in the process and for a brief moment Black enjoyed some good space but the dynamics of the position changed quickly following a premature Qc6 from the MH3 player, ending with a chase of the e5-knight with a well-timed f4. Although looking logical, Leo decided to ignore the e5-pawn break and instead continued pushing the f-pawn, creating tension between itself and its g6-counterpart. The players shuffled their minor pieces in an attempt to place them on the best possible squares and with the potential energy on the board rising, before long Rene played a discovered check after pushing the c-pawn. Unfortunately, the move backfired against him as it trapped his bishop and the away team player decided to exchange it for the g3-pawn in an attempt to prise open the white K-side. Instead, ‘The Lion’ started putting pressure on Black’s position, opening the e-file and taking control of it, while also squeezing in a brilliant discovered skewer to exchange his dark-squared bishop for one of the black rooks. Our teammate further activated his pieces to exchange the majority of them, and by move 39 he was already up a full rook with bishop and rook against knight in a completely winning endgame. Leo pushed his d-pawn and even ignored a fork from the black knight as after the piece exchanged itself for the white rook, the white bishop locked itself with the d-pawn on c8 and d7 leaving the black king only the option to shuffle between d8 and e7 while protecting the promotion square. In the meantime, ‘The Lion’ activated his king, attacking the black pawns, and since he did not have many squares for his king, the MH3 player decided to push his own pawns in an attempt for a ‘cheepo’ but our teammate was paying attention and picked them all. Eventually, in spite of his valiant efforts, the captain of the away team found himself with a lone king against an armada of pawns and decided to call it a day.
Another brilliant performance from Leo as he is looking to challenge his teammates for the top board spots soon.
Plenty of members turned up for club night and enjoyed casual chess games and different variants
Following the brilliant performance from the team, Anstey 2 defeated their opponents with a decisive 4-2 result. This places our second team temporarily on the third spot with several teams below them with a game or two to spare. The next test for the B-team will be against Wigston 4 again, this time at Ben’s former club venue.
The evening saw another busy club night, with a good chunk of our juniors engaging in different games while the experienced first team members along with a good part of the third team also got involved in the fun. If you enjoy playing the great game of chess and are looking for an entertaining, friendly and inclusive environment, or even the opportunity to play competitive OTB chess, come and join us every Thursday evening from 7:30pm. All abilities welcome!
Anstey 1 began life in LRCA Division 2 with a hard-fought draw away at Braunstone on Wednesday night. On paper it looked like the teams were evenly matched (7,090 vs 7,031) and so it proved.
We did get off to a flyer though. After only about 15 minutes or so there was a commotion and the sound of pieces being reset coming from board 1. Julian Tarwid, playing white the first time for ages, had faced off against Graham Booley his opponent from only the week before in the county championships. Both players blitzed out their opening moves, Julian expanding on the kingside with g4 and h4 before opening the h file and infiltrating black’s position with Rh8 and Qh7:
Position after 17. Qh7
Graham tried to pinch the free looking g-pawn but after 17. … Qxg5 18. Rxf8+ Kxf8 19. Qh8+ Ke7 20. Qxa8 he had to resign. Already a candidate for the quickest win of the season timewise! Braunstone 0 – 1 Anstey.
Captain Matt Connor was next to finish on board 3 with white against Gavin Hart, the same pairing as in the Chapman Cup game a few weeks back, Gavin no doubt looking for revenge. Matt gambited a pawn in the opening for a lead in development, followed it up with a nice tactic in the middle of the board and just when he was eyeing up another nice tactic and a possible mate in 5 he made an inexplicable move order error and lost the chance. Luckily for Matt, Gavin then blundered his pawn advantage straight back and the position came out dead even and a draw was agreed. Braunstone ½ – 1½ Anstey.
Mick Sandham was black against Braunstone’s captain Jim Bingham on board 4. After a cagey start, a couple of minor pieces were swapped off and Mick looked to start his kingside attack first with f5 and later h5, g5 and g4. Jim meanwhile had closed up the centre allowing Mick to swing his knight over to join the attack. The critical position came after 29. Bf4:
Position after 29. Bf4
Mick went for it with 29. … Nf3+ taking advantage of the latent pin on the g pawn. Jim here missed the (extremely) calm 30. Kf2 with a better position instead going the exchange for a pawn down with 30. Rxf3. Shortly after the queens came off and with the closed position and his bad light-squared bishop Mick couldn’t make any headway and a draw was agreed. Braunstone 1 – 2 Anstey.
John Robinson played black against Daniel Wilkinson on board 2 and was the last game to finish. Well, we say game, it was more like a war of attrition with over 80 moves. John had gambited a pawn in the opening but never quite had enough compensation for it. Daniel calmly went about his business gradually manoeuvring his pieces to better squares, keeping a space advantage and reducing material. John was in full defensive mode and when the position came down to the rook, knight and pawn endgame he was still a pawn down and under the cosh. And very low on time! At one point Daniel very gentlemanly pointed out that John had forgotten to press his clock, thanks Daniel. In the end he sacrificed his rook for a knight and pawn leaving king, knight and 2 advanced connected passed pawns against king and rook, John momentarily activated his rook and gave a few checks but the king and knight marshalled the pawns home to queen and the game was over. Braunstone 2 – 2 Anstey.
So, honours even on the night.
Anstey captain Matt Connor told The Leicester Mercury: Yeh, that was a tough one. I thought that we were winning first half until I completely messed up my game, not exactly a captain’s innings. But another great win for Julian and a good half point for Mick, it’s a shame John couldn’t hold on. Still, we’re off the mark, there’s a long way to go in this division.
The first league match of the new league season in Leicestershire is here! An exciting time for Anstey’s third team as this was our debut match, and the team for this match was made up of quite a few juniors! An exciting time for the Anstey chess club, and for the future of chess too. The team for this match was made up of Valdas Matutis, Leo Abraham, Noor Datoo, Aarav Sinha, and John Graham-Brown.
The team Braunstone had brought to Anstey was quite strong, and the average grade difference between each board was 265 rating points. The average rating of either team was Braunstone with 1459 and Anstey with 1195, so Anstey being the underdog by a long shot. However, that doesn’t stop us from playing chess, and it didn’t that fateful evening.
Board 1: Vijay Gulab plays white; Valdas Matutis plays black
Valdas plays a solid opening to his opponent’s e4 Nf3 opening, and the Valdas gains a good pawn structure in the opening. Valdas attempts to give the game some tension with d5, but his opponent rejects the idea by playing e5 and locking the centre. Later on, Valdas activates his queen and Vijay allows Valdas to take two pawns for free, which allows Valdas to open white’s queenside and start to take advantage of how much space he’s been given.
