Match Reports

Anstey wins decisively against Braunstone to temporary claim the top spot in the Chapman Cup

/ bobideco / 1 Comment

A thrilling four board match produced twists and turns with our team claiming the win at the end

Respectful handshake before the games begin

The summer cups are now in full swing and our club’s Chapman Cup team played their second round against Braunstone on last Thursday, 9th June. A strong Anstey team, consisting of Julian “Mr. Engine”, Mick “Just Mick”, Boris “The Toaster” and Valdas, hosted the leaders of the table prior to the game – Braunstone. Our opponents turned up with a relatively strong team, outrating our players on almost every board, with Julian being the only one playing against an equally rated opponent. Following the rules of the Chapman Cup, the captains promptly calculated the rating difference, leaving the outrated by 541 points Anstey team with a half point advantage at the beginning of the game.

Daniel Wilkinson (Braunstone) vs Valdas Matutis (Anstey) 1/2 – 1/2

Following his competitive OTB debut in the Harrod Cup, Valdas made his debut in the classic format against young promising player Daniel Wilkinson. The Braunstone player arrived with plenty of confidence after a win in the previous round against more than 200 points higher rated opponent, but Valdas was determined to show that he is in for the win. The game started with King’s pawn to which our teammate replied with the Caro-Kann. The young player from Braunstone chose the exchange variation and started loading quite a bit of power pointing towards the king side (K-side), expecting that our teammate will castle short. Valdas’ opponent even played the awkward Kd1 in order to bring his h-rook to the party, but after careful consideration of the position, our teammate decided to castle queen side (Q-side) basically asking all of White’s pieces why are they pointing in the wrong direction. Our teammate placed a great knight on g4 and kept control of the centre while in preparation to break it open, taking advantage of the white king looking a little out of place on d1. After bringing his queen and bishop to the Q-side, the Braunstone player decided to start his attack with Ne5 which basically blundered a piece as the white queen was hanging, but unfortunately both players missed the tactic. Valdas continued his plan to push the centre pawns, while his opponent finally decided to develop his other knight. The players exchanged some minor pieces and the queens then Black’s central expansion started from the K-side with g5, attacking the white dark-squared bishop.

Valdas is confidently developing his pieces in the opening.

The rest of the K-side pawns got exchanged and in the process Valdas played first e5, then e4, creating a “passer”. Our teammate also managed to exchange the dark-squared bishops and on move 38 offered a rook exchange. At this point ‘El Presidente’ Ben, who was hovering around and watching the games closely, noticed that the clock has been set incorrectly and there is no increment. With our teammate down to less than five minutes, Ben tried to add the increment to the clock, unsuccessfully. Valdas stopped notating and continued the game for another eight moves, during which his opponent managed to equalise a losing position before offering a draw which our teammate, quite down on the clock at this point, happily accepted. After the games Boris “The Toaster” admitted that he was most likely the perpetrator in the clock situation and apologised several times to both Valdas and the team. In spite of not taking the win, Valdas showcased again that he is another great addition to the team this season and we all look forward to see him playing again, hopefully with a clock not set by Boris. As to the latter, he would like to apologise again to the whole team and especially Valdas as “The Toaster” potentially stripped him of a win against 150 points higher rated opponent.

Borislav Lazarov (Anstey) vs James Bingham (Braunstone) 1 – 0

Boris is looking at his trapped knight and trying to find a surviving plan

The highest difference was on board 3 where Boris “The Toaster” had to play against more than 200 points higher rated James Bingham. Boris opened with his favourite Jobava London which was met by a somewhat different reply by the Braunstone player who immediately challenged the bishop. A few moments of tension followed after which both players decided to abandon the ‘cat and mouse’ game and focus on development. Boris’ opponent decided to expand on the Q-side after easily equalising in the opening, while “The Toaster” placed a beautiful knight on e5. Both players finished their development and castled swiftly and in his typical fashion in his last few games, our teammate started the middlegame with a blunder, leaving his otherwise good looking knight on e5 to be trapped. After exchanging the knight for two pawns, Boris started a battle for survival with Black’s pressure leading to exchanges of our teammate’s remaining minor pieces followed by a rook-led black battery on the f-file aiming to infiltrate White’s K-side. Boris started pushing his c-pawn and converted it into a passed pawn, only to be blocked by the only bishop on the board which was not really doing a much deal anyway. Black brought another rook to the battery, but our teammate was doing his best to hold on. With the centre blocked and the Q-side frozen, Black turned his attention to the K-side and more concretely on the h-file where our teammate managed to play series of inaccuracies to lose the h-pawn.

“The Toaster” decided to contest the h-file himself and eventually managed to take control of it, albeit at the price of another exchange, this time of a pair of rooks. With the pieces on the board being reduced by the minute, our teammate sacrificed another pawn to close the K-side while looking to infiltrate Black’s back rank from the h-file. The experienced Braunstone player managed to consolidate his position, finding himself at move 43 with completely winning position, evaluated at -20 by Stockfish (depth = 20). However, Boris’ opponent never looked to capitalise on his winning position and did not play the winning move …Qd3, which would have been at minimum crushing and at certain moments was even leading to a forced mate in 7. Instead Black tried to bring defenders to the back ranks, completely abandoning the opened h-file and leaving it for White to infiltrate first with the queen and then with his remaining rook. Our teammate seized the opportunity and took complete control of the h-file after which closed the Q-side, rendering Black’s bishop useless. Eventually, “The Toaster” went on to coordinate his two pieces to attack the king and managed to get himself in a position to grab the black rook or just draw the game with a perpetual check. However, at move 53 the Braunstone player fell victim to the old tunnel vision, completely ignoring a dovetail checkmate, which Boris delivered quickly, unable to believe his luck and pulling off the biggest swindle in his short chess career and on the night. Nevertheless, to quote Matt “The Dark Destroyer” Connor: “The game of chess is about who blunders last.”(probably quoting someone famous), so a great win a for Boris against a strong opponent after playing from the inferior position throughout the whole game.

Julian Tang (Braunstone) vs Mick Sandham (Anstey) 1 – 0

The last season has been quite harsh for Mick, who more often than not finds himself playing great against higher rated opponents only to overlook an idea by his opponent and eventually lose the game. Unfortunately, it was another one of those nights for our teammate, as he faced more than 180 points higher rated Julian Tang. The game opened with e4, to which Mick played his trademark St. George setup. Seeing the uncontested centre, the Braunstone player decided to place three pawns there, while our teammate stroke on the Q-side with c5. White started pushing his pawns in the centre, chasing the black knights around and overextending a little bit, while “Just Mick” calmly shuffled his pieces around before attacking one of White’s knights. The players exchanged a pair of bishops and a pair of knights, then Mick’s opponent managed to get his knight on f6 before it was exchanged, fixing White’s pawn structure in the process. “Just Mick” decided to go after the base of the pawn island in the centre which led to a queen exchange. Our teammate continued his attack on the Q-side and started pushing the c-pawn, supported by the black rooks and bishop. “Just Mick” decided to bring the rook towards the third rank, eventually picking up the a pawn and creating pressure on its b-file equivalent. The pressure kept mounting and with the premise of having to play against two passed pawns in the endgame, the Braunstone player decided to sacrifice the exchange and parted ways with one of his rooks for the black bishop.

Mick is looking to assert his dominance on the Q-side

Mick’s opponent then lifted his remaining rook to the seventh rank, attacking our teammate’s d-pawn. Unfortunately, finding himself in a completely winning position, evaluated at -5.7 by Stockfish (depth = 20), “Just Mick” miscalculated the power of the rook lift and greedily took the b-pawn, providing his opponent the initiative. Mick decided to bring back both of his rooks, but with the solid pawn chain already on the sixth and seventh rank, the experienced Braunstone player managed to consolidate his presence and further to get a completely winning position at which point “Just Mick” resigned. Regardless of the result, Mick should be proud of his performance throughout most of the game, as he again played toe to toe with a significantly higher rated opponent, eventually getting a winning position which he was unfortunate not to convert.

