Blitz 'n' Pieces

The official newsletter of the Edinburgh University Chess Club

Lothians League latest

First Team

The First Team season continued with a useful win over a strong Wandering Dragons 1 team. New recruit Paul Brown shone with an impressive win over a 2180, Iain Gourlay beat a 2100 and Dave Yarwood duffed up a comparative rabbit (see below). A further win from Nick Thomas makes it 4-1 to us, with one result undecided.

Normal bunny-bashing service was resumed in the 4-2 win over Balerno, although only Dave Yarwood's opponent offered little resistance (Dave merely had to stay alive for half an hour before Mr D. E. Follt lost on time). The other wins were achieved by Paul Brown and Oliver Cameron, whilst Steve Rix and captain Pete Goldsack agreed to draws.

The team were eventually defeated 4-2 in the match against Edinburgh West. Most of the controversy took place on Board 1, where Jonathan Grant first of all argued with Pete over the length of the playing session and then took 15 minutes to seal his move, sealing both scoresheets in the envelope (which is not a requirement in this League and was against his opponent's wishes). He then insisted on resuming in a lost endgame, which lasted all of five moves! But to redress the balance slightly, his sealed move offered the best practical chances of a draw (even if it was accompanied by much key-rattling from the caretaker). Steve now wishes to moderate some of his comments in the last issue: he thinks that Mr. Grant is a perfectly friendly chap (just a very bad loser).

Compensation for the match loss to Edinburgh West wasn't long in coming. The great Edinburgh 1 side which visited Pleasance was much weaker than usual, with only three players rated above 2000. One of their number arrived five minutes after his default had been conceded, whilst their intended Board 6 (1370) ended up on Board 4 (where Mark Russell showed little sympathy). Nick Thomas stood worse most of the game but managed to achieve a draw; on the other hand, Iain Gourlay stood better all game but proposed a draw in a weak moment (he was probably winning in the final position!). Even the Edinburgh 1 trump card struggled, but Jonathan Parker (2420, IM) showed impressive endgame technique to eventually beat Paul Brown in a tricky R+P ending. With Steve Rix losing (as usual), the result was a 3-3 draw with the League Champions.

The match against Lasswade was a bit of a mismatch, EUCC having an average rating advantage of 450 points. The latest score is 5-0 to us, with one adjourned.

Civil Service weren't much stronger than Lasswade, but the first team was weakened by withdrawals due to imminent exams. Iain Gourlay, Oliver Cameron and Pete Goldsack seemed to win comfortably enough, whilst Christophe Jackfeld had the better of a draw. 3½-1½ was the close of play score, with one adjourned.

Overall, the First team drew with Edinburgh 1 and Pentland Hills and only lost to Edinburgh West; wins in the seven other matches hould be more than enough to earn third place in the final League table. With no players leaving this year, we should be an even stronger side next season, particularly if another Marcus Loeffler comes our way.

Second Team Report

This term, the second team has played two matches since the last issue of B'n'P. The first match was at home to Balerno 2. John Thompson lost very stupidly to a 1490 (see Blunder of the Month!) and Majed won well against Paul Bassett, the team captain. The latest score is 2½-1½, with Christophe and Chandrey adjouning.

The second match was away to Livingston 1, the old Craigshill team. This was our second nightmare trip to Livingston this year, but it proved to be well worthwhile. John Thompson won well against a 1445 and Alastair Kerr won rather cheaply against a 1200 (after leaving a piece en prise!). The rest of the games were adjourned, but Tony Roberts has a clear win and the rest of the games were at least drawn.

The team has one match left to play, which will probably be played during the easter holidays. Further information will follow when we manage to get hold of Deniz ...

Important note: all League adjournments must be played out before the end of March. Otherwise games will be defaulted.

Club News and Events

The club night on Monday February 8 turned into an impromptu five-minute tournament, controlled by Alistair, in which Steve Gibson and Steve Rix ended up tied on 5/6. Their individual encounter could have had a spectacular finish (see next diagram):

Playing Black, Steve Gibson had "sacrificed" two pieces for dangerous threats. But Steve Rix settled things by 1 Qxe5+ Kh7 2 Nf6+ Rxf6 3 Qe7+ Kg8 4 Rd8+ Rf8 5 Rxf8++. Nothing special, but the crowd were denied a treat. After 2 Nf6+ Kg7 would have followed ... no, you work it out (White has a forced mate).

Lest anyone think that this publication is biased (perish the thought!), a mention must be made of the two "unofficial" playoff games which took place shortly after the end of the final round. Your co-editor reluctantly admits that he got stuffed twice.

A week later, fewer members turned up at the club night, so a ten player all-play-all was organised. This was won rather convincingly by Paul Brown (on 9/9!), ahead of Christophe Jackfeld (6½), John Thompson (6), Steve Rix (5), Majeed (4), et al.

