Look before you leap

When faced with an obvious good move, it often helps to see if you have an even better one. This was clearly demonstrated in a game at street chess today, when one of the younger competitors though he was winning a rook against one of out older competitors.
While the knight fork on c2 was certainly tempting, if Black had taken a couple of deep breaths, he might have found the even stronger 7... Bxc2! 8.Qe2 Nd3+ forcing White to give up a queen for 2 pieces. Instead Black could not retrieve his knight and White eventually went on to win.
Of course this all could have been avoided if White had played 7.Bb5+ c6 8.Ba4, which is a standard idea in this type of position.

Hellman,Oscar - Cheng,Jerry [D00]
Street Chess ICCF, 29.02.2020

1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. f4 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. h3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Nb4 7. g4 Nxc2+ ( 7... Bxc2 8. Qe2 Nd3+ 9. Qxd3 Bxd3 10. Bxd3 ) 8. Ke2 Nxa1 9. gxf5 exf5 and White won 1-0

At last the 1948 show

The 2019 FIDE Congress is finally underway, and like most FIDE Congresses (in non election years anyway), it has been a fairly peaceful affair. The main item on the agenda was the approval of a new set of statutes, to reflect the new governance that FIDE plans to operate under.
Probably the major change is the introduction of Presidential term limits. FIDE Presidents can now only serve a total of two 4 year terms in that role. The schedule for elected commissions has also been changed , so that they are now elected 2 years after the Presidential elections.
Despite some mutterings from some federations that they would oppose its approval, the General Assembly voted 110-1 (with 1 abstention) in favour of the new statutes (apparently Wales was the only no vote). 
As this was the major business conducted at the Congress, I'm assuming the real implementation work will be done at the next Congress in August 2020. It will be interesting to see how the new commission structure has worked since 2018, especially in terms of promises made, and promises kept.

Develop, sac, mate

Here is another example of turning a lead in development into a rapid mating attack. While Black indulges in a bit of pawn grabbing, White completes his development. He then opens up the position with a piece sacrifice, before checkmating the Black king.


Spielmann,Rudolf - Flamberg,Alexander [C29]
Mannheim (42), 1914

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Qe2 Nc5 7. d4 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Qh4+ 9. g3 Qxd4 10. Be3 Qxe5 11. O-O-O c6 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Rxd5 Qe6 14. Bc4 Qe4 15. Bxc5 Qxf3 16. Re1+ Be7 17. Rxe7+ Kf8 18. Rd8# 1-0

A trick you shouldn't miss (but I did)

It has been said that Knight and Pawn endings are juts pawn endings with an extra piece. The rules for winning (or drawing) are basically the same (create outside passed pawns, centralise your king etc), with there are a couple of tactical components that pure pawn endings don't have.
In a game I played at the (new) Gungahlin Chess Club last night, I failed to spot one of this tactical tricks, although I was able to spot another.
I had simplified into a minor piece ending a pawn up, and had then won a second pawn on move 47 (Knight fork!). On move 50 my opponent played Nf5 and I thought my h pawn was dropping (NB we were both in time trouble at this stage). I chose to exchange bishops, figuring that one extra pawn should be enough to win (which it was). What I missed was 50 ... h5!. If 51.gxh5 the Knight goes, while if 51.Bxg5 hxg4+ 52.Kxg4 Nf2+ wins a piece. While I am not certain, I think I've either seen or had this trick played against me before, so it is something I should have found.
By the way, there was one last tactic in the ending that I had planned to play, but in the end chose not to. On move 64 I had planned to win by 64 ... b4 65.Kb5 Nc6! when the knight is safe as 66.Kxc6 g4 67.Nd2 Ke5! results in one or other of the pawns queening.


