Rugby " C" Results

Results of Tuesday 23/02/10 League Match - Away to Cov E
Board 1 - James - Lost
Board 2 - Roy - Win
Board 3 - Chris - Lost
board 4 - Joe - Draw

Fighting for the league title !

A good night for the first team on Tuesday!
There are/were 3 teams fighting for the Div 1 title Cov A, Nuneaton A and us. By beating Cov A 2.5 - 1.5 we put them out of the running and now we have a title decider against Nuneaton on March 16 at Nuneaton.

With 11 games played the points are
Nuneaton A 16
Rugby A 15
Cov A 14

So goal difference is irrelevant - we have to win, anything else and Nuneaton A win.

Well done on Tuesday to John - win v Dave Ireland, Jonathan win v Ed Goodwin, Nalin draw (after being on the back foot) v Bob Holmes. I lost again to Mark Page who is definitely my current nemesis, but I have to say he played well.

In the Div Cup Uni B are claiming the default but it doesn't make too much difference because again if we beat Uni A next week we win the Div cup award again.

Bob and a slightly younger version

Following one of the half term activities Bob took time out (well Chris forced him) to stand next to one of the exhibits in the Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. The exhibition is there until 14 March and features some of the old chess clocks and sets from the club (and one from Nigel Malka), the silver salver, the original of the photo at the top of this blog, some photos and other memorabilia from the Russian trip and other items. Not just Bob but Martin also appear in slightly younger form.

Rugby " C" Results

Results of Tuesday 16/02/10 League Match - Nuneaton E

Board 1 James - Win
Board 2 Roy - Win
Board 3 Chris - Win
Board 4 Sue - Lost

Thank you

Many thanks to all the Rugby Chess Club players who have helped with the junior chess events this week. We kicked off on Monday with our very own champion of Warwickshire becoming a radio star (for which I will be eternally grateful that I did not have to do it on my own) thank you John. Then in the evening we had quite a few junior players at our Monday social night at the Railway club. Thanks for all your support with Bob away in London. The aim now is to get junior players along on a regular basis so please come along on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month 7:30-8:30pm to pass on your knowledge to the next generation. On Wednesday morning we attracted about 20 children with their adults in Rugby Museum. Then on Thursday we had the fun day in Rugby Library with about 34 children and almost as many adults playing chess throughout the day. Thanks to Chris for organising all of this and we hope you boys are ready for lots of new players to join Rugby Chess Club! Best wishes. Sue

First team February.

The first team seems to be doing exactly the same in he second half of the season as it did in the first half.
Lost to Uni A (thats why we kept quiet)
Struggled to a draw with Uni B
Beat Coventry B 2.5 - 1.5
Beat Nuneaton B 3 - 1 last night. Good wins for Nalin and Jonathan. Dominoes noise put off John (and probably most of us to be truthful) so he drew and I drew after blundering.
All these results mirror what we did in the first half so we hope that we can compete for the League title by winning our last 2 games .... fingers crossed

At last a win on Board 3 for Chris

A very nice opponent and a slow moving (for me) game but a really interesting one. We got so absorbed around move 32 that I failed to spot that we both had ignored a discovered check on my King. Although the audience was holding its breath at that stage. It was an unusually reflective game for me. Perhaps I should take more time on my games and the results might improve. Very happy to have had my first win for the C team in Board 3 position. Now you guys can tell me how I (or he) could have played better.

