Somerset League, Div. 1

This evening sees Yeovil play host to Taunton in Div 1 of the Somerset League. Taunton are neck-and-neck with Frome at the top, whilst Yeovil are struggling near the bottom of the league.

I should point out here that there is no promotion/ relegation in the Somerset leagues, as there simply aren't enough teams. Currently there are only 5 teams in Div 1, and of the 6 in Div 2, 4 are essentially the same teams as in Div 1, bar one of the top players. It's a shame that clubs such as Burnham and Street are no longer active, and I'm surprised there's never been a club in Minehead, but I'm wandering from the original point of my post here.

Currently Frome have 10 points from 6 games, whilst Taunton have 8 from 5, so a win tonight will draw Taunton level at the top. Yeovil have 3 points from 5 games, and although they are out of the title race, a win tonight would see them move above Sedgemoor into the top half of the league.

On the basis of who plays for each club, Taunton should be favourites. Whilst not quite as strong as say Clifton 'A', they can still boast a team that at full strength would have Mike Redman (186 grade) on top board, and Dave Littlejohns (167),on board 5. However, it's never easy getting every player available to play on any given evening, and Taunton's achilles heel has always been a lack of strength in depth.

Yeovil on the other hand have a long list of very solid players, but don't quite have the same strength at the top as Taunton. Patryk Krzyzanowski (186), and Andrew Footner (180), are both very strong players, but after that the next few boards will usually be around the 140-160 grade range.

Earlier in the season Taunton managed to win 3.5-2.5 against Yeovil, but that match was effected to a huge extent by 2 defaults on Yeovil's part. I've a feeling tonights match will be very close, and if I had to make a prediction, I'd bet on Yeovil to win 4-2.

I'll let you know the result later in the week.

Bristol League Chess (Prt 2.)

Just a quick follow up on yesterday's item. Here's the result of the Clifton 'A'- Horfield 'A' match. Thanks to David Collier for sending me the results, and it's his comment added on to the bottom as well.

Clifton 'A' - Horfield 'A'

1 A Pickering ½ - ½ D Pugh
2 D Grossett 0 - 1 S Dilleigh
3 G Morris 1 - 0 CJA Jones
4 D Bennett 1 - 0 M Levene
5 J Curtis ½ - ½ P Nendick
6 DO Collier 1 - 0 H Atkinson
4 - 2

Closer than it looks, with Clifton winning the last two games to finish.

I've discovered that the Bath 'A'- Clifton 'A' match has been re-arranged for April 28th.

As things stand, Clifton 'A' are Played 11, Points 21 whilst Bath 'A' are Played 12, Points 20. So (assuming I've got this worked out correctly), Bath 'A' need a big result from one of the teams still to play Clifton 'A' in order for their match to be relevant, whilst Clifton 'A' can afford to lose to Bath 'A', as long as they win the remaining matches.

Bristol League Chess

Thought I'd use today's entry to shine a light on the Bristol League. In Div.1 Bath 'A' and Clifton 'A' are neck-and- neck in the race for the title. It's difficult to tell precisely who's in the lead, as not all of the results are included on the website at the moment (I'm thinking specifically the Bath 'A'- Clifton 'A' match from 13/1), but the league tables currently show Bath 'A' hold a 1 point lead, but having played 2 matches more.

Tonight sees Clifton 'A' play host to third placed Horfield 'A', and could well be a critical match in deciding the outcome of the league. Horfield boast Steve Dilleigh (192 grade), and Derek Pugh (184 grade) as their top 2 players, and I'd be surprised if their bottom board is lower graded then 160. Nevertheless, it'll take a bit of an upset to overcome Clifton 'A', who probably have the strongest 6- board team in the south west. James Cobb (210), Andy Pickering (187), David Collier (187), Gareth Morris (181), Duncan Grossett (180), John Curtis (180). That's scarily strong.

Also, for anyone who reads this and plays in the Bristol League: 12th-14th March is the Bristol League Congress, held at Filton Sports & Leisure Centre. It's only open to people who play in the Bristol League, which I've always found curiously restrictive. Nevertheless...

Here

is the link with the entry form.