Radisich,Matt - Press,Shaun [C22]
Rama Memorial, 25.02.2020

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 d6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bd2 Be6 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Ng5 Qe7 12. Qh3 Rae8 13. Rfe1 Nd4 14. Rac1 h6 15. Nf3 Nxf3+ 16. Qxf3 Nh5 17. Qg4 Kh7 18. Rf1 Rf7 19. f4 Ref8 20. Rce1 Qd7 21. Kh1 Nf6 22. Qe2 Ng8 23. Qg4 g5 24. f5 exf5 25. exf5 Rxf5 26. Qe4 Kh8 27. Rxf5 Qxf5 28. Qxf5 Rxf5 29. Kg1 a6 30. Re8 Kh7 31. g4 Bd4+ 32. Be3 Re5 33. Rxe5 Bxe5 34. Bd2 Ne7 35. b3 Nc6 36. Nd5 Nd4 37. Kg2 c6 38. Ne3 d5 39. c3 Ne2 40. c4 Nf4+ 41. Kf3 Kg7 42. cxd5 Nxd5 43. Nf1 b5 44. Ke4 Kf6 45. h3 Ke6 46. Kd3 Nf4+ 47. Ke4 Nxh3 48. Ne3 Nf2+ 49. Kf3 Nd3 50. Nf5 Bf4 51. Bxf4 Nxf4 52. Nxh6 Nd3 53. a3 Ne1+ 54. Ke4 Nc2 55. a4 Na1 56. axb5 cxb5 57. b4 Nc2 58. Nf5 Nxb4 59. Nd4+ Kf6 60. Nb3 Nc6 61. Kd5 Ne5 62. Kc5 Nxg4 63. Kb6 Ne5 64. Kxa6 Nf3 65. Kxb5 Ke5 66. Nc1 Ke4 67. Ne2 Nd4+ 0-1

2020 Dubbo Open - 28th and 29th March 2020

The 20th Dubbo Open is being hold on the weekend of the 28th and 29th March 2020. As usual it will be a 6 round event with a time limit of 60m+10s increment. There will be 3 rounds on Saturday and 3 round Sunday.
The venue is the Dubbo RSL Club, with registration open from 9:30am on Saturday. As this is the 20th anniversary tournament, the organisers are hoping to attract a large field of past players, and past champions. This years event has a very impressive first prize of $750, with plenty of other prizes on offer.

Short v Hort

A blast from the past occurred at this years Bunratty Masters tournament, when GM Nigel Short faced GM Vlastimil Hort in round 3. They first played each other almost 40 years ago, when Hort was already established as one of the worlds top players, and Short was the rising star.
These days Hort is one of the elder statesmen of chess, as both a player and commentator. Short is now a FIDE Vice-President, but is also still active over the board. Indeed, after beating Hort in the following game, he went on to win the tournament with 5/6.


Short,Nigel - Hort,Vlastimil [C67]
Bunratty Masters, 22.02.2020

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. dxe5 Nb7 8. Re1 Be7 9. Nd4 O-O 10. Nc3 f6 11. Bf4 c5 12. Nd5 fxe5 13. Bxe5 Bd6 14. Nf5 Bxe5 15. Rxe5 a5 16. Qg4 g6 17. Nde7+ Kh8 18. Nxg6+ hxg6 19. Qxg6 Ra6 20. Qg7# 1-0

Smurfing

The practice of strong gamers playing under another identity (often masquerading as a newbie) is sometimes known as "smurfing". It happens in online games such as Starcraft, and now it has become news in the chess world.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen has engaged in a bit of this recently, winning a number of online events while hiding his identity. Starting off as "DannyTheDonkey" he quickly moved on the "DrDrunkenstein". Under these names (and a few others) he won a number of lichess.com events, often while live streaming the action. Importantly, he didn't try and pretend to be someone else (which may have raised some ethical issues), but simply left it up to others to guess who he was.
"Smurfing" is generally considered OK in the online gaming community, as long as it isn't used to gain an otherwise unfair advantage (eg creating accounts to throw games to other players). Usually it is done as a kind of challenge, where a player starts off with a low ranking and then sees how quickly they gain build it up again. It is even used in games like Poker, where a strong players starts an online account with $1 in it, and sees how long it takes to earn $100,000!
The full glorious story is available here, and is well worth a read. If anything, it may encourage more players to enter events like this, as playing an anonymous Carlsen may just lead to your "fifteen minutes of fame".