Much later on, Valdas continues to press his attack and tries to trade off some pieces, however, the position looks a bit more equal that it did in the opening. There was a cheeky tactic Valdas missed and he has to give up a piece, meaning that Vijay had a piece up in the endgame and Valdas later resigns. Not a great start, but Valdas put up a good fight still. Anstey 0 – Braunstone 1.
Board 2: Leo Abraham plays white; Shaun Wilkinson plays black
Leo played his traditional e4, and his opponent responds with a Pirc defence. Early on, Leo miscalculates, and unfortunately he had to give up a rook for a minor piece. This didn’t mean Leo was a piece down, but it did mean he had to give up a good quality piece for a slightly worse piece. No matter, Leo continued to play the game, and he locked the position with his pawns to minimise the impact of the extra rook his opponent had. With a rook up and down a minor piece, black had a difficult time as the rooks can’t attack through the gaps of a pawn structure, which can mean he was down a piece himself.
However, there began an opening of the h file, which Leo couldn’t allow and he lodged the position once more with his kingside pawns. There was still play on the kingside, but it was difficult for black to make many impactful moves, especially with Leo’s knights being so powerful. Shaun saw this, and he decided to offer Leo a draw and Leo gladly accepted. Shaun and Leo had a pleasant conversation after the game, and Shaun did admit that Leo played better than his rating was letting on. Anstey 1/2 – Braunstone 1 1/2.
Board 3: Guy Closs plays white; Noor Datoo plays black
The game started out with the common e4, e5, Nf3, and Nc6. The game then transposed into the Giuoco Piano center attack, where white has a comfortable space advantage, but black has some play as well as white. The game continued with white launching a queenside attack on black, and it became a very positional game, where each player made slight improving moves to hopefully grind down their opponent. The game continued as a calm disagreement between two gentlemen, and there wasn’t many pieces being traded off too quickly.
As the position slowly approached the endgame, the grind still continued and the time was showing this, as board three was the last to finish playing out of the five. Speaking of time, Noor had some time advantage at the beginning and this only grew and grew as the game went on. With white’s time slowly but surely decreasing and the game continued to be positional and complex. Time would tell who won this war between men, and Noor finally won by white resigning. A great win by Noor, as he defeated someone who was well over two hundred points above himself. Anstey 1 1/2 – Braunstone 1 1/2.
Board 4: Aarav Sinha plays white; Steve Barlow plays black
In Aarav’s game, the opening was the Petrov Defence with e4, e5, Nf3, Nf6, but the centre pawns weren’t taken straight away. Aarav did have a few tactical tricks up his sleeve with Bc4, and black responded with the passive h6 trying to prevent any fried liver tricks. However, Aarav still has Nxe5 which still enables him to put pressure on the f7 pawn, but black has a good defensive resource which is d5. Unfortunately for Braunstone, Steve didn’t find d5 and instead plays queen to e7, which blunders bishop takes f7 check.
Aarav decides not to go for this and instead plays d4, a good alternative move to try and keep the knight in the centre. Black plays Nc3; Aarav plays Bf4, and black takes trying to avoid the pressure of the knight. Though, Aarav takes with the pawn instead and attacks the f6 knight because the knight is trapped. Fortunately for Steve he has queen to b4 check and he can pick up the light squared bishop for the knight. A few improving moves later and Aarav makes another great move: knight to d5, which forces black to play defensive again with Bd6. Aarav plays e5 and this is not a good position for black at all, in fact the computer gives a +9 for white’s position, which is equivalent to black losing a queen for nothing.
However, in the absolutely terrible position for black, it could be worse and it does become worse! Black takes on e5, enabling a bishop trade which Aarav takes. Black maybe up a pawn but Aarav will be up a queen with rook to e1, pinning the queen to the king. Black defends the queen, Aarav takes, black takes back, and knight takes c7 means it is forced mate in 1. Black resigned and walked straight out of the room to go to the nearby pub. One hell of an exciting and fantastic result for Aarav! Anstey 2 1/2 – Braunstone 1 1/2.
Board 5: Hatle Mehta plays white; John Graham-Brown plays black
The game starts off with d4 and d6 and begins to turn into a London system game, but John accidently loses a pawn with e5. After d takes, John goes d5 leaving his opponent with doubled pawns on the e file, which could be good in the long run, so maybe John was playing a gambit rather than simply losing a pawn. Pieces are developed normally for a few moves, then John notices he can take on e5 meaning white’s bishop hangs and is forced to trade bishops, meaning John is up a pawn and his knight can safely retake the bishop. A very nice tactic by John.
As the game continued, John managed his development very well, as he placed his knights on squares where they were attacking and defending his pawns against white’s overly aggressive queen. John ended up being in a near equal position with his opponent, who was 500 rating points above John, so a very impressive start by John!
As John wanted to press the attack even further than he had done, John pushed his pawn to attack one of white’s knights. White responded with quite a good move to attack John’s queen, and John took the knight. In response, white took John’s queen giving up two knights for the powerful piece. John honourably played until the end of the game, when his opponent checkmated John with two queens. A great start by John, as he managed to get an almost equal position after the opening, and the computer gave his position +0.2 at one point, so a fantastic first league match for John!
Final Words
The result finished on a draw with 2 1/2 points to Anstey and Braunstone, so a great first match for Anstey 3 by drawing against a team that was significantly higher rated. As a captain, I am very proud of the team for playing so well and giving it their all. Even though there were loses, it still doesn’t change how well everyone played and how many winning chances we had against a strong opponent. This only means that we have strong potential as a team, as individual players, and as a club. I am proud to say I am a member of the Anstey Chess Club! The next match will be against Loughborough’s third team, and, if we play as well as we did against Braunstone, I have strong confidence that we can defeat Loughborough.
Two debutants from Ben’s former club with excellent performances to seal the deal for our friends from South Leicester.
The new season started last week for Anstey 2 as they played Wigston 4 at home on the last Thursday of September. Following the successful end of the last season, our second team headed into the fixture with confidence. A strong side consisting of Brian ‘The Griller’, Boris ‘The Toaster’, ‘El Presidente’ Ben, Bob and Mike, outrated slightly a talented away team, represented by young prospective players, including three league debutants. Unfortunately for our side, the rating difference did not show on the boards as the visitors won decisively the match 3.5 – 1.5, hence, delivering the first defeat for any Anstey team in the league this calendar year.