East Devon Congress

This weekened just gone was the East Devon Congress, held in Exeter. I had to cancel any plans to go and play/ watch owing to work and a cold (yes, I'm a wimp!), so I'm writing this based on the report on the excellent ChessDevon website. From what I can tell there was a pretty reasonable turnout (36 entrants in the open), and the winners of the open were Graham Bolt, Paul Helbig, Dominic Gibbs, and David Sully, all of whom scored 4/5.

I know it's very much the case that I'm in a glass house throwing bricks here, but it's a little disappointing that there weren't more entries from Somerset players. As far as I can tell only Gerry Jepps was representing Somerset in the open, and there were far more people that travelled down from Bristol for the weekend to play. Maybe it's the case that it wasn't well advertised amongst clubs in Somerset, maybe a lot of the top players were busy/ had work commitments, or maybe it's the case that there were more entrants from Somerset entered lower sections. Anyways, grumble over, the guys who organise this deserve a lot of thanks.

The next tournament is the long Easter- weekend tournament held in Exmouth (Friday 2nd April- Mon 5th). I'll say from personal experience it's quite a tough schedule with 7 rounds over 4 days, but it nearly always has beautiful weather, and is walking distance from the beach, bars, and restaurants, so if you fancy a short holiday combined with some chess, I'd highly recommend it.

Entry form

If it's December, it must be Hastings

For all its faults, I do actually like the British public transport network. Which is not to say I like everything about it. Yesterday's journey, in which I made my way from Bideford to Coulsdon and then from Coulsdon to Hastings, is a case in point. It had all the normal joys of a post-Christmas journey, coupled with Sunday scheduling. Thus:

Bus from Bideford to Barnstaple.
Train from Barnstaple to Exeter - fortunately, they had decided to run four carriages instead of two; they needed them.
Get to Exeter St Davids. Can take a packed Paddington train or wait an hour for a slow train to Clapham Junction. Choose Paddington train, do not get a seat until Reading.
Go through the London Underground system to Victoria via Oxford Circus, hauling huge suitcase in my wake. Hauling huge suitcases through the Underground is always spectacularly fun for everyone.
Get fast train from Victoria to Purley, and then one from Purley to Coulsdon South.

Complete stuff that needs to be done at Coulsdon pretty quickly, with time to kill before the next train.
Go from Coulsdon to Gatwick Airport station. Just miss connection with Hastings train. Wait an hour at Gatwick Airport for another train. Note that there is nothing to do at Gatwick Airport station unless I go into the airport itself, which is confusing and likely to cause me to find myself lost in short order.
Get on Eastbourne and Ore train. Find out as I'm approaching Eastbourne that I'm in the wrong half of the train; hastily move through Southern train with narrow aisles with the aforementioned huge suitcase. More spectacular fun for everyone.
Eventually end up in Hastings.

It's a good job I like this tournament so much. Today, I'm taking on GM Romain Edouard of France, and you should be able to follow my progress here.

Miss Easy Tactics!

Regular readers of the Streatham and Brixton blog will be familiar with their Miss Easy Tactics! series. Today I managed a worthy contribution to this genre. Here we go with Frank Kane v Jack Rudd from the CCF Challengers International:

From the diagram position, with black to play, the game concluded 15...Nd4 16.Bxd4 Qxc1 17.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 18.Kg2 exd4 19.Qd2 Rfc8 20.Nc3 dxc3 21.Qxc1 Nxd5 22.exd5 c2 0-1.

But in that sequence, what did both players miss?

How Good Is Your Chess Judgement - answer

My last post was about this position, asking the reader to evaluate 7...Bxc3+ by black here.

Two people attempted to answer this, and both came up with what I believe is the right answer for the right reasons. I don't think the move is good, because:

1) Even if it were the right idea in this position,why play it immediately? The knight is pinned and not going anywhere. I suppose white can guarantee capturing on c3 with a piece rather than a pawn should black let him get Qb3 in, but...

2) The idea is the wrong one, anyway. In a stroke, the move makes things much easier for white. The dark-squared bishop gets a lovely diagonal to power down unopposed, the potentially weak d4-pawn gets a pawn on c3 to support it (the c3 pawn is not nearly as weak as the d4 pawn, because it's much harder to get black pieces to defend it) and perhaps worst, black is left with a load of minor pieces with nothing to do.

My opponent decided to play 7...Bxc3+ in the hope of getting a good knight versus bad bishop position. Somehow, I don't think the relative quality of the minor pieces went quite the way he'd thought: