Leeds Chess Club

 Continuing my visits to various chess clubs in the UK, I went to the Leeds Chess Club yesterday evening.  It isn't the first time I have been there, having also visited in 2017.

The club meets at the West Riding Hotel in the centre of Leeds, and normally plays league chess plus casual chess when there are no league games. As the new league season has not started, the club arranged a 5 round rapid event (10m+2s) for the members. I was the arbiter, and 16 players took part. In a scene familiar with Street Chess players, we actually started with 10 players, and another 6 turned up after the first round had started.

The club is undergoing some rapid growth as a number of players were either new, or very recent sign ups. A couple were quite good, continuing the trend of online players moving to the over the board scene. Oliver Gill won the event with 5/5 (he was top seed), although he was made to work hard in a number of games.

So if you are in Leeds on a Wednesday evening (from 7pm) drop into the West Riding, for a pint, a plate of Pork Sausages and Mash, and an enjoyable evening of chess.

Wrong move, wrong moment

 For a long time the Sicilian Dragon was considered a 'brave choice', with all the implied risk that 'brave' denotes. One of the reasons is that white's attacking plan is fairly straightforward (at least according to Fischer) while Black has to avoid getting mated before their strategic goals can be realised.

That is, unless you misplay your opening prep ...

Nepomniachtchi, Ian vs Caruana, Fabiano
Sinquefeld Cup, 2024

No chess, only cricket

 The last few days have been spent watching cricket, at Scarborough and various village grounds in Yorkshire. I've had a number of interesting conversations (including with the father in law of the current Central Coast Mariners manager), but very few about chess. Nonetheless it has all been very relaxed and calm, almost in the same way that a weekend chess tournament might be.

For cricket historians, the Scarborough ground was the venue for Sir Donald Bradman's last game played in England. He scored a century, although the game finished in a draw.

Gloucester Chess Club

 I have just finished a pleasant evening of casual chess at the Gloucester Chess Club. I was made to feel very welcome, and the quality of players was at the upper end of club players back in Canberra. There were about 20 players at the club, with a mixture of adult players and older (teenage) junior players. I did uphold the honour of Canberra chess by winning a few games, although all of them were quite tough and could have gone in another direction.

And like clubs around the world, the conversations are strikingly similar. From the "I misplayed my opening and it was downhill from there" , "I'm not sure this will work, but why not!" to "C'mon brain, work!", chessplayers seemed to make the same observations. And the other ting the club had in common with chess clubs in Canberra, wonky tables. At least one game was in danger of a premature finish as the board was about to capsize.

If you are in Gloucester, the club meets on a Tuesday evening from 7:15pm, upstairs at the New Inn, Northgate, Gloucester. (And yes, in typical English style, it is named the New Inn to differentiate itself from all the other Inns founded in the 15th Century)

Classic Keith

 As yet I have not played any organised events while on my travels. I did play a few casual games with members of the Gloucester Chess Club (both drawn), but my plans to visit a weekend event or two in the UK hasn't got off the ground. One event I did see was the Manchester Open, but it was a little too far from where I am staying. 

I did look at few games from the tournament, including this classic comeback from GM Keith Arkell. He is well known for his ability to grind out wins in rook endings, which did happen here, but this also had the added twist of a nice swindle, starting around move 52.

Lee, Daniel - Arkell, Keith
Manchester, 2024

More lost treasures

 I picked up another interesting book today, one that covered the history of chess in Cambridge (the UK town, university and shire). Although it is a slim book, it does contain a number of interesting games, especially from significant figures in UK chess from the 1960's and 70's.

One such figure was Stewart Reuben, although unfortunately for him, his only game in the book was a loss to the author, R.G. Eales. I hope he does not mind me publishing it here.

Reuben, Stewart - Eales, R.G.
Middlesex v Cambridge, 1968

How long, has this been going on?

 By the time you read this, the game I am linking to may be over. But then again, it may not be ...

https://lichess.org/broadcast/iii-kingston-invitational-2024/round-7/HSXjB2Zl/FDC1XPQc

I'm in the Matrix

 A weird collision of media sources. One of the books I purchased yesterday was "What it takes to be a Grandmaster" by Andrew Soltis. The very first chapter is on the 'Extended Luft' and features a game by Berliner v Fischer. The game was played in Bay City, Michigan in 1963. While reading it, I was also watching a documentary on the Scottish music scene. And while they my not say this bit out loud, one of the biggest band of the 70's was the 'Bay City Rollers'. And to close this loop, they were of course named after 'Bay City, Michigan'

Berliner,Hans - Fischer,Robert
Western Open, 1963

Hay on Wye

 Whenever I am in the UK, I try and make the effort to visit Hay on Wye. This is renowned as a 'book town' with a large number of new and 2nd hand bookshops lining the streets. Today was the day I made my regular pilgrimage.