The crazy big centre

In a follow up to an earlier post about failing to push both the e and d pawns, here is a recent game where Black gets steamrolled by White's big centre. The opening is "almost" a Grunfeld, but the move order meant that Black had no opportunity to trade knights on c3. As a result the pawn centre has grater mobility, and after only 10 moves, Black is almost lost.


Thybo,Jesper Sondergaard (2592) - Scheidegger,U (1741) [A15]
19th Burgdorf Open 2020 Burgdorf SUI (1.3), 14.02.2020

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. d4 g6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. e5 Nfd7 9. e6 Nb6 10. exf7+ Kh8 11. Bb3 e6 12. h4 Rxf7 13. h5 gxh5 14. Ng5 Rf5 15. Qxh5 1-0

Are chess clubs dying?

In the Internet age, the conventional wisdom is that chess clubs struggle for members. The attraction of playing from home, and choosing when you play, looks like a better option, at least on the surface. This article from Port Macquarie certainly takes that tack when discussing the decline in numbers at the local chess clubs.
While this may be the case in that area, numbers in the chess clubs in Canberra seem to be going in the other direction. For a number of years the situation was that any two local clubs would be doing well, while the others would struggle. But over the last year, all the clubs in Canberra (Tuggeranong, Canberra, and Gungahlin) have attracted larger numbers of players. Attendances at Street Chess are also increasing (even with the entry fee increase) and other activities like the ANU Chess Society are attracting big numbers.
One of the reasons (at least in Canberra) is that people seem keen to move from social and online chess, to face to face chess. Rather than internet chess keeping people away from clubs, it is instead generating a new pool of players. The trick is to tap into this pool, using a good social media strategy. A good club website is a start, especially one that turns up via obvious search terms. (eg If you type "canberra chess" into google, the Canberra Chess Club page is the first link). Running a good email list (with weekly results) also helps, as it encourages members to keep playing. And if you want to go all out, Facebook and Twitter are also good ways of notifying potential new members of upcoming events.

I've seen this ending before

The game fragment below comes from "The Coldest Game", which is currently streaming on Netflix. It is the end of the first match game between Gavrylov and Mansky, with Mansky finding a brilliant combination to win the game.
When I saw it I immediately knew that it was based on a real ending, but for the moment, I cannot remember which game it came from. A position search in chessbase failed to find anything, but that probably means the arrangement of non critical pieces (the pawns on the kingside) don't match.
What is important is how Black forces through his pawn, sacrificing a rook and bishop, before ending the game with a seemingly quiet pawn move.


Gavrylov - Mansky
The Coldest Game, 1962

1...  Rd2 2. Na4 Rxb2 3. Nxb2 c3 4. Rxb6 c4 5. Rb4 a5 0-1

Getting caught on the crease

Early in my chess career I read some good general advice about pawn moves in the opening. "If you start with 1.e4, then your goal is to play d4, while if you start with 1.d4 your goal is to play e4".
While most general rules fall down in certain circumstances, getting your d pawn (or e pawn) stuck on the second rank can leave you in a bad way. In the best case you might lack pressure in the centre, or need a couple of extra moves to develop, while in the worst case, it obstructs your development and leaves a permanent weakness in your position.
As an example here is a game from when I was a lot younger. While White didn't seem interested in moving his d pawn I made sure I moved both my e and d pawns as quickly as possible. It didn't give me a winning position out of the opening, but it did help when my opponent got carried away with his attack and sacrificed more material than was sensible.


Ali,Mos - Press,Shaun [A03]
Tuggeranong CC, 24.10.1988

1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 Nbd7 6. Nc3 c6 7. g4 e5 8. g5 e4 9. Qe2 Ng8 10. b3 h6 11. Qh5 g6 12. Qh4 Bg7 13. Bb2 hxg5 14. Qxg5 Bf6 15. Qg2 Bh4+ 16. Kd1 Bf6 17. Be2 Nh6 18. h4 Nf5 19. h5 gxh5 20. Rxh5 Rxh5 21. Qg8+ Ke7 22. Ba3+ Ke6 23. Nxd5 cxd5 24. c4 Qxg8 25. cxd5+ Kxd5 26. Rc1 Rh1+ 0-1