Phil Watkinson (Wigston 4) vs Brian ‘The Griller’ Foreman (Anstey 2) Result: 0 – 1
On the top board, the Anstey Methodist Church saw the return of ‘The Griller’ in OTB league chess. The game started with a typical QG position, led into the Slav defence by our teammate. The players developed promptly as our teammate decided to take on c4 in an effort to equalise quickly while his opponent commits pawns in the process of getting back his pawn. Both players emerged from the opening with each still having an undeveloped piece and castled kingside (K-side). Brian tried to annoy his opponent by placing a knight in the centre of the board, but the Wigston player exchanged it without much thinking. On the very next move White decided to try the same thing by playing Ne5, only to give a clear target for the still undeveloped, possibly enjoying a hot drink black b8-knight. With another exchange taken place, the proceedings were concluded for all horse resembling L-shape hopping pieces. Deep into the middle game, a positional battle was undertaken, as the players did their best in contesting the semi-open c- and d-files. Eventually, ‘The Griller’ decided to strike in the centre with e5, followed by prise opening both c- and d-files with cxd5. Both players went into the depths of engine moves with Kf8 and Kh1, as the tension in the centre kept rising by the move. White had decided to double his rooks on the d-file, while Black had each rook on an open file. Brian offered a bishop exchange and with the potential energy in the centre of the board reaching nuclear levels, pieces started being exchanged violently, with our teammate initiating the exchanges. With most of the pieces exchanged, the players found themselves in a completely equal endgame with a rook and light-squared bishop each, topped up by a completely symmetrical pawn structure. Our teammate activated his king while his opponent pushed his K-side pawns. The players further exchanged their bishops, and after strategic positioning of his king, ‘The Griller’ infiltrated White’s back rank with his remaining rook. Despite the clear equality at the start of the position, the Wigston player made some significant positional mistakes and given his experience OTB, Brian capitalised on his brand new advantage in the endgame to get the only Anstey win on the night. An excellent comeback for our second team first board.
Borislav ‘Boris The Toaster’ Lazarov (Anstey 2) vs Joseph Horspool (Wigston 4) Result: 0 – 1
After a good summer cups campaign, Boris started the season on the back of some good performances, playing on the second board of the second team. Across the board, our teammate found a debutant in the league in the face of Joseph Horspool whose father also happened to be in the Anstey Methodist Church on the night fighting for the first place in the Open division of the County Championship against one of the local legends – Shabir Okhai from Syston. The young Wigston player on board 2 immediately showcased his chess roots and met Boris’ development with a slightly passive, yet effective defence. ‘The Toaster’ positioned his pieces in what appeared to be excellent squares, taking space in the centre and having developed all of his minor pieces as soon as move 9. Nevertheless, our teammate wasted move 10 on a far-fetched idea starting with h3, only to be met by a well-timed c5 from Black. The move unleashed a long sequence of exchanges, leaving Boris with doubled f-pawns and a possible slight advantage, had he kept his centre pawns. Unfortunately, our teammate decided to take an alternative route, greedily picking up the black a-pawn, as the Wigston player exchanged the queens, leaving our teammate with terrible pawn structure in a slightly worse endgame. Although the game was far from over, ‘The Toaster’ decided to take the action into a two rooks vs two rooks endgame, a notorious struggle for our teammate which costed him half point in the last round of the Chapman cup a fortnight earlier. Black decided to double his rooks on the worst possible file, while our teammate managed to occupy the open files, while also partially fixing his own pawn structure. Boris decided to try and further damage his opponent’s pawn structure by sacrificing his h-pawn and put himself in a good situation with solid drawing chances (Stockfish, depth=15 from chess.com evaluates it at 0.0). However, our teammate missed the brilliant f4 move and played Rh1 instead, followed by Rh2 and Rf1, completely freezing his pieces in a wait to be demolished, with the engine evaluating the position as -1.1. ‘The Toaster’ managed to activate his king and sacrificed the f-pawn to get one of the black h-pawns, but went over the top with another unnecessary pawn sacrifice. Our teammate managed to activate his rooks and even had good drawing chances at several points, but after several inaccuracies and obvious mistakes got himself in a completely losing pickle and resigned. The game ended being a harsh beginning of the new season for Boris who will be looking to perform better in the next fixture against the Division 4 winners from last year Market Harborough 3.
Lucas Muir (Wigston 4) vs ‘El Presidente’ Ben Vaughan (Anstey 2) Result: 1 – 0
(reported by Ben himself)
On board 3, ‘El Presidente’ faced off against another debutant – Lucas Muir. Against 1.e4 (proper chess player!), he replied with the usual French Defence. However, instead of replying cxd4, ‘El Presidente’ responded to a3 by playing c4 in a brand new move for him. Was this the time to experiment? Probably not but once you’ve moved a piece, you cannot take it back. ‘El Presidente’ followed up c4 with Na5-b3 – the b3 square being a big hole in White’s position. The idea was to follow up with the e7 Knight coming to c6-a5 to reinforce b3 but with a trade off happening straight away, Black had to re-capture with a pawn, after an attempt to pin the capturing Knight with Ba4 – a nice little find. The pieces came off and Black seemed to have gained equality but Lucas played some sensible moves without being aggressive and was able to squeeze the position, forcing a mistake from ‘El Presidente’. The engine evaluation at this point of the game was +7 and even over the board it was looking fairly bleak for Black. However, ‘El Presidente’ cut his losses and eventually castled and shifted his pieces to the K-side. White did blunder, allowing Qd1+ which swung the game to -7 in Black’s favour. Unfortunately, by this point El Presidente was low on time and did not have sufficient time to calculate sophisticated capitalisation on his superior position. What followed was the trade of Queens and some exceptionally poor endgame play from both players. ‘El Presidente’ did not have much time and was down to 8 seconds at one point. Lucas held his nerve and eventually mated Black with a Queened pawn, King and Bishop in tandem.
‘El Presidente’ certainly looked rusty and felt rusty – on to the next one!