While coming home with a pile of chess books is often desirable, just doing some book hunting is a reward unto itself. In the end I only picked up a couple of books, although I could have probably spent another 3 hours just wandering about. For some shops there were books I already had, while others were a little out of my price range (the antiquarian collections). Sadly a few shops were all out, so I assume other collectors had been there ahead of me. 

But overall it was a worthwhile excursion, and one I plan to repeat if I am ever in this part of the world again.

Seniors Chess in August

When planning my trip I did try and fit in a couple of events which ultimately proved impossible to schedule. One was the 2024 Asian Seniors Championship which is currently running in Mongolia, and the other was the NZ Seniors Championship, which would have coincided with the 100th FIDE Anniversary torch relay, which visited New Zealand this weekend.  So instead I am reduced to watching them from afar, while enjoying the late English sun, drinking the odd pint, and listening to Handbags and Gladrags on guitar.

 

 Ha, Timothy - Booth, Anthony
NZ Seniors Championship, August 2024

Lichess Documentary

 If you are interested in the story of Lichess, there is now a 30 minute documentary about it. You can wath it at https://youtu.be/H39AHPSBcGc

World Blitz Teams Championship

 The 2024 World Blitz Teams Championship was full on, both for teams, and organisers. The qualifying section consisted of 5 pools of 8 teams (40 in total), with the schedule only allowing 20 minutes between games. The action was both fast an exciting, but at the end of the 7 rounds, almost all the top seeded teams made it through to the knock out stage.

After a break 16 teams played a KO 'Duel' where they faced each other twice, and a team had to win both games, or win and draw, to advance (total game points did not count). In the case of a draw (one match win each or both drawn) a single match was played (and 3-3 meant another match etc). Fortunately there were only replays required for 2 rounds.

At the end of a long day, WR Chess Team (top seeds) were the champions. This made up for their disappointing 3rd in the Rapid section and earned them 40000 euro. 

For me it was hard work (especially at the start), but as I was working in the playing hall for the day, I did get to see more of the action. One of the more interesting things I noticed was the increase in noise from clocks being hit as games reached their conclusions. At the start of the round it was very quiet but by 5 minutes in, it was like a clogging convention.

With that event, the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz comes to an end. It was a very hard 4 days of work for me (and the entire arbiting team) so I'm of the the UK for a couple of weeks of sightseeing and rest.

Sanity has returned, for now

 After the hectic start to the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Teams Championship, days 2 and 3 have run a lot  better. As I type this, round 11 (of 12) is in progress, with the team from Al-Ain looking well placed to win. With a small-ish field of 38 teams, all the top teams have played each other, so it is a question of avoiding any banana peels in the last 2 rounds.

However, tomorrow may well be the toughest chess day I've ever had to face. The Blitz section of the tournament has 5 sections of 8 teams, played as a RR, before the top 3 finishers (and 1 wild card) make the final. Seems to be fairly straightforward, except that there is only 20 minutes between each round. So it is likely to be non-stop collecting results, producing pairings, downloading team compositions and updating data, with no time to spare. If we (the arbiting team) get through this on schedule, we might be getting another GBoWR certificate in the post!

It's been a long time

 Sorry for the delay in posting an update. A combination of travel, a bust start to the World Rapid and Blitz Teams event, and no idea how to navigate the ins and outs of Kazakhstan language web pages left me struggling to even log in to blogger.

But I am here in Astana, having arrived on Wednesday afternoon. The reason for my current location is to be an arbiter at the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Teams event. This is an event for non-national teams, where players (or sponsors) can form their own teams. The only restriction is that for each match of 6 players, a team must have 1 female player and 1 recreational player (some who has never been rated above 2000 on Standard, Rapid or Blitz). The restriction of the format has caused some small issues for myself, as I am handling the tournament pairings, and the rules do effect how teams are seeded.

For the Rapid section (played over 3 days), 38 teams have entered. At the top are some real heavy hitters like WR Chess Team, Chessy, Decade China Team and Al-Ain ACMG UAE. At the other end are the more social, or junior heavy teams, who are here to embrace the fun of the event.

After the first day, Chessy have taken the lead on 8 points (4 match wins). They scored a big win in round 4, beating the top seeds WR Chess Team 5-1, with Richard Rapport beating Magnus Carlsen on the top board. In equal second are Decade China and Al-Ain. Chessy and Decade China will face off in Round 5 as will WR Chess and Al-Ain.

Yesterday was non stop for me. I went over to the venue at 8:30am, assuming that I would have time to get changed and have lunch before the event started at 2:30. I didn't leave the playing hall until after 9pm, once the last round was completed. The arbiting team I am working with are very efficient, making my job a lot easier. As with most events of this type, the short turnaround between rounds can leave little room for error, but in the end we managed. The real test will be on the last day when we are running the Blitz event. With 20 minutes per round (3m+2s being the time limit), it will be interesting to see how we go.