April 2010


Thu 1st: To Exmouth
Fri 2nd: First a pawn ...
Sat 3rd: ... then the game
Sun 4th: Moving Day
Mon 5th: Last Round
Tue 6th: March report
Wed 7th: Back and forth
Mon 12th: The Monday Match
Fri 16th: Election
Sat 17th: Jumping Jack

Thu 1st: To Exmouth
Last night Stafford away, today RR is off to Exmouth to play the U175 section of the Easter Congress. In order to keep costs in check Alex (to play in the Open) and I had acquired tickets for particular trains. Hence despite the thin covering of snow to which we awoke, we set off for Stoke Station before 9 am. The snow was slippery, and I rapidly regretted not wearing my walking shoes, though they are a little chunky to be used around the nice hotel that serves as congress venue. We (at my suggestion) opted out of walking to the station, and caught a bus from town instead. The train journey was relatively uneventful, featuring one slightly late train which did not prevent us from reaching our destination just before 3 as planned.

Booked into hotel. Now what? Exmouth has a nice sandy beach reaching east to some sandstone cliffs and continuing beneath them. Onto the beach and to the cliffs. Round a corner of the cliffs on which is fixed a notice of warning of danger of being cut off by incoming tide, and kept going. It becomes apparent that there is a path leading upwards from the far end of the beach, so relieved of worry we continue and climb the path, pass through a holiday park and follow the coast path onto the cliffs beyond. This is sufficiently muddy that for the second time today I miss my walking shoes, but not so bad as to make us turn back.
From a vantage point at the end of the holiday park we can see all the way to Budleigh Salterton and beyond. A shingle beach follows the foot of the cliffs, but this is crossed in a couple of places by red earth that has clearly tumbled down the cliffs during some recent landslide. Further on on our path there is indeed a notice warning of recent landslip, and without approaching too close to the edge it is possible to see what appears to be several vegetation covered areas which look to have slid downhill to various degrees, some carrying the remains of fences. We can also see that at the edge the clifftop is undercut, so falling over would not be difficult. The discreet warning notice is the only nod in the direction of 'elf and safety here. Each man should look out for himself.
By the time we reach the highest point (just over 400 feet) there is enough gorse and bramble between the path and the cliff edge to dissuade one from going to the latter. Indeed there are a few secluded spots we pass where I alarm Alex by remarking that they are perfect places to commit a murder and conceal the body.
Passing a golf course we descend into Budleigh and take a bus back to Exmouth. A pleasant enough interlude between journey and start of chess.
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Fri 2nd: First a pawn ...
A 10 o'clock start time allows for a civilised breakfast, and so we entered the congress hotel in a contented frame of mind. My four games over the first two days followed a similar pattern, with first a pawn falling, and then a greater or lesser grind following to attempt to win the ensuing endgame.

Round 1, and RR finds himself as the higher graded player on board seven. Methinks this makes me the seventh seed. Black against Keith Atkins who plays for Sedgemoor (Bridgewater).

Keith Atkins v RR after 10 Bb7

11 Bf3 Bxf3, 12 Qxf3 Qd5 offering the exchange of queens would be natural RR territory, but today RR decides to force his opponent to do the exchanging. Keith declines, thinking he has spotted a way of causing embarrassment to the black queen.

11 ... Qc8, 12 d5 Rd8, 13 c4 exd5
14 cxd5 Bf6, 15 Bg4 Qc7, 16 Bf4
Keith Atkins v RR after 16 Bf4

Now 16 ... Bxe5, 17 Bxe5 leaves her majesty nowhere good to go, but I have other moves at my disposal, in particular the materialistic route chosen:

16 ... Bxd5, 17 Nd7 (c4 better) Qxf4, 18 Nxf6+ Qxf6 (gxf6 better as with no back rank mate threat the bishop is protected and RR emerges a piece and pawn to the good - Bf3 by white can be met by Qg5. However a pawn and a better pawn structure will do for RR).

The remainder of the game was hardly flawless, but RR negotiated it without fatal error:
19 Qxd5 Nc6, 20 Qe4 Rab8, 21 Rad1 g6, 22 Bf3 Nd4
23 Bg4 h5, 24 Bh3 Kf8, 25 c3 Re8, 26 Qd5 Ne2+
27 Kf1 Nxc3, 28 Rxe8+ Rxe8, 29 Qd6+ Qxd6, 30 Rxd6 Nxa2
31 Rd7 Re7, 32 Rd8+ Kg7, 33 Ra8 c4, 34 Rc8 c3
35 Rc4 b5, 36 Rc5 b4 0-1

One round down and I have achieved my first and most modest target - get off the mark to avoid an early forced bye should there be an odd number of players. My remaining targets will take longer to achieve:
The lower of 50% and reaching a score guaranteeing a congress performance of at least my grade,
The higher of the aforementioned scores,
A prize.

