clubnight

Anstey Chess club prepares for a hectic league cycle with a busy club night

/ bobideco / 1 Comment

On 10/02/22 our favourite Anstey Chess club hosted another club night. The expectations for a quiet club night were torn apart from the start with nine people turning up, all of them hungry for some chess games. Around one hour later, Boris decided to arrive following his family tradition of always being late.

The club was happy to welcome back John and Deepa who are now becoming regular attendees of the club nights. A great addition to the evening was the returning legend Mick ‘Squish’ Squire who played a few chess games alongside the usual suspects ‘El presidente’ Ben, Oskar, Mick, Boris, Hal, Julian and our new old top player, ‘Killer’ Matt. (for more information on Matt’s nickname, follow this link)

  • A successful club night – five boards and plenty of chess and fun!
  • Although up two points of material, Mick is trying to stop John’s passers in a complicated endgame.
  • While John is thinking how to proceed with the complicated endgame, Mick throws a disapproving look to the distracting photographer.
  • Fallen victim to his own Englund gambit, Oskar is trying to play two knights down against the unusually focused Boris.
  • Matt is trying to find the best plan for Black’s position while Julian is consulting the neighbouring board.
  • Give Hal an opportunity and he will always deliver.
  • And while Hal is showing his fitness body from all angles, Deepa is looking to exchange her knight for his bishop and launch an attack.
  • ‘El presidente’ decided to bring some educational material.

The evening started with some non-timed games, with John and Mick engaging in some sharp tactical battles typical for our third top rated player. They proceeded to play until the end of the club night, with John proving to be a potential asset for our competitive teams if he decides to join the league. Next to them, returning ‘Squish’ played with second team captain Oskar with both players trying to keep their focus in spite of Julian and Hal who were trying hard to play serious chess but their personalities took over. Not impressed by the latter, Ben was half-playing with returning Deepa, half-recruiting her for the second team. Once Boris decided to show up, he engaged in a serious battle against Matt, with the ‘Killer’ naturally claiming the win.

Only John and Mick stuck strictly to playing chess with each other. After playing a few serious games with Oskar, ‘Squish’ decided to call it a night and left with the funniest joke of the evening. The players reshuffled with Ben stepping out of the boards and taking the role of the ‘Sideline Expert’. Boris and Oskar engaged in tactical chess battles full of both brilliant moves and absurd blunders from both sides. Julian and Hal went for some snacks as the evening was long and tiresome and after their return Julian decided to step into the depths of serious chess against Matt. Next to them, Hal and Deepa went trough a variety of instructional positions and games with the always improving Hal explaining various opening lines and strategical principles.

As usual, the evening was full of amazing chess games and plenty of fun – traits becoming more and more characteristic for club nights in the young Anstey Chess club. Whether you are a serious chess player or a casual chess enthusiast looking to combine hobby and fun evenings, pop over to the Methodist Church in Anstey every Thursday from 7:30pm. All abilities welcome!

Second team celebrating Oscar and Julian’s birthdays with second win in a row

/ bobideco / 2 Comments

On 27th January it was a busy night in the Anstey Chess club. Our second team engaged in a serious four-board battle against the experienced team of Heathcote Arms 2 in an attempt to achieve second win in a row and get their revenge for a crushing 4-0 defeat back in October. In the opposite corner of the Anstey Methodist Church, the casual and first team players engaged in the usual sharp and fun chess battles typical for club nights. The cherries on the top were our birthday boys Oscar and Julian who brought plenty of treats and chocolate to the party. We wish them all the best and plenty of wins to come their way!

The league match started promptly at 7:30 with a variety of opennings on all boards. The most dedicated player to the club motto was Matt who opened up with Phillidor defence; he was obviously the only one to get the memo.

  • Another busy night at the Anstey Chess club
  • While Boris is under immense stress, Hal is as chill as Guinness Extra Cold.
  • John and Deepa engaged in a positional battle in which Deepa seems a lot happier
  • John and Peter enjoying advantage in the middlegame against the ‘En passant?’ duo Boris and Ben
  • Club night going on with 4 boards, lots of chess and plenty of fun
  • Intense games with Boris and Oscar notating their opponent’s moves
  • Plenty of action during club night
  • Mike and Mick, serious players heading into a serious endgame
  • Deepa decided to stay solid while Ben tried openings he does not understand
  • Mick is closely observing club night games, while the captain Oscar is watching closely the match
  • Ben and Peter in a sharp positional battle
  • Stressful games on all four boards with Boris looking like he is about to have a mental breadown
  • The big guns, John and Mick, in another typical positional battle during club night
  • Typical Anstey Chess club night – lots of chess and lots of fun

On board 2 the top performer Hal decided to take the centre with e4 and d4 which were met by a strange variation of a Queen’s Indian defence. The captain Oscar had a difficult task engaging in a very weird variation of the Indian game, while Boris’ game took the direction of the Caro-Kann exchange variation. The Bulgarian was so flustered by Bd3 that threw the cap of his pen at Hal’s shoulder – all players agreed that it was not his proudest moment.

Around 20 minutes into the match Boris managed to take advantage of a blunder by his opponent and secured the first win for the night and for himself in general. Our joy unfortunately did not last long as the birthday boy Oscar was backed in the corner and although he fought hard against immense pressure, his opponent managed to capitalise on the position. As Oscar is the third best performer for the club, we are sure that he will bounce back from this experience and get back on winning terms.

About half-way through his game, Matt found himself with undeveloped light-square bishop and rook, as he was busy taking his opponent’s king out for a walk. In the meantime, Hal was stretching and doing yoga and all sorts of other activities, but not castling.

Ten minutes later, Matt had finally decided to develop his bishop and had his opponent in what people would refer to as a pickle. Next to him, Hal had his opponent’s king squeezed in the corner and his face had the distant expression of a person deciding what takeaway to order tonight.

With twenty minutes to go, Matt found himself a piece up and he was making sure that his opponent’s king will hit his step count target. On his left, Hal’s opponent was shaking his head like Ben’s fans when watching his puzzle rush blunders, while Hal seemed confident in his attack on the board and his choice of takeaway for tonight.

Not long after, Matt won decisively while Hal found himself again with a significant time advantage in an infamous favourite of his – the rook and pawn endgame. His opponent decided that he had enough and offered a draw which our top performer gladly accepted, just a little annoyed that he could not offer a draw himself by making signs characteristic for exorcists and enthusiasts in the rituals targeted at summoning a demon.

In summary, it was a good night for our second team players who proved that they have learned from their previous loss against a solid and strong opponent. Our second team find themselves in the middle of the Division 4 table mid-season with 2 wins and 1 draw.

In the other corner of the room, there was plenty of action with first team players Ben, Mick, John, Julian and Mike playing casual chess and observing the league match from a distance. We were happy to welcome again John who is slowly becoming a regular attendee of our club nights. In addition, two new strong players, Pete and Deepa, decided for the first and hopefully not last time to join us for some chess and fun. Eventually, the evening finished on a high note, with the birthday boys Julian and Oscar bringing treats for every taste. Both young guys, we wish them many years to come and many games over the board to be played with plenty of wins to be accomplished!