Competition » Hebden Bridge Chess Club

Upper Calder Valley Junior Chess Challenge 2015

Jun 022015

Just a few of Hebden Bridge Chess Club's Junior Members

This competition gives juniors the chance to play competitively and there are prizes for the best players at different levels of ability

On Saturday the 13th of June Hebden Bridge Chess Club will be running this 5-round junior event again as a follow up to the UK Chess Challenge that was held in spring this year. It will take place at the Trades Club, Holme Street, Hebden Bridge, in the upstairs concert room. Entry is open to all Calderdale youngsters, but it is especially intended for those who took part in the UK Chess Challenge. There will be small cash prizes for the three players with the highest scores overall, and a number of ‘grading prizes’, so that everyone has a chance of winning something.

Entry fee will be £1, payable on the day. We will, however, need to know who is entering, so that we can take the draw for the first round ahead of the event. Either fill in the form below, or pass the same information to John Kerrane by phone on 01422 842 426.

All games will be played using a chess clock at a limit of 15 minutes per player. The event will consist of 5 rounds, and we hope to be finished by 12.00 noon, or soon after. We advise entrants to bring a drink and a snack.

Tournament details

Date: Saturday 13th June

Venue:
The Trades Club
Holme Street
Hebden Bridge

Timetable:
Arrive and Register 9.00 a.m.
First Round 9.15 a.m.
Finish time 12.00 noon

Entry fee: £1

[formidable id=11 title=true]

Team Lightning: 27th of April

2014-15 Season Journal, Competition No Responses »

Apr 162015

This is my annual excuse to find a beautiful photograph of lightning! This year’s is by Kim Seng. It is used under Creative Commons terms and sourced from Kim Seng’s Flickr photostream.

The annual Calderdale Team Lightning competition will be hosted by Halifax Chess Club this year. The event will once again take place at the Belgrave Social Club on Monday the 27th of April.

All players who would like to take part are asked to arrive at the venue as close to 7.00pm as possible so that teams can be registered in time for the first round to begin at 7.30pm.

If you would like to register a team in advance of the event then please email Dave Colledge and Howard Wood at davecoll33@hotmail.com and howardwood@hotmail.com respectively. Please send your team name and the names of the five players in the line-up (this can still be changed on the night if necessary). Doing this will enable the organisers to have your team registered early but you will still need to arrive in plenty of time before the first round starts to pay your team entry fee of £2.50.

As is always the case, everyone who comes along will get to take part so even if your club don’t enter a team, or if you don’t have five players, come along anyway and the organisers will find a team for you to play for on the night or identify players to fill your squad.

The team lightning is the traditional curtain closer to the season and is a fun way for everyone in the League to get together and play. At the end of the evening the trophies for the Calderdale Evening Leagues and Calderdale Individual Championship will be handed out to the winners. So if you can make it do come along for an excellent night of social chess and a chance to give this season’s winners a well-deserved round of applause.

Halifax Blitz to support typhoon victims

Competition No Responses »

Nov 222013

Halifax Chess Club are recruiting blitz warriors to help them raise money for victims of typhoon Haiyan

On Sunday the 1st of December Halifax Chess Club are organising a blitz tournament to support victims of the typhoon Haiyan which has caused devastation in the Philippines recently.

Of course our friend Darwin Ursal (who played for Hebden Bridge ‘A’ a couple of seasons ago) hails from the Philippines and is the leading light behind this tournament. He told us,

I wanted to do something to help my compatriots and a charity chess tournament seemed like the obvious way for me to do that. The entry fee is £10 and all proceeds will be donated to charities providing relief to those in need. Our target is to recruit 100 players to the event in order to raise £1,000 in a single afternoon.”

Halifax Chess Club’s home venue, the Lee Mount Club, have kindly made their premises available free of charge and a number of companies have generously donated cash and products for what will be a fabulous prize fund. Although the tournament will have just one section there will be grading prizes available as well as prizes for juniors. In short, there’s plenty to play for so you’d better have a damned good excuse not to enter this tournament!

The competition will comprise 9 rounds with players each receiving 10 minutes for all their moves. The action begins at 12noon but make sure you arrive in plenty of time to pay your entry fee which will be collected on the day.

The online entry form and full details of the event can be found right here on this site so please go and register in advance to help the organisers prepare for the first round draw and help us to spread the word about this brilliant event. It isn’t very often that chess players have such a worthwhile excuse for spending a Sunday afternoon playing the game so don’t pass this guilt-edged opportunity up!

