League Competitions, March - June 2024

[Updated 12th March] League Secretary and Club President Kit Blundell has announced the dates and venues of four league competitions in March-June 2024. These are as follows:

Wednesday 20th March - Individual Buzzer
Location: Margate Chess Club
Time: 7:30 PM
To express interest in participating in this individual event, please contact John Clarke at jlclarke9@yahoo.co.uk.

Friday 19th April - Individual Quickplay
Location: Sandwich Chess Club
Time: 7:30 PM
To register interest in this fast-paced event, reach out to Kit Blundell at friendlyfox44@gmail.com

Tuesday 4th June - Team Buzzer
Location: Bridge Chess Club
Time: 7:30 PM
For team events, it is highly recommended that teams register in advance. Please send your team's player names to Kit Blundell at friendlyfox44@gmail.com.

Tuesday 25th June - Jamboree
Location: Bridge Chess Club
Time: 7:30 PM
Gather your team and join us for this thrilling team event! Clubs, please ensure your Club's Jamboree Team Captain contacts Graeme directly at graemeboxall@talktalk.net

It's a Sandwich Double!

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.

Harry Sharples v Jon Hunt

[Event "Sandwich \"Black-and-White\""] [Site "St Clement's Hall"] [Date "2024.02.20"] [Round "8"] [White "Harry Sharples"] [Black "Jon Hunt"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1712"] [BlackElo "1586"] [EventDate "2024.02.20"] [ECO "A56"] [PlyCount "67"] {Rematch (B&W Round 8). Harry and I reignite our debate in the Czech Benoni. I burn up too much time on the clock finding my way to a superior endgame and suffer a shock mate under time pressure.} 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Be7 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.Nge2 O-O 8.f4 $6 {Harry insists on his customary early f2-f4 break.} 8...exf4 9.Bxf4 $6 ( 9.Nxf4 Ne5 $10 ) 9...Nh5 $1 10.O-O $5 ( {The "right" line is infused with the sort of chessic psychedelia preserved for the mysterious and unknowable Benoni:} 10.g3 $1 g5 $5 11.Bd2 Ne5 12.Nc1 Ng7 $1 13.Be2 f5 $1 {Black times his first key pawn break just right.} 14.O-O Bd7 15.exf5 Nxf5 16.Ne4 b5 $1 {Black gets in the second key pawn break of the Benoni.} 17.b3 Nd4 18.Nd3 Nxe2+ 19.Qxe2 Bg4 20.Qe3 Nf3+ 21.Kg2 Nd4 22.Nxg5 Rxf1 23.Rxf1 Bxg5 24.Qxg5+ Qxg5 25.Bxg5 Be2 26.Nf2 Bxf1+ 27.Kxf1 bxc4 28.bxc4 Re8 $17 ) 10...Nxf4 11.Nxf4 Ne5 12.Be2 Bf6 13.Qc2 a6 14.b3 $6 $15 {White has drifted into a worse position, -1.0 to Black according to the engine.} 14...Rb8 15.Rad1 Qc7 ( {My other idea is a bit better:} 15...Qa5 $5 16.Nh5 Bg5 17.Nf4 b5 18.Nd3 Be3+ 19.Kh1 Bd4 20.Nxe5 Bxe5 $15 ) 16.Nd3 Nxd3 17.Rxd3 $6 b5 $2 {This is well met by the exchange sac I was nervously eyeing...} ( 17...Be5 $1 ) 18.Rg3 $2 ( {Exchange sac:} 18.Rxf6 $1 gxf6 19.Qd2 Kh8 20.Qh6 Qe7 21.Rf3 Rg8 22.Qxf6+ Qxf6 23.Rxf6 Rg6 24.Rxf7 Kg8 25.Rf4 Bd7 26.e5 dxe5 27.Re4 bxc4 28.Rxc4 $1 Rb4 29.Rxc5 Rd4 30.Kf2 Bg4 31.Bf1 $10 ) 18...Be5 19.Rgf3 Bg4 $1 20.Rd3 bxc4 $1 21.bxc4 Bxe2 22.Qxe2 Rb4 23.Rdf3 Bxc3 24.Rxc3 $15 {Black is still for choice. My scoresheet runs out - I had under 4 minutes left on the clock. The rest is from memory and was under increasing time pressure.} 24...Qe7 25.Rb3 Qe5 26.g3 Qd4+ 27.Qe3 Rxc4 $6 ( 27...Qxc4 $1 28.Rxb4 cxb4 $1 $17 ) 28.Qxd4 Rxd4 29.Re1 Re8 30.Ree3 {This move is the warning that White is already looking for the back rank mate.} 30...Rd1+ ( 30...Rdxe4 $4 31.Rxe4 Rxe4 32.Rb8+ Re8 33.Rxe8# ) 31.Kf2 Rd2+ 32.Re2 Rd4 $2 {Black misses the win.} ( {Simply} 32...Rxe2+ 33.Kxe2 Rxe4+ {and Black goes two pawns up.} ) 33.Kf3 Re5 $4 {Under two minutes on the clock, but even so this is a stinker. The back rank beckons.} 34.Rb8+ {Black resigns.} 1-0