Doing the Double

If my research is correct, the last player to win the Australian Championship and the Doeberl Cup in the same year was Ian Rogers, back in 1986. There may be instances when there was a shared first in both events, but in terms of players winning the title for both events (on countback), Rogers looks to be the most recent.
In recent years it has certainly become a much harder feat to achieve, as most of the Doeberl Cup champions have come from overseas. IM James Morris won the Doeberl in 2016, but before that Ian Rogers (2007) was the previous Australian winner.
This may change this year, with current Australian Champion Temur Kuybokarov the current top seed for the event. He has been in good form over the summer, and I expect him to be one of the clear favourites for first place. Nonetheless the Doeberl has always proved to be a tough tournament to win (especially in the 9 round format), so if does take out first place it will be an achievement worth noting.

Hackable

There are some openings that look "hackable" and there are some openings that are "hackable". The Pirc is an opening that is sometimes one then the other. Here is a quick win from the English 4NCL which at first glance looks like a smooth hack from around move 7, but on closer inspection, was probably salvageable for Black,  at least for a few more moves. The big mistake happened on move 12, when Whites attack really became unstoppable.


Hebden,Mark - Benhamida,Aisha [B08]
4NCL, 14.02.2020

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be3 O-O 6. Qd2 Nbd7 7. Bh6 a6 8. O-O-O Nb6 9. h3 Be6 10. Qg5 c6 11. Qh4 Qc7 12. Ng5 Nbd7 13. f4 Rfe8 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. e5 Nh5 16. g4 h6 17. Nxe6+ fxe6 18. gxh5 1-0

2020 ACT Championships

The first big FIDE rated event in Canberra for 2020 is taking place early next month. This is the 2020 ACT Chess Championships, and the details are

When: 6-9 March 2020 (Canberra Day Weekend)
Time control: 90 minutes 30 second increment

Format: 7 rounds FIDE Rated Swiss

Venue: Campbell High School, Treloar Crescent, Campbell

Organiser: Cam Cunningham

Arbiter: Shaun Press IA

Tie-Break: None (Shared title)

Prizes (including rating prizes): Dependant upon entries. (NB: Last years event had a prize pool of some $1600)

Entry Fees: $65 ($45 Concessionals)

ACTCA Membership: Non 2020 ACTCA/ACTJCL Members will need to join for 2020 ($25 Adult, $15 Junior)

To register (or to ask for more details): Please email camcunningham8@gmail.com

Rounds: 7 (Round 1 Friday evening, two rounds per day Saturday through Monday)

Friday (Round 1)
7:30pm
(Please come before 7pm, especially if you need to register and pay)

Saturday, Sunday and Monday Rounds
Morning 10:00am
Afternoon 2:30pm

The Coldest Game

Years ago I enjoyed watching the TV series "I Spy". It was about a pair of intelligence agents travelling the world posing as tennis players. While it looked like a plausible cover, I thought that travelling the world as a professional chess player would be a better one.
The new movie "The Coldest Game" takes that approach, within the context of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. American Professor Joshua Mansky is forced by the CIA to play the Soviet Champion Alexander Gavrylov in a USA v USSR match, while at the same time trying to contact a mole who has details of the Soviet missile movements.
It was released at the end of 2019 to generally good reviews, and is now available on Netflix. At this stage I haven't watched anything more than the trailers, but I plan to watch the whole thing in the next few days. Of course the chessplayer in me is most interested in whether they get the chess scenes right, but I don't mind a good spy movie, so even if they don't, it might still be worth watching.

When you're hot you're hot ...

Chess is most definitely a confidence game. If you think you are playing good chess, then often you play good chess. But when you decide that your'e not, then all sorts issues pop up. Tentative moves, missed defences, and talking yourself out of good lines are just some of the symptoms.
Now I don't know if this is the case with Sam Shankland in the following game, but after a good run over the last few years (including a US Championship), this might be a game he wishes to forget.