Register here!

Any pre-event enquiries should be sent to hebdenbridgechessclub@gmail.com

Fantasy Chess Olympiad is here!

Competition No Responses »

Aug 242012

: Go to www.fantasychessteam.com to enter your team

Some of you may have been wondering where your webmaster has been for the last few weeks. No posts, all quiet on the website. What’s going on?

Well now I can reveal that I’ve been very busy on a new project that I hope many of you will be interested in. Caught up in the grip of Olympic fever I decided to try and do something interesting around the Chess Olympiad which starts in Istanbul on Tuesday. Along with the Yorkshire Chess Association’s web master, Matty Webb, I have launched the Fantasy Chess Olympiad.

You can go and check it out for yourself but the idea is simple. Pick a team of 5 players from the Open Section and another 5 from the Women’s Section. Your players score points every time they appear based on their performance. We are running two competitions one is “Free to Play” the other is “Winner Takes All” where you pay an entry fee of £5 and all fees go towards the prize pot.

If you aren’t quite sure that you can tell the difference between your Kramnik’s and your Kosteniuk’s then don’t worry, we’ve posted useful links and downloads to help you select your team.

Alongside the league table updates that we plan to post daily there will also be some recollections of classic Olympiad encounters from days gone by and an exclusive Olympiad diary from Yorkshire’s own Rupert Jones who will be representing Papua New Guinea at this year’s competition.

I hope that some of you will come along and take part. I’ll try and post some updates on Calderdale participants on these pages during the next couple of weeks and there will also be some updates on the Calderdale League fixture list as we start our new season on the 10^th of September.

And the Winner is…

2011-12 Season Journal, Competition, Uncategorized No Responses »

Jan 162012

Time for the solutions to this year’s Christmas Quiz. The fabulous prize was a chess set courtesy of this year’s competition sponsors: www.chesssets.co.uk.

Before I dive into the solutions I should say a few words about how I selected the positions. First of all I wanted to use positions from actual games played by Hebden Bridge Chess Club members. Although not all the games were played in Calderdale competitions, I succeeded in doing that.

Secondly, I was hoping to provide a game from each month of the year excepting May (when the league season is just over) and December (which had barely started when I posted the competition). I also managed to do this although some months had slim pickings because not much chess is played in June, July and August!

Finally, I was aiming to try and find a range of games from a number of different players and a range of degrees of difficulty across the problems. I managed to scatter the degree of difficulty quite well but it was harder to find a very balanced representation across the club. The reason for this was simple, not every player plays a game each month that involves a pithy combination or checkmate. When I reviewed the season there were plenty of games that involved gradual positional squeezes. Unfortunately these types of games, though very impressive if you play all the way through them, don’t readily lend themselves to having a tactical “sound-bite” taken out of them for consumption in this kind of affair! I also had to select positions that I myself could manage to glean a good measure of truth from so that I could be confident the answers were correct.

In the end I picked this motley crew and I have to apologise that an embarrassing proportion of them (well 3 anyway) are from my own games which at least I can claim to have a reasonable level of understanding of.

