Back in the Day - Ladies Chess

A couple of weeks ago I had a post about old chess magazines ( Back in the Day ) and someone asked me whether any games played by women were published in "The Chess Bulletin" in 1951. Without knowing the background I find this an odd question, but sufficiently odd to break my own rule about not replying to anonymous posters.
In the November 1951 edition there was a game played by a Miss G. Kaye in the NSWCA B Reserve Competition. There was brief introduction to the game stating that she had "learnt the moves only fairly recently" but as a sign of the times ended with the following comment. "We hope she will refrain from using rolling-pins when in Zugzwang"

Here is the game concerned, with my annotations replacing the brief notes that were given when the game was originally published.


Kaye,G - N.N [D20]
B Reserve, 1951

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 e6 4.e4 Nf6 5.Bxc4 Bb4 6.Nge2? White blunders (sacrifices?) the e pawn. 6...Nxe4 7.Qd3 f5?! 8.0-0 Nd6 9.Bb3 0-0 10.Nf4 Qe7 (D)
11.a3 [ 11.Ncd5!! was missed by both the players, and the annotator. 11...exd5 12.Nxd5 Qh4 ( 12...Qd8 13.Ne7+ Kh8 14.Ng6+! hxg6 15.Qh3+ Qh4 16.Qxh4#) 13.Nxc7+ Kh8 14.Nxa8+-] 11...Ba5 12.Re1 Kh8 13.Nxe6 At this point the annotator tartly remarks "Somehow or other White has achieved a winning position" 13...Re8 14.Bg5 Qd7 [ 14...Qf7 15.Nxc7! Rxe1+ 16.Rxe1 Qxb3 17.Nxa8 favours white, although both players could still go wrong here.] 15.Nc5 Rxe1+ 16.Rxe1 Qc6 17.Re7! h6 18.Qh3 [ 18.Bxh6 gxh6 19.Qg3 also mates.] 18...f4 19.Qxh6+!! gxh6 20.Bf6# 1-0

Doeberl Cup meets Facebook

Following on from the Closet Grandmasters post on chess applications for Facebook, I decided to see what all the fuss was about, and signed up. Now I still can't see what the fuss is all about, but it does have some useful features.
One is the "Events" calendar where you can add upcoming events and invite people to attend. To test this feature I've added the Doeberl Cup. So if your a Facebook user, invite yourself (and others) along, and feel free to leave messages, pictures or video from this years event.

And speaking of the Doeberl Cup the total entries are over the 160 player mark, with GM Zhong Zhang the new top seed, and the total number of GM's increasing to 11 (with 13 IM's, 2 WGM's and 3 WIM's)

A long night at the chess club

Almost all the stories I tell on this blog concerning chess organisation are tales of misery and woe. However the ANU Chess Club is an exception to this state of affairs, and 2008 sees it going great guns. In fact we are having difficulty in fitting in all the players who currently play at the club, and we may need to find extra room to accommodate new players. But I would rather have this problem than not have it.
Of course extra players does mean some extra work, and my own game this evening got off to a late start as I had to replace batteries in the DGT's at the club as 3 of them decided to not to work (despite me checking them the week before). Fortunately it didn't affect my play to badly and I scored a nice win over Alan Setiabudi, in part to my use of the TMI* System.

Press,S - Setiabudi,A [B44]
ANU Summer 2008 Canberra, 27.02.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nb5 d6 6.Bf4 e5 7.Be3 Nf6 8.N1c3 a6 9.Na3 b5 10.Nd5 Rb8 11.Bg5 Be7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.c3 Be6 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qf3 b4 16.cxb4 Nd4 17.Qd3 d5 18.exd5 Bf5 19.Qd2 Rg8 20.Rc1 Rxb4 21.Nc4 Bh3 22.Qc3 Bxg2 23.Bxg2 Rxg2 24.Qh3 Rb8 25.Qxg2 Qb4+ 26.Kf1 Rc8 27.Nd6+ Kd7 28.Qh3+ 1-0

*But what is the TMI System? All will be revealed in a future post!