Round two and white against John Gorodi (Teignmouth), an old foe who I find difficult to break down.

After 14 moves the spectators were already nodding off.
RR v John Gorodi after 14 N(g5)e4

14 ... e5, 15 Nxf6+ Bxf6, 16 Ne4 Bg7, 17 Nc3 Ne7, 18 Nd5

Hoping that a pawn on d5 resulting from an exchange of knights will have a significant cramping effect, and may even become passed in time. John is content to play the black side of such a position:

18 ... Nxd5, 19 cxd5 Qd8, 20 Qd1 Qe7, 21 Rc2 b5
22 e4 Bh6, 23 Bc3 f5, 24 Be1 g5, 25 Bd2
RR v John Gorodi after 25 Bd2

RR is playing a dangerous game of inviting a kingside attack. It is amazing how often such attacks at this level peter out provided the defender doesn't panic:

25 ... f4, 26 Bg4 Bye-bye white squared bishops. Reckon I'm ahead now.

26 ... Bxg4, 27 Qxg4 Qf7, 28 Rfc1 Rc7, 29 Ba5 Rb7, 30 b4 f3
RR v John Gorodi after 30 ... f3

Ownership of the c-file is mine, which should lead to penetration of the black position. bxc5 is now best, though RR plays g3 which might give black vague hopes of kingside play with say Qg6, Bg7 and h5, but in truth this is very slow.

31 g3 Qd7, 32 Qxd7 Rxd7, 33 bxc5 dxc5, 34 Rxc5 g4
35 R1c2 Re8, 36 Rc6 Bf8, 37 Rc8 (R2c3 better)
37 ... Rxc8, 38 Rxc8 Kf7, 39 Rc3 Rb7, 40 Kf1 At the time I suspected that resolving the position on the kingside first with h3 might be sensible, but as you can see I elected to bring the king across to the queenside immediately.

40 ... b4, 41 axb4 Bd6
A surprising refusal to recapture:
41 ... Bxb4, 42 Rb3 Rb5 and either
43 Rxb4 Rxa5 or 43 Bxb4 a5 and black has a useful outside passed pawn.

I give the remainder of the game without comment, not because nothing of note happened, but because I wish to complete my weekend report sometime in the not too distant future.

42 Rc4 Ke7, 43 Ke1 Kd7, 44 Kd2 Rb8, 45 Kc3 h5
46 d4 h4, 47 Kd3 hxg3, 48 hxg3 Rh8, 49 dxe5 Bxe5
50 Bb6 Rh1, 51 Rc6 Rd1+, 52 Kc2 Re1, 53 Rc4 Re2+
54 Kd1 Ra2, 55 Be3 Bxg3, 56 fxg3 f2, 57 Bxf2 Rxf2
58 e5 Rf3, 59 d6 Rxg3, 60 Rc7+ Kd8, 61 Ke2 Rh3
62 e6 Rh2+, 63 Kf1 1-0

A fair days work is made even better when I discover that I am the only one of the 30+ players in the section to reach 2/2. Congresses aren't just about the chess, and we spent the evenings in the company of Brendan O'Gorman dining, drinking a little and studying action replays of our games, with special attention to the might-have-happened.
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Sat 3rd: ... then the game
Round 3, and its black against another old foe, Ivor Annetts (Tiverton). From memory I have a reasonable record against him, but that doesn't mean todays game will go my way.

Indeed as is his wont RR spent much of the first half of the game under pressure with a knight on the rim at a5 doing its best not to be dim from move 13 onwards. We join the game much later, just before the critical point.
Ivor Annetts v RR after 30 cxb5

Blacks pawn structure is not exactly a must have accessory, but he does have a backward pawn to play against and a knight rather than bishop to combine with his rooks.. Beginning to think of offering a draw.

31 Rb4 Rdc8, 32 Rc1 Nc4, 33 Be2 Nd6, 34 c4 with offer of draw.

The offer was made in such a way that it was clear that Ivor was unaware that he had just blundered a pawn. RR declined the offer:

34 ... bxc4, 35 Rxb8 Rxb8 and white cannot take on c4 with the bishop because of the pinning reply of Rc8.

The rest as the saying goes was technique, even if the technique was a bit dodgy in places. The resignation came instead of a move 59.

Back to white in round 4, with Julian Taylor (Rose Foregrove, Leeds) in opposition.