  [Event "Leeds Rapidplay League"]  [Site "Leeds"]  [Date "January, 2011"]  [White "Shapland, D."]  [Black "Jones, R."]  [Result "1-0"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "r2q3r/p3N1k1/1pp2pP1/2BpbQ1p/7P/2P3P1/PPP5/2K2R2 w - - 0 26"]  [PlyCount "5"]  [EventDate "2011"]  [WhiteTeam "Leeds"]  [BlackTeam "Hepworth Browne"]   {January: This game was played in the Leeds Rapidplay League. The question was,  "what is White's best continuation here?"} 26. Qxe5 $1 {This must have given  Black a severe jolt! The key point is that White is creating critical threat  against f6 so Black has no time to grab the bishop on c5. In the game Black  decided to take the queen and the game finished with} fxe5 (26... Qf8 {Is the  only other alternative but this line leads to Black losing his queen after} 27.  Nf5+ Kxg6 28. Bxf8 Raxf8 (28... fxe5 {Is mate again after} 29. Ne7+ Kh7 30.  Rf7# {Knight, rook and bishop in perfect harmony!}) 29. Qe6 {and, according to  Fritz 11 it's mate in 11.}) 27. Rf7+ Kh6 28. Be3# {A pretty mating net.} 1-0   [Event "Calderdale League 2"]  [Site "Hebden Bridge"]  [Date "February, 2011"]  [White "Blinkhorn, J."]  [Black "Aldridge, J."]  [Result "*"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "r1bq1rk1/pp2nppB/2n1p3/3pP3/1b6/2N2N2/PP1B1PPP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 10"]  [PlyCount "9"]  [WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'C'"]  [BlackTeam "Halifax 'B'"]   {February: Here is a fine example of the imaginative way Josh Blinkhorn can  play. The bishop sacrifice is not entirely sound but it is very difficult to  prove other wise. The solution was tricky as some precise calculation was  required to find the answer.} 10... Kxh7 {The question was "can Black take the  bishop sacrifice?" The answer is "Yes". In fact he must accept but Black needs  to play very accurately and will also need to return the piece at a suitable  moment in order to secure an advantage. Declining the offer allows White to  win a piece after} (10... Kh8 $2 11. Ng5 Nf5 12. Bxf5 g6 13. Qg4 $1 {The  threat of mate after 14.Qh4 gives White enough time to evacuate the bishop and  maintain his piece advantage.} Kg7 14. Bc2 {and White is winning.}) 11. Ng5+  Kg6 $1 {It takes a brave player to bring his king out into the open like this  after accepting a piece sacrifice but the key point is that the Black king  must prevent Qh5 at all costs. The alternative is not at all good for Black.  For example} (11... Kg8 $2 {And now Black will have to return the material in  far lass favourable circumstances than in the main variation after} 12. Qh5 Re8  13. Qh7+ Kf8 14. Qh8+ Ng8 15. Nh7+ Ke7 16. Bg5+ Nf6 17. Qxg7 {and the knight  on f6 will drop off whilst White's attack rages on.}) 12. Qg4 {A plausible  alternative for White was} (12. Qc2+ {but here Black can play} Nf5 $1 {giving  back the piece to get a good position} 13. g4 Nxe5 14. gxf5+ exf5 {and Black  is two pawns up having secured his king's position somewhat although there is  still much work to do.}) 12... Nxe5 $1 {We must give Mr Aldridge enourmous  credit for finding this course of action at the board! Black offers the piece  back in order to secure his king's position and maintain a material advantage  of a single pawn. Not sufficient was} (12... f5 13. Qg3 f4 14. Bxf4 Nf5 15. Qg4  Nh6 (15... Nxe5 {again Black gives the piece back, but here it isn't good  enough as after} 16. Bxe5 Qxg5 17. Qxb4 Ne3 18. Bg3 Nxf1 19. Qxf8 Nxg3 20. hxg3  {White stands much the better owing to the exposed position of the Black king  and the pin on his queen's bishop.}) 16. Qg3 Nf5 {and there is a repetition  and a draw.}) 13. Qxb4 {White has nothing better than to take back the  sacrificed material.