Vidit,Santosh Gujrathi (2721) - Shankland,Sam (2683) [E52]
Prague Chess Festival - Masters (1.4), 12.02.2020

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd2 b6 6. Nf3 Bb7 7. Bd3 d5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Rc1 Re8 10. Nb5 Nc6 11. O-O Bf8 12. a3 a6 13. Nc3 Bd6 14. b4 Nb8 15. Qb3 c6 16. Qb1 Bc8 17. e4 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19. Bxe4 h6 20. Rfd1 Ra7 21. Ne5 Rc7 22. h3 Qh4 23. Re1 Rce7 24. Bh7+ Kf8 25. Re4 Qf6 26. Rf4 Bxe5 27. Rxf6 Bxf6 28. Bf4 Bg5 29. Bd6 g6 30. Bxg6 fxg6 31. Qxg6 Nd7 32. Rc3 1-0

I don't think this year will be as good as the last

As noted previously, 2019 was quite a successful year for me as a chess player. I don't think this will be the case with 2020.
Instead of starting the year with an undefeated streak lasting almost 6 months, I have already lost a game, in only my third try. Playing Paul Dunn, I managed to drop a piece (and a pawn) to a two mover, and he carefully nursed the position to its inevitable conclusion. Having played Paul as far back as the late 1980's / early 1990's, this is actually the first time he has beaten me in a tournament game. When I checked with him to confirm this, his instant reply of 'Yes!' indicated he was well aware of this fact.
Of course I have plenty of time to turn this around, but I'm note sure that 2020 will see any great heroics from me over the board.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

The 2020 Indian Team Championship saw a curious incident when GM Adhiban Baskaran was defaulted for wearing a watch during the game. After 9 moves of his game against IM CRG Krishna, the game was stopped after Krishna noticed Adhiban wearing a watch, which was against the competition rules.
What complicated the decision was that Adhiban's watch was a good old fashioned analog watch, and was incapable of receiving or producing information. Why this type of watch was also banned (in India at least) had more to do with the difficulty on telling the difference between smart and non-smart watches, rather than any problem with the watch itself.
There have been a few similar incidents in the recent past, although they have involved smart watches. A game in the 2019 NSW Championship was ended when a player was found to be wearing a smart watch, while in the 2018 Chess Olympiad, I turned up to at least two games wearing my Garmin fitness watch and had to hurriedly hand it off to an arbiter before I was forfeited.
It is important to note that the FIDE Laws of Chess specifically mention electronic devices, and that analog watches aren't considered in that category. Back in 2010 the Rules Commission discussed the technology behind watches in FIDE rated events, and not only were watches permitted (at that time), but having a watch that produced a noise (like an alarm or beep) was not enough to default a player.

More central pawns

Following up on my earlier post about the London System, here is a similar treatment of the Colle System. The added bonus here is that White was Edgard Colle, playing his own system. His opponent (and winner of the game) was  M.E Goldstein, who was at one stage, an editor of Modern Chess Openings. Goldstein later moved to Australia, and was a regular participant in the Australian Championship.


Colle,Edgard - Goldstein,Maurice Edwards [D05]
Weston Super Mare Weston (1), 03.04.1926

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Qb6 7. O-O Be7 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Be7 12. Qc2 h6 13. Be3 Qc7 14. Rad1 O-O 15. Qc1 f5 16. Bb1 e5 17. Qc2 Be6 18. Rfe1 Rad8 19. Bf4 Rxd1 20. Qxd1 Bd6 21. Qd2 Re8 22. Rd1 Bf8 23. Be3 Rd8 24. Qc2 Rxd1+ 25. Qxd1 Qd6 26. Qc2 b6 27. h3 g6 28. b4 Bg7 29. a3 Qd5 30. Bc1 Kh7 31. Nd2 b5 32. Bb2 e4 33. c4 bxc4 34. Bxg7 Kxg7 35. Ba2 Ne5 36. Nf1 Qd3 37. Qa4 Qd4 38. Qe8 Bf7 39. Qe7 Nd3 40. Qc7 Qxf2+ 0-1

Has Basketball been solved?