Jon Hunt v Harry Sharples

[Event "Sandwich \"Black-and-White\""] [Site "St Clement's Hall"] [Date "2024.02.20"] [Round "7"] [White "Jon Hunt"] [Black "Harry Sharples"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1586"] [BlackElo "1712"] [EventDate "2024.02.20"] [ECO "B20"] [PlyCount "51"] {Languishing near the bottom of the draw, Harry and I embark on the first of two "must win" games (B&W Round 7). I succeed in my plan to get Harry out of book, and in the end I reap the rewards of taking the game into uncharted territory.} 1.c4 c5 2.e4 $5 {There! Now is this an English or a Sicilian?} 2...g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Bd3 $5 {Totally out of book - it's move 4, and there's not a single game in the database with these moves. However, the engine reads a quiet 0.0. White has given up his opening edge, but in return he has a totally unknown position on the board. I'm calling this the "Snake Anglo-Sicilian".} 4...Nc6 5.a3 d6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.h3 O-O 8.O-O Nd7 9.Re1 Nde5 10.Bf1 $6 ( 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Bf1 {is right.} ) 10...f5 ( 10...Nxf3+ $1 11.Qxf3 f5 {was the way to do this.} ) 11.Nxe5 Nxe5 12.f4 $2 ( 12.exf5 Rxf5 13.d3 {is fairly solid for White.} ) 12...Nc6 $1 $15 13.d3 fxe4 14.Nxe4 $1 {A good decision - the knight is centralised, and White begins to consider how he will unravel matters on the long diagonal.} 14...Bh6 $6 15.g3 $1 Bg7 $10 16.Ra2 Be6 $6 {Black appears to be targeting the rook on a2, but this proves to be an unfortunate choice of post for the light-squared bishop.} 17.b3 ( {Already White has the option of exploiting the opening of the e-file:} 17.Nxc5 $1 Bxc4 $1 18.dxc4 dxc5 19.Bg2 $14 ) 17...Nd4 {Black finally occupies the weak square in White's position, but can the knight really make use of it?} 18.Be3 Nf5 19.Kh2 Nd4 $2 {The knight has tried and failed, and White has not only caught up but now takes the lead in the game.} ( 19...Nxe3 $1 20.Rxe3 Bf5 21.Ng5 e5 $1 22.Bg2 exf4 23.gxf4 Bd4 24.Re1 $10 ) 20.Bg2 Qb6 $4 {Black's attack on the b3-pawn is misguided. It's time to open the e-file!} 21.Bxd4 $1 Bxd4 22.Ng5 $1 Bf5 $2 ( {Better, but not much better, is} 22...Bf7 23.Rxe7 d5 24.Nxf7 Rxf7 25.Bxd5 Rf8 ) 23.Rxe7 Rab8 24.Bd5+ Rf7 25.Rxf7 Re8 26.Rxb7+ {Black resigns. His king is paralysed and his queen lost. Both Kh8 and Kf8 fail to mate in one.} 1-0

Christmas Club Champions

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!