} f6 $1 {This is the first point at which we deviate from  the original game. This move creates a safe haven for the brave monarch and  drives the enemy knight from its outpost. In the game John deviated here with}  (13... Nc4 14. Nf3 Nc6 15. Qb3 Nxd2 16. Nxd2 f5 17. Ne2 Qd6 18. f4 Qc5+ 19. Kh1  Rh8 20. Qg3+ Kf7 {and although Josh went on to win this game it certainly had  nothing to do with John's handling of the piece sacrifice. For the record  Fritz 11 has Black ahead by half a pawn in this posiiton.}) 14. Nh3 Nf5 {I  shan't analyse the variation any further other than to say that Black is a  pawn ahead and will be able to hide his king away on f7 or h7. Once he has  sompleted his development he can look forward to an advantage in the middle  game.} *   [Event "Calderdale Individual Championship"]  [Site "Hebden Bridge"]  [Date "March, 2011"]  [Round "5"]  [White "Whitehead, J."]  [Black "Sugden, D."]  [Result "0-1"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "r1b1r1k1/pp1nbppp/2p2n2/q2pN1B1/3P4/P1N2PP1/1PP1Q2P/2K1RB1R b - - 0 12"]  [PlyCount "5"]   {March: This one was more straightforward. The questions was, what is Black's  best continuation? Most of you spotted that Black can play} 12... Bxa3 13. bxa3  Qxc3 {and he has a winning advantage. In round 5 of the Calderdale Individual  Championship the game ended in Dave Sugden's favour when John continued with}  14. Qd3 $4 {and it was all over after} Qxe1+ 0-1   [Event "Calderdale League 1"]  [Site "Hebden Bridge"]  [Date "April, 2011"]  [White "Syrett, M."]  [Black "Barnett, M."]  [Result "1-0"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "1r3rk1/2p1n1q1/5p1R/1p1N1bp1/3P4/P1Q5/1P2B1P1/2K4R w - - 0 29"]  [PlyCount "5"]  [WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'B'"]  [BlackTeam "Belgrave"]   {April: At the end of the league season Hebden Bridge 'B' desperately needed  to win against Belgrave to stay in League 1. This was the decisive game of the  match. The question was, how can White improve on 29.Rh8+! which was played by  Martin Syrett in the game and was enough to carry him and his team to victory?  } 29. Qb3 $3 {A very nice quiet move which is not easy to find. The terrible  threat is either 30.Ne7 or 30.Nf6 with mate! Black has to defuse the  discovered threat but all attempts are futile.} Nxd5 {This loses a piece and  allows White to maintain the initiative. The other options were} (29... Be6 {  Interfering with the discovered check threat and forcing White to find the  following complicated road to victory} 30. Nxe7+ $1 Kf7 (30... Qxe7 31. Rh8+  Kf7 32. R1h7+ Ke8 33. Bh5+ Kd7 34. Rxe7+ Kxe7 35. Rh7+ {is all over.}) 31. Qc2  Rh8 32. Bh5+ Kf8 (32... Kxe7 $2 33. Qxc7+) 33. Rxh8+ Qxh8 34. Ng6+ {is clearly  winning!}) (29... Qxh6 {is the best line Fritz can muster and it's still awful  for Black} 30. Nxe7+ Kh7 31. Rxh6+ Kxh6 32. Nxf5+ Kg6 33. Ne7+ Kg7) 30. Qxd5+  Rf7 31. Qxf5 {with the terrible threats of 32.Rg6 or 32.Rh8.} 1-0   [Event "Calderdale Summer Team Knockout"]  [Site "Todmorden"]  [Date "June, 2011"]  [White "Wright, A."]  [Black "Edwards, C."]  [Result "*"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "5rkb/2p5/p2p4/1pPPn1qP/1P1nQp2/P4B1P/5B1K/4R3 w - - 0 37"]  [PlyCount "13"]  [WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]  [BlackTeam "Todmorden 'A'"]   {June: Having just captured a knight on g5 Black could now expect to be in a  strong position because White cannot immediately win back the piece. 37.Qxd4??  Nxf3+. For this position their were two questions. First of all, how should  Black respond if White now plays 37.Bd1? as in the game?} 37. Bd1 $2 {This is  a clever attempt to preserve the material balance. White retreats the bishop  from f3 in order to threaten both 38.Rg1 and also 38.Qxd4 as the bishop now  protects, rather than occupys the f3 square. Unfortunately, the move must also  be classified as an error because Black can now force a win. Instead of this  White should play} (37. Bh1 {Part two for this position was to find a better  37th move for White. This is it. The point of retreating to h1 instead of d1  is made clear in the solution to the first part of the answer as we'll see  below. Black now has nothing better than to round up a White pawn and give  back his extra piece.