Julian Tarwid (Anstey) vs Michael Salisbury (Braunstone) 1 – 0

Julian is enjoying the safety of his king on f2

Prior to the game Julian “Mr. Engine” found himself on the rise, with great wins against John Manger from Heathcote Arms and 130 points higher rated Ian Clarke in the previous round of the Chapman Cup against Market Harborough. With the white pieces again, our teammate opened the game against equally rated Michael Salisbury using his favourite d4. After a typical London setup, “Mr. Engine” went on to exchange the dark-squared bishops and the queens. The players started the battle for the centre, keeping the pressure on for the first few moves. While the Braunstone player decided to swiftly castle K-side, Julian stayed faithful to his nickname and connected his rooks via what we jokingly call “an engine move” – Kf2. Black started pushing pawns in order to gain tempi on the white pieces, however, our teammate appeared calm under pressure, keeping the game more or less equal during the early stages of the middlegame. Then again, in his characteristic way, “Mr. Engine” went on to play a4, followed by a quite speculative rook lift on the a-file which throughout the game proved rather dubious than necessary. It is worth mentioning that around moves 20-27 was the only moment where the engine slightly preferred Black’s position, but after opening the h-file, followed by a rook exchange, our teammate started a series of improving moves to build up pressure on Black’s position. Julian managed to obtain the better pawn structure and push his opponent’s knights in the direction of the dim area – the rim.

“Mr. Engine” then infiltrated Black’s position with his rook and put pressure on Black’s pawns, eventually snatching the isolated d-pawn. With the otherwise non-pretentious and improving moves, Julian managed to get himself in a +3.7 position with his opponent down on the clock. Realising that he is about to lose even more material, especially under the time pressure, the Braunstone player decided that he had enough and resigned. Another great win for our top-rated player who is deservedly flying high at the moment!

While the match for the Chapman Cup was taking place in the usual spot of the Anstey Methodist Church, in the opposite corner there were plenty of friendly games as the Thursday club night was taking place. Juniors Marcus and John took on the experienced Oskar “El Capitan” and Brian “The Griller”, while Ben hurried to take the opportunity to play against Richard and learn something new. In conclusion, another great evening in the Anstey Chess Club filled with emotions, fun and above all – plenty of chess!

Anstey’s Chapman Cup campaign kicks off with a win

/ Ben V / 1 Comment

Anstey’s Chapman Cup team played host to our old friends Market Harborough on Thursday June 2nd. A feel-good feeling was in the air due to the Jubilee holidays and the boards, clocks and sets were all set up in good time. Market Harborough (hereafter MH) appeared before our guys with a very strong team, all around the 1900 mark with our good friend Mike Garland Jnr (a ‘mere’ 1650 or so) on board 4. A couple of division 1 players were on show. El Presidente had selected a mixture of 1st and 2nd team players with Julian ‘Mr Engine’ on board one, John Robinson on board two, Boris ‘The Toaster’ on board 3 and Oskar ‘El Capitan’ on board 4. On paper, this was scheduled to be a long evening with us out graded on every board. Romily (MH’s captain on the evening), called wrong at the toss, meaning Anstey had white on boards 1 and 3 (Julian and Boris).

The format of the Chapman Cup is a grade-handicapped event. Whilst we were out graded on every board, this gave us 2 and a half bonus points to start with, effectively meaning that we needed to win one game (or draw two) to get the necessary point to win. In the same way, if MH were to bring their third team, we would theoretically out grade them and have to win all of the games for example. Anyway – to the action in order of boards to finish.

Board 4
Oskar ‘El Capitan’ vs Mike Garland

Oskar had the black pieces and was heavily out graded on board 4. The game started cagily, with a closed structure defined by 2. Nc3 and Nc6. Mike developed his pieces quickly and ‘allowed’ Oskar to capture his f2 pawn with check with his own threat of Qxg7, hitting the Rook if Oskar was to capture said pawn. Oskar did so (note that the threat of Qf1 mate was covered by a Bishop) and played the ‘simple’ Kf8 to defend the g7 pawn.

A huge attack followed from Mike, using some well-placed piece positions which culminated in material loss for Oskar and despite Oskar’s best attempts to hang on, El Capitan soon resigned meaning a 1-0 lead for MH.

Board 2
Boris ‘The Toaster’ vs Romily Ilersic

Boris was presented with a massive task on board 3, facing Romily Ilersic – an experienced campaigner with a FIDE rating of 1900 or so.

‘The Toaster’ stuck to what he knew with the white pieces – a handy tip for club players – the London system. Looking at the game intermittently, it was quite obvious that Boris was by no means losing at any point during the middle game with pieces being traded off and minor threats being created by both players. I even thought that Boris might be winning at one point but such is the quality of these 1900 players, they dash your hopes very quickly. Unfortunately, ‘The Toaster’ missed a tactic and Romily won an exchange. As good players do, Romily traded down (whilst not giving the Toaster not much option but to do so) and an endgame ensued which was lost for Boris. Romily did the right thing and conceded the exchange back when it was smart to do so and Boris resigned.

Massive credit should go to Boris for putting up a major fight – his opponent knew he had to work hard for it. Boris was actually happy after losing a game, which says a lot about him and how he played. This was 2-0 to MH.

Board 2
John Robinson vs Dave Walker

John Robinson played Dave Clarke on board 2 and I have a real feeling that John relished the opportunity to play such a player. There was a 160 point swing in the FIDE numbers but John gave Dave a really good game.

With the black pieces, John played a King’s Indian type setup that he favours and the game during the middle game looked very equal. John offered a draw, which was declined due to the grade handicap situation that MH were in. I think that in a league game, Dave would have accepted the draw offer as it looked equal.

The game carried on and John’s Achilles heel was his light squared Bishop that got itself stuck behind his c pawn with his Rook on the a-file defending it. John repeated a few moves whilst his opponent tried to manufacture a win. The next time I saw the game, Dav’s King and Rook had infiltrated to John’s 8th rank in the rapid play finish and after a combination of trades, John’s Bishop was trapped and he resigned. 3-0 to MH.

Board 4
Julian ‘Mr Engine’ Tarwid vs Ian Clarke

Julian had requested the white pieces on board 1 and this was the closest match in terms of grade, albeit there was still a difference in our favour of over 100 FIDE points. It was good for Julian and John to play in games like this – they deserve to do so.

‘Mr Engine’ employed the London again and was an epitome of focus during the game. The game looked very even until Ian seemingly sacrificed an exchange out of the blue that he must have felt offered him some play during the game. ‘Mr Engine’ worked hard to gain control of the open e file with his Rooks and activity for his pieces whilst trying to repel any activity for his opponents minor pieces.

Exchanges took place, leaving a cemented Knight on a defensive square that Julian removed by giving the exchange back. It was then down to who had the best endgame idea during a rapid play finish. Ian’s plan was to set about the clustered 4 pawns on the b, c and d files and Julian set about Queening a pawn by employing a pin and overworking his opponents Rook that was powerless to stop one of two pawns Queening. The actual end came about by Ian making an illegal move when Julian’s pawn Queened with check and Ian captured Julian’s Rook. As El Presidente went to add two minutes to Mr Engine’s time, Ian said don’t worry and resigned.

A fitting end to a very tense and un-nerving night with every single player contributing to the tension and excitement of the evening. Losses for John, Boris and Oskar but that most certainly does not tell an accurate story of what happened and how much of a fight all 3 of them put up in the face of adversity. Julian won through in his game, cementing his position as our board 1 next year. This match embodied what this chess club should stand for, fight in the face of adversity and being an underdog. Well done to you all.