RR v Julian Taylor after 7 0-0

A typical nondescript opening soon led to the position shown.
7 ... Ne4 Looks like a man intending to swap material on the long diagonal. Maybe this will lead to a draw. Maybe this is what he wants. But I'm not afraid of grinding away looking for a small advantage if that's the route he chooses to take.
8 Qc2 Bf6, 9 d3 Bxb2, 10 Qxb2 Qf6, 11 Qxf6 Nexf6
12 Nc3 c6, 13 d4 Re8, 14 Rac1 dxc4, 15 Bxc4
RR v Julian Taylor after 15 Bxc4

15 ... b5 Don't mind if you do. Regular readers will know I am fond of opponents backward pawns on half open files
16 Bd3 Bb7, 17 Ne4 Nxe4, 18 Bxe4 Rac8, 19 Bd3 Nf6
20 Ne5 Red8, 21 Rc5 Nd7

RR is more than happy to remove the knights - blacks is his only piece with any freedom.

22 Nxd7 Rxd7, 23 Be4 f5, 24 Bf3 g5, 25 Rfc1 Rdc7
RR v Julian Taylor after 25 ... Rdc7

26 g3 At the time I didn't consider g4 instead of g3, though looking at the game again it was the first move I thought of here.
26 ... g4, 27 Be2 Kf7 (a6 would save the pawn for the time being but black is so tied down that it is unlikely to have made a difference.)
28 Bxb5 Kf6, 29 Bd3 h5, 30 Bf1 h4, 31 Bg2 hxg3
32 fxg3 Ke7, 33 b4 Kd6, 34 b5 a6, 35 b6 Rh7

It is apparent that I cannot increase the pressure on the queenside further, so I should now be opening up the centre with e4. However I elect first to defend the h-pawn and then support the b-pawn. By the time I get to making the central break black has placed his rook in a better spot.

36 R1c2 Rh6, 37 a4 Rh7, 38 a5 Re7, 39 Re5 Rf7
40 Bh1 Rf6, 41 Rec5 Rf7, 42 e4 f4, 43 gxf4 Rxf5
44 Rg5 Rcf8, 45 Bg2 R8f7. I'd like to remove the rooks. Can't believe he'll want me around the back. e5+ would probably be better, but he is more likely to keep a pair of rooks on that way. So
46 Rg8
RR v Julian Taylor after 46 Rg8

46 ... Rf8 As I suspected!
47 Rxf8 Rxf8, 48 Rf2 Rxf2 yes! 49 e5+ 1-0
With the black king pushed backwards he has no play whatsoever. The g-pawn is doomed, so white has a simple stroll to victory if black continues.

Wow. 4/4 and a whole point clear. Target two reached (50%), with playing to my grade well in insight.
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Sun 4th: Moving Day
In the golf world the third day of play is often referred to as moving day as playings endeavour to reach a position from which they can strike for victory.

First up Jon Duckham (Tiverton).

This was a nearly game, notable for the players inability to come up with a telling plan in the queenless middlegame. One of the bigger decisions to make for RR was towards the end - see diagram.
Jon Duckham v RR after 32 Bxe5

32 ... Nd5 will surely lead to a dead opposite coloured bishop ending.
32 ... Bd5 could lead to a knight v bishop ending. Superficially with pawns on both wings this favours the bishop, but provided the knight can pick up the g4 pawn the f-pawn will surely die with the help of blacks superior king and black is clearly better. However RR disappointed his fans by opting for the former with hands shaken a move later.

I may have dropped my first half-point, but my lead remains a full point as I sit down with the white pieces at my disposal against Peter Jaszkiwsky from Kettering. Nothing much in it after 13 moves with RR's d4 knight compensating for his weakened pawn structure.
RR v Peter Jaszkiwsky after 13 ... Qb6

RR now elects to remove his king from possible exposure on the g1a7 diagonal.

14 Kh1 Nc5, 15 N2f3 Nfd7, 16 Rb1 Rac8, 17 g4 Qa6
18 Ne1 Bh4, 19 Ndf3 Bxe1, 20 Nxe1 Qb6, 21 Bd4 (b4 better as it resolves the queenside position. There is no question of black winning the pawn:
22 axb4 axb4, 23 Qxb4 bxg7)

21 ... Qd6, 22 Nf3
RR v Peter Jaszkiwsky after 22 Nf3

RR has spent several moves responding to Peter's tune, but in truth the manoevres have had little impact either way on the board. Whether the pressure of playing second fiddle on RR's nerves has had an effect is another story.

2 ... a4, 23 b4 No! Takes, and life is comfortable.
23 ... Nb3, 24 Rg1 Blacks b3 knight is doing remarkably little, so better to remove my bishop from the firing line.

24 ... Nxd4, 25 Nxd4 e5, 26 fxe5 Qxe5, 27 Rg3 Qc7
Time now to say a pawns a pawn and remove the a4 animal from circulation. However I'm feeling disconcertingly exposed (unnecessary feeling) and so am in attack at all costs mode. Silly.