} Qxh5 38. Rg1+ Bg7 39. Bxd4 {and Fritz assesses this  position as equal.}) 37... Nf5 $1 {A resourceful multi-purpose move. Black  calmly removes the threatened knight and prepares to block the vulnerable  g-file with it.} 38. Rg1 {There is nothing better for White.} Ng3 39. Bxg3  fxg3+ 40. Rxg3 {Finally it appears that White will win back enough material to  maintain a good advantage, but wait, there is a final twist in the position.}  Rf2+ $1 {Now we see why 37.Bh1 was necessary! With the bishop on h1 White  would now be able to play 41.Bh2 and all would be well with the Black queen  pinned.} 41. Rg2 Qxg2+ 42. Qxg2+ Rxg2+ 43. Kxg2 {and Black has enough surplus  material to win the end game.} *   [Event "Brighouse Rapidplay"]  [Site "Brighouse"]  [Date "July, 2011"]  [Round "6"]  [White "Shapland, D."]  [Black "Mahoney, N."]  [Result "1-0"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "8/6p1/5pPp/pk2p2P/4P3/2K2P2/PP6/8 w - - 0 42"]  [PlyCount "19"]   {July: This position is clearly won for White as he has an extra pawn in a  simple end game. However, the question was, which continuation provides the  most clinical path to victory?} 42. a4+ $3 {White gives up his extra pawn in  order to create a zugswang position.} Kxa4 {Of course Black doesn't have to  take the proferred pawn but, if he retreats the end is similarly prosaic after}  (42... Kc5 43. b3 Kd6 44. Kc4 {and the White king will infiltrate and decide  the game easily.}) 43. Kc4 {and Black is zugswang. The remainder of the  variation is basically forced.} f5 44. exf5 e4 45. f6 exf3 (45... gxf6 46. g7  exf3 47. g8=Q f2 48. Qe8#) 46. f7 f2 47. b3+ $1 {Only this move and not} (47.  f8=Q $4 f1=Q+ 48. Qxf1 {and it's stalemate, not checkmate!}) 47... Ka3 48.  f8=Q+ Kb2 49. Qxf2+ Kc1 50. Kc3 a4 51. Qc2# 1-0   [Event "British Championships - U160"]  [Site "Sheffield"]  [Date "August, 2011"]  [Round "3"]  [White "McCormick, G."]  [Black "Shapland, D."]  [Result "0-1"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "5r1k/2p3p1/p1q4p/3b2nP/5rP1/2P1Q3/P2NR2N/R5K1 b - - 0 38"]  [PlyCount "23"]   {August: This one was difficult. In the game Black played 38... Nf3+ and later  won on time in a dead even end game. The point was that he missed an  opportunity here and you were asked to find it. The engines find it almost  immediately but it is more difficult for biological organisms!} 38... Qe6 $3 {  How could Black have missed this simple mate in 16 variation!? Don't worry I  wasn't expecting you to find the whole thing, just the main idea. There are  two threats created by this move. The first point here is that White cannot  capture on e6 because 39.Qxe6? Nh3 is mate! Because of this neat trick Black  is therefore threatening to play 39...Nh3+ 40. Qxh3 Qxe2. The second point is  that from this square the Black queen exploits the weakness on g4 which White  is unable to bolster. This is critical to the assessment of the position.  Having said all this, I did award half a point for those who suggested} (38...  Qb6 $1 {Which utilises the same ideas as the variant examined in the mainline.}  39. Ndf3 Rxf3 40. Nxf3 Nxf3+ 41. Kf2 Nd4+ 42. Kg3 Nxe2+ 43. Qxe2 Qd6+) 39. Nhf3  {Other moves will enable Black to go straight for g4. For example} (39. Rf1 {  Also winning (and easier to calculate) is} Rxg4+ 40. Nxg4 Qxg4+ 41. Kh2 Qxh5+  42. Qh3 Qxh3+ 43. Kg1 Qh1#) 39... Rxf3 $1 {This is neat but almost as good  (and easier to calculate) was} (39... Qxg4+ 40. Rg2 Qxh5 41. Rf1 Bxf3 {Black  is just winning a piece as well as maintaining his colossal attack.} 42. Rxf3  Nxf3+ 43. Nxf3 Rxf3) 40. Nxf3 Qxg4+ 41. Kf2 {No better is} (41. Rg2 Nxf3+ $1)  41... Qh4+ 42. Kf1 Qh1+ 43. Kf2 Nh3+ 44. Kg3 Rxf3+ {Now the game is up. White  can prolong the game but he can't change the result.