Anstey’s Harrod Cup 2nd team start with a win

/ Ben V / 1 Comment

Anstey’s second team in the Harrod Cup started off their campaign with a convincing (on paper) 6-2 win at home against Ashby’s 3rd team. The match wasn’t without incident (albeit not as incident-packed as Anstey’s first team win away at Ashby’s first team!), with ‘El Presidente’ shifting around nervously at 7:31pm having agreed to relinquish his place in the starting 4 players for the return of ‘The Griller’ Brian Foreman. It was most unusual to not have ‘The Griller’ in his seat and ready for 7:20pm, so when he wasn’t in his seat at 7:31pm, with all of Ashby’s players ready to start, ‘El Presidente’ left it with Ashby’s board 1 to decide when to start the match. A phone call to Brian’s house confirmed that he was on his way so it was a case of waiting. Eventually, Nick Wyld (Ashby 3’s board 1) decided that he wanted to get home at some point that evening and he and ‘El Presidente’ faced off in a dull and un-interesting French Exchange line. No sooner had a few pieces come off the board, ‘The Griller’ walked in and Nick (probably bored of the game that he and ‘El Presidente’ were playing, agreed to allow Brian to play – thanks must go to nick for his understanding.

Board 1 – Brian ‘The Griller’ Foreman vs Nick Wyld: 2 draws = 1 point

After play eventually began, Brian settled down to quite a stodgy game with the black pieces with Nick very happy to trade pieces right down until the endgame, where both players were very happy to trade down to an ending. A rook and pawn ending was on the board and with both rooks active, both players agreed to a draw as it was a tricky endgame to navigate for both players.

With the white pieces, Nick managed to get a potent attack down the h-file looking like mate was inevitable, but ‘The Griller’ calmly played f4, allowing his King the f2 square to escape to. Yet again, after more pieces came off the board, Brian was able to win 2 pawns and be 2 pawns up in the endgame but with Brian low on time, Nick repeatedly checked Brian’s King with a Knight and after the second repetition, both players agreed a draw.

It’s great to have Brian back with us – we all look forward to more grillings from ‘The Griller’ (not to be confused with Gorilla).

Brian doing well to scrape two draws on board 1

Board 2 – Mike ‘Nickname TBC’ Griffiths vs Neil Roberts: two wins = 2 points

Mike deep in thought as he considers his plan

For those that don’t know, Mike joined us from Ashby so Mike was facing off against a friend (and probably a former captain) in Neil Roberts on board 2.

With the black pieces, Mike was able to equalise easily and with Neil having some pressure on the Kingside and trying to prize Mike open, it was Mike himself who made the breakthrough with an attack down the h file, with Neil’s King in the centre, Mike forced a resignation with a strong attack in the centre of the board.

With the white pieces, Mike employed his favourite English opening – 1.c4. It is a system he knows well and one cannot fault him for this as his opponents seem to have difficulty choosing what their response should be with black. Eventually, pieces came off the board and Neil left a vulnerable back rank, which Mike took full advantage of, sacking his Queen which would have allowed his Rook to deliver the mate. Neil resigned.

Board 3 – Valdas ‘No nickname’ Matutis vs Jamie Rhodes: 1 loss, 1 win = 1 point

With all of Anstey’s players starting with the black pieces, Valdas gained equality in the opening quite easily and after some trade-offs was forced to defend a backward a-pawn. Unfortunately, this meant lifting his rook off the back rank and his opponent seized control of the open file. Valdas subsequently threatened a Bishop capture which unfortunately left his back rank open and his opponent seized the opportunity to deliver the mate with unerring speed.

Valdas sought revenge with the white pieces and played his game extremely well, co-ordinating his pieces and forcing a passed a-pawn which marched its way up the board with his opponents pieces powerless to stop it. The end was when Valdas’ pawn got to the eighth rank and forced heavy material loss and his opponent resigned.

Valdas carefully considers his next move

Board 4 – Oskar ‘Capitan’ Rudczenko vs Graham Bird: two wins = 2 points

Oskar evaluates the position in his mind, preparing the next move.

Ever-improving second team ‘El Capitan’ Oskar managed to secure equality with black very early on in proceedings in his first game. Once the e file was blown open and Oskar managed to get his two rooks staring down the e file, there was only really going to be one winner. Oskar took full advantage and the actual game over the board was won on time, with Graham’s flag dropping. With the end nigh, Neil and ‘El Presidente’ had mercy on Graham by pointing out the flag fall a few moves after it fell with ‘El Capitan’ in a totally dominant position.

With the white pieces ‘El Capitan’ was able to assert his authority on the game with Graham seemingly let him do so. After a few piece trades, ‘El Capitan’ was able to infiltrate Graham’s position whereby all Graham could do was move Kingside pawns doing absolutely nothing about his poorer position. Eventually, Graham did the noble thing and resigned.

All in all, a very good 6-2 win for the team – well done everyone.

Anstey 1 begins its Harrod Cup campaign with an away win

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This article has been updated, to see the update, please click here.

Anstey’s first Harrod cup team narrowly defeated Ashby 1 to claim first win for Anstey Chess club in the summer cups.

Following the slightly disappointing start for Anstey Chess Club in the summer cups(for full report from the first match from the Wylie Cup, click here), two teams were scheduled to start their Harrod cup campaigns. While Anstey 2 and their captain Oskar were expecting Ashby 3 in the Anstey Methodist Church, Anstey 1 travelled to the town with the small castle and the big Tesco across the middle-sized Aldi to meet their first team. Unlike in other situations in the past, this time the chauffeuring duties were neatly organised and around 19:15 the whole team consisting of “Just Mick” Mick, Boris “The Toaster” and Leo, led by “The Dark Destroyer” Matt in his captaincy debut, found themselves entering the home team venue despite the deputising captain’s parking skills. It took a while for the hosts to set the boards and clocks up and we had to wait until 19:40 when everyone realised that Leo’s opponent is playing casual games with club night participants, oblivious of his participation in the match.

In the meantime, “The Dark Destroyer” who was looking like a real-life Sith lord with his thematic black-coloured shirt, participated in the coin toss which he won. Loyal to his new (and hopefully) last nickname, Matt chose for Anstey 1 to play Black first, completely unaware of the disaster some of his teammates were going to make. The play started with no one even attempting to notate due to the Rapid format – 20 minutes per player with 10 seconds increment. Despite his reputation as a good rapid and blitz player, it only took a few minutes for Boris to find himself blundering a fork, losing a piece and creating a mess on the board. Kudos to the “The Toaster”, he did his best to make things complicated and try to get back in the game, but his opponent Brian has had too many runs around the block to fall for our teammate’s attempts to get back in the game and capitalised on his winning position. Eventually Boris realised that he is completely losing and resigned. Next to him, Leo was taking his time and found himself in a very complicated endgame where he had a knight against two pawns, with three more pawns and a pair of rooks still in the game for both players. It was a hard endgame to navigate, as Leo’s knight was completely stuck in enemy territory while his rooks were occupied trying to protect the remaining black pawns and to contain the white ones. Fortunately, Leo’s opponent slowly released the pressure and our teammate seized the opportunity to activate his pieces which started munching on the enemy pawns. At the end, Leo’s advantage was too great to contain and his opponent resigned. Which was good news as Mick was having an off day with Black himself and after a dubious piece sacrifice for two pawns he found himself down on material and under pressure. His opponent, unlike Leo’s, kept building up the pressure and with the initiative in his hands managed to take another of Mick’s pieces and then win an exchange as our teammate had to part ways with one of his rooks. Seeing that the white queen has infiltrated the seventh rank, our teammate decided that there is no chance for anything else and resigned. Meanwhile, Matt had a good game with Black against Ashby 1’s captain and managed to equalise easily in the opening. Unfortunately for “The Dark Destroyer” he never had the chance to create initiative or imbalance and after several moves to shuffle their pieces, the players started a discussion of who offered whom a draw and after a few minutes of deliberating both agreed to share half point each.

