Blitz 'n' Pieces

EUCC entered two teams in this five-minute team tournament on Sunday 13 December 1992. Well, 1¾ teams actually, as only seven club members made it; the B team was propped up by a rather youthful gentleman named Gilbert, whose age (seven) was greater than his BCF grade (585 Elo works out at -2 on the English scale).

After initially playing in random groups of five or six, each team was then sorted into one of three Final sections for further play. The A team got their sums wrong and were dumped in Final A, but the B team were alert enough to lose their final qualifying match 4-0, earning a place in Final C.

This meant that Steve Rix, Mark Chapman, Pete Goldsack and Patrick Moss spent the rest of the tournament getting duffed in by the likes of Edinburgh A (whose Board 3 was rated 2300). Patrick managed to nick a point off Shettleston, who eventually ran out winners, pipping Edinburgh A (28½/36) on tie-break. The EUCC boys ended up 8th with 11½ points.

The B team also finished near the bottom of their section; their players were Oliver Cameron, Alistair Kerr, Niall Linus and wee Gilbert.

Some snippets of play:

Patrick, White against the tournament organiser, continued with the natural 1 Kh4, only to be shocked by the dazzling reply 1... Qf2+!!. Amid wild gasping from the crowd, Patrick's king died horribly after 2 Kh5 Qxf3+ 3 Kh4 g5+. Better was 2 "You cheating so-and-so", claiming a win on the illegal move rule.

Yes, I know that White has only a bare king left; White was Jonathan Grant, who hadn't yet given up hope (his opponent was Steve, which might explain why).

The game ended after 1... Be4, whereupon White claimed that Black, by initially touching his Be3, had completed an illegal move. Black countered with a claim for a win on time, noticing that White's flag had fallen. This minor detail persuaded Mr. Grant, always the perfect gentleman, to generously declare the game a draw. The onset of pugilism was prevented by the arbiter, who eventually awarded Black the point.

First Team

The First Team found themselves lying in third place in the first division pre-Christmas League table, mainly by skilfully avoiding matches against the big-name teams. The adjourned games against Musselburgh and Edinburgh B have been resolved favourably, giving the team fairly comfortable victories to add to that achieved earlier against Wandering Dragons 2. The only dent in an otherwise 100% match score last term was against a Motwani-powered Pentland Hills side, who wriggled out with a 3-3 draw.

This term's first match, against Lasswade, was a casualty of the harsh Caledonian climate (i.e. snowed off) [Bloody southerner - JST]. The second fixture, against Edinburgh West, has been lost; although we have two favourable adjournments, we are currently ½ -3½ down. An account of the antics of Steve's favourite opponent, Jonathan "McEnroe" Grant, will have to wait until the board one game is concluded.

The first team are unlikely to win the League and should comfortably avoid relegation. [Steve Rix]

Second Team Report

Since the last issue of B'n'P, the Second Team has continued to perform well. They played at home to Wester Hailes, playing well to win 4-2. Chaudrey Peddi, Oliver Cameron, Sharon Peoples and Alex Chilton delivered the four victories.

The team then travelled 20 miles out to Livingstone to play against Bankton. Stand-in team captain Oliver had the nightmare task of getting there by bus, while the rest of the team was carried in Tony's car. The team played well, with Steve Rix winning well against former Edinburgh player "Monty" and John Thompson easily beating a 1200. Alex lost and the rest went to adjourments: Tony is clearly lost, while Oliver won and Christophe is still playing. We are thus guaranteed at least a draw.

The first match this term was away to Edinburgh West 2. After yet another nightmare journey through the rain, the team arrived 10 minutes late to face a weaker team. Chandrey won on board 1, Patrick drew on board 3, John won on 4 and Alex won on board 6 to give us a 3½ - 2½ win. Thus we will have at least 11 points from 7 matches played, putting us well up the second division. [Patrick Moss, John Thompson]

The response of team captain Deniz Ogretir (tel: 229 6068) to all this was to quote Grandmaster Stolichnaya (Who he? - Ed): "One Knight of pawn is worth two in the castle" (well, yes, moving quickly on ... ).

The club championship started last Monday, but if you were absent that night, it isn't too late to join in. In fact, everyone has not only been entered but has also paid an entry fee! Contact the joint presidents, Alastair or Pete, to take part.

Deniz has suggested that we try to get some inter-university competitions going again. Four years ago, SUCA (Scottish Universities Championship Association) events were still going strong, but died a sad death due to lack of interest. There was not even a British Universities championship event last year (due to the Honorary President of BUPCA falling out of a boat near the Canary Islands ...), but if enough people are interested then we can contact other universities to arrange matches. Please contact Deniz or any of the committee, if interested.