Bob Grindrod (Anstey 2) vs Sathsara Dissanayake (Wigston 4) Result: 1/2 – 1/2
Although a seasoned league player most recently (albeit in pre-pandemic times) in Norfolk, Bob made his debut in the Leicestershire league, playing White against a third young debutant in the league from Wigston. The inexperience of the visitors’ player along with the rustiness over the board of our teammate whose last competitive game was in 1 B.C. (first year before COVID), the game ended being a little bit of a ‘swings and roundabouts’ display. After a typical Italian game in the ‘Giuoco pianissimo’ our teammate found himself with the bishop pair after his opponent equalised early in the opening and carelessly exchanged his dark-squared bishop for one of the white knights. Already castled K-side, Black decided to strike in the centre with d4 which was met by Bob with an ambitious plan to spend some time getting a good square for the queen so he could castle queenside (Q-side). Black used the presented initiative to occupy the centre with his knight while exchanging his other knight for White’s dark-squared bishop. With the addition of relative pin on the remaining white knight, our teammate found himself in a very uncomfortable position, evaluated by the engine at -1.5 with equal material. Luckily, Black exchanged the wrong piece and the position got back to more or less equal, as the queens got off the board as well. Having the worse pawn structure, Bob started a series of improving moves, exchanging a set of rooks and taking advantage of an absolute pin to win a couple of pawns and get the material advantage, albeit with an ugly, almost unfortunate pawn structure. A sequence of pawn exchanges combined with tactical moves finished with Bob having the better part of a symmetrical and ugly pawn structure alongside a light-squared bishop and a rook on each side. Under the pressure of losing the initiative and the positional advantage, the young Wigston player made several mistakes to give our teammate a clear +5 advantage, with 4 pawns and fixed structure against two lonely isolated pawns. Unfortunately, our teammate’s rustiness showed up as he missed the opportunity to capitalise on his clearly winning position. With more active rook and nothing to lose, the young player from the away team managed to create havoc over the board and eventually the position ended being too drawish for any player to make any advance and the draw was agreed. Although a missed opportunity, Bob’s Anstey debut showcased how lucky our team is to have him in their line-up.
Chris Brown (Wigston 4) vs Mike Griffiths (Anstey 2) Result: 0 – 1
On board five Mike stepped up to reinforce the team as our opponents on the night requested five board match. The game started with the Smith-Mora Gambit line of the Sicilian defence, with the players quickly exchanging pawns on d4 and opening the c-file. A rapid development followed, whereby our teammate decided to ‘fianchetto’ his bishop in the good tradition of a seasoned English player. Both players positioned their pieces on favourable squares, castled K-side and the battle for the centre began. Our teammate went on to tactically win a pawn, only to fall victim to a nice knight fork on both black rooks. Eventually the a8-rook fell victim and Mike found himself one point of material down following the loss of the exchange. Nevertheless, the potential energy from his well-placed strong minor pieces kept him in the game and he tried to take the initiative by pushing his pawns on the K-side and in the centre. The Wigston player defended well and even managed to create a counter attack, taking back a pawn in the process and achieving a nice two point material advantage, with the position evaluated at around +3 by the engine. However, our teammate was far from giving up and used first his bishop and then his knight to harass White’s rooks. Eventually, the horse-shaped piece managed to exchange itself for one of white rooks, taking the game back into equality. Moreover, with a couple of improving moves Mike managed to take the advantage and the initiative. Unfortunately, finding himself in a winning position, our teammate fell victim to complacency and blundered his rook. With no prospects of saving the game, Mike resigned. A tough start of the league season for our teammate but nevertheless a good warm-up before his third team top board appearance next week against Braunstone 3.
In conclusion, not the best start for our second team which would fall under the learning experience label. Next they are playing Market Harborough 3 at home on the 13th October and they will be looking to turn the tide against a strong opponent, deservedly won division 4 last year.
The evening also saw another busy club night accompanied by two finals of the County Championship. In the Open division Shabir Okhai from Syston got the win while in the Challengers division Anstey’s own Julian ‘Mr. Engine’ conducted another endgame masterclass to seal his championship and perfect record 5/5 in the competition, hence, taking the trophy in the division.
Anstey 1 couldn’t quite keep their 100% record in the Chapman Cup with a draw against Loughborough in the last round but still confirmed their status as undefeated champions:
Loughborough brought a mixture of youth and experience with two juniors and two seniors but overall a slightly weaker team than in the reverse fixture. All the boards were fairly evenly matched on ratings so for the first time in the competition this meant that Anstey did not benefit from a lead from the handicap!
Captains Matt Connor and Stephen Morris tossed for colours, Matt winning the toss and selecting black on odd-numbered boards. The teams settled down for the pre-match photo and the action commenced.
Matt was white on board 2 verses young Kajus Mikalajunas and unusually for Matt this was the first game to finish. Matt thought that he had walked into some deep opening preparation as Kajus blitzed out the first 10 moves, taking just 1 minute on the clock compared to Matt’s 35. Matt couldn’t resist going for a dodgy queen sacrifice but getting a rook, knight, pawn and a back rank mate threat as compensation. Unfortunately, Kajus missed the mate threat and the game finished 13. … e5 14. Rd8#. Oops.
Position after 14. Rd8#
So Anstey were off to a flyer. Anstey 1 – Loughborough 0.
The next game to finish was Borislav Lazarov as white on board 4 against Peter Hickman. No-one is quite sure how the game ended up a draw but somehow it did. Boris got a good position out of the opening with a nice space advantage. He pushed Gary and Harry (the g and h pawns) forward and castled long. After some tactical exchanges and losing a pawn Peter reacted by also castling long but this was a mistake, white’s active pieces transferring over to the queenside for a deadly attack.
Position after 22. Nxd5
After another nice tactical sequence Boris simplified to a double rook endgame 3 pawns up and looked to be winning easily. But double rook endgames are notoriously tricky. Peter managed to activate his rooks and pushed his kingside pawns and won a pawn back. Caving under pressure Boris made a poor defensive move allowing Peter to double his rooks on the 6th rank targeting white’s now undefended pawns on the kingside and also harassing the white king. Black picked up another pawn but allowed white to mobilise his rooks. Both sides played a series of good moves and although white was still a pawn up it looked like a draw by perpetual check was the most likely outcome. But then Boris thought he had blundered and was losing a rook when Peter offered a draw which Boris gratefully accepted! Turns out he wasn’t but even so, what a rollercoaster! Anstey 1½ – Loughborough ½.
Julian Tarwid faced off against Stephen Morris as black on board 1. The game started off as a slow positional Slav defence, Julian playing rock solidly. After all the major pieces were swapped off on the d file Julian activated his minor pieces and pushed his queenside pawns to create a space advantage. With white’s knight stuck on defensive duties on d1 and a 3 vs 2 queenside pawn majority it looked like Julian had a good advantage. He sacrificed a pawn for more activity but couldn’t quite find a breakthrough. Stephen defended well and the game fizzled out to a draw. Anstey 2 – Loughborough 1.
This Left Mick Sandham playing black on board 3 versus young Lindsey Pyun. Mick equalised fairly easily out of the opening and after Lyndsey exchanged queens on e3 he stood a little better even with some dark square weakness. He tried to get an attack going on the kingside with h6, g5, g4 and h5 but ultimately it came to nothing, Lyndsey manoeuvred her pieces to try and exploit the hole on d6. But the position appeared dead level and at the stage of the match where Boris looked like he was cruising to a win Mick offered a draw. Lyndsey declined, played Nd6 and after … Nxd6 exd6 it looked like she had a dangerous advanced passed pawn.