At half time, our players found themselves 2.5 – 1.5 down with Leo’s win and Matt’s draw keeping the hopes for turning the game around. The players knew that they had to work hard to do it and they did just that! All playing White in the second round, Anstey 1’s players went for the kill straight from the beginning.

Realising that he needs to wake up, Boris got himself a pint of Coca-Cola and sat for the second game with the intention to take his time and be solid. As customary for “The Toaster”, he completely forgot about his intention and started a surprising attack on the king side with g4, followed by h4. Our teammate followed a straightforward plan to then point towards the enemy king a knight, a bishop and a queen led battery on the h-file with 20 minutes still left on his clock when his opponent resigned. Leo was not any more merciful than Boris and played a sharp game with White. After a little piece shuffling in the opening, our most improved player in the last few months sacrificed a piece for the initiative and put immense pressure on his opponent. Leo did not wait too long for the compensation and used sharp tactical lines to pick up a lot of material at which point his opponent realised how desperate the situation is and swiftly resigned. Finding themselves in the lead, Leo and Boris watched the remaining games in the hope of their teammates securing a point to seal the deal for Anstey 1. “The Dark Destroyer” delivered as usual as this time he was not having any drawish positions and started positioning his pieces on strategic squares on the board with the idea of releasing great attacking potential. His opponent was manoeuvring the black counterparts to try and contain any issues but blinked first and provided Matt the long-waited opportunity. In his characteristic style, our teammate engaged in a short tactical sequence to deliver a beautiful “Dovetail” checkmate thus securing the win for our team. This left Mick who appeared to be slightly better in an otherwise drawish position. The players were playing in a very symmetrical way and pieces were exchanged one after the other, slowly creeping towards the draw. “Just Mick” managed to exchange a knight for a bishop, creating a slight imbalance in the hope of opening lines for his rook and bishop and dominate the clumsy knight. Unfortunately, our teammate blundered his bishop but managed to get compensation with a passed pawn creeping towards the eighth rank. Mick’s opponent had to sacrifice his knight leaving both in a drawish position again until the Ashby player made an illegal move with 47 seconds left on the clock. (Updated) What followed were between five and ten minutes of confusion where the whole crowd of match players and club night attendees were trying to add 2 minutes on our teammate’s time, unsuccessfully. Eventually the captains decided to reset the clock only to find out that unfortunately Mick’s opponent’s time was set to 47 minutes as opposed to seconds leading to further clock reset. Throughout the whole confusion the players were looking at the board and calculating which rendered the penalty slightly on the “not useful” side and emphasised the need for people trained and competent to set and adjust the time on all competitive events, as such issues are likely to occur again in the future. Obviously, Mick was not impressed by the whole clock situation and the frustration got the best of him as he continued playing quickly and without much thinking, missing a few opportunities to equalise in the process. Eventually, our teammate found himself in a completely losing position and with his opponent able to make up time, Mick resigned.

The proceedings were concluded and despite the slightly bitter taste from the last game, our players left the home team venue with smiles on their faces after a great win against a strong team.

Anstey’s Wylie Cup team lose on debut

/ Ben V / 2 Comments

Anstey Chess Club made their proud debut in the elite Summer Cup event in Leicestershire – the Wylie Cup. In the first round, we were drawn at home against Thurnby – likely to be fighting against ourselves to avoid the wooden spoon.

The format is rapidplay – 20 minutes per player with 10 second increments for each player throughout. Furthermore, you play one game with the white pieces and one game with the black pieces against the same opponent.

Early team news meant that Anstey suffered an early blow with the best graded player in the squad – Julian Tarwid – being away in the picturesque Corby and not available. El Presidente was resourceful at short notice and recruited Valdas for his debut for the team having been keen to get involved.

Thurnby arrived early and with the pieces and boards set up in good time – as usual – we actually started the game early with Thurnby’s captain and driver John Pattinson eager to try and get home whilst it was still light. Having decided to keep the boards as they were (Anstey starting with the black pieces) rather than mess around with tossing for colours and playing alternate colours (it is also easier to fill in the score sheet as both captains agreed!), battle commenced around 10 minutes earlier than advertised.

Board 1
Matt ‘Dark Destroyer’ Connor vs Ray Burgess
Matt with black – draw
Having been involved in my own game and with Matt being furthest from my board, I didn’t see much of Matt’s games. However, Matt (in a great run of form it must be said) achieved a draw against an opponent significantly higher rated than him. When I joined the game, both players were short on time with Matt a pawn up in a notoriously difficult Rook and pawn ending. The problem for Matt was that both Rooks were active and Ray checked Matt’s King as often as he could which eventually meant that they agreed a draw. A victory was far from clear for either player.

Matt with white – draw
Matt also achieved a draw on board 1 – making a mockery of the FIDE ratings. Thankfully Matt’s rating is an actual rating else other clubs might feel like they would want to have their say about Anstey’s estimated ratings. Again I didn’t see much of the game, but from what I did see it again looked very even with Matt once again holding his own against a stronger player.

Board 2
Mick ‘Just Mick’ Sandham vs Roland Graf
Mick with black – draw
Having been sat next to Mick, I was able to see what was going on in his game. Employing what appeared to be his favoured St George defence, Mick appeared to be more than equal over the board against his higher rated opponent (let’s be clear, we are very much underdogs in the Wylie Cup this year). After a fairly level looking position, both players agreed to a draw with Mick being slightly up on time.

Mick with white – loss
The second game with Mick as white was quite simply a joy to watch, albeit Mick finished on the wrong side of the game. Mick had said before this game that ‘We had to go for it’ because of the match score. At the time after the games with the black pieces, we were down in the match. My goodness did Mick go for it and so did his opponent. The game itself was one that as chess players, we all ought to have agreed draws and watched. It was a Sicilian Najdorf/Dragon amalgamation setup with Mick attacking on the Kingside and Roland attacking on the Queenside. Unfortunately, Mick blinked first with his attack and defended and was on the back foot after that. Mick resigned in a lost position and I think we all nearly applauded both players after the game!

Board 3
Ben ‘El Presidente’ Vaughan vs John Pattinson
Ben with black – loss
Both captains faced off on board 3. John is also the league chairman so I had to be nice. Playing his old friend the English with white (I wish I’d have known), the game transposed into a Semi-Slav type setup but with John having played c5 as white, I had a backward c6 pawn. Once the heavy artillery came off, the Rooks and the Queens, I offered a cheeky draw which was declined. The c6 pawn was eventually picked off by a marauding Knight and Bishop in tandem, then I lost my a pawn. The end came when I walked into a simple pawn fork with a King and Knight and I resigned.

Ben with black – loss
Unfortunately, the losses continued but not without a fight. Ben was out of opening theory after John played 2. .. Qe7 against e4 e5, Nf3. The development of pieces occurred with central squares being contested along with board space. John managed to get a pawn and subsequently a Knight into advanced spaces on the board which led to a dangerous passed pawn on d3.A few moves later and John’s pieces came to life and a nice deflection tactic secured John a checkmate on the board.

Board 4
Valdas ‘No nickname yet’ Matutis vs Mick Busby
Valdas with black – draw
Valdas’s opponent played a fairly passive opening and allowed Valdas to contest the centre with ease. A few exchanges took place and another double rook and pawn ending was on the board. Mick had the more active rooks and seemingly instead of using them to pick off pawns, repetitively checked Valdas’s King and the players agreed to a draw, despite Valdas’s Rooks lacking connection and harmony.

Valdas with white – win
Congratulations to Valdas for securing the team’s only individual win on the night. In a London system opening, Valdas secured the centre and Mick seemed to let him. Valdas then embarked on attacking Mick’s King. In the process Valdas secured a pawn and a good attack and Mick seemed to take a lot more time after he lost the pawn and eventually, Mick’s time ran out and Valdas claimed the win on time. With the digital clocks we use as a club, there was a little flag visible on the clock to indicate the ‘flag fall’ of time running out.