Play Online Chess

[Event "Rugby C Team home"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.2.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Laurie Wilson"]
[Black "Chris Pegler"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. c4 {Immediately I am on unfamiliar ground. Never played against this
before. Appear calm and play as usual ...} 1... Nf6 2. g3 {Hm. } 2... d5 3.
Bg2 {Its a Fianchetta - at least I know what one of those is about ...} 3...
Bf5 4. Nc3 {James says that this is the why of the c4 opening, to nt block in
the knight. } 4... c6 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 {Ouch. He's forked by bishop and
knight and I did not see it coming. } 6... Nxc3 {But I reckon I can get out of
trouble by threatening his queen.} 7. bxc3 Bg6 {Looking at this I think that
he is doing much better than me in the opening. } 8. Ne2 e5 {This is
deliberatly about stopping the knight moving forward to the fourth rank. } 9.
O-O Bd6 10. d4 {We are not into a struggle over the d5 pawn} 10... O-O 11. f4
f6 12. Qb3+ {I did not see that one coming. } 12... Bf7 {After I had moved I
realised that he has limited options for his queen. So he decides to at least
get a pawn ahead.} 13. Qxb7 Nd7 {At least I know to move my knight out of the
way so he can't take my rook as well. } 14. Qb2 Bc4 {Quite liked this pinning
of the knight onto the rook. Although I can see that his queen is already
protecting the knight. } 15. Qd2 {So I don't understand why he did this move.
But it did make me think that there was some plus in him being here so I would
try and move him on. } 15... Bxe2 16. Qxe2 {Like this. } 16... exd4 17. cxd4
{At this stage I feel, perhaps mistakenly, that although a pawn down I have a
position with potential. I've definitely been eying up the dark diagonal to
his king.} 17... Qb6 18. Be3 c5 19. d5 Qb4 20. Rab1 Qa3 21. Rb3 Qa5 {A lot of
my action is now around the c pawn. } 22. Rc1 Rab8 23. Rcb1 {Danger Will
Robinson!} 23... Nb6 {Blocks and also protects the c pawn if (when ) it
advances. Around this time I also realise that I have nicely positioned my
black bishop to guard both rooks. Which was trufully unintended. } 24. Qc2
Rfc8 25. Rb5 Qa6 {Don't quite like putting queen in a tight space like this
but seems the best option. } 26. Bf1 {Oh. So now i have to worry about the
queen if that rook moves. } 26... c4 {So let's block that particular danger.
} 27. a4 Nxa4 {I think that this was the first time that I felt that I might
have a genuine chance. } 28. Bxc4 {But I lose the c pawn that I have expended
so much effort on potecting. } 28... Nb6 29. Bxb6 axb6 {I think that this was
a good outcome for me.} 30. Qa2 {It's looking like an exchange of queens is
going to happen soon. } 30... Qa3 31. Qxa3 Bxa3 32. d6+ {What happens now is
that there is a discovered check which in the heat of the game neither of us
notice. Although our audience certainly does! What I did in the game was Bd6
(illegal) but we noticed it before we went any further and taking back moves I
then did a better move } 32... Rxc4 {Which is the better move and at least a
legal move. } 33. Rxb6 {Which unfortunately sets me up with } 33... Bc5+ 34.
Kg2 Bxb6 35. e5 {The next three moves are remembered rather than marked up. I
got rather excited and more than a little nervous. } 35... Kf7 {Moving the
king out seemed like good plan to stop his pawn run} 36. Kf3 {Marked as Kf2,
let's assume that it wasKf3 otherwise it would be another illegal move into
check. } 36... fxe5 37. fxe5 Ke6 {Aggressive king now. } 38. d7 Rd4 {He
resigns. } 0-1

Rugby Chess Players on Local radio

Sue Sanders and John Naylor are interviewed on local radio - listen again on iPlayer. Available til 5:02pm Monday 22nd February 2010.

Nice listening (its in the second half of the programme if you are in a hurry). I know that Sue was nervous but she has a very nice radio voice. :-)

Rugby does well at Warwickshire Championships 2010

Congratulations to John Naylor (Rugby A) who won the Warwickshire Open Chess Congress this weekend (played over 13-14 Feb at Knowle), and James Mendes (Rugby C) who took third place in the U125 section. Nalin and Jon Cox (also Rugby A) took part but did not take prizes this year. It would be interesting to see some of these games on here (hint).