You'll just have to show me

One of the more frustrating things I found when learning chess was that sometimes annotators would pass over a move without looking at obvious alternatives. Well, obvious to me at least. Often I would be left scratching my head after seeing a player not swap queens (for example) and then get mated, by the enemy queen, 6 moves later, with the annotator failing to mention QxQ as an alternative.
I like to be shown things, especially if it isn't obvious what would have happened next. Now one example of this has always stuck in my mind ever since I started playing chess seriously. One of my favourite opening books is "The Italian Game" by Harding and Botterill. The chapter on the Wilkes-Barre has long since been covered in the stains of my grubby thumb prints, but there was one line (and lack of analysis) that always irritated me. So finally I put the game into Fritz to try and discover what had been left unsaid by the authors. (The comments are mine btw)

Jentzch - Nosotta [C57]
cr cr, 1956

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7.Ke3 While this move looks suicidal, it is considered by some as the best chance of refuting the Traxler. 7...Qh4 8.Qf3 Now this move 'looks' sensible. 8...Nf6!! (D)
The !! were given by Harding and Botterill followed by 0-1. Annoyingly there was no explanation for this assement, and in pre-computer days I found it very hard to find a clear cut win for Black. 9.Ke2 As this just loses quickly why not grab the rook instead. [ 9.Nxh8 Nd4 10.Qd1 ( 10.Qf1 Ng4+ 11.Kd3 Nf2+ 12.Kc3 Ne4+ 13.Kd3 Nc5+ 14.Ke3 ( 14.Kc3 Nb5+ 15.Kb4 a5+ 16.Kxb5 ( 16.Kxc5 d6+ 17.Kxb5 Bd7#) 16...c6+ 17.Kb6 Qd8+ 18.Kxc5 d6#; 14...Nxc2+ 15.Ke2 ( 15.Kf3 Qf4+ 16.Ke2 Qxc4+) 15...Qxc4+-+ although only on 'points'; 10...Qf4+ 11.Kd3 Qf5+ 12.Kc3 ( 12.Ke3 Ng4+ 13.Qxg4 Nxc2+ 14.Ke2 Qxg4+) 12...Ne4+ 13.Kb4 ( 13.Kd3 Nf2+) 13...a5+ 14.Ka4 b5+ 15.Bxb5 Nc5+ 16.Ka3 Nxb5#;
or move the bishop 9.Bb3 Rf8 10.Qg3 ( 10.g3 Qd4+ 11.Ke2 d5 with too many threats.) 10...Qe4+ 11.Kf2 Ng4+ 12.Kg1 Qd4+ 13.Kf1 d5 winning back the piece and leaving Black on top;
9.d3 Nd4 10.Qf1 Rf8 with d5 and Rxf7 to follow.] 9...Qxc4+ 10.Kd1 Nd4 0-1

Woodwork Squeaks*

Last year I reported on the story that notorious net identity Sam Sloan was suing the USCF (and others) over posts made on usenet. Now there is further news on this issue, where another party is suing the USCF (and others) plus Sam Sloan, arguing that the original case is actually a conspiracy between the parties concerned to destroy the USCF and profit from its demise, (and no I'm not making this up). I can't wait to see where this all goes.

*Out come the freaks

More female chess players?

Today I went to the Canberra Show. It was great!. I went on the rides, ate Fairy Floss, brought showbags, and saw the Circus. It was like being a child again.
Before I went, I looked at the online catalogue of showbags. The very first showbag I saw was the "Ab-Fab" Showbag. This showbag included an Ab-Fab Hat, a tube of scrunchies, non-piercing jewellery, and a tapestry bag. Also included amongst this group of products was "A Chess Set".
At this stage I'm not sure what it all means, but there may soon be an influx of players from the Fashion/PR Industry.

Birthday Number One

Today is the first birthday of this blog. I would like to thank all the regular readers of ChessExpress, and a special thanks to those who contributed, either by sending me interesting chess news and links, or simply contributed comments to the posts I made.
Hopefully I'll still have the enthusiasm to keep the blog going on a regular (and daily) basis, so there should be plenty of birthdays to come.