Position after 31. exd6
The engines say this position is completely equal but as we’ve seen these double rook endings are hard to play over the board. The right idea here is for black to play … Rg5 and … Rd5 but instead Mick went with … Rd8 and … Rd7. This allowed Lyndsey to pick off the a and c pawns and when Mick took on d6 the remaining rooks came off it was 5 pawns vs 4… plus a passed b pawn. Lyndsey made no mistake and Mick was forced to resign. Anstey 2 – Loughborough 2.
So a close match in the end and not a bad way to finish a great summer of chess for Anstey, to be crowned Chapman Cup champions and finishing joint first in the Harrod Cup as well as individual success for Julian in the county championships.
Anstey captain Matt Connor told BBC Radio Leicester: It was a close match. I did think we were winning easily in the first half but we probably sat back too much letting them back into it, a draw was probably a fair result. To finished unbeaten in the cup, 5 points ahead of second place is a great achievement. A big thanks to everyone who played but especially to Julian who was unbeaten against some highly rated opponents with 3 wins and 3 draws. I think with the summer cup success and promotion to division 2 we have put Anstey Chess Club firmly on the map. #thesoulofchessincharnwood.
As well as the Chapman Cup game it was a normal club night. Well, I say normal, but maybe thriving is the new normal with loads of new players following on from our showing at the Anstey Gala. We look forward to welcoming them back and getting to know them! A great night all round!
In the last and final round of the Harrod Summer Cup, Anstey 2 travel to the Ashby Ivanhoe Social club to tackle one of the top teams of the Harrod: Ashby’s first team. Ashby 1 and Anstey 2 are quite close on the leader board, so this should make for an interesting match (much like the last match against Loughborough). The Anstey team was Valdas Matutis, Leo Abraham, Oskar Rudczenko, and John Graham-Brown (aka Little John). It was quite a casual evening as the Ashby chess club are a notoriously friendly bunch of people, so we all sat back, relaxed and played as we would as gentlemen. There was a bit of an inaccuracy with Leo’s absence, but it was no one’s fault, he eventually arrived and he still gave the match his all.
Board 1 (game 1) – Valdas Matutis plays white; Steve Emmerton plays black
Valdas opens with an abstract London system (nice and solid opening I might add), and his opponent carefully developing his pieces leaving little for Valdas to take advantage of. As the game progressed, the fighting became themed around the c file of the board; Valdas sensibly doubled his rooks on said file allowing him to dominate the only open file of the board. As a result, Valdas thought exchanging his pieces would be the best plan to progress in the position, so he started simplifying the game. Although, he had soon realised this was a mistake, as his opponent had set up a cunning trap which would mean Valdas had to trade one of his rooks for a bishop. Valdas had managed to win the rook back later on, but his opponent was not laying back to take the beating; this would be a tough game for Valdas. The game transitioned into an endgame, and Valdas’ position was not looking good as he was down a bishop. As the game progressed even more, it was clear to Valdas that this was a losing position and there wasn’t much he could do to ease the pain. Valdas had lost this game, but there was one more to play. The score started off with Ashby having one point to Anstey’s zero.
Board 1 (game 2) – Steve plays white; Valdas plays black
With his opponent opening with a popular e4, Valdas opened with a solid c6 and the opening became a variation of the Caro-kann. As the moves were played and the game progressed, both parties had solid defences with little leeway for their opponent. Pieces were traded off, and the position became more and more open. With more breathing room for each player, there were a lot more available moves and a lot more available room for error. More and more pieces were traded off, and the board looked a lot more empty. Eventually, the endgame transitioned into a king, rook and three pawn endgame, with the pawns being on the same files on the same side of the board. With the end to the game looking not so clear, both players blitzed out their moves and they both agreed to a draw. Unfortunate for Valdas, but he had still played well against an opponent, who was 200 rating points above Valdas. The score was Ashby with one and a half points, and Anstey with half a point.
Board 2 (game 1) – Leo Abraham plays white; Les Fancourt plays black
As previously mentioned, Leo was slightly late to the venue, but he had turned up just in time to play a little game of ‘catch up’, since he was 10 minutes late he had to play being down 10 minutes on the clock, which is half his time gone. No matter though, Leo still played through the game. Although, Leo had to play a bit more quickly than he might like to as he had to make up for lost time, so he often blitzed out his moves where possible. Leo had mentioned after the match that he often uses fear to play better, and this does make sense as your opponent does have the chance to beat you. However, you have the same chance, as long as you play the best or better moves than your opponent, and that’s exactly what Leo did. Before you could know it, Leo had won his opponent’s rook and had gained a winning position, all with time to spare. Leo did win, and this made the score equal with one and a half points to each team.
Board 2 (game 2) – Les plays white; Leo plays black
With a surprising win under his belt, Leo had gained more respect from his opponent, and Les was a lot more weary of Leo’s moves. The first few moves were very fast and both players blitzed out the few 10 moves of the opening stage of the game. Later on it became a lot more of a calm, with both players being out of opening knowledge of the position. With the game being a lot more equal, Leo and his opponent traded pieces off quite quickly, and things soon transposed into an endgame. Although, with Leo getting tired and running out of stamina, he eventually blundered a piece to an unfortunate trap. Leo was down a bishop and had to defend with only a rook versus a rook and bishop. Eventually, Leo was forced to trade rooks, and soon after he resigned the game. An unfortunate end to his evening, but Leo still fought well as his opponent was over 300 rating points above Leo. The score was two and a half to Ashby and one and a half to Anstey.
Board 3 (game 1) – Oskar Rudczenko plays white; Stephan Holmes plays black
With a good start from the first two boards, it was all up to the bottom two to bring the match home to Anstey. Oskar started off with an e4 and his opponent responded with e5. The opening then transposed into the Vienna opening, and with Oskar having the slight edge in the position. As the game continued slowly, Oskar kept pressing his attack, opening up the centre of the board and giving his rook solid control over the open e file. The game progressed, and the position was marginally equal with both players having chances to tactically out manoeuvre the other. The position was wide open and still Oskar had the advantage, making space for his pieces and starting to swat away black’s pieces from the black king. Unfortunately, Oskar had made a small error in evaluating the position, and he didn’t realise that the f file was open which allowed the opponent to make a check. Soon after, there came an unstoppable attack against the white king, and it all fell apart in an instant. Soon later, white was check mated and black won a point for Ashby. An unfortunate ending to a good looking position, the score being three and a half for Ashby versus Anstey’s one and a half.