If you were allowed to, would you play chess without a Queen, but with some extra pieces for compensation? For example, instead of a queen, you have two extra knights (on f3 and c3)? Or 2 extra bishops? Or is this not enough?
The reason for this question has more to do with Basketball than Chess. The Houston Rockets NBA Team has decided to play there most recent games with the traditional 7+ foot centre, instead trading height for speed. Despite criticism for this choice, they did beat the LA Lakers today in what is seen as a significant upset.
I suspect one of the reason for this approach is that their General Manager, Daryl Morey,  has a graduate degree from MIT, and a background in Computer Science and Statistics. It looks as though he has crunched the numbers (points per cm?) and decided that more value can be achieved with less resources.
So if you had the choice, instead of the traditional arrangement of pieces, what would you spend your 39 points on? All Queens? All Smalls? or something in between?

Bookfair 2020

Today was the first day of the 2020 Lifeline Bookfair in Canberra. I, as usual, was part of the queue that formed before it opened, hoping to pick up some second chess books.
This year there seemed to be quite a good collection and I even found a number that I don't already own (or so I thought). I ended up buying around half a dozen books, and in a first for me at the book fair, some quite recent issue of New in Chess magazine that someone was getting rid of.
Of course when I got home I realised I purchased a copy of a book I already did own, but that is always a risk for me, and I'd rather buy a duplicate, than miss out on a title that I really wanted.
The Bookfair runs until Sunday at EPIC Canberra, and there are still plenty of chess books left, if you are planning to make the journey.

Barden ends his streak

Leonard Barden has ended his world record streak of daily chess columns, announcing his retirement from his London Evening Standard column a few days ago. His streak of producing a column every day for over 63 years was not only a record for chess journalists, but is believed to be a world record for any type of journalist. To commemorate his retirement, I have found a game between Barden, and another legendary figure in English chess journalism, B.H. Wood.


Barden,Leonhard William - Wood,Baruch Harold [E85]
BCF-ch York (5), 1959

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 e5 6. Nge2 Nc6 7. Be3 O-O 8. d5 Ne7 9. Nc1 Ne8 10. b4 f5 11. Be2 Nf6 12. O-O f4 13. Bf2 g5 14. c5 Ng6 15. Nb3 h5 16. Rc1 Rf7 17. Na5 g4 18. Nb5 g3 19. hxg3 fxg3 20. Bxg3 h4 21. Bh2 Bh6 22. f4 Nxf4 23. Bxf4 Bxf4 24. Rxf4 exf4 25. e5 dxe5 26. Bc4 Bg4 27. Qe1 Nxd5 28. Nxb7 Qd7 29. Qxe5 Rf5 30. Bxd5+ Qxd5 31. Qxd5+ Rxd5 32. Nxc7 Rd7 33. Nxa8 Rxb7 34. Rc4 Rf7 35. c6 h3 36. gxh3 Bxh3 37. c7 Rf8 38. Rd4 Bc8 39. Rd8 Kf7 40. b5 Ke7 41. Rxf8 Kxf8 42. a4 Ke7 43. a5 Kd6 44. a6 Kd7 45. Kf2 Kd6 46. Kf3 Ke5 47. Kf2 Kd6 48. Kf3 Kd7 49. Kxf4 Kd6 50. Ke3 Kd7 51. Ke4 Kd6 52. Kd4 Bh3 53. b6 axb6 54. a7 1-0

A good start at Gungahlin

The new Gungahlin Chess Club got off to a successful start in 2020, with 24 players turning up for the Ramakrishna Memorial. Named after Gogulapati Ramakrishna, the tournament saw a good mix of strong established players, and up and coming juniors. While the top seeds won most of the first round matches, a number of them were forced to work hard before collecting the point.
The new venue (Eastlake Club, Gungahlin) was well received by the chess club members, with food and drink facilities an added bonus. I took advantage of "Taco Tuesday" to eat my fill before the round, and this may become a regular activity for me.
New players are welcome for subsequent rounds of this tournament. Full details can be found here.