28 g5 hxg5, 29 Rxg5 Nf6, 30 Qg1 Bg6
RR v Peter Jaszkiwsky after 30 ... Bg6

With the time control approaching RR is unable to switch his mindset to a sensible attacking mode and comes up with the weak
31 Bf3 Qd7, 32 Bg4 (even worse) Nxg4
33 Rxg4 Rc3, 34 Ne2 (too late) Rxd3, 35 Rxg6 fxg6
36 Nf4 Rd2, 37 Nxg6 Qe6, 38 Nf4 Qe4+, 39 Ng2 Rxg2 0-1
Strangely the more I look at this loss the less bad I feel about it as it is apparent that more than anything it was attributable to unjustified panic.

So for RR day three was a moving backwards day. However he still owned a share of the lead with which to enter the final round.
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Mon 5th: Last Round
The task ahead of RR was clear. Sharing the lead with Peter J half a point clear of a handful of players, a win would guarantee at least a share of first, a draw at least a share of second, but defeat might see me miss out on a prize altogether. For my opponent, John Nyman (Kings Head), this was a must win game. Such a result would give him at least joint second, otherwise he was likely to lose out on the main prize list. The same position pertained on the next board where Peter, level with me, was taking on one of a group of Dutch players who had come across for the congress and a pint or three of Guinness.

John Nyman v RR after 12 ... Bd7

We join the game with black suffering an unusual knight formation not helped by whites absent a-pawn. John went for a slow squeeze.
13 c5 N6d5, 14 Ne4 Bc6, 15 Ne5 Qc7, 16 Bf3 h6 This really is not good enough by RR. Either start undermining on the queenside with b6 or challenge the knights with f6.

17 Qd2 Rfd8, 18 Ra3 Bb5, 19 Rc1 Nc6, 20 Nd6 Nxe5
21 dxe5 Bc6, 22 Bh5 Rf8, 23 Rg3 Kh8, 24 Rc4 f5
John Nyman v RR after 21 ... f5

25 Rg6 f4 (Qe7 holds the fort a little longer, but it is grovelling around.
26 Rxe6 Qd7, 27 Bg4 Qd8. At least I've persuaded white's bishop to move away from f7.
28 Qd3 Qa5 Wow!. RR has found a mate threat. Easily countered.
29 Rc1 f3, 30 g3 Qb4

It is worth pointing out that we are now both running short of time having maybe two or three minutes for six moves to the intermediate time control.
John Nyman v RR after 30 ... Qb4

31 Bxf3 A natural looking response to the fork, though after Qxb2 the bishop will be pinned against the f-pawn. However RR is also short of time and believes he needs to play complicating moves:

31 ... Nf4, 32 gxf4 Qxf4, 33 Rc3 removing it from attack by the queen and providing further support to the bishop, though Rc4 would be much better.

33 ... Qg5+, 34 Kf1 Bxf3, 35 Qg6 Qd2, 36 Rxf3 Qd1+ and the time control is made with what appears to be a combined total of less than 20 seconds on the clock. White can be forgiven for playing on as he will still have a central passed pawn for the exchange and hopes perhaps that removing the queens can lead to another turn in fortunes.

37 Kg2 Qxf3+, 38 Kg1 Qxf2+, 39 Kh1 Qe1+, 40 Kg2 Qf1+
41 Kg3 Qf2+ missing the mate in two starting Rf3+, but John has had enough anyway. 0-1

On the adjacent board Peter J looked to be having the worse of a draw, so it came to pass that RR was the outright winner of the section.
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Tue 6th: March report
First division
H C Kings 6 5 0 1 10
Newcastle A 5 3 0 2 6
Cheddleton A 5 2 0 3 4
Stafford A 6 1 0 5 2
Second division
Meir A 16 8 5 3 21
Macclesfield 15 7 7 1 21
Newcastle B 14 9 1 4 19
Cheddleton B 12 8 3 1 19
Newcastle C 14 6 3 5 15
Alsager A 14 6 3 5 15
Stafford B 14 5 3 6 13
H C Knights 13 1 4 8 6
H C Rooks 14 2 2 10 6
Fenton A 14 1 3 10 5
Third division
Cheddleton C 9 7 1 1 15
Cheddleton D 9 6 1 2 13
Fenton B 9 3 4 2 10
Kidsgrove A 9 2 4 3 8
H C Pawns 10 1 3 6 5
Alsager B 8 1 1 6 3
Fourth division
Fenton C 10 8 2 0 18
Newcastle D 12 6 2 4 14
Cheddleton E 9 3 2 4 8
Meir B 12 3 1 8 7
Kidsgrove B 11 3 1 7 7
Fifth division
Fenton D 9 6 2 1 14
Cheddleton F 10 5 2 3 12
Meir C 10 4 3 3 11
Cheddleton H 8 4 1 3 9
Cheddleton G 10 4 1 5 9
Newcastle E 9 2 4 3 8
Hassell 10 1 1 8 3
Having been away for Easter my monthly report comes a few days late. I'm also writing this before catching up on Newcastle's match at Stafford at the end of last month as well as my games at the Easter congress at Exmouth. If when reading this it is the first article of the month I am clearly still behind, if not then I have filled in the congress (now see above!) and my Stafford game which will now be found at the end of the March page.