And so a 5-3 defeat on the night but one can’t help but wonder what might have been because some of these games could quite literally have gone either way.

Second team delivers a second defeat to Melton Mowbray 3 in their last league game to remain undefeated in 2022

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Anstey Chess Club’s 2021/22 league season finished with the second team facing Melton Mowbray 3 at home in the Anstey Methodist church. The team captained by Oskar consisted of Leo, Boris “The Toaster” and “The Dark Destroyer” Matt. Determined to show that their previous win against their opposition was not a fluke, the second team managed to assert themselves with an amazing 3-1 win, with Boris being the only loss of the night. The performance of Anstey 2 concludes a season filled with ups and downs, in which the team showcased amazing improvement and played some strong games against the top opposition in the division.

Oskar Rudczenko (Anstey 2) vs Andrew Dean (Melton Mowbray 3) 1 – 0

The captains of both teams were scheduled to play each other on board 4, with our second team leader Oskar eager to get a second win over his opponent. The game started with a typical Jobava London position, with Oskar trapping his opponent’s light-squared bishop as early as move 9, but our teammate decided that the potential Qg3+ from his opponent is not his cup of tea and exchanged the black bishop for one of his knights. Having already exchanged their dark-squared bishops, the players castled on opposite sides – Andrew castled kingside (K-side), while Oskar caslted queenside (Q-side), and prepared for a sharp game. The Melton Mowbray player was a little bit faster in his attack on the Q-side, but our second team captain played solidly and exchanged queens in order to ensure himself enough time for his pieces to spring to life. Oskar’s opponent found the rooks to be more of a hindrance than help and rushed to exchange them even at the cost of being a pawn down.

Oskar calmly navigating his winning endgame

Our teammate continued his active play and his knight did a few forward hops to eventually win a second pawn. With two pawns up, Oskar gladly exchanged his bishop for the slightly more active black knight and then picked up a couple more pawns before bringing his king into the game. With the white pieces as a support and all of the space they could wish for, the white pawns on the Q-side started marching on the road to the eighth rank where the ‘stem cells’ of chess would become whatever they want to be. Being ahead in material, our second team captain left one pawn for his opponent to grab while squeezing him in the Q-side corner, eventually delivering a beautiful king and knight fork with one of his “passers” at which point his opponent decided that he had enough and resigned.

Peter North (Melton Mowbray 3) vs Leo Abraham (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

Leo calmly waiting for the attacking opportunity

The second half of the season has been a great success not only for our second team, but moreover for young Leo who again managed to deliver a shocking defeat to more than 300 points higher rated opponent. Our young teammate engaged in the Caro-Kann defence, to which his opponent decided to reply with a somewhat passive Colle type system. Seeing the opportunity to equalise as Black, Leo continued the development of his pieces as a good player should do. The middlegame started with an attack from White on the Q-side, with a couple of knights and the light-squared bishops exchanged in the process. Leo decided to strike back in the centre with the characteristic c5 push which his opponent completely ignored and played a rather strange f3. Leo did not hesitate to take the f-pawn, revealing his opponent’s plan to do a rook lift, eyeing the h-file and the pawn in front of Black’s king. Our teammate decided to continue his attack in the centre in order to create some counterplay for himself and managed to open the central files.

The players started creating tactical opportunities for themselves, making it clear that the game will not end in a boring draw. Leo managed to parry all of the tactical manoeuvres from his opponent, placing in the process his queen on a6 and creating a couple of traps in a very complicated game. Eventually, his opponent fell victim of being a little too zealous and took our teammate’s knight which gave the opportunity for Leo to deliver a swift and sweet checkmate by taking his opponent’s rook with the queen, taking advantage of the abandoned back rank. Clearly frustrated, the Melton Mowbray player exited stage very quickly without shaking Leo’s hand.

Borislav “Boris the Toaster” Lazarov (Anstey 2) vs Quentin Jacquemard (Melton Mowbray 3) 0 – 1

The second game between those players this season did not disappoint again as Boris and his opponent engaged in a sharp battle straight from the opening. The Melton Mowbray player played his tactical King’s Indian defence, to which our teammate responded with opposite side castling and quick exchange of the dark-squared bishops. Boris’ opponent began an attack on the Q-side, while “The Toaster” took control of the centre and after a quick reshuffling of the knights, the white h-pawn started marching down the file to attack Black’s king. Eventually the h-file opened and the players decided to exchange their rooks on the same file and finish their development. Gradually Black started getting into the game until the Melton Mowbray player decided to go for a rather dubious knight sacrifice in an attempt to open the white Q-side and infiltrate with the queen for a swift checkmate. Boris seemed unflustered by the attack and ran away with the king on the back rank while keeping the pressure on the K-side before blundering his g-pawn.

Boris trying to attack the black king

At this point of the game White had a clear advantage, as after Quentin’s characteristic Nb6 move the Stockfish (depth = 20) evaluation was +7.1. Playing quickly and under the influence of the commonly encountered in chess “tunnel vision”, “The Toaster” managed to first blunder his rook and then move his king straight into a beautiful bishop checkmate to deliver the win to his opponent who capitalised perfectly on our teammate’s mistake. A tough pill to swallow, but a valuable lesson for Boris on his journey in the world of competitive chess, fortunately not important for our second team for which this was the only loss of the night.

Ian Farquharson (Melton Mowbray 3) vs Matt “The Dark Destroyer” Connor (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

Matt looking to shatter the Q-side

Matt found himself top of the Top player of the season table prior to the game with an astonishing record this season of 9 wins and only 1 draw. The game started with a Philidor type setup which is the preferred weapon of “The Dark Destroyer” who decided to hop around with his knight to eventually exchange it for White’s highly inactive light-squared bishop. Our teammate further “fianchetto’d” his dark-squared bishop and both players castled K-side in preparation for a long solid game. The Melton Mowbray player tried to strike in the centre but Matt responded with a counterattack on the Q-side following a knight exchange. Up a pawn, “The Dark Destroyer” continued his attack on the Q-side only to make an apparent blunder of his light-squared bishop on move 18 but then he decided that the bishop pair is worth more than his queen and sacrificed the Black lady, taking the rook attacking her.

As a compensation, our teammate took also the second white knight for free, brought his f8-rook to the Q-side party and retreated his light-squared bishop safely in proximity to the “pigs” quietly watching from the 8th rank. Eager to exchange pieces, Matt’s opponent took the c-pawn and exchanged his rook for one of its black counterparts, only to find himself in a losing position after the white queen got attacked by the only black rook, supported by the ‘cheeky’ light-squared black bishop. Famous on the local scale for his dubious, yet successful lines, “The Dark Destroyer” managed to pull it off again through great attack on the white king followed by two bishops checkmate. Another great win for our teammate who finishes the league season undefeated and Top player for the club.

Throughout the evening, “El presidente” Ben went on to train the future of Anstey Chess club in the faces of John Jr. and Marcus while Valdas and Mick a.k.a. “Just Mick” played several games in a Rapid time format in preparation for the summer cups. Dave also showed up for club night and followed the league match action closely. In conclusion, another great Thursday night in the Anstey Methodist Church filled with mixed emotions, amazing chess play and plenty of fun for all.

First team finishes on a high with a second crushing defeat against the table toppers

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On Thursday, 28th April, Anstey Chess Club’s first team played their last competitive game for the 2021/22 season in the Leicestershire league. In their ultimate test they faced the table leaders and eventual division winners Syston 2 who arrived with an interesting mixture of variously rated players at different stages of their careers. Our first team consisted of our top-rated and strongest players John “The Torturer” Robinson, “Mr. Engine” Julian, Mick and the person with many nicknames, “The Dark Destroyer” Matt Connor. Although not in a rush to win as there was no chance for the team to win the division, Anstey 1 took the contest as serious as it can get and showcased for ninth time this season amazing play to claim the win at the end.