Club meetings will stop for the end of term after tonight (Monday 15 March 1993). But if any of our members are interested in meeting up during the vacation, perhaps we could say 8 p.m. on Monday nights in The Arches for a few unofficial meetings/drinking sessions?

Congress News

Entry forms are now available for the 1993 Edinburgh Chess Congress, to be held on 16-18 April at Napier University's Craiglockart Campus. Among the six sections (of five rounds each) will be the Premier (open), Challengers (Under 2000), Major (Under 1800) and Bishops (Under 1600); the entry fees for full-time students range from £10 to £13.

Chess News

The main world chess news since the last issue of your favourite EUCC newsletter has concerned the Kasparov-Short World Championship match. First of all, the exchange of insults continued, with Kasparov announcing that he could beat Short AND Timman in a clock simul and Short saying "He paces up and down the tournament hall like a baboon, deliberately, in my field of vision ... He behaves badly on purpose; he doesn't even mind being seen as a complete arsehole."

So it was a major surprise when, at the end of February, the two players released a joint statement, accusing FIDE of incompetence and mendacity when it decided to award the World Championship match to a bid from Manchester. Kasparov had apparently indicated a preference for a bid (from Channel 4) to play in London, whilst Short wasn't even consulted (he was on a 37-hour ferry journey between Italy and Athens at the time!). The decision was taken and announced by FIDE President, Florencio Campomanes, who is, according to that most impartial of sources Mr Raymond Keene (OBE), "isolated in his ivory tower and surrounded by bureaucratic yes-men who praise his every decision, however dubious it may come across to the rest of the world." Could this possibly be the same Mr Keene who was defeated by Campomanes at the last election for FIDE President, one wonders.

Anyway, rather than merely kick up a fuss and exchange a few more insults, Short and Kasparov released a joint statement, announcing their intention of playing each other for the World Championship on their own terms, forming yet another chess organisation in the process. Obviously the whole chess world wants to see a match between Kasparov and Short for the World Championship, but these two players can be expelled from the FIDE World Championship for so blatantly refusing to accept FIDE decree.

FIDE is entitled to arrange a title clash between Karpov or Yusupov and Timman, these being "the next in succession to the throne," but, as Kasparov has pointed out, "such a match would be a joke ... My match with Nigel will be the one recognised by everybody." But one of the GMs competing at Linares has said that "Kasparov and Short have destroyed any organisation they were part of. I think no-one will join them." Chess is facing the same sad state of affairs as boxing, where there are numerous people claiming to be World Champion at each of the weights; one wonders what "Undefeated World Champion" Bobby Fischer thinks of it all!

Meanwhile, most of the world's best chessplayers have gathered in Linares for the strongest tournament of all time. Garry Kasparov won in impressive style with 10/13, some way ahead of Anatoly Karpov (8½), Vishwanathan Anand (8½), Alexey Shirov (8) and Vladimir Kramnik (7½).

As there have been only a handful of short draws, much interesting chess has been played. Here are some quick hacks:

White: Ljubojevic, L
Black: Kasparov, G
Linares 1993 (1)

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 Nf3 e5 7 0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 Nd2 a5 10 Rb1 Nd7 11 a3 f5 12 b4 Kh8 13 f3 f4 14 Nb3 axb4 15 axb4 g5 16 Bd2 Ng6 17 Ra1 Rxa1 18 Qxa1 Nf6 19 Qa7 g4 20 fxg4 Nxg4 21 h3 Nh6 22 Be1 Rg8 23 Nd2 Bf6 24 Kh1 Bh4 25 Nf3 Bxe1 26 Nxe1 Nh4 27 Rf2 Qg5 28 Nf3 Nxf3 29 Bxf3 Bxh3 0-1

White: Anand, V
Black: Ivanchuk, V
Linares 1993 (3)

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 d4 Nxe4 4 Bd3 d5 5 Nxe5 Nd7 6 Nxd7 Bxd7 7 0-0 Qh4 8 c4 0-0-0 9 c5 g5 10 Nc3 Bg7 11 g3 Qh3 12 Nxe4 dxe4 13 Bxe4 Bb5 14 Bg2 Qf5 15 Be3 Bxf1 16 Bxf1 Rhe8 17 Qa4 Kb8 18 Rd1 c6 19 Rd3 Qe4 20 Ra3 a6 21 Bd3 Qg4 22 Rb3 Bxd4 23 Rxb7+ Kxb7 24 Qxa6+ Kb8 25 Qb6+ Ka8 26 Qxc6+ Kb8 27 Qb6+ Ka8 28 Bb5 1-0

White: Karpov, A
Black: Kasparov, G
Linares 1993 (10)