Beer and Blitz

Despite the very high temperatures in Canberra, a group of 12 brave players took part in the first Beer and Blitz tournament yesterday. The event was held at (and sponsored by) The District in Crace, and organised by IA Alana Chibnall.
While a few of us went with the Beer part of the tournament, the rest concentrated on the Blitz, as the results probably showed. After losing her first game, organiser Alana Chibnall ran off 10 straight wins to finish in first place. In second place was Willis Lo on 9, followed by Harry Press on 8.
As is my usual practice in blitz events, I played as many gambit openings as I could. There were at least 3 King's Gambits, one Marshall (which was met by an anti-Marshall), and one Blackmar Diemar. Results did vary, as I only scored 6.5. I did win one game that I started with 1.a3!, and in another game, was gifted a point by an opponent dropped a queen to a knight fork (always capture towards the centre Matt!)
It was a fun tournament, and there are now plans to make it a regular (monthly) event.  Most likely it will be the first Sunday of the month, although that depends on what else is happening on those weekends.

The Casual Opponent

While the major purpose of a chess club is to organise competitions, they also serve as a place for casual games to take place. During my travels I've occasionally dropped into a chess club, and found myself playing a few "friendlies"  against the locals. Often my opponent (and their strength) is completely unknown to me, which makes the game even more of a challenge.
Of course I sometimes become the "local player" especially at Street Chess. This most recently occurred at the Canberra Chess Club, where I was serving as the "House Player". As there was no need for me to play last Wednesday evening, I instead played a quite interesting (and untimed) casual game instead.


Press,Shaun - Maz [B22]
Casual, 30.01.2020

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. cxd4 d6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Bb5 a6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 8. Nf3 Bg7 9. Qa4 Bd7 10. O-O Nf6 11. e5 dxe5 12. Nxe5 Nd5 13. Re1 e6 14. Ne4 O-O 15. Nc5 Be8 16. Bd2 Nb6 17. Qb4 a5 18. Qc3 Qd6 19. Nb7 Qc7 20. Nxa5 Nd5 21. Qc5 f6 22. Nexc6 Bf7 23. b4 Rfc8 24. b5 Bf8 25. Qc1 Bd6 26. g3 Qd7 27. Qb2 Bf8 28. Rac1 Nb6 29. Bb4 Bh6 30. Ne7+ Kg7 31. Nxc8 Bxc1 32. Nxb6 Bxb2 33. Nxd7 Bxd4 34. b6 1-0

The forking London System

Is there a more reviled opening than the London System? It seems to have replaced the Colle as the "goto" opening of players who are looking for an all in one system, and who don't mind a draw against higher rated opponents. As a result 2.Bf4 (or 2.Nf3 3.Bf4) is almost always met with a groan, or dirty look when it hits the board.
Of course one of the problems for players with the Black pieces is that don't bother to prepare against it. Like the English it is one of these openings you know you're going to face at some time, and yet, you don't treat it with the same seriousness as more mainline openings.
Of course Anti-London Systems have been around for years, if you know where to look. Flicking through the pages of "Masters of the Chessboard" by Richard Reti, I cam across the following game from 1908. Of course if you are looking for a magic bullet, this game probably isn't it, but it does demonstrate that with sensible development,  and having more pawns in the centre, there is nothing to be afraid of.


Marshall,Frank J - Rubinstein,Akiba [D02]
Lodz (39), 1908

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Bd3 Qb6 7. Qc1 Bd7 8. O-O Rc8 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. Rb1 O-O 11. Qd1 Rfd8 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Ne8 14. Qh5 f5 15. Rfe1 Bb5 16. Bc2 Qa6 17. Ra1 Bd3 18. Bd1 Qb6 19. Nb3 a5 20. Bf3 Be4 21. Re2 Nc7 22. Rd2 a4 23. Nc1 g6 24. Qh3 Kh8 25. Qh6 Bxf3 26. gxf3 g5 27. Bg3 d4 28. exd4 f4 29. Ne2 fxg3 30. hxg3 Qc6 31. Qh5 Rf8 32. Kg2 Qe8 33. Qg4 Qg6 34. Rh1 c4 35. Qe4 Kg7 36. Qxb7 Nd5 37. g4 Rxf3 38. Qxc8 Qe4 39. Kg1 Ne3 40. Ng3 Rxg3+ 41. fxg3 Qb1+ 42. Kf2 Nxg4+ 43. Ke2 Qe4+ 0-1