The evening was also marked by Ben’s willingness to create some excitement for himself and the players by forgetting the match equipment at home.

A respectful handshake and the game is on!

Realising that there are no boards for the league match, “El Presidente” demonstrated sophisticated driving skills and road awareness pertinent to the top taxi drivers in the area and just managed to deliver enough boards for the game. Unfortunately for our chairman, his adventure involved a second lap to grab the pieces for the club night as the casual and second team players found themselves with plenty of boards but only one set of pieces.

“The Dark Destroyer” Matthew Connor (Anstey 1) vs Mick Adams (Syston 2) 1 – 0

“The Dark Destroyer” looking to “seal the deal”

Matt has had an amazing season so far, as he had managed to remain unbeaten with a record 8-1-0 prior to the game which started with the Four Knights game. Faithful to his very entertaining and time-demanding style, our teammate engaged in a tactical sequence straight from the beginning, eventually exchanging a knight for its black counterpart. Unlike his opponent, “The Dark Destroyer” decided to quickly get his king to safety with a short castle and then he went on to attack Black’s position with his pieces. Unaware of the repercussions of ignoring an attack from Anstey Chess Club’s top performing player this season, Matt’s opponent was eager to attack our teammate’s knight with a premature a6 push. Catching a sniff of the win, “The Dark Destroyer” started a sharp sequence which led to complete shattering of the king side (K-side) while cooking a beautiful checkmate with his rook and bishop in the centre which he delivered swiftly.

The game was ninth win in a row for Matt which leaves him unbeaten and got him back on the first place in the Top Player of the season table.

Anthony Robinson (Syston 2) vs Mick Sandham (Anstey 1) 0 – 1

On board 3 Mick was scheduled to play with the Black and in his characteristic style he played his favourite St. George defence which was met by his opponent with the quite passive Colle opening. Following the main line, Mick went on to position his pieces for a sharp attack which apparently took his opponent by surprise as the latter was spending big chunks of time on each move, going quite quickly down on the clock. The ‘Cat and Mouse’ game continued for a few more moves, with both players thinking hard due to the many tactical opportunities available for both sides. Eventually our teammate started a K-side expansion which gave him a clear advantage in combination with the more actively positioned pieces. The position overwhelmed his opponent, and already being down on the clock, his time eventually ran out and Mick claimed the second win for our team on the night.

Mick watching his opponent’s clock running down in a complicated position

Julian Tarwid (Anstey 1) vs Jack Pilley (Syston 2) 0 – 1

Julian looking to blast open the centre and create an attack

One of our top players this season and Anstey Chess Club’s top ECF-rated player Julian faced the young promising player Jack Pilley from Syston. Always playing in the most attacking and attractive manner, Julian opened up with his favourite Jobava London, which was met by a Grunfeld setup from his opponent. Our teammate did his best to take the initiative with an attack on the K-side following long castle, sacrificing pawns in the process in order to maintain the attacking chances and the initiative. Unfortunately for our teammate, his opponent defended well against the strong attack by “Mr. Engine” and further consolidated his position. Uncharacteristic for Julian, eventually he found himself in time trouble which led to him overseeing a checkmate from his opponent and unfortunately conceding a loss.

Graham Sharpe (Syston 2) vs John Robinson (Anstey 1) 0 – 1

The hardest task, at least on paper, fell down to John, who was scheduled to face over 2000 rated player in the face of Graham Sharpe. A former Syston player himself, “The Torturer” was well aware and prepared for his opponent, and delivered a surprise straight from the opening where he engaged in a battle for the centre with his very first move. The players developed quickly, with White placing a beautiful knight on e5, while our teammate castled long with the idea of expansion on the K-side. The players exchanged a pair of knights and went on to reshuffle their pieces in a positional battle which ended in John’s opponent exchanging his beautiful e5-knight for Black’s unimpressive light-squared bishop. The Syston player tried to open up the game further, however, “The Torturer” kept his cool and after the exchange of the remaining minor pieces even sacrificed a pawn to keep the Q-side closed for the hungry white rooks, hovering on the first rank.

“The Torturer” is confident in his position so gives the cameraman a quick smug glance.

John continued with his plan and started the K-side expansion swiftly while his opponent decided to do the same on the Q-side. The players exchanged the first pair of rooks at which point the engine (Stockfish, depth = 20, powered by chess.com) preferred White, with evaluation of +2.0. The latter player ended being a little bit quicker and even managed to free up the a-file for his remaining rook, but at the decisive moment was a little too hesitant and never played the logical b6, restricting the black king in preparation for a checkmate or just shattering the Q-side. Instead, our teammate received the opportunity for counter play and in his characteristic style, John delivered a great attack which finished with an amazing triangle by the black queen to seal the deal for “The Torturer” and the team.

With this win, Anstey 1 finishes the season with eighth consecutive wins which followed after a shaky start. The team, however, showcased great improvement, to a great extent followed by the addition of strong players in the faces of “Mr. Engine” Julian and Matt “The Dark Destroyer” and found themselves just short of an otherwise deserved first place in the division.

Throughout the night in the opposite corner of the quite spacious hall in the Anstey Methodist Church, a club night was taking place with players of various abilities and ages taking on the great game called chess, even despite the inconvenience caused by Ben’s equipment circuit run. The juniors Marcus and John, the experienced Dave and Mick “Squish”, the new regular Valdes who will also join the second team, and the seasoned players and captains of both teams “El Presidente” Ben and Oskar along with the website maintenance guy Boris “The Toaster” all enjoyed plenty of games while checking regularly on the league game action where the first team players were working hard to get another W for the club.

Ben and Oskar are playing with the juniors John and Marcus while the experienced Dave and Mick took on the aspiring players Valdes and Boris

Anstey 2 misses to punish the division favourites and remains unbeaten in 2022

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On Thursday, 7th April, Anstey Chess club’s second team took on a fourth great challenge in a row, this time against the division favourites Braunstone 2 who entered the match with six wins and only one loss. With Hal and Leo unable to play, the captain Oskar was left with a great challenge to find someone to play on board one, but as usual the first team delivered when needed and Mick jumped in to fill the missing space. This left a very strong team of Mick, Boris, Mike and Oskar, all eager to prove themselves in a difficult game. The away team arrived with a strong team of their own, led by 1810 rated James Bingham who was scheduled to face our guest start in the second team Mick. A quick glance on the team score sheet got our hearts racing, with the only player outrated by less than 100 points being Boris on board 4 (Boris was outrated ‘only’ by 93 points). Needless to say, our players were not moved at all by the difference on paper and went into the match with plenty of heart and brain, delivering solid games and fighting for the win until the very end.

A quick handshake and let the games begin

Oskar Rudczenko (Anstey 2) vs Daniel Wilkinson (Braunstone 2) 0 – 1

Captain Oskar navigating a complicated middle game

Massive challenge in front of Oskar, as he faced more than 400 points higher rated young Daniel Wilkinson. Playing white, our team captain decided to follow on Julian’s steps and openned with the Jobava London system to which his opponent replied with (apparently the best move by Black, based on Stockfish, depth=20 evaluation) 3…a6, preventing Oskar’s knight jumping on b5 and trying to create characteristic havoc on the queenside (Q-side). On the following move, Oskar’s opponent decided to attack the centre, guiding the game into the depths of the most testing lines with early c5 push. The players continued their development and both castled kingside (K-side). The Braunstone player continued his attack on the centre in an attempt to open up the game and after a long forcing sequence, our teammate found himself a pawn down, but holding the bishop pair while his opponent’s extra pawn was doubled on the e-file. Determined not to lose a big chunk of his rating, Black played more actively, pushing pawns and chasing our captain’s bishops all around the board, only to be faced by Oskar’s impenetrable white wall.