} 45. Qxf3 Qxf3+ 46. Kh4  Nf2 47. Re8+ Bg8 48. Rxg8+ Kxg8 49. Rf1 Qf4# {-#16/16} 0-1   [Event "Calderdale League 1"]  [Site "Todmorden"]  [Date "September, 2011"]  [Round "1"]  [White "Clarkson, A."]  [Black "Ursal, D."]  [Result "*"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "r5k1/3bppbp/3pq1p1/p6P/1prBnNP1/1N3P2/PPPQ4/1K1R3R w - - 0 21"]  [PlyCount "8"]  [WhiteTeam "Todmorden 'A'"]  [BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]   {September: This was played in the first match of the season so perhaps it is  understandable that White was a bit rusty and missed the opportunity that  presented itself to him here. Black's last move was to capture on e4 with his  knight as his queen found itself trapped. The question I set was, with both  queens under attack, how should White proceed?} 21. Qg2 {Simply moving the  queen away from the threat means that the Black queen still finds itself  cornered.} (21. fxe4 {I awarded half a point for this answer as it also leads  to an advantage for White although Black will get several pawns in exchange  for the sacrificed knight so matters are less clear cut.} Qxe4 {and now Fritz  gives} 22. Rhe1 Qxc2+ {Is this really the best Black can do? It appears it  might be as the line} (22... Qf3 23. hxg6 hxg6 24. Nxg6 fxg6 25. Bxg7 Kxg7 26.  Rxe7+ {is clearly horrible!}) 23. Qxc2 Rxc2 24. Kxc2 a4 25. Bxg7 axb3+ 26. axb3  Kxg7) (21. Qc1 {was also a good alternative which leads to the same problem  for Black although here he has a few tricks} Bh6 $1 {Pinning the knight to the  queen. Now there is a long forcing sequence which White must follow to gain  the advantage} 22. hxg6 Rxd4 23. Nxd4 Qxg6 24. Nxg6 Bxc1 25. Nxe7+ Kf8 26. Kxc1  Nf2 27. Rxh7 Nxd1 28. Ndf5 Bxf5 29. Nxf5 Kg8 30. Rg7+ Kf8 31. Kxd1 {and  finally White wins an extra piece!}) 21... Rxd4 {After a long think this line  is the best Fritz could find} 22. Nxe6 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Bxe6 24. fxe4 Be5 {it  seems fair to say that Black is totally busted here.} *   [Event "Calderdale League 1"]  [Site "Hebden Bridge"]  [Date "October, 2011"]  [Round "3"]  [White "Sykes, N."]  [Black "Priest, S."]  [Result "1-0"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "5nk1/qrr2p2/2b2Qp1/3pP1N1/pBp5/P5P1/1P3P2/2R2RK1 w - - 0 35"]  [PlyCount "7"]  [WhiteTeam "Hebden Bridge 'A'"]  [BlackTeam "Hebden Bridge 'B'"]   {October: I asked what White's best continuation was here. There seem to be  all sort's of threats and his position is already overwhelming. However, I  wanted you to find the mate in 4 that follows after.} 35. Bxf8 $1 {Simple and  effective! White sets up a mate on g7 so Black must capture the bishop.} Qxf2+  {This move makes in mate in 4 instead of mate in 3.} 36. Rxf2 Kxf8 {Now the  real point becomes clear.} 37. Ne6+ {This was the key move to find} (37. Qh8+  Ke7 38. Rxf7# {is also mate.}) 37... Ke8 38. Qd8# {A pretty mate with the  queen and knight.} 1-0   [Event "British Rapidplay Championships"]  [Site "Leeds"]  [Date "November, 2011"]  [White "Parsons, M."]  [Black "Jones, G."]  [Result "*"]  [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "r3r1k1/3b1p2/p2p2p1/Pp1Pb1qp/1PpNPp2/2P2Q1P/5PP1/1B1RR2K b - - 0 29"]  [PlyCount "13"]   {November: The question was "what did Black do next?" This one was a bit more  difficult (baring in mind that Black is a Grandmaster!) but as it is a recent  example from the website I guess some of you were familiar with it. Black  played} 29... Bg4 $1 {Matthew resigned here without waiting to see} 30. hxg4  hxg4 31. Qe2 f3 32. Nxf3 Qh5+ 33. Kg1 gxf3 34. Qxf3 Qxf3 35. gxf3 Bxc3 {and  Black's position is overwhelming. An interesting insight into the world of a  Grandmaster. How many of us would have spotted that at the board in a normal  game, let alone a rapidplay.} *