Board 3 (game 2) – Stephan plays white; Oskar plays black
First move from white: d4, and from black was d5. A queen’s gambit. Oskar solidifies the d pawn and the game continues as an average game, pieces get developed and tensions are high in the position. Oskar dances his pieces into decent positions on the board, and white locks the queen side. With most of the space being on the kingside, that’s where Oskar put his pieces. Although, white would counter attack, pressuring and pushing the black pieces into the corner with black’s king, not a great situation to be in. However, Oskar fired back, sacing a piece for a few pawns and some initiative. As a check mating attack was brewing for black, white developed their last couple of pieces to make a defence. Oskar tried his best to complicate the position and throw in some tactics against white, but white managed to handle the chaos and put up a fight. As Oskar grew more impatient and tired, he missed a simple tactic that white did not miss, and a few moves later Oskar resigned the game. The score was Ashby with four and a half to Anstey’s one and a half.
Board 4 (game 1) – John Graham-Brown plays white; Joshua Cherrington plays black
Little John started his opening with e4 and an early queen attack, enthusiastic to start attacking. As the opening when on, it was clear that everything was equal even wit John’s aggressive style. In the mid game, black started to gain some positional advantage over John, which John didn’t take too kindly to so John pressed the attack even more than he already was doing. Brave? Certainly, but not quite good enough on the 64 squares, unfortunately. John lost one or two minor pieces after a violent brawl, and things quickly moved into the endgame as John was eager to fight and black was eager to win. Being a couple of pieces down, it can be very difficult to play in the endgame as you can get out manoeuvred much more easily as there is simply more pieces. This was the inevitable case for John’s game one on the fourth board, so John had been check mated but he is one hell of a fighter. Five and a half to Ashby with Anstey’s one and a half. One more game to go.
Board 4 (game 2) – Joshua plays white; John plays black
With white playing their first move to e4, John played the traditional e5, and there after John played an early queen attack again. Some people say that a good offence is the best defence, just like how a good defence can be a good offence, if you’re experienced enough in such positions. For Little John, he is still quite young, so being without much experience he lost ground fairly quickly. Because of an early queen attack, white can develop with tempo by attacking John’s queen continuously and that can give a significant advantage to white. With space being dramatically lost, John didn’t really know what to do and a few moves later he had lost. Even though this was a terrible defeat for John, he and his opponent agreed that they had both played a good match and John had learnt one or two things from playing against Joshua.
Final Say
With that match done and dusted, Ashby won with a five point lead, which puts Ashby in the top four teams of the cup and Anstey in ninth place. At least it’s not last, and there were quite a few good games from each match played, so it’s not that bad of a summer cup for the second team in Anstey. Maybe we’ll do better next year, with the rate we’re going at I think there’ll certainly be that chance next year. For now, it’s back to the league season and back to notating our moves and playing with an hour on the clock leaving plenty of time to have a fantastic game with your opponent. See you all in the Leicestershire chess league, we’ll be ready and waiting.
Despite their valiant efforts neither team could secure the win leaving the faith of the trophy in the hands of LRCA.
Players fully focused on the game with great importance
Anstey 1 have fought hard this summer in the Harrod cup and unsurprisingly our first team have spent a fair amount of time at the top. Nevertheless, during the battle for the most popular summer trophy, one more team managed to distinguish themselves as a serious contender for winning the cup. Ashby 2 arrived to the Anstey Methodist Church on 8th September with a strong team hoping to overtake Anstey 1 in the standings, having won all of their previous games but being deducted a point due to breaching the rating cap in their first game. Our first team consisted of John ‘The Torturer’, Mick ‘Just Mick’, Boris ‘The Toaster’ and Leo ‘The Lion’ and deservedly hopes were high. Unfortunately for John and Boris, they did not have the best of evenings, however, their solid performances combined with the brilliant one from Mick and the great second game from Leo, left them level with their strong opposition.
John Robinson (Anstey 1) vs Andrew Wilson (Ashby 2) 0.5 – 1.5
With Matt ‘The Dark Destroyer’ on well deserved holiday, John stepped up and played top board on the night, having played only long formats in the last couple of years. With the black pieces, John met his opponent’s d4 with c5 and both players started their fight for the centre with our teammate giving a slight advantage to White in the opening. The Ashby player managed to get the bishop pair against bishop and night for John, exchanging the strategically important black dark-squared bishop for one of the white knights. The queens came off the board and with the board opening up, the two white bishops were becoming stronger by the move. Being on the back foot and slightly rusty for shorter time formats, ‘The Torturer’ found himself in time trouble which led to him playing a few inaccuracies and further let his opponent to consolidate a winning position. Eventually White started to push two very strong passed pawns. Completely focused on his attempts to find a way to survive, John ignored the timer and before long, his clock flagged.
With the white pieces, our teammate played the London system to which Black replied with the drawish ‘copycat’ approach. Having an extra tempo, ‘The Torturer’ achieved a slight advantage out of the opening but not sufficient to create anything significant on the board. Eventually all pieces got exchanged on the c-file with both players left with a knight and pawns each. Our teammate fought hard to get the win but unfortunately, with the limited resources he could not make any progress and at the end both players agreed to a draw.
Although not in his comfort zone, John showcased again that he could measure with anyone over the board, regardless of opposition skill or time control.
Mick Sandham (Anstey 1) vs Paul Gibson (Ashby 2) 2 – 0
It will not be the first time to mention that Mick has not had the best of seasons. Nevertheless, it was fitting that he would have his best performance at the very conclusion of the competition which he started with a controversial loss at the venue where Ashby 2 play their home games. Mick started with his characteristic St. George as Black and attacked the centre with c5. Always playing for a win with the black pieces, ‘Just Mick’ tried to gain the initiative but his opponent managed to exchange the queens. The players continued the battle for the domination of the board as our teammate set up a few traps for his opponent. Eventually, the pieces started getting exchanged leading to an endgame where Mick had the better position, with advanced pawns marching towards the first rank. Eventually, his pawns ended turning into queens and his opponent did not find anything else to do but to resign.
With the white pieces, Mick opened with e4 to be met by the Caro-Kann. The players engaged in the Panov-Botvinnik variation whereby Black played Bf4. Coming out of the opening, our teammate found himself with a set of doubled pawns, however, the structure could not be easily attacked and the game continued with pieces being exchanged in the middle game. With his typical sharp tactical play, ‘Just Mick’ kept on attacking which appeared to tire his opponent who eventually oversaw a tactic to lose a rook on his back rank. Understanding his desperate position and incoming mating attack, the Ashby player decided to call it a day and resigned.
Brilliant performance from ‘Just Mick’ who deservedly gets his nickname changed to ‘The Anstey Tiger’ following a post on Instagram. We hope to see him soon in action as his entertaining play is always fun to watch, regardless of result or form.
