S&DCL Div 1

All three results still possible.

A Hadleigh team looking distinctly like Customs Old Boys arrived in plenty of time for this match. Former Customs members Michael Bridger and Stan Harwood occupied boards 1 & 3, while Andrew Kochen, a Customs & Excise employee, was on board 6. A close match was in prospect as, although Customs were the higher graded, the difference was never very great.

The first result declared was on board 2, where Ken's King's Indian Attack in answer to my French Defence led to a series of exchanges inthe centre, but ultimately equality when each side had Q, 2R, opposite coloured bishops and 7 pawns apiece. There was little likelihood of progress by either side. Ken told me afterwards that he currently has two postal games in progress, both of which he is winning, in which this opening was played.

Charles then delivered the full point after playing the Chatard-Alekhine Attack, sacrificing a pawn for an open h-file and a vigorous attack. The game ended very suddenly when Stan blundered into a knight fork, losing a rook, in a position in which he was probably losing anyway. The scores were levelled again at the end of the session when Matthew, who had earlier lost the exchange, gave up the unequal struggle as White's rooks were preparing to invade his position.

Mike, on board 1, played in the classical style, his Queen's Gambit giving Black an isolated queen's pawn. Nimzowich would have approved totally of Mike's approach as he blockaded the pawn and undermined its defences with exchanges before ultimately being able to win it. This approach was never likely to deliver a result within 30 moves, of course, so a second session will be necessary which, hopefully, Mike will be able to win given that he has the extra pawn and that his king is menacing black's queen-side pawns.

The other two adjourned positions are unclear. Nick is a pawn down, but there are no passed pawns, in a position in which each side has a queen and two rooks. He must have drawing chances but no doubt will have to prove these in a difficult second session. In the other, Ellen is in a level but unbalanced position against Andrew Kochen. The Hadleigh player missed several good moves during the game which would have given him the advantage, and now has sealed in a position where his best move, according to Fritz, is an exchange sacrifice. Given his withdrawn play so far, it seems unlikely that he will have played this.

Nick and Ellen both played on at the Hadleigh club. Nick tried to whip up an attack but it wasn't long before his on king was assailed by Black's rooks. He was forced to exchange and that was that. Ellen worked very hard for a full session and her game burst into a massively complicated late middlegame with both kings exposed. She had won two pawns but Andrew Kochen, who may have had a better continuation, eventually decided to settled for a draw by perpetual, Ellen's king shuffling around the a file while her queen, bishop and rook just managed to keep the key squares at bay.

" A game of two halves…"

Mike McDowell v Michael Bridger, Customs 1 v Hadleigh 1, Board 1.  12.12.03 / 15.12.03

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 b6 7.cxd5 Nxd5 (I think 7...exd5 is more usual) 8.Nxd5 exd5 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.Qa4 

(This seemed to confuse Michael, who had a lengthy think. It's a move which threatens nothing directly, but simply puts pressure 
on certain squares on the queen's-side) 
10... c5 11.dxc5 Qxc5 (I expected 11...bxc5. This move decides the course of the next twenty moves, as it gives White a target in the 
d-pawn. Black has little counterplay, and White's control of d4 is too strong to allow him to advance the weak pawn) 
12.Be2 Bd7 13.Qd4 

(Doubtless a Kasparov would examine a king's-side attack starting Qh4, with moves like Bd3 and Ng5 to follow, 
but I recall Karpov once saying that faced with the choice of playing a speculative attack or a safe ending with a minimal 
advantage he would choose the latter every time. I'm lazy too...) 
13... Qa5+ 14.Qd2 Qxd2+ 15.Kxd2 
(With queens off, the king is a potential attacker, so there's no point in castling) 
15... Nc6 16.Rhd1 a6 17.Rac1 Rfc8 18.a3 (This may have been unnecessary. I was worried about 18.Ke1 Nb4) 
18... b5 19.Ke1 Ne7 20.Nd4 

(After 20.Ne5 Be6 the knight simply looks misplaced. It seems silly to place the knight in front of the pawn I'm attacking, 
but it stands ready to exchange off a defender, and can always redeploy to attack d5 if necessary. Keep your options open!)
20... Kf8 21.Bf3 Be6 22.Kd2 
(Planning to reach a5 or provoke a weakening advance of the queen's-side pawns) 
22... Ke8 23.Rc3 Rxc3 (Or else he has to allow the doubling of rooks) 
24.Kxc3 Rc8+ (Helps the king get to where it wants to go anyway, but Michael was very short of time by this stage and moving quickly) 
25.Kb4 Kd7 26.Ka5 Nc6+ 

