Richard Lee inflicted another training session on us on 25 November. I was going to publish one of the positions we were discussing, but I have been sworn to secrecy. I will say that Richard’s main theme was to demostrate 3 questions which any chess players should be asking when deciding what to do next. I will reveal one of the questions; you should always ask yourself “what is the weakest piece?” There, sorry, I was outvoted; not saying anything else about it. Well OK, I will say that it was an enjoyable and instructive evening and we look forward to the next one. Thanks again Richard.
You know how there are loads of books and videos out there devoted to endgame “studies”; as in made up positions designed to entertain and instruct? And you know that there is a subset of the genre, featuring cool stalemates? These studies are fun to look at, but you might think that they are just for fun, and they never really happen in real games. Well. I was facing Dave “Dastardly” Lambton last night. I had survived the opening and felt that I was getting somewhere. Then Dave blundered. He had a choice of losing the exchange for nothing, or losing a full piece but with a few crumbs of counterplay. He went for the latter. Anyway, the game moved on and I was cleaning up. Dave had seen way ahead though, and was planning a cunning stalemate. He knew that if his king could not move, if he got rid of any pawn that could move, he would have a trap. As I strolled right into it spectators began to scuttle off into the foyer to release their supressed guffaws. I saw, too late, the picture below: Dave and the world laughing at me. Imagine waking up in the darkness to the image below.
To make things worse Crewe B beat Crewe A in the match. Harry and Carmel drew in 13 moves (eh?). In contrast Lukasz and Martin F, 2 of the most adventurous players in the club, played an expectedly wild game, with Lukasz winning. Gee beat Jamie on board 2.
Crewe G beat visitors Kidsgrove. Mario’s draw meant that his lucky ink is still working well. Neville’s win decided the match in favour of Crewe.
Hero of the Day Award goes to Dave Hulme. Phil Grocott had car trouble, which meant that Crewe I were going to struggle to get to Fenton. Dave Hulme stepped in a the last minute, and volunteered to drive them all there. Crewe won that match with Dave watching on. Thanks Dave.
Steve Ballantyne had a rough time towards the end of last year and the start of this, recovering from serious illness. We are all delighted to see him back as a regular at the club, and as a team captain. He wanted me to mention that he had gone 3 months without losing a game; August to October. Unfortunately, by the time I post this that run is over, but well done Steve, and even more well done for keeping away from the smokes.
Christmas is coming, and Dave the Chair is planning the usual Christmas do. Stay tuned for details.