Kapiti Chess News Letter for Week Ending 7 October 2018

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Greetings Chess Lovers and Welcome to the Kapiti Chess News Blog.  Catch up with what is happening at the Club  See how the regions best players play plus tips on how to improve your game and much more.....

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2018 KAPITI CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS

Round 4 got underway on Tuesday 2nd Oct, and the club welcomed back Mark Woodward after being absent through illness for some weeks.

In the A grade, current club Champion Alan Winfield having started his defence of the title with a W1-D1-L1 score, made his task a little harder by being absent due to his participation in the New Zealand Seniors Championship being held in Palmerston North.   This allowed current leader "Gordon Lyall  to pull away a little further by recording a good win over Ross Jackson.

David Paul did likewise with a win over Club Captain Lars Dobbertin-King, as did Alistair McGowan with a win over John Whibley.

In the B & C Grades:

David Scott has started to show his true potential with a fine win over Guy Burns. (Game published below).  Valera had a tough time losing to the returning Mark Woodward.  New member Scott found Brandon Holman too strong for him and Junior, Mark Summers had a fine win over Rose Kingston. However, the game of the night goes to young Hamish Lester, who had an excellent win over Rick Lowe.  Seems our Juniors are starting to make themselves known!!

CHAMPIONSHIP TABLES

A Grade

1st          Gordon Lyall                 4
2nd=      Ross Jackson                 2
2nd=      Alan Winfield                2
2nd=      David Paul                     2
5th         Lars Dobbertin-King    1.5
6th         Alistair McGowan         1

B Grade

1st=      John Whibley                  2
1st=      David Scott                      2
3rd=     Guy Burns                       1
3rd=     Mark Woodward            1
3rd=     Valera Bonyushkin         1
6th        Geoffrey Gunawan         .5

C Grade

1st=      Brandon Holman           3
1st=      Hamish Lester                3
3rd=     Rick Lowe                       2,5
3rd=     Mark Summers              2.5
5th=     Savannah Edwards         .5
6th       Rose Kingston                  0

Though a clear leader is established in the "A" Grade. Both the "B" and "C" Grades are pretty tight after four rounds of play.

Games to Play Through

The following game was submitted for publishing.  All members are reminded that if they wish to have their games published  to "Notate the Game" then pass on to Alan or Lars.

Guy Burns v David Scott (B Grade)




(Editors Comments)

This is probably a game Guy will feel he let slip away.   White was in control for much of the match but unfortunately failed to take advantage of some of Blacks weaker moves.  "Undeveloping" his Queens Bishop on move 6 by defending b7 with 6....Bc8?) though not fatal for Black suddenly puts him way behind in development, when (6...Qb6, which was played on move ...9) puts the question to White to exchange or go away.  The open "A" file is good compensation for the double pawns.

Black again compounds the error on move 6 with 13....b6??  This blocks in his Queen and puts her in peril.   Looking at his position, White is fully developed and all his pieces are in the game.  Blacks King is trapped in the middle of the back rank, Rooks not connected, a Knight looking lonely on h4 and his Bishop having seen daylight is back home on c8.

However, it is around this time that White unfortunately starts to go astray.  Though 14. Na2 is a good move, he misses probably the winning move of (14. Nb5!! hitting c7. taking the Knight losses the Queen).  The intention of removing the Black Bishop seems to be a good idea but the wholesale exchange of pieces between moves 15 - 19, sees most of the pressure on Black easing.

Black, though still defending, slowly gets back into the game by exchanging off pieces and when white pushes his Queenside pawns a square too far with 31.b5?  he is in a position to take advantage of the fact the pawn has no support and it eventually falls.   From here Black finishes in good style but 61....d3 would have been a nice way to finish. 

CHESS LESSONS FOR ALL 

Apart from providing information on club activities our "Blog" will also try to help both Juniors and regular players with "Lessons" that can be  used in their development or as a "refresher".  Our last issue covered what is know as "The Opposition".  This week we look at how to handle a basic ending which comes up frequently at all levels of chess.  That is a K+R+P v K+R.   

Though many would assume it should be a straightforward win for the player with the pawn, it is not always the case and depending which pawn is left, against correct play the player with K+R may be able to escape with a draw,  Below we show one method of how the player with the extra pawn can convert this advantage to a win.   From the position below, White needs to push the Black King away and block Blacks rook from attacking the pawn.  This is achieved by "Building a Bridge".

White has just played Rook e2 to achieve the first stet.  Follow the moves and see how it is achieved.




The above system is known as the "Lucena" Position named after a Spanish chess player "Luis Ramirez de Lucena (1465-1530).  If possible white looks to achieve this set-up when going into a K+R+P v K+R ending/.

If white looks to achieve the above position the person who is defending must try to set up a situation where the attacking king is unable to get in front of the pawn, usually by stopping him getting passed the 3rd or 6th rank.



As the winning system is known as the "Lucena" Position, the above "Drawing Position" is known as "Philidor's Position" named after Francois-Andre D Philidor (1726-1795) who was the first to study this in 1777.

Learning these techniques will certainly help you in turning draws into wins or losses into draws. 

PLAYERS ABROAD.

We mentioned earlier that Alan Winfield was away from the club last week taking part in the NZ Seniors Championships in Palmerston North.  Alan provides the following report.

"The tournament though small in numbers, was very high in strength.   With the top three rated above 2000 (top two 2300+) realistically a tournament win was unlikely, however I was hopeful of scoring at least 50%.    As it turned out I had both the top two to contend with which in effect was making my 6 round tournament a 4 round one.  On the bright side I did achieve my goal of 50%  - 2 from the 4 I had hopes of winning.

In summary, I was not too pleased with my overall result though it was great to meet up with new faces from around the country and the skill in which top players like Mark Noble (2310) and Michael Steadman (2322) dispatched me was a lesson to behold!!

Below is one loss and my best win against John Findlay of Mount Maunganui Chess Club.

Alan Winfield (1957) v Mark Noble (2310)



After the initial stages with the "f" file being opened, my plan was to castle long and attack Black on the King side.  .  Following 11. Nd1 I was fairly happy with my position but soon found out why Mark Noble was not rated 2310 for nothing.  11....Nd7 threatening Ne5 was strong so moving my Queen to f2 prevented this. When he followed that with Qe7 I figured I could castle short, and if he exchanged on f3, take with the "g" pawn and attack down the "g" file.   Little did I know at the time, Mark was already planning his attack down the "g" file too!!

By the time we got to move 20, I was in serious trouble.  It was very clear I had to get my Knight out and my Rook into the game, but now I was given a serious lesson in "Tying" down an opponent.

Move 22.Kf1 was an attempt to move the Q to e2 to free the Knight but 20....Kh8 now threatened f5 and having my Q in front of the King would not be good so, with tail between my legs, 23. Ke2. when f5 was played I was obviously going to lose a pawn so played e5 to keep the "f" file closed.  It just delayed the inevitable.

John Findlay v Alan Winfield



I was pleased with this game as it was one I was in control of and after reviewing it afterwards, there were no major blunders made or missed.

That is all for this week.  Don't forget "Take care of your King and may your Pawns be Strong".

Yours InChess,

Alan Winfield

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