Should anyone want to study these positions and their variations further (I did get quite a lot out of looking at some of the complicated ones in depth) then I’ve uploaded them to the Chessbase Viewer so you can download them.

Congratulations go to Pete Leonard who scored a very respectable 8 out of 11 (question 5 had two parts) and wins the chess set! I gather Mr Leonard used the competition to help him digest his Christmas dinner (and quite a number of subsequent seasonal banquets) although I would like to take this opportunity to remind readers that concentrating too hard after a large lunch might be inadvisable if you are actually playing a match.

Christmas Quiz 2011

Competition, End of Season Review 1 Response »

Dec 022011

This French Knight Sheesham mahogany shess set is the fabulous prize!

It may seem a trifle early for a festive feature but I was keen to give participants as much time as possible to submit their entries and I also wanted to give our generous prize sponsors as much exposure as I could without going completely wild!

For this year’s Christmas Quiz I have selected interesting positions from 10 games played by Hebden Bridge Chess Club members during the course of 2011. All you have to do is figure out what the next move should be and provide any key variations that are required to justify the answer.

I will be drawing a winner from all the correct answers that I receive and that lucky person will receive a beautiful new wooden chess set (the one in the picture) courtesy of our Christmas Quiz sponsors www.chesssets.co.uk. This mahogany set is high quality and retails at just under £80 – so it is well worth having! The company has a broad range of sets, clocks and computers so if you are still short of a Christmas present for a chess playing friend you could do much worse than to pay them a visit.

Now, here is the collection for you to puzzle over. The positions range from very easy to quite challenging but I reckon any club player should be able to solve most of them if they are prepared to put the time into studying them carefully. To stop the slide show simply select the game you want to look at from the drop down list below.

   [White "1:White to play"]   [FEN "r2q3r/p3N1k1/1pp2pP1/2BpbQ1p/7P/2P3P1/PPP5/2K2R2 w - - 0 26"]   {What is White's best continuation here?}   [White "2:Black to play"]   [FEN "r1bq1rk1/pp2nppB/2n1p3/3pP3/1b6/2N2N2/PP1B1PPP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 10"]   {Can Black accept the bishop sacrifice?}   [White "3:Black to play"]   [FEN "r1b1r1k1/pp1nbppp/2p2n2/q2pN1B1/3P4/P1N2PP1/1PP1Q2P/2K1RB1R b - - 0 12"]   {What is Black's best continuation?}   [White "4:White to play"]   [FEN "1r3rk1/2p1n1q1/5p1R/1p1N1bp1/3P4/P1Q5/1P2B1P1/2K4R w - - 0 29"]   {White now played 29.Rh8+! and went on to win the game in fine style. He had   an even more clinical finish available to him however. What was it?}   [White "5:White to play"]   [FEN "5rkb/2p5/p2p4/1pPPn1qP/1P1nQp2/P4B1P/5B1K/4R3 w - - 0 37"]   {In an error strewn and exciting time scramble Black has just played 36...Qxg5   and White is in trouble. He now played 37.Bd1? and Black missed an opportunity.   1.) What should Black have played after 37.Bd1 to capitalise on the error? 2. )   White had a better 37th move. What was the most resilient defence?}   [White "6:White to play"]   [FEN "8/6p1/5pPp/pk2p2P/4P3/2K2P2/PP6/8 w - - 0 42"]   {White is a pawn up but which move will yield him the quickest and most   clinical route to victory?}   [White "7:Black to play"]   [FEN "5r1k/2p3p1/p1q4p/3b2nP/5rP1/2P1Q3/P2NR2N/R5K1 b - - 0 38"]   {In another time scramble White had just played 38.Re2. Black now played 38...   Nf3+ and went on to win in the end game. In his hurry however he missed a   better continuation. What was it?}   [White "8:White to play"]   [FEN "r5k1/3bppbp/3pq1p1/p6P/1prBnNP1/1N3P2/PPPQ4/1K1R3R w - - 0 21"]   {Both queens are under attack. How should White proceed?}   [White "9:White to play"]   [FEN "5nk1/qrr2p2/2b2Qp1/3pP1N1/pBp5/P5P1/1P3P2/2R2RK1 w - - 0 35"]   {What is White's best continuation here?}   [White "10:Black to play"]   [FEN "r3r1k1/3b1p2/p2p2p1/Pp1Pb1qp/1PpNPp2/2P2Q1P/5PP1/1B1RR2K b - - 0 29"]   {What did Black do next?}

The viewer above is a little small for careful study so I’ve also enabled you to view the positions in pop up windows. The first 5 are here and numbers 6-10 can be viewed here. For reasons that are too dull to explain I’ve had to split them into two chunks.

Finally, for those who have Microsoft Silverlight (for those who don’t I recommend you download it – it’s free and if you follow the link you’ll be prompted to download it) you can follow this link to the Chessbase Viewer which will let you download the positions so you can set them up at home and work out the variations.

Happy solving!