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 0-0 6 Be3 e5 7 Nge2 c6 8 Qd2 Nbd7 9 Rd1 a6 10 dxe5 Nxe5 11 b3 b5 12 cxb5 axb5 13 Qxd6 Nfd7 14 f4 b4 15 Nb1 Ng4 16 Bd4 Bxd4 17 Qxd4 Rxa2 18 h3 c5 19 Qg1 Ngf6 20 e5 Ne4 21 h4 c4 22 Nc1 c3 23 Nxa2 c2 24 Qd4 cxd1Q+ 25 Kxd1 Ndc5 26 Qxd8 Rxd8+ 27 Kc2 Nf2 0-1

Blunder of The Month

In this blunder, the joint B'n'P editor shows in classic style how to blunder away that queen! Here black has just played the knight to c5, attacking white's queen on b3:

1. Qd1 Qb7+

Sadly, the first team matches haven't seen many blunders of that magnitude. After the Lasswade match, Iain Gourlay asked whether it was possible to nominate your opponent for Blunder of the Month. Seeing as the main idea of this section is for the editors to take the Michael out of EUCC members, we had to decline.

Instead, here is Iain's game against Ken Neil of Edinburgh West: 1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 Nf3 d6 4 Be3 Nf6 5 Be2?? Nxe4! and Black, a 2180, won with his extra pawn.

And from the match against Wandering Dragons 1, a game which is probably a big contender for this covetted award:

White: Dastafshan (1330)
Black: D. Yarwood (1840)

1 e4 c6 2 Nf3 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 d4 Nc6 5 c3 Qb6 6 Qc2 g6

... Bg4, at move 5 or 6, is an alternative plan. Black will get rid of his bishop and then develop by ... e6, etc.

7 Be3?! Bf5 8 Qd2 Nf6 9 b4?! Ne4 10 Qb2 Rc8 11 Nh4 Bd7

Black could just develop by ... Bg7.

12 Bd3 e6 13 Nd2 Nxc3??!

I refuse to believe that this sacrifice is any good. 13... Be7 14 Nf3 f5 looks good for Black, e.g. 15 Ne5 Qc7! 16 f4 Nxe5 17 dxe5 Qxc3, intending ... O-O and kingside play.

14 Qxc3 Bxb4 15 Qb2 Bxd2+ 16 Qxd2 Qb4 17 Rb1 Qe7 18 Bg5 f6 19 Be3

19 Bxg6+ is interesting, and might well get played in a correspondence game. Over the board, the text move is the better practical choice, as White avoids doing something that might turn out to be silly.

19... g5 20 Nf3 b6 21 h3 e5 22 dxe5 Nxe5 23 Nxe5 Qxe5 24 Bb5

24 O-O is another idea, e.g. 24... g4 25 Re1: White has an extra piece and the safer king position.

24... Bxb5 25 Rxb5 Qa1+ 26 Qd1 Qc3+ 27 Bd2 Qe5+ 28 Be3 Qc3+ 29 Bd2 Qe5+ 30 Qe2 Qxe2+ 31 Kxe2 Rc5

Necessary to defend the d-pawn. Now White should play 32 Rhb1!, which exploits Black's lack of development to win material.

32 Rxc5 bxc5 33 Be3?

White is playing some very odd moves, presumably because of time trouble. After this, Black seems to have enough compensation for his material deficit.

33... d4 34 Bd2 Kd7 35 Ba5?! Rb8 36 Rd1 Rb2+ 37 Rd2 Rb5

A clever maneouvre, but sadly White's bishop isn't actually trapped.

38 Bc3 Ke6 39 Bb2

39 Bxd4 cxd4 40 Rxd4 Rb2+ 41 Rd2 Rxd2+ 42 Kxd2 Kd5 may be a won K+P ending for Black.

39... Kd5 40 Bc1?!

Playing waiting moves with his king maybe a better strategy for White, because it is currently difficult for Black to play ... c4 without losing his d-pawn.

40... Rb1 41 Kd1 c4 42 Rb2 Ra1

This was the sealed move. Exchanging rooks looks like a draw at best for Black, whereas this wins.

43 Rb5+ Ke4 44 Kc2 Rxa2+ 45 Rb2 Ra5 46 Rb4 Kd5 47 Bd2? Ra2+ 48 Kc1 c3 49 Be1 Re2! 50 Bxc3 dxc3

From here, Dave's memory of the game deserts him. With two extra pawns, the more active king and the better-placed rook, Black has an easy win.

Paul Brown Annotates

White: H. Lamb (=2120)
Black: P. Brown (=1985)
Chorley Open, 1992

I had completely messed up the opening (losing a pawn at move 14), but played on so I didn't lose too quickly. At move 30, Harry swapped off into an opposite coloured bishops ending, where I was two pawns down. This is the position at the time control (move 40):