Following a sequence which included a rook exchange and many jumps of the black knight before the equine-shaped piece was exchanged for our teammate’s light-squared bishop, Oskar found himself a proud owner of a passed pawn on the c-file, with the black king squeezed alongside his light-squared bishop on the eighth rank. With more active pieces, our captain managed to pick up another pawn while Black started attacking Oskar’s king, blundering his rook in the process which unfortunately our teammate missed. Under pressure, both players continued their game with a pattern of bad moves, leading to Daniel picking up Oskar’s ‘passer’ and exchanging the rooks. Unfortunately, our captain did not receive another opportunity to win the game and with Black two pawns up and having a passed pawn on the e-file, Oskar resigned. A big challenge and a great lesson for our teammate.

Martin Steel (Braunstone 2) vs Mike Griffiths (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

On board 3, the mismatch in rating terms was not as pronounced and unsurprisingly one of the leaders in the top player table Mike delivered again for the second team. Playing with the white pieces, Mike’s opponent opened with the English, the benchmark opening our teammate is usually using as White. Apparently familiar with the position, both players developped confidently without engaging too early in the battle but focusing on king safety, with fianchetto’d bishops and castled on the K-side. With the e-h side of the board sorted and middle game starting, our teammate decided to show White how is the English properly played and started an expansion on the Q-side in an attempt to utilise the power of his g7 bishop further down the road. The Braunstone player attempted a response but in the Q-side chaos Mike managed to place a beautiful knight in his opponent’s half, waiting to unleash an attack. Always a class solid player, our teammate started also eyeing his opponent’s g2 bishop, and created a bishop led battery on the c8-h3 diagonal.

Mike is happy to see his favourite English on the board

Still navigating a complicated middlegame, the players decided to continue the battle in the centre, where again Mike made the better positional choices and under the pressure from his powerful pieces, Mike’s opponent finally crumbled and lined up his queen and rook for a beautiful knight fork. Our teammate seized the opportunity and with the resulting lead in material decided to simplify earlier rather than later and exchanged the queens. Having the power of the rooks, Mike started a slow and steady positional squeeze on his opponent which resulted in placing the ‘pigs on the seventh’ and pressuring the cornered white king. Realising the inferiority of his position, the Braunstone player had nothing better but to resign. An amazing seventh win this season for Mike which places him again half point in front of ‘Filler’ Matt in the Top player table.

Borislav Lazarov (Anstey 2) – Vijay Gulab (Braunstone 2) 1 – 0

Happy with his position, Boris is casually writing notating his moves while having a cup of coffee

The return of the website maintenance guy Boris was marked by his opponent being more than half hour late for the match. While our teammate was casually drinking coffee, taking photos and chatting around with the first team players, his opponent stormed the room and both sat down for the game. After a little play around with the Catalan, Boris decided to get back to his favourite London system, conscious of his opponent’s superior experience and rating. Possibly still a little panicked due to his late arrival and already being down more than 20 minutes on the clock, Vijay played quickly and on the fifth move made a positional mistake by challenging Boris’ light-squared bishop with 5…a6. Our teammate hapily exchanged his bishop for the c6-knight, leading to the effective funeral of the Black’s light-squared bishop. As the saying goes, the rest is history. Up on the clock, Boris placed a beautiful knight on e5 and started squeezing his opponent with pawns on the Q-side. The second knight also helped in the process and was eventually exchanged for the light-squared bishop of the Braunstone player, but only after it won a pawn for our teammate.

Black responded with attack on the K-side which led to White doubling pawns on the e-file, but also opened the g-file and subsequently the route to the black king. Boris continued to create chaos with his powerful knight on the sixth, seventh and eighth rank, leading to his opponent exchanging it for a rook. Leading in material, Boris exchanged queens and then activated his king, giving his opponent some good opportunities in the process, fortunately missed by the Braunstone player. Eventually, the last black rook was exchanged and still leading in material, Boris activated his rook and picked up the black c-pawn, creating a ‘passer’ on the b-file which, with the black bishop controlled by the white king and the black king cut out by the white rook, could not be stopped and Boris’ opponent resigned. A great game for our teammate which gets him back on the winning track.

James Bingham (Braunstone 2) vs Mick Sandham (Anstey 2) 1 – 0

With Hal and Leo unable to play on the night, it was down to the first team to help out. The man of the evening ended being Mick, who readily stepped up to the occasion and sat down on board 1. Our teammate had the black pieces facing the wily and experienced Jim Bingham, who was also the highest rated player in the whole building (current rating, John Sr. has been rated well into the 2000s in his glorious past). After 1.d4 Mick replied with his benchmark e6, b5 and a6 setup, facilitating slow development and striking on the centre with pieces. His opponent decided to strike back by taking as much space in the centre as possible. A cagey middle game followed, then in his tactical style Mick decided to try and blow open white’s K-side with an attack by sacrificing a piece. Unfortunately, the Braunstone player was able to consolidate the position and gave some material back, leaving him a pawn up on the 6th rank and keeping our teammate’s King and Bishop honest. Aware of the result on Mike and Boris’ boards, Mick offered a draw a couple of times, but his opponent was adamant on converting White’s superior position.

Mick is trying to figure out how to break through on the K-side

Our teammate’s remaining pieces ended being a little too overworked and as soon as the bishops were about to be forcibly exchanged, Black resigned. A tough day in the office for Mick but nevertheless our second team and the whole club are grateful for his bravery in taking on a higher rated opponent on a very short notice.

With a total result of 2 -2 against the team considered favourite in the division, our second team continues to show that they can fight as equal against the big guns and remain unbeaten in this calendar year. Sitting comfortably on fourth place, their utlimate fixture will be home against Melton Mowbray 3 as they make full circle to face the first team they have beaten this year.

First team continue winning ways

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Anstey Chess Club’s first team continued the club’s winning start to 2022 by beating Ashby’s 2nd team. Ashby brought with them a strong side – a little stronger than previous matches and stronger than the team that beat the first team 3-1 in the reverse fixture. Captain Ben was a little nervous when battle commenced at 7:30 due to the strength of the opponents. El Presidenté’s nerves were not helped by a WhatsApp from Julian saying he was going to be late and to start without him. Whilst the other 3 boards started on time, Julian’s opponent – very graciously it must be said – didn’t start Julian’s clock for around 10 minutes.

And so to the action on board 1. With the black pieces, John Robinson was facing Andrew Wilson. Andrew opened with the London system but with John having played h6, and with Andrew’s Queen on d2 and the London dark squared bishop on f4, John was unable to castle Kingside for a while and John’s pieces seemed to be in a bit of a mess. A bishop was on e6 blocking the e pawn’s advance to challenge the centre and Andrew’s pieces seemed well developed. However, with a plan for white unclear and John’s plan to get his pieces onto better squares, John had time to untangle his position and in the end managed to get a comfortable draw with the team 2-0 up at the time and perhaps a slightly better position. The half point earned by John secured the match. Andrew Wilson wasn’t aware of the match score and shook hands before checking – whoops.

I will not poke any fun at Julian for being late because the game that he played was absolutely outstanding. You will note that the image I have included is not one of deep concentration from one or both of the players but the final position which is, quite simply, a work of art. White has just delivered check on h3 with the Bishop which leads to a beautiful forced mate and the even better bit is that White had just played Ng5 and I don’t think black could stop Bh3 at all.

I am unsure of the opening (the Maddigan Gambit apparently), although it looked incredibly bizarre with castling neglected (Julian had ‘artificially castled’ I think on the image and Paul Gibson wasn’t able to castle at all). All of white’s pieces are pointing towards black’s King and this gambit seemed to invite Julian to attack – playing into Julian’s hands.