Borislav Lazarov (Anstey 1) vs Lawrence Hayden (Ashby 2) 0.5 – 1.5
Boris entered the match with low confidence as he was not feeling in form and recently had suffered several losses in bullet format online. In his first game, ‘The Toaster’ met White’s e4 with the Caro-Kann defence and the game was led into the Fantasy variation. Both players developed by the book until our teammate decided to release the pressure and give White the desired activity. Nevertheless, Boris defended solidly and kept exchanging pieces until both players ended up in a quite closed position with two rooks and seven pawns each. With the perspective of perpetual shuffling of the rooks, the players agreed to a draw.
In the second game, our website maintenance person opened up with his usual aggressive d4-setup which was met by a Semi-Slav type structure from his opponent. Black decided to take his queen out sooner and ‘The Toaster’ tried to harass the black lady with his pieces. The Ashby player activated his knight and tried to create an attack on the white king while simultaneously defending his queen. At this point our teammate entered in a longish tactical sequence to come out a piece down with no compensation. Boris tried to create complications and activate his pieces, but his opponent managed to easily consolidate and started putting pressure on White’s fragile position. Eventually, pieces were traded off and with two black pawns marching confidently towards the first rank, our teammate resigned.
A tough day in the office for ‘The Toaster’ but another great learning experience for him.
Leo Abraham (Anstey 1) vs Tom Gerrard (Ashby 2) 1 – 1
Unfortunately, the team member (Boris) writing this report could not catch Leo for his brief summary of the board 4 games, therefore, only a very short description of the games will be presented.
With Black, Leo had to face an e4 opening and the game ended up being opened up quite quickly. A tactic from the Ashby player led to our teammate losing his queen. ‘The Lion’ fought like a lion (pun intended) to survive but being such a valuable piece down, he could not hold on the attack from White and had to resign.
With White, Leo played his favourite e4 and a kingside battle arose swiftly. Our teammate managed to gain a piece, however, it seemed towards the late middle game that Black had the initiative. Eventually black put pressure on the f-file, hoping to get a mating attack, but a beautiful Qc6 move from ‘The Lion’ covered the f3 square to pick up a rook and completely deflate Black’s attempt to prise open the castled white king’s position. Acknowledging the situation on the board, the Ashby player did not even attempt to ask for a draw and gave Leo the respect he deserved.
Another great performance from young Leo who is looking to challenge the division 4 players next year as one of the top boards in the third team.
The Harrod cup campaign concluded for Anstey 1 as they have to be really proud with themselves, having won three matches and drawn two without conceding a loss over the five rounds. The performance places the team joint top place with Ashby 2, with equal stats for both teams. Regardless of the decision for the cup, our players should be really proud of their overall performance and consider themselves Harrod cup winners.
Loughborough edges Anstey in ‘The Charnwood Derby’
This year’s Wylie cup has not been the easiest of campaigns for a growing Anstey Chess Club. Due to unforeseen circumstances and other competitions in the way, Anstey was never able to assemble a full team to compete. Following the previous three defeats and one win, a relatively strong Anstey team welcomed to our spacious venue in the Anstey Methodist Church a strong, similarly rated Loughborough team. Julian ‘Mr. Engine’, Brian ‘The Griller’, Mick ‘Just Mick’ and Ben ‘El Presidente’ worked hard to get something out of the game, but the opposition proved to be in great form and too hard to beat.
Julian Tarwid (Anstey) vs Henderson Mullen (Loughborough) 1 – 1
With Anstey playing as Black in the first round, Julian had to face the Reti leading to an English opening. White managed to take the edge in the opening and further utilised Black’s weak king position to deliver a fork resulting in material loss for ‘Mr. Engine’. Our teammate had decided to keep it solid and fianchetto both of his bishops, and tried to quickly activate his pieces in order to create some counterplay. Unfortunately for Julian, his opponent completely ignored the arising attack from Black and continued with great pressure leading to mating attack on the black king. With the inevitable end in sight, Julian did the honourable thing and resigned.
Playing with the white pieces, ‘Mr. Engine’ was determined to get back in the match and started pressing from the very beginning. Our teammate opened with his characteristic d4 setup leading the position into very tactical waters where he shone with Tal-like style, sacrificing a pawn and furthermore a bishop for the initiative. His opponent declined the bishop sacrifice and tried to solidify his position but under the immense pressure from our teammate’s fierce attacks, the Loughborough player fell victim to a discovered attack leading to the loss of the black queen. Understanding the severity of his position, Julian’s opponent gave our teammate the respect he deserved and swiftly resigned.
Another great performance from Julian who secured our team’s only win for the evening against a very strong opponent in form.
Brian Foreman (Anstey) vs Stephen Morris (Loughborough) 1 – 1
Brian had to face what appeared to start as the Colle system in his first game, when his opponent decided to leave the opening theory and took the c5 pawn. ‘The Griller’ enjoyed a very comfortable game straight from the opening and easily equalised. The pieces started being traded off leading to a very solid middle game. Both players managed to create pawn majorities entering the endgame but neither was able to make any progress. Understanding the very drawish nature of the position, the players decided that there will be no way for either of them to attempt to seize the win without taking a very big risk, and naturally agreed to a draw.
With the white pieces, our teammate was slightly taken aback by his opponent’s Bogo-Indian and after playing Nd2 Brian found himself feeling a little uneasy, albeit in a solid position. Black tried to seize the initiative and in the process brought his queen in the centre, thus providing the perfect opportunity for ‘The Griller’ to take control of the game by attacking the black lady around the centre of the board with his pieces. Still feeling uneasy about his position, Brian found a perpetual attack on the queen to secure his second draw of the night.
Another good experience for returning Brian who is looking to be the top board for the second team in the upcoming league season.
Mick Sandham (Anstey) vs Glyn Ward (Loughborough) 0.5 – 1.5
The first game for Mick ended being a very solid display, as the players engaged in a normal St. George with both players keeping the pressure in the centre and developing normally. Heading into the middle game, the players kept the solid position, only to exchange most of the pieces without anyone taking the edge. Eventually, with only a few pieces left on the board, the players decided that nothing exciting is going to come out of the game and agreed to a draw.
Seeing that the team is behind 3 – 1 after the first round, Mick went for the Italian game where he was surprised by the Ulvestad-Kirke gambit. Our teammate made a slight inaccuracy at the beginning, unaware that the best move according to theory for his bishop at some point would be to undevelop itself. Mick’s opponent continued with an inaccuracy himself, providing ‘Just Mick’ the opportunity to execute a beautiful, albeit dubious, “Fried Liver” attack, sacrificing his knight for the f7-pawn and luring the black king towards the centre. The Anstey third board loaded attacks from all sides of the board and the pressure started increasing against the black king and his few defenders. Unfortunately for our teammate, he made a few slight inaccuracy, giving his opponent the chance to withstand the pressure and consolidate his position. Without the exertion of immense pressure and material down, Mick fought hard to at least stay in the game, however, the Loughborough player managed to turn the tide and gradually improved his position to win the game.
