After the long break from “over the board” chess enforced by the pandemic, wood was finally being pushed around the boards again last week in the first round of this season’s Club Championship.
Chess is back…
The Times They Are a-Changin’
The Len Hammond memorial shield, contested annually by Snodland and Maidstone, saw Snodland lift the trophy last night (Weds 25 September 19) for the first time in its 11 year history.
The match was contested over 5 boards and was a non-graded “Friendly Match” – some players are members of both clubs, as Len was himself.
Snodland won the toss and had the white pieces on odd boards.
New Season, New Club Championship
Round 1, 14-09-17
Mallery, Richard 0 - 1 Miners, Neil Pol, Jerry 1 - 0 Broadbent, Hugh Thompson, Robert 1 - 0 Boyes, Jason Boyes, Jason 0 - 1 Thompson, Robert
Club Championship 2016-17
Approximately at the mid-point of the tournament, it’s very close at the top.
George Hollands leads by one point although Robert Thompson in second place has a round in hand.
Both players are yet to meet in the competition and one feels the outcome of their two games will have a big impact on this year’s event, which runs over 18 rounds! (George has played 10 rounds so far).
No Surprise….
On page 6 of “The Chess Beat” by Larry Evans:
To the surprise of nobody, young Karpov romped over his countryman Lev Polugayevsky 5 1/2 – 2 1/2 [In the 1974 Candidates’ quarter-final.]
A rather peculiar thing to claim, particularly since on the very next page Evans writes “[Bobby] Fischer told friends he was surprised that Karpov beat Polugayevsky”.
Study Time – Jan 2016 Solution
A few days ago the post Study Time – Jan 2016 presented a neat little 4 move study.
I’m sure most of you who attempted it found the solution but if not, you can finally put yourselves out of your misery here…
Study Time – Jan 2016
Endgame studies are an excellent way to train one’s calculation.
Set the following position up on a board and try to solve by yourself, without any engine assistance. It’s a short little study, the solution is four moves long.
Afansiev, Duizov, 1967 – White to play and win
Solution to follow shortly…
January 2016 Grades
The latest January grading list has been published here.
Notably our most promising player, Matthew Gazes, has again increased remarkably since the last rating list, with his rating now a very respectable 180, an increase of 17 points.
Everyone else has remained roughly the same as they were on the July 2015 rating list. (We clearly aren’t working hard enough).
Len Hammond Memorial 2015/16
This year saw the 6th edition of the Len Hammond Memorial, the annual friendly match between Snodland and local rivals Maidstone.
Len was an active and well liked member of both clubs and is fondly remembered. Match results below.
Maidstone Vs Snodland
David Munford 0 Vs 1 Matt Bunn
David Heath 1 Vs Default
Barry Beavis 1 Vs 0 George Hollands
Bob Lane 1/2 Vs 1/2 David Fowler
Saba Mustafa 1 Vs 0 Rob Thompson
Chris Ilinca 1 Vs 0 David Lettington
Douglas Smith 0 Vs 1 Pete Hickey
Nigel Osina 1 Vs 0 Neil Miners
Peter Dirmanskas 0 Vs 1 Richard Mallery
P Hickey Vs M Horner
Back in December Snodland visited Weald of Kent in the en-passant cup.
Peter Hickey has kindly sent us his game which can be viewed, along with some light annotation by myself here.
Snodland Chess Club 