It's a Sandwich Double!

March 09, 2024 by Jonathan Hunt in Juniors, Match, Rapidplay, Club

The juniors of Sandwich and Folkestone renewed their acquaintance over the board in a ‘B’ team match on Saturday 9th March, a warmer and sunnier day than our previous chilly December meeting. Both sides retained two players from the earlier fixture, with Sandwich this time fielding two girls in our team. Once again the time control was 10|5 and the contest a six-round all-play-all in which each player took on all six members of the opposing team.

Sandwich once again took an early lead, and by the end of Round 4 we had built it up to ten points, leading 17–7. However, faced with an uphill challenge to keep in the running until the final round, Folkestone seized their chance with the white pieces in Round 5, winning it by a comprehensive scoreline of 5½–½. Needing another 5½ points to tie the match, and all 6 to win, Folkestone pressed hard with the black pieces in the final round but ultimately came up short, with the final scoreline 21½–14½ to Sandwich.

The players before the start of the match

The two top performances of the day came from Sandwich players, with Laurence top scorer overall on 4½ points, and the Sandwich captain Conor second on 4 out of 6. Newcomer Alfie scored an impressive 3½ points, showing perseverance and no little talent in the endgame, and tying with our highest-rated player Aayush. May and Aine both scored a very creditable 3 out of 6, with Aine surviving the most incredible time pressure in Round 2 to play out a winning ending on top board.

For Folkestone, Henry emphatically hit his stride in the last two rounds, while brothers Marcus and Tristan proved consistent scorers for their team; all three finished on 3 points. Siah impressed again, defending valiantly against Aine in that Round 2 game, to finish on 2½ points. Newcomer Aarav’s aggressive approach with the white pieces netted him a couple of remarkably quick mates, some red faces in the Sandwich team, and 2 points. And finally Alex was unlucky not to score more with his thoughtful play, succumbing a couple of times to checkmates he just didn’t see coming.

We’re already looking forward to next season, with a larger-scale match in the planning stages (maybe 12 boards, maybe more!) and hopefully fixtures against some other club or school sides. Click here to view the full match results on the ECF League Management System.

Christmas Club Champions

St Clement's Hall

December 08, 2023 by Jonathan Hunt in Juniors, Club, Rapidplay, Tournament

Our last junior club session of the year ended in a 4-round mini-tournament with prizes. The prize for best beginner - a chess book by former world champion Garry Kasparov - was won by Edward, while 1st and 2nd prizes were decided by a final-round showdown between Samson and Laurence. Laurence was unlucky to let slip a winning position when he captured with the wrong piece and allowed a pin against his king, but both he and Samson received the same prize anyway, a hardback chess scorebook in which to record their games. Hopefully, their next encounter will appear in those books!

Sandwich Juniors Victorious!

Folkestone Sports Centre Trust

December 08, 2023 by Jonathan Hunt in Juniors, Match, Rapidplay, Club

December 2nd was a very cold day, with a yellow weather warning for ice having only just expired in the hours before the match. Sandwich sent its top six to Folkestone (sadly minus George, our top board back in June) to avenge a narrow defeat at the first time of asking, the team consisting of Ethan, Daniel, Samson, Nico, Aayush and Conor. Once again the time control was 10|5 and the contest a six-round all-play-all in which each player took on all six members of the opposing team.

Perhaps the chilly temperature (mitigated by plenty of warm drinks and snacks, courtesy of Folkestone’s coach Matthew Cussens) focused our players’ minds. They started as they meant to go on with an impressive 5-1 scoreline in Round 1, albeit with the white pieces, to answer the 5½-1½ deficit Sandwich took on at the same stage back in June. However, with the black pieces they fared less well, and a couple of careless errors late in the game gave Folkestone 3-3 in Round 2 and hopes of a resurgence.

However, this was to be Folkestone’s only draw (or win) in the six rounds, as Sandwich ramped up the pressure. Middlegames were well controlled, with small positional concessions being won and built upon. Endgames were well executed, sometimes with hesitation but often with impressive confidence. In the Round 4 clash of the teams’ top-performing stars, Samson withstood a fierce attack from Folkestone’s top seed Tom with the white pieces, absorbing immense pressure to fend off the attack and hold on to the extra material for an excellent win. Daniel also did well to hold Tom to a draw in the following round.

The final standings are testament to the hard work being done and significant progress being made by Sandwich’s junior squad at the moment. Samson, who is our first junior to hold a full ECF standardplay rating above 1500 and is top of the table in Group B of the (adult) Club Championship (equal with Daniel), won all six of his games. Aayush, whose rapidplay rating has already bounced back above 1000 thanks to his commitment to regular tournament play, won an impressive 5 out of 6. Ethan and Daniel weren’t far behind with 4½ points out of 6, and the third member of this Manwood’s trio, Conor, had a good day too with 4 out of 6. Nico scored a solid 3 out of 6, having let a couple of better positions slip through his fingers. For Folkestone Tom finished on 4½ (and will probably be disappointed not to have scored more), Louis scored 3, and rising star Siah impressed both coaches with his thoughtful play on his way to a creditable 1½ points against tough opposition.

The final score at the end of the six rounds was 27–9 in favour of Sandwich Juniors, which is a comprehensive victory against a club which, it has be to said, has a membership more than twice the size of ours. However, we shouldn’t be complacent, as undoubtedly Folkestone has a number of strong players who didn’t put themselves forward for this match. Perhaps the result will spur them on to throw their hats into the ring for the next one! Meanwhile, discussions are already under way for a B-team encounter against Folkestone later in the season. Click here to view the full match results on the ECF League Management System.

Junior Club Champion Tacticians!

St Clement's Hall

November 10, 2023 by Jonathan Hunt in Juniors, Puzzles, Club

In the second half of this week’s junior club session, Jon put the projector into action and, after showing several practice examples, presented ten fiendish double attack positions to solve. It takes patience as well as skill to analyse a position tactically, but chess is built on tactics, and a regular routine of chess puzzle solving can have a dramatic impact on the quality of your play.

Here are two positions from the quiz. See if you can find the best move for White. The first is pure chess poetry, while in the second Black has a choice of responses, one of which invites a sublime checkmate combination.