Another difficult day in the office for ‘Just Mick’ as he finished without a win in spite of his valiant efforts. Nevertheless, Mick showcased again beautiful tactical gameplay which was a joy for the eye.
Ben Vaughan (Anstey) vs Kajus Mikalajunas (Loughborough) 0 – 2
(Games reported by Ben himself)
On board 4, ‘El Presidenté’ faced young Kajus Mikalajunas. The first game was a traditional French exchange but Kajus was able to mount a Kingside attack with his Knight and Queen that ‘El Presidenté’ tried to fight off, but a neat tactic found by the young man (that is not ‘El Presidenté’!), won him a clean Rook and despite bravely (or pointlessly) fighting on, pieces were forcibly exchanged and Ben resigned in a totally lost position.
With the white pieces, ‘El Presidenté’ made more of a fight of it in a Ruy Lopez opening. Kajus castled Queenside and underestimated ‘El Presidenté”s response to a pawn push which was to push the pawn instead of re-capturing, thus allowing him to trap the dark squared Bishop. A piece for a pawn down, all that Kajus could rely on was a cheapo bank rank mate, which unfortunately, El Presidenté walked straight into.
It has not been the best of summer campaigns for our chairman as he suffered the effects of a combination of factors, including rustiness, lack of time for preparation, hard work for the improvement of our great club, and busy private life as a hard-working professional and an amazing father and husband. Nevertheless, with three teams and plenty of games lurking around the corner of the new season, we are sure that he will be back in the game in no time.
The Wylie cup came to an unfortunate conclusion for our team who fought bravely in all games but ended on the wrong side of the majority of them. Nevertheless, it has been a hard fought battle against similar or higher rated opposition in each encounter and all players should be proud of themselves for their courage and hard work.
Anstey 1 scored a great win away at Braunstone on Wednesday night to take outright victory in the Chapman Cup. With one round to go they have an unassailable 4-point lead:
Braunstone fielded a tough looking side, headed up by their first division board one Thomas Brown. Anstey put out their strongest available team but were once again out-rated overall, though that did mean they’d have a ½ point lead in this handicap competition. Captains Mike Salisbury (non-playing) and Matt Connor tossed for colours, Matt winning the toss and selecting black on odd-numbered boards.
It was a tense start with all the games looking fairly even. John Robinson with white on board 2 finished first with a draw against his ex-teammate (John has been around a bit!) Richard Hanscombe. John opened with his usual queen’s pawn and Richard went for a 1. … b6 and 2. … e6 setup allowing white to establish a fine centre of pawns with full development and getting safely castled on the kingside. Black did not manage to castle but tried an attack on the queenside which ultimately was not successful. After a number of exchanges white won a couple of pawns. However, by this stage John was in a bit of time trouble and ceded a pawn back then in the scramble missed a win somewhere along the line. A draw was agreed in a position which although John had a material advantage he was very low on time. Nonetheless, a steady start. Braunstone ½ – 1 Anstey.
The next game to finish was Mick Sandham against Daniel Wilkinson on board 4. Mick opened 1. e4 and Daniel deployed the French Defence, 1. … e6, Mick going for the advance variation. In a slightly unusual line black managed to swap off his (normally bad) light-squared bishop for white’s (normally good) counterpart. A couple of moves later Mick had the opportunity to play a neat tactic with Nxd5 but eschewed it, correctly calculating that material would come out equal but underestimating the difficulty black would have finalising development. Instead, he went for a more combative line giving up a pawn and then another to infiltrate on the 7th rank with both rooks. In the meantime, black had pushed his passed a-pawn all the way to a2 and although Mick was just one move away from being able to checkmate on the back rank Daniel always had a1=Q with check to scupper it. In the time scramble in the double rook ending black made no mistakes and came out on top. Braunstone 1½ – 1 Anstey.
Julian Tarwid faced off against Thomas Brown on board 1, out-rated by 156 points. The game started off as a slow positional Slav defence, Julian playing for the centre with a delayed … e5 and then … e4. After a few manoeuvring moves the position looked fairly level but then Julian thought stuff this, swung his queen over to the kingside and started what turned out to be a deadly attack with … g5! Thomas made a a defensive mis-step and allied with ferocious attacking play Julian broke through, bringing both rooks in turn to the now open g-file and with his king trapped on the back rank by his own bishops white resigned:
Position after 32. … Rxg3
A candidate for game of the season commented John. Braunstone 1½ – 2 Anstey.
Matt Connor played black against Gavin Hart on board 3 and was the last game to finish. Matt equalised fairly easily with his Pirc defence out of the opening before uncharacteristically being tempted by a loose pawn, playing … Bxa2 and hoping to launch an attack with … a5 and …a4. That didn’t happen, Gavin playing accurately and Matt being forced to give up his bishop for a further 2 pawns. That did mean he had 3 connected passed pawns but they were a long way from becoming a menace. White simply completed development, improved his pieces and started picking off black’s loose kingside pawns. It was looking bleak for black until white, looking to exchange pieces, swapped off the remaining rooks leaving him a piece for a pawn up but with his knight and bishop being too far way from the action on the queenside. The passed pawns began motoring, black’s king and knight backing them up with white’s king being the only defence:
Position after 35. … Ka3
The b-pawn queened and Matt made no mistake in the queen vs bishop and knight ending, picking up the knight and forcing the win. Braunstone 1½ – 3 Anstey.
Another fine team performance by Anstey, their fifth straight win in the competition to be crowned champions! We’re just waiting to hear when the ticker-tape parade through the streets on Anstey will take place…
Anstey captain Matt Connor told Sky Sports: I’m so proud of our team, the tenacity, commitment and integrity that we play the game with is nothing short of amazing. Our star player Julian has had a fantastic Chapman Cup, unbeaten with 3 wins and 2 draws against some highly rated opponents. Good contributions too from John and Mick. A big thanks also to Boris, Mike, Valdas and Oskar who have stepped in to play when required. My team. My club. My Anstey. #thesoulofchessincharnwood.
The following evening was a normal club night at the Methodist Church in Anstey, the winning team convening for their champions photo and analysis of the previous night’s games. Julian did a training session with the juniors, John showed off a classic game of his against Tony Miles (England’s first Grandmaster!) and a little opening theory looked at. All topped off with a few casual games, all in all a great club night.
Anstey Chess Club 