On the social side of things, two events for the term have been suggested. One is another pub crawl and the other is to go for a spring term meal. It has been suggested that we go to Pizza Hut for some cheap sustenance before one of the club nights, followed by a few drinks. Hopefully, the committee will have more news of these events in the near future.

Despite the length of the report on last term's pub crawl, we forgot to mention that

Alastair Kerr

Grandmaster drinker

Judit Polgar scored the best win of her career at the recent Hastings Premier tournament, coming first equal with Evgeny Bareev, the world number 7. She beat Bareev twice during the tournament and at the age of 16 looks a serious challenger for the World Championship title in future years. Polgar has just begun a match against Boris Spassky, after Bobby Fischer ruled himself out as her opponent.

The venue of the World Championship match is still uncertain, as FIDE has extended the deadline for bids for the match. Currently four cities have made bids to hold the match - possibly a British venue will join the contenders.

The next World Championship match will involve a British player. Nigel Short, holder of a gold Blue Peter badge and former member of punk/rock group The Urge, has beaten Jan Timman 7½ -5½ in their recent-concluded match. Short has already started the war of words, calling Kasparov the "Asiatic Despot". Short also said "Kasparov understands more about Chess than I ever will but it doesn't mean I'll never beat him".

Timman, when asked about World Championship final, replied by saying that he hoped the match would go to the last nail-biting final game. Short apparently disagreed, saying he hoped to have finished Kasparov off by then!

The quality of play in the Short-Timman match was somewhat variable, both players losing some dismal games. Theoretical novelties abounded, but few if any proved to be any good. Short played his best chess in the more tactical positions, with Timman unable to cope with all the complications. However, Nigel's weakness was most definitely in positions requiring technical accuracy: see below.

With all of this in mind, B'n'P Productions proudly presents...

Lesson 1: Do Not Drop A Piece Early On In The Match. In characteristic style, Short blundered a piece early on in the match, during game two. Suffering from nervous tension (by his own admission), Short simply failed to spot the (incredibly cheap) purpose of Timman's 23rd move.

Play continued: 24 exd5? cxd5 25 c4?? e4 26 cxd5 Qf4 27 Rb1 exf3 28 Rxe8+ Rxe8 29 Nxf3 Qf5 30 Bc4 Nf4 31 Bc1 Bxd5 32 Bxd5 Nxd5 0-1.

Timman neatly ties up the game with a knight fork of Queen and Rook, just as Short threatens to regain the piece. A valuable lesson to all EUCC members!

Lesson 2: Do Not Offer A Draw In A Won Position. Having just won the third and fourth games, Short snatched a draw from the jaws of victory in Game 5. Just after the time control, the following position was reached, with Short playing Black:

In this position, White's aim is to sac the knight for the two queenside pawns, to arrive at a drawn endgame. This suggests 47 Nc3 as White's best move. However Black can play 47... b4, after which follows 48 Nb1+ Kc2 49 Rxa4 Rb6!. White's knight is now trapped and lost with either 50 Na3 Kb3! or 50 Ra1 Kb2.

So, White must play 47 Ra2+ Kd3, and now 48 Kd3 or 48 Ra3+ Kc4 49 Ke3. In both cases, Black's queenside pawns are well placed to advance and queen. Sadly, Short missed this and, short of time, offered a draw!

Lesson 3: Do Not Decline Blatant Rook Offers. One of the better games was probably Game 9 (ie neither player lost stupidly in the opening - though Timman got pretty close), which was featured on the first BBC2 chess programme. To the casual observer, Short appeared to lose a number of pawns in the opening whilst overlooking that Timman had left a rook en prise. But he won, which just shows what a funny old game chess can be.

Timman-Short
El Escorial 1993 (9)

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 0-0 Ne7 6 Nxe5 Qd4 7 Qh5 g6 8 Qg5 Bg7 9 Nd3

(This is forced if Timman wants to hold onto the pawn, as 9 Nf3 Qxe4 10 Re1 Qb4 is fine for Short)

9... f5 10 e5 c5 11 b3

(This invites 11... Qxa1?, because 12 Nc3 traps the Queen)

11... h6 12 Qg3 f4 13 Qf3

(13 Qxf4 Qxf4 14 Nxf4 Bxe5 forks Rook and Knight, winning a piece for Black)

13... Bf5 14 Qxb7

(A Theoretical Novelty [of sorts ... ])

14... Be4 15 Qxc7 Bxd3 16 cxd3 Bxe5 17 Qb7 Rb8 18 Qxa6

(18... Qxa1 must be good for Black. White can play 19 Qa4+ Kf8 20 Nc3 Bxc3 21 Qxf4+, but it's all poor compensation for the rook)

18... f3

(Black intends 0-0 with a good attack.)