The fixtures were designed so that only the largest divisions, 2 and 5, need to continue beyond this point. But that was not taking into account the great British weather which this winter has elected to be particularly bad on Wednesdays and Fridays. Consequently there is still some tidying up to do in the other divisions too.

Holmes Chapel Kings have been confirmed as first division champions, whilst Stafford A prop up the table despite picking up a belated win.

Cheddleton B and defending champions Macclesfield both lost their first matches of the season in March, but with Macclesfield also racking up draws Cheddleton B must now be considered favourites, though not yet hot ones.
Between them the Newcastle teams won all five matches played, and this enabled the C team to bridge the gap that had separated the top and bottom halves of the division. The prominent gap now is that which separates the bottom three from the rest, and I feel safe in predicting that this gap will not be closed.
Although Meir currently top the pile my 1-2-3 predictions are Cheddleton, Macclesfield and Newcastle B.

The Cheddleton teams have led division three from start to (near) finish, their C team being safely ensconced as at least joint champions with only their D team able to join them.

Fenton C are the leagues only unbeaten team, and are clear winners of division four, so far conceding just two draws. Despite Fenton's dominance, the fourth is also the only division in which all teams have picked up at least a quarter of the points available to them. No whipping boys here.

Fenton in the shape of their D team also sit atop of division five, with games running out for others to catch them. Hassell bring up the rear, but with a selection policy skewed towards spreading league experience around rather than fielding the strongest possible team this is no disgrace.

North Staffs representation has been good within the various county teams, and with the Midlands stages now complete qualification for the national stage is known. And a good picture it is for Staffordshire. The Open team are Midlands Champions, the U160 and U140 sides qualify on split ties as runners up, and the Bulldogs based in the south of the county, are U120 champions. At the U120 level North Staffs players tend to turn out for the Terriers whose series of near misses left them adrift with a single point in the six team table. Yet one game point more in each of their matches and they rather than the Bulldogs would have been champions.
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Wed 7th: Back and forth
Back to league chess, and a tricky match at home to Holmes Chapel Knights, not made any easier by Alex' absence due to illness. RR and the rest of the team all moved up a board with Paul kindly agreeing at short notice to complete the side. Ian Chester was my immediate opponent, against whom I have already had at least one lucky escape. Again he started like a man meaning business, and RR once more elected to forget the bit about equalising.
Ian Chester v RR after 6 Bg5

The sane continuation is presumably Be7, but RR with his wierdly wired brain selected:

6 ... Bb4+, 7 Nc3 Bxc3+, 8 bxc3 f6
(8 ... Qd7, 9 Ne5 Qa4, 10 Qh5 looks rather good for white. Mind you, the text move hardly favours black either!)

9 Bc1 0-0, 10 c5 (generously allowing the knight into the game)
10 ... Nd5, 11 Qc2 No need to protect the c3 pawn.
11 Bd3 Nxc3, 12 Qc2 is clearly good for white.

11 ... Qe7 Black should really be trying to take advantage of white's uncastle position with an immediate e5.

12 Bd3 g6, 13 Bh6 Rf7, 14 h4
Ian Chester v RR after 14 h4

There are already serious doubts about the health of the black king.

14 ... e5, 15 0-0-0 Bf5 Bg4 is a more obvious attempt to slow the attack.

16 Bxf5 gxf5, 17 Qxf5
(17 dxe5 c6, 18 Qxf5 Na6 - to prevent the unpleasant Qc8+ - allows white to do nasty things to the rook with e6. In this line
18 ... Qe8, 19 e6 Re7, 20 Rh3 with threats down the g-file is no nicer for black)

17 ... Nc6, 18 c4 Nc3, 19 Rd2 exd4 and somehow black has reached a playable position.

20 Qg4+ Kh8, 21 Qh5
Ian Chester v RR after 21 Qh5

As often happens after being under the cosh, RR fails to recognise the strength of his position and goes for a queen exchange to extinquish whites kingside hopes rather than launching his own attack. Hence instead of Qe6, winning the c-pawn and endangering the life of the white king, he tamely chooses
21 ... Qe4, 22 Rb2 (not the best defence to the mate threat of Qb1 as it allows Nb4 with knight forks to follow)

22 ... Qg6 fixated on removing the queens, so blind to the merits of Nb4
23 Qxg6 hxg6, 24 Rd2 (A later Nxd4 Nxd4, Rxd4 Ne2+ does not upset black)
24 ... Ne5 (does either player wish to win?)
25 Nxd4 Na4 (Ne4 and take the f-pawn, which isn't defended by the rook because of the other knight)
26 Rc2 Nxc5, 27 Nb3 Ncd3+, 28 Kb1 Nb4, 29 Rc3 Rd8
30 Be3 a6, 31 a3 Nbc6, 32 Kc2 b6, 33 h5 g5
34 f4 Ng4, 35 fxg5 fxg5, 36 Rd1 Nxe3+, 37 Rxe3 Rf2+
38 Rd2 Rdxd2+, 39 Nxd2 Rxg2 and RR has emerged a pawn up with his knight conveniently covering e7.

40 Kc3 Rh2, 41 Rg3 (if the knight is hit with Re6 black first plays Rh3+ to force the white king back and release a square for the aforementioned knight.)
41 ... Rxh5, 42 Ne4 Kg7, 43 Nxg5 Kf6, 44 Ne4+ Ke5
45 Re3 Kf4, 46 Nf6 Ra5, 47 Nd5+ Rxd5 0-1
48 cxd5 Kxe3, 49 dxc6 Ke4 and white cannot save his c-pawn, leaving black with a trivially won ending.

Elsewhere Pete had won quickly, John had salveged a draw from an highly uncomfortable position, and Nic had grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. This left Paul to offer a draw in a won position (though he may well not have had time to complete the win) to leave us with a 3 - 2 match win.
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Mon 12th: The Monday Match
Welcome to the Monday Match featuring Steve Hill v RR, with special guest summarizer Kammy. We've missed the start, so we'll get Kammy to fill us in
Steve Hill v RR after 12 ... Rac8

Kammy: "It's unbelievable Jeff, but nothing has happened. Well they've swapped off a pair of bishops, but otherwise nothings happened. Everything is covered. Why ask me to do this board Jeff? I can see Pete Shaw is already shoving his central pawns and Steve Gregory doesn't like it a bit. They don't like having central pawns shoved up 'em these Meir players. Mark my word Pete is going to win at least a piece. And on top board Alex has given up a fianchettoed bishop for a knight against Mark Handley whose position looks a bigger mess than Merson's English. But you've got me watching this."

13 Ng5 g6 (h6 is more natural, propably more sensible and would definitely have given us a different game. However RR decided to have a dark-coloured escape square for his king to reduce his chances of falling into simple traps involving white's bishop.)
14 Nde4 cxd4, 15 exd4 d5 looking to create an isolated pawn
16 Nxf6+ Nxf6, 17 Qe2 dxc4, 18 Bxc4
Steve Hill v RR after 18 Bxc4

Although white now has threats on the e6 pawn starting with Nxe6 RR stops this and blockades the isolated pawn. Note that taking the e6 pawn with the bishop (after a non-move by black) doesn't work for white as black has Qxc1. I'll leave the reader to calculate the material losses involved for white to avoid being mated on the back rank.

18 ... Bd5, 19 Qe5 Qd8
Kammy: "Its unbelievable Jeff. RR could have won a pawn
19 ... Qxe5, 20 dxe5 Bxc4, 21 exf6 Bxa2
The man who virtually invented the phrase 'win a pawn, win the game' has missed the chance to take a pawn. White's a-pawn should be no more, dead, gone to meet his maker. But RR hasn't taken it."

Jeff: "But wouldn't white then just play Ra1 and win the pawn back?"

Kammy: "No, Jeff. RR now plays Bb3 hitting the other rook. And if Rd3, the bishop retreats to d5 and white still can't take the pawn because of the back rank mate."

20 Ba6 Rxc1, 21 Rxc1 h6, 22 Rc8 Qxc8
Steve Hill v RR after 22 Rc8

Kammy: "Its unbelievable Jeff. RR is giving up his queen for rook and bishop. He didn't have to. He could just play Qe7 and meet Rc7 with Nd7 hitting the white queen. Some sort of swap off and things are pretty even. This game is hotting up Jeff."

23 Bxc8 Rxc8, 24 h3 Rc1+, 25 Kh2 hxg5, 26 Qxf6 Rc2

An unthinking check by white could lead to trouble - he cannot allow his f-pawn to fall because of the resulting weakness of the g-pawn. The basic idea behind the recent exchanges from blacks point of view is that at least one pawn will drop on the queenside and white's queen will have a lot of work to do with no pieces to provide support. There is a small flaw in this.

27 b3

Kammy: "He's hit the woodwork! Its unbelievable Jeff. Steve Hill is getting tired. He reached for the b-pawn, but only had enough energy to move it to the third. What a difference it would have been if he had moved it to the fourth. White wants to mate on g7 with the help of the king. Would RR have noticed in time? Would he have found a way to stop it. I don't know Jeff. I really don't know."

27 ... Rxa2, 28 Kg3 Bxb3, 29 Kg4 Ra5, 30 g3
Steve Hill v RR after 30 g3

30 ... Rd5
Kammy: "Jeff, RR has missed another chance to win a pawn:
30 ... Bd1+, 31 f3 Rf5, 32 Qd8+ Kg7, 33 h4 Bxf3+
Pawn gone and Steve's king is surrounded by the enemy. I can't believe RR didn't play this. Its unbelievable Jeff."

31 h4 gxh4, 32 gxh4 a5, 33 Qe7 b5

Kammy: "Its unbelievable Jeff. My grannie could have taken that pawn. Rxd4+. Simple. RR really is a second division striker Jeff. You've got to score when you're ahead. And he's not. He's obviously fixated on his queenside pawns."

34 Qb4 b5, 35 Kf3 Bc4, 36 Qc3
Steve Hill v RR after 36 Qc3

36 ... Rf5+

Kammy: "Its unbelievable Jeff. RR has missed again. e5 not Rf5+. The d-pawn is pinned against a forking square"

Jeff: "I'm glad I'm not pinned against a forking square."

Kammy: "But he wins a pawn Jeff. He takes the d-pawn next go. He wins a pawn. Then he'll have a mobile d-pawn as well as passed a- and b-pawns. That must have been enough. I can't believe the game is not over. Its unbelievable Jeff."

37 Kg3=

Kammy: "Steve has offered a draw. RR has turned it down"

During the next phase of the game RR has to be careful of discovered checks on the long diagonal, and threats of perpetual check. Steve meanwhile is running short of time (RR doesn't have enough for a real big think either), and is determined to hassle black at every opportunity.

37 ... Bd5, 38 f4 Bc4, 39 Qb4 Rd5, 40 Qc3 Rd8
41 h5 gxh5, 42 Kh4 Rd5, 43 Qg3+ Kh7, 44 Qc3 Kh8
45 Qb4 Kg7, 46 Qc3 Be2, 47 Kg3 Kf6, 48 Kf2 Bd1
49 Ke3 Bg4, 50 Qb4 Kg7, 51 Qe7 Bd1, 52 Qb4 h4

Kammy: "Its unbelievable Jeff. After all his chances, it is RR who has dropped a pawn"

But it does enable me to make more queenside advances.

53 Qe1 Bc2, 54 Qxh4 b4, 55 Qg3+ Bg6, 56 Qe1 b3, 57 Qb4 Bc2

Kammy: "Its unbelievable Jeff. RR has gone wrong again. He needed Rh5, then Rh7 to support the b-pawn. Steve can't take the a-pawn otherwise the b-pawn queens. RR has found the only move to let Steve take the a-pawn. Incredible"

58 Qa3
Kammy: "Steve hasn't taken the a-pawn. Its unbelievable Jeff."

58 ... Rb5, 59 Qb2 Kg6, 60 Kd2 a3, 61 Qxa3 b2 62 Qg3+ Kh7, 63 Qh4+ Kg7, 64 Qg4+ Bg6 0-1

Kammy: "Its unbelievable Jeff. How can RR miss so many chances and still win? Unbelievable."
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Fri 16th: Election
Last nights televised debate was not much help to readers undecided as to which party to support in the forthcoming General Election as for some reason all references to chess were edited out. However help is at hand as RR has pored over the various manifestos to extract the important bits for you:

Labour
We are very concerned about the number of pawns who have to eke out an existence in the later stages of games isolated from support from friends or neighbours. We would provide free support for all isolated pawns no longer able to care for themselves.

Commercial organisations are allowing DVDs containing millions of games to circulate freely. We will work with our European partners to put a stop to this practice.

We shall enhance the status of our leading libraries by requiring every player to submit the score of each game played to the British Library, the Bodleian and the Cambridge University Library. To ensure authenticity these must be originals recorded during play rather than copies made later. This will require the repeal of the 5 minute rule allowing players to cease recording when having less than five minutes on their clocks, but is a small price to pay for maintaining the supremacy of the archives of these libraries.

Conservative
We would stop MPs flipping castles and give the house a free vote on hanging pawns.

There are too many short draws with neither player breaking sweat is having an adverse effect on the health of the nation. We believe that every player should complete one game of at least thirty moves every week, and if elected will investigate the best way of achieving this.

We would break the stranglehold of the Unions by providing support to those counties wishing to play in he 4NCL.

