Review of Leamington Chess Club Season – 2006-07

Looking back on the season which has just finished, Leamington Chess Club enjoyed a fairly successful and very encouraging season in the Leamington and District Chess League. The Club ran four teams – one in Division One, one in Division Two, and two in Division Four. This was one team more than in the preceding season – as although the club had lost one or two members, we actually gained several new ones. We ran three teams in the three League KO Cup competitions – all of which made the semi finals.

In Division One, the A Team enjoyed its best season for several years. In the preceding three seasons, the A Team had been struggling to fend off relegation, but in the 2006-07 season the team finished third on 16 points from 14 games. The team’s success was due in no small part to an excellent season by Mark Page on Board One. During the whole of the season Mark only lost one game, and enjoyed some splendid results – one of which is given below. Another reason for the team’s success was the addition of a new member to the club, Dan Aldridge who joined part way through the season – only to be immediately drafted into the A Team where he had some excellent results. Dan’s season ended with him winning the Leamington Club’s KO Cup in April – beating David Hodgkins in the final.

In the second division, the newly promoted B Team was inevitably going to find the going difficult. In the first half of the season before Christmas, points were very hard to come by. However, from January onwards the team started putting together some good results, and ended the season with 8 points. With Nuneaton B having to withdraw its team part way through the season, several teams were closely grouped together near the foot of the table. Well done to new member John Gould who played his first season at Leamington Club in the B Team and had a very promising start.

In Division four the C and D Teams both ended on ten points. Several new members were playing for the teams – David Nicholas played his first full season in the C Team and Mark Armitage and Owen Clarke both played their first seasons in the D Team. Congratulations to Owen, the Club’s youngest member, who had a magnificent season with nine wins from 12 games.

Away from the club, several players enjoyed some great results. Mark Page had a tremendous season for Whoberley in the Coventry League, came third in the Warwickshire Open Congress, and finished second in the League Lightning Tournament. Andy Price came first equal in the Dudley Spectrum Major Tournament, and Owen Clarke had a remarkable start to the season with a 100% score in the under 70 section of last September’s Leamington Rapidplay.

For the season to come, we will once again be fielding four teams, in divisions one, two and four. We are always delighted to welcome new players of any strength, so if you are thinking of taking up chess, or are an existing player looking for a club, then please contact us or come along to a club night.

Finally, as promised, a great game by Mark against Maurice Staples of Nuneaton. Comments on the game are by Mark.

M. Staples - M.E. Page [C13]

Leamington v Nuneaton, Bd 1, 29.01.2007

1.Nc3 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e4 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4 [From Maurice Staples you wouldn't expect any other move! But as I had arrived at the board with no intention whatsoever of reaching a position even remotely like this, I had little idea what to do.] Bxg5 7.hxg5 Qxg5 8.Nh3 Qe7 9.Nf4 c5?! [Deliberately tempting White's next move, though it may be over-provocative - 9 .... a6 would have been safer - and more sensible] 10.Nb5 Kd8 11.Qg4 [11.c4?! cxd4; 11.c3+/-] 11...g6 12.Nd6 Nc6 13.Nxf7+?! [I saw this coming and hoped/thought it wasn't that good] Qxf7 14.Nxe6+ Ke7 15.Nc7 [15.Ng5 Qf5-+] 15...Nxd4=/+ 16.Qg5+ Kf8 17.0-0-0 Nb6 [17...Rb8! 18.c3 Ne6 19.Qh6+ Kg8 20.Nxd5 Nxe5-/+] 18.Nxa8 Nxa8 19.Bd3 Kg7 20.Qh6+ Kg8 21.c3 [After 21 Qg5 I would probably have repeated moves with 21 ...Kg7, as I rather underestimated the potential in Black's position] Nf5 22.Qg5 Nc7 23.Bxf5? Bxf5 24.f3 Kg7? [24...d4 25.g4 Be6 26.f4 Bd5 27.Rhf1 Ne6 28.Qh6 Qg7=/+] 25.Qh6+ Kg8 26.g4?! [the last chance to offer the draw by repetition, which I would once again probably have gone for] Be6 27.Qe3 b6 28.Rh6? Bd7 29.Rdh1 Ne6 30.Kd2 Qf4 [30...d4! 31.Qd3 Bc6-+] 31.Qxf4 Nxf4 32.Ke3 Ne6 33.f4?! d4+! 34.cxd4 cxd4+ 35.Kd3 Nxf4+ 36.Kxd4 Bxg4 37.R6h4 [Now the Black kingside pawns spring to life very quickly] h5 38.Rf1 g5 39.Rh2 Kf7 40.Rc2 Rd8+ [Black's first rook move!] 41.Ke4 Ke7 42.Rc7+ Rd7 [Black's second and last rook move!] 43.Rfc1 Ne6 44.Rxd7+ Kxd7 45.Rc3 h4 46.b4 h3 47.Rd3+ Ke7 48.Rd2 Nf4 49.Rh2 Ng2 50.a4 Ke6 51.a5 bxa5 52.bxa5 a6 53.Kd4 Bf5 54.Kc5 g4 55.Kb6 Bd3 56.Rh1 Kxe5 57.Rd1 h2 [White now had too little time to resign! And could also harbour some hopes that my flag might fall first] 58.Rxd3 h1Q 59.Rd7 Nf4 60.Re7+ Kd6 61.Rb7 Ne6 62.Ka7 Nd8 63.Rb6+ Kc5 64.Kb8 Nc6+ 65.Kc8 Qh8+ 66.Kd7 Qg7+ (time) 1.30/1.29 0-1