19 Nc3 fxg2 20 Re1 0-0 21 Qe6+

(Swapping Queens gives Timman no respite: 21 Qc4+ Rf7 22 Qxd4 Bxd4 23 Re2 Rbf8 wins for Short)

21... Rf7 22 Nd1

(22 Re2 reprieves the rook on a1)

22... Qxa1 23 Qxe5 Qxe5 24 Rxe5 Nc6 25 Rxc5 Nb4 26 Ba3 Nxd3 27 Rc6 Ra8 28 Rd6

(27 Rxg6+ Kh7 28 Rd6 seems to win a pawn, reducing Short's winning chances)

28... Rxa3 29 Rxd3 Rxa2 30 Ne3

(30 Nc3! and 31 Ne4 should give Timman the draw)

Kg7 31 Kxg2 Ra5 32 Rd4 Rb5 33 b4 Rbb7 34 Rc4 Rfc7 35 Rg4 Rd7 36 h4 h5 37 Rg5 Rxb4 38 d4 Rf7 39 Rd5 Rb2 40 0-1

Short's comment on Timman's Theoretical Novelty ("Rubbish") seems apt. However Short refused the simple win of a rook on move 18 and Timman lost only after missing many drawing chances. Again, nerves and time trouble played a large part in Short's win.

Lesson 4: Play A Decent Game Of Chess. To finish, here is Short's best win, as White in game 12.

Short-Timman
El Escorial 1993 (12)

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Nxe4 6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 c3 Bc5 10 Nbd2 O-O 11 Bc2 f5 12 Nb3 Bb6 13 Nfd4 Nxd4 14 Nxd4 Bxd4 15 Qxd4 c5 16 Qd1 h6 17 f3 Ng5 18 Be3 Rc8 19 Qd2 a5 20 Rad1 Qe7 21 Bb1 Kh8 22 Rfe1 Rc7 23 Bf2 b4 24 h4 Nh7 25 Qd3 g5 26 Qa6 Rfc8 27 Re2 Rc6 28 Qd3 gxh4 29 f4 Rg8 30 Qf3 bxc3 31 bxc3 Rb6 32 Bc2 Rg4 33 Kh2 Rb8 34 Rxd5 Bxd5 35 Qxd5 Rxf4 36 Bxc5 Qg7 37 Bd4 Re8 38 Qd6 Qg3+ 39 Kg1 h3 40 Rf2 h2+ 41 Kh1 Rxd4 42 Qxd4 Nf6 43 Re2 Nh5 44 e6+ Qg7 45 Kxh2 f4 46 Bg6 1-0

We have had no response to our pleas for Blunders whatsoever: we refuse to believe that the standard of play in the EUCC has gone up that much ....

Instead, we continue our series of blunders by former world champion Anatoly Karpov. This time he was playing Black against the American GM Larry Christiansen at the recent Wijk aan Zee knockout tournament in Holland. Karpov played a variation of the Queen's Indian Defence as black, and everything was fine for the first nine moves, which went

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nxc6 Bxc6,

reaching the following position:

10. Bf4 Nh5

Karpov now leaves a piece hanging: something to be watchful of ...

11. Be3 Bd6??

Disaster strikes. 11... Qb8 looks okay.

12. Qd1

And Game Over. This game was nearly the shortest loss by a former world champion ever. Notwithstanding this, Karpov won the other game with White and knocked Christiansen out in the decider. It now seems that Karpov has also won the tournament.

To set the record straight, the shortest ever loss by a former world champion was the match Lieb-Spassky, Munich 1979. Play went:

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.d3 Bc5 5.f4 d6 6.Na4 Bxg1 7.Rxg1 Ng4 8.g3 exf4 9.Bxf4 Nxh2?? 10 Qh5 (Threatening B, N and mate on f7!) 1-0.

Spassky still won the tournament.

Scottish GM Colin McNab scored what was probably the shortest win of his career at the Hastings Challengers tournament. Playing white against the Russian GM Ruslan Sherbakov, the opening went:

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.Bg2 Nd7 4.c4 c6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3 Nc5? 7.Qb4 Nf6

White cannot take the knight on c5, because of ... Rc8 and White loses his queen if he prevents mate on c1. There followed:

8. Ne5 Bf5?

Sherbakov recommends the theory move, 8... e6.

9. d4 a5??

Sherbakov offered a draw, but McNab took the knight on c5 instead! After giving the matter some thought, Sherbakov resigned, because White wins after 10. Qxc5! Rc8 11 Qb5+ Bd7 12 Nxd7, e.g. 12... Rxc1+ (not mate!) 13 Kd2 Rxh1 14 Nf6++.

Yet again, while McNab faded, Sherbakov recovered from this to win the tournament! [There's a moral in there somewhere, Brian - SR]

The B'n'P editors are desparately seeking EUCC blunders, so if you have any or know of someone else's blunders, please pass them on. A prize will be awarded for the best ones we receive!