Lib Dems
After 13 years of Labour rule the gap between queens and pawns is as great as ever. We would work towards closing the gap by allowing pawns always to move two squares. As an interim measure we would allow the current second square option on the first move to be made diagonally to effect a capture. It is typical of Tory wishes to defend privilege that their response to these proposals is to point out that our interim plans allow pawns to have some knightlike moves.

Adjudication, an ancient form of completing games, is falling into disuse. We will seek to preserve this ancient custom for our children's benefit by requiring every council to appoint an Officer for the promotion of Adjudications on a salary of not less than £40k.

The information commissioner will be responsible for ensuring all requests for opponents plans are dealt with in a timely manner.

SNP
We will reduce game fee for those using the Scotch, to be paid for by a surcharge on those employing the English.

Plaid Cymru
We would pass legislation to force all games to be dual recorded in Welsh as well as any other notation. Players found in possession of single language versions of Fritz or Rybka (or using them in single language mode) will be liable to fines of up to £50000 or 6 months in prison.

UKIP
The EU has far too much influence on our game. The game is being taken over by French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Austrian and even Scandinavians. We would have a referendum offering the option of not recognising as chess those games using non-British openings.

Greens
We are very concerned about 'cloning' to create doubled pawns. We will form a Royal Commission to look into this problem, and in particular to discover whether the practice of diagonal capture is responsible.

BNP
We would work tirelessly to maintain the natural order of things in which white wins and black loses.
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Sat 17th: Jumping Jack
Many of the games reported here come under the theme of "Dodging the Bullets" as against the odds RR's opponents find ways of not finishing him off. For more sensible play I have looked elsewhere and found this game played in the U100 section of the Newcastle Mini Congress. We join play with plenty of material on the board despite having reached move 18. No swapping everything off at the slightest sign of provocation here. So who owns the queenside - white with his space advantage or black with rooks in place?
Jack Healings v Derek Whitehurst
after 18 Qc2

Finding moves in such positions can be hard. Derek is ready to take the a-file should Jack advance the b-pawn.
18 ... Ra8, 19 c5 Qd8 One way of handling cramped positions is to swap material off so that the lack of space for manoeuvre is less important. Derek prepares to do this. However in this case c6 preparing to embarrass the white queen on the same file as a black rook is superior.

20 Rac1 Nh4, 21 Qb3 Slower than taking the knight himself, but it does remove the queen from the c-file to leave the way clear for the rooks.
21 ... Nxf3, 22 Qxf3 Bg5, 23 Bxg5 Qxg5, 24 a3 Rab8
25 Rc3 Qf6, 26 Qd3 Qg6, 27 Rec1 h5 Not best, but it is difficult to come up with a way of countering white's c-file dominance.
Jack Healings v Derek Whitehurst
after 27 ... h5

With rooks doubled Jack judges it is time to open up lines of attack:
28 cxd6 Qxd6, 29 b5 Kf8 The king starts to come across, anticipating major exchanges resulting in a passed pawn to halt.

30 bxa6 bxa6, 31 Qe3 An immediate Rc6 is very effective, though this move has future uses.

31 ... Rb7 More protection for the c-pawn and preventing Qa7. Jack uses this to enable him to exchange the knights, his own having sat on the rim for some time.

32 Nc5 Nxc5, 33 Rxc5 Rcb8 A natural doubling of rooks on an open file

34 Rc6 Qe7, 35 d6 More aggressive than the materialistic Rxa6

35 ... Qd7, 36 dxc7 Rc8, 37 Qc5+ Kg8
38 Qxe5 Rb5, 39 Qd6 Qxd6, 40 Rxd6 1-0
Jack Healings v Derek Whitehurst
Final position after 40 Rxd6

With Rd8 threatened, black has no way of avoiding serious material loss.

Jack is in his second season playing for Cheddleton in the league and still has many years as a junior ahead of him. Bottom seed in the congress, this win enabled him to pick up the kangaroo prize - more normally known as a slow starter prize in other congresses and responsible for the title of this article.

Derek is old enough to have downed his fair share of pints, but in chess terms is less experienced than Jack as he has only joined Fenton this year.

Many low graded players swap material at virtually every opportunity in the misguided belief that this guarantees at least a draw. Stronger players like this, as it gives them the chance to simplify to a materialistically equal but positionally won endgame in a risk free manner. By allowing tension to build these two have generated a more interesting game and are adapting a style which in due course will allow them to trouble stronger opponents.

Yes, it is possible to find stronger continuations than those played, but the same is true of RR's games, and he is nearly 100 grading points stronger than this pair. It is also fair to say that Jack won because of his co-ordinated queenside attack rather than through superior opening preparation. Opening knowledge means that early in the game you should place your pieces on sensible squares, but as the number of people who confess to having difficulty with the transition from opening to middle game testifies, it is the ability to generate a plan that suits the position that separates the good from the merely competent.
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