On to board 3 next and Mick had the black pieces against Larry Hayden. Against Mick’s reply to 1.e4 – e6 along the French line, Larry played Qe2 – apparently some sort of Anti-French system so Mick continued with his St George defence with a6 and b5. Development of pieces continued but Mick didn’t get time to castle. Larry attacked on the Kingside and Mick had to divert his Queen from the Queenside to the Kingside to help with the defence. The Queens came off and this helped Mick and he tried a pawn push to upset White’s defences but soon after board 1 had agreed a draw, a draw was agreed on this board almost immediately after.

On to board 4 and Matt had the white pieces (hurrah!) and it was surprising that he knew what to do with the white pieces having had black for most of his games. He was playing one of the only other ladies on the Leicestershire chess scene – Liz Gist. The game looked even after black struck back in the centre with c5 but once the Rooks came off, Matt found a good combination to pinch black’s h pawn by making us of the overworked King on g7. In a devastating (what turned out to be the final) blow, Matt played Bxg6+ after Qf8 which forced a resignation two pawns down and a lost endgame. The resignation seemed a bit premature and Liz exited stage right in quick fashion. A good result for Matt.

Deepa plays against young John’s Dad – Matt whilst Boris plays against John. Ben and Oskar are playing in the background.
Posing for pictures at the end demonstrating the club’s unity.

Meanwhile – away from the intensity of the league game – there were some friendlies going on with Boris playing against new member Junior John after Oskar had played against John before. John attended the Junior sessions but was too good and wouldn’t get anything out of the junior sessions. Hopefully both he and his Dad will get something out of the sessions with us and improve – as we are all trying to! There was the inevitable photo shoot after as above.

Second team wallop Wigston 4 in biggest win of the season

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Anstey 2 invaded Wigston like a clan of marauding Vikings and plundered a 5-1 away win, extending their unbeaten run to 6 games and moving up to 3rd in the division. Wigston had indicated before the match that they could play 8 boards drafting in a couple of 2nd division players. Team captain Oskar did likewise, bringing in first team stalwarts Mick and Matt to bolster the team. In the end 6 boards were played and on-paper the sides were evenly matched 8436 vs 8410.

Mick and Matt travelled together to the game but due to city centre traffic were delayed, not helped by a police incident closing Aylestone Road. Well, that’s their story and they’re sticking to it. Oskar was relieved when they arrived in the nick of time, taking their seats literally seconds before the match started. In a strange twist, that was the only time-trouble Matt had that night! Leo’s opponent on board 5 was also late, Oskar was very charitable offering a 10-minute grace period before starting the clock when he was well within his right to start straight way.

Mick Sandham (Anstey 2) vs Ben Noyvert (Wigston 4) 1 – 0

So, onto the action. We had barely sat down when we heard the words “check” then “checkmate” from Mick on board 1. Mick’s Italian Game opening turned into a Scotch Game (Benima Defence) with young Ben Noyvert riskily taking on c3 (allowing Qd5) and missing the mate threat, oops: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 exd4 5. c3 dxc3 6. Qd5 d6 7. Qxf7+ Kd7 8. Be6#. Mick takes the lead in the quickest win of the season competition, relegating John Robinson to 2nd with his leisurely 12-move win at Latimer. A great start, 1-0.

Leo Abraham (Anstey 2) vs Madhav Eradi (Wigston 4) 1 – 0

Another very tactical game, where Leo decided to go for the notorious bishop sacrifice Bxf7+ with the decision helped by his opponent blundering a knight for a pawn. Nevertheless, the Wigston player decided to keep himself in the game by being active and started attacking our teammate’s knights from all corners and even placed a beautiful knight on d4. Under immense pressure, Leo calmly engaged his pieces, led by his fierce queen, into a tactical combination, and when the dust settled, our teammate found himself a piece up, with the right to castle his king to safety unlike his opponent, and ahead positionally with a +5.1 evaluation by Stockfish (depth = 20, powered by chess.com). Eventually, Leo consolidated his position and after a long castle, our club’s youngest active competitor unleashed a barrage of attacks towards his opponent’s king, leaving with plenty of material and practically delivering a checkmate on move 30, securing his fourth straight win. 2-0.

Mike Griffiths (Anstey 2) vs John McKiernan (Wigston 4) 1 – 0

Next to finish was Mike against John McKiernan. Again deploying his trademark English opening, after a cagey opening all bishops were exchanged off and the knight maneuvers began. A pair of knights came off then Mike doubled rooks on the b-file and with a lovely knight on d5 won black’s b6 pawn. Black tried to mix things up in the centre to get some counterplay but Mike handled it deftly, exchanging the rooks and knights and picking up a couple more pawns in the process. A couple of queen checks was all black could muster and in the cold light of day 3 pawns down in a queen and pawn ending he resigned. 3-0.

Chris Brown (Wigston 4) vs Hal Jardine (Anstey 2) 1 – 0

The only fly in the ointment was Hal’s defeat on board 4 as black against Chris Brown. It is unknown at this point whether Hal brought a pen, we think that might be what threw him off his game. At some point Hal dropped a pawn, most of the pieces came off and in the ensuing rook and pawn ending (Hal’s nemesis) white was set to win another pawn and Hal gracefully resigned. 3-1.

Callum Holgate (Wigston 4) vs Oskar Rudczenko (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

With just ½ point required to secure the win attention turned to Oskar’s game against Callum Holgate on board 6. Against white’s 1. d4 Oskar went for the Modern Defence 1. … g6 with white going for a London style setup with Bf4, e3 and c3. After a few developing move Oskar tried to crack open the position with c5, both sides making a few mistakes in a chaotic phase of the game – it was really wild! After a few exchanges the dust settled and white came out a pawn up with a dangerous looking passed pawn on c5. White pushed it on to c7 and was in full control, it wasn’t looking good for black. On move 35 Oskar played Qc8 to block the pawn and challenge the white queen on e6. In what can only be described as a moment of madness white played Bf4 defending the pawn on c7 but overlooking the fact his queen wasn’t defended. Oskar snapped up the queen, the engine eval going from +8 to -8, the biggest swing of the night (where’s Jeremy Vine with the swingometer?). White did eventually queen his c pawn but at this point black’s queen and bishop were making mincemeat of the white king’s meagre defences. Oskar eschewed a chance to mate the king instead toying with his opponent going for the simple method of exchanging off all the pieces leaving king and 3 pawns vs king. He queened a pawn and delivered checkmate on f1. What a game! 4-1.

Alex Milligan (Wigston 4) vs Matt “The Filler” Connor (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

This left Matt on board 2 as black against Alex Milligan. White opened with the Nimzo-Larsen 1. b3. Matt went for a solid if slightly passive setup with pawns on e5, d6 and c6 but missed a chance to gain space in the centre with e4 (kicking white’s knight on f3) and d5. Instead, white played d5 and after a little manoeuvring Matt closed the centre / queenside with c5. He thought he could reposition his pieces to the kingside and get some play with the pawn strike f5. Unfortunately, white was able to transition to the kingside much more quickly and build up pressure on the f-file, then the g-file and then the h-file. Matt’s pieces were all tangled up and just when it looked like white was making the decisive break through came the second biggest blunder of the night, white gave check with Bg6 just losing the piece to Nxg6. Engine eval swing +5 to -5 (Jeremy?). Matt then made his first foray into the other half of the board on move 34(!) threatening the cheeky Ne2 forking the king and queen but also attacking the rook on h5 so he won an exchange leaving him a rook up. White still had attacking chances but Matt calmly defended (no doubt helped by his time advantage (yes you heard that right)) bringing his queen and bishop to defend the king before opening up the queenside and infiltrating on the back rank with his extra rook. White lost on time before he was mated by queen and rook. Boom. 5-1.

Commiserations to Hal for the only defeat of the night (we have all been there mate) but for the two massive blunders the result could have been very different. But that’s chess, in the end an excellent result for the team continuing the great form since Christmas.