(Should I have played 27.Kxa6? It looked messy to let the black rook in at c2, so I preferred to win the d-pawn) 
27.Nxc6 Rxc6 28.Bxd5 Bxd5 (28…Rd6 29.Bf3 is worse) 29.Rxd5+ Ke6 30.Rd2 g6 31.f3 h5 32.g3 Ke7 33.h3 

33... Rf6 (adjourned) 
34.f4 (sealed) Re6 35.Rd3 f5 36.h4 Kf6 37.b3 Ke7 (A position assessed by Fritz as won for White. Unfortunately computers 
tend to throw out moves, not explain winning methods) 
38.a4 (I decided to swap b-pawns and use the rook to win the a-pawn for my e-pawn. It seemed to me that at least two of my king's-side 
pawns would have to go if I was to try to win, and I was relying on my a-pawn making a quick advance to force Michael 
to sacrifice his rook) 
38... bxa4 39.bxa4 Re4 40.Ra3 Re6 41.Rb3 Re4 42.Rb6 Kf7 43.Rb7+ 
(It's always worth gaining time on the clock) 
43... Kf6 44.Rb6+ Kf7 45.Rxa6 Rxe3 46.Rc6 (Is 46.Rd6 or a king move better? I haven't a clue) 
46... Rxg3 47.Kb5 Rb3+ 48.Kc4 (Very poor judgment. I had assumed that at Black's 51st he would have to play Re4 then back to e8. 
I envisaged a position where my king would win the black rook at a7 and with my rook keeping Black's king on the 7th rank my king 
would get back in time to stop the pawns. 51... Rh1 was an unpleasant surprise, as I realised I'd overlooked that Black could defend
along the files. The fact that White will lose the pawn on a8 instead of a7 gains valuable time for Black) 
48... Rf3 49.a5 Rxf4+ 50.Kb5 Rxh4 51.a6 Rh1 52.Rc4 (This frees the black king, but is anything better?) 
52... Rb1+ 53.Kc6 Ra1 54.Kb7 Kf6 55.a7 Kg5 56.a8Q Rxa8 57.Kxa8 

57... h4 58.Kb7 h3 59.Kc6 h2 60.Rc1 Kg4 61.Kd5 f4 62.Ke4 g5 63.Rb1 Kg3 64.Ra1 f3 65.Ke3 

(adjourned)  White resigned. After 65...g4 (which Michael had sealed) 66.Rb1 f2 67.Rf1 Kh3 the g-pawn advances, winning easily. 


It is worth comparing the above game with another R & P ending played by two GMs within the past 10 years:-

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.b3 0-0 6.0-0 c5 7.Bb2 Nc6 8.e3 b6 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 Qxd5 12.d4 Na5 13.dxc5 Bxc5
14.Qxd5 Bxd5 15.Rfd1 Rfd8 16.Rac1 Nc6 17.Nd4 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Bxd4 19.Bxd4 Nxd4 20.Rxd4 Rxd4 21.exd4 g5 

22.Rc7 Rd8 23.Rxa7 Rxd4 24.Rb7 Rd6 25.a4 Kg7 26.Kf1 g4 27.Ke2 h5 28.b4 e5 29.a5 bxa5 30.bxa5 Rd4 31.a6 Ra4 32.a7 Kg6 

33.Kd3 f6 34.Kc3 Kf5 35.Kb3 Ra1 36.Rc7 Ke6 37.Kc4 Kd6 38.Rf7 Ke6 39.Rh7 Kf5 40.Kd5 Ra5+ 41.Kc6 Ke4 42.Kb6 Ra2 43.Rh8 Rxa7 44.Kxa7 

44...Kf3 45.Kb6 Kxf2 46.Kc5 e4 47.Rxh5 e3 48.Rf5+ Kg2 49.Rxf6 Kxh2 50.Kd4 e2 51.Re6 Kxg3 52.Kd3 

and Black resigned.

Two free tickets to the Perriman Cup Final for anyone who can identify the players.