Well done Rugby! Do we now have to call John 'The Champ'?

Rugby "C" Results

Results of Tuesday 2/02/10 League Match-Home to Cov.G

Board 1 James - Draw
Board 2 Roy - Win
Board 3 Joe - Lost
Board 4 Sue - Lost

A Lost Win

I was happy to get this draw, until Fritz mentioned I'd missed a win. I might have preferred blissful ignorance...

Play Online Chess

[Event "Plate Quarter-Final"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.2.2"]
[Round "?"]
[White "J Mendes"]
[Black "H Jones"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "126"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. d4 d5 2. e3 c5 {I think I should have played Nf6 first.} 3. c3 Nc6 4. f4
{Good, bad, or merely OK? Looks wrong to me.} 4... Nf6 5. Bd3 cxd4 {Giving up
the tension...} 6. exd4 Bg4 7. Nf3 Ne4 {Wanted to play f6 to support e5.} 8.
Nbd2 Nxd2 9. Bxd2 e6 {Didn't think I could play f6 as White responds f5.} 10.
O-O Bd6 11. Qe1 O-O 12. Ne5 Bf5 13. Be2 {Bxf5 was much better.} 13... Qb6
{Sacrificing the exchange, accidentally. Although it actually works in my
favour.} 14. Nd7 Qxb2 15. Nxf8 Kxf8 {Even though I'm down the exchange, I
prefer my position. I have a pawn advantage, and his backward c-pawn on my
semi-open file is almost worthless. Both my good and bad bishops are active,
his bad bishop is inactive, his good bishop has no useful squares. His extra
rook isn't doing much, and my knight could be useful... } 16. Qc1 Qb6 17. Be3
Rc8 18. Qd2 Na5 19. Bd3 {Misses...} 19... Nc4 20. Bxc4 Rxc4 21. Rf2 {?} 21...
Qa5 22. Qb2 Qxc3 23. Qxc3 Rxc3 24. Re1 Rd3 {Slight mistake. Stronger was
24...Ba3 as my bishops then prevent White's rooks from using the b and c
files at all.} 25. Rb2 b6 26. Rb3 {Drops another pawn.} 26... Rxb3 27. axb3
Bc2 28. Ra1 a5 29. g3 {?} 29... Bxb3 30. Rb1 a4 31. Bd2 b5 32. Bc3 Bc4 33.
Rb4 {After this move, my opponent says 'This will either be a great move, or
not'. It doesn't work. 33.Bb4 is better, but it loses too, I suppose.} 33...
Bxb4 {I considered 33...a3, which is better, but I just wanted the rook.}
34. Bxb4+ Ke8 35. Kf2 f6 36. Ke3 Kf7 37. h4 h6 38. h5 {Instead of this, my
opponent actually tries to play 38.g5. Moving a pawn from the 3rd rank to the
5th rank is almost as good as trying to claim a stalemate when you're about
to get checkmated next move, which happened the last time we played this
team.} 38... f5 39. Kf3 Bb3 40. Ke2 Bc2 41. Ba3 Be4 42. Kf2 g6 43. hxg6+ Kxg6
44. Bb4 h5 {Making it hard for myself...} 45. Ba3 Kf7 46. Bb4 Ke8 47. Ba3 Kd7
48. Bb4 Kc6 49. Kg1 Kb6 50. Kh2 a3 51. Bxa3 Ka5 52. Bc1 b4 53. Kh3 b3 54. Kh4
Bf3 {Kb4 is better.} 55. Kg5 Kb4 56. Bb2 Kc4 57. Kf6 Kd3 58. Kxe6 Be4 59. Kf6
Kc2 60. Ba1 b2 61. Bxb2 Kxb2 62. Kg5 Kc3 63. Kxh5 Bf3+ 64. Kg5 Bg4 65. Kf6
Kxd4 66. Ke6 Ke4 67. Kf6 d4 68. Ke6 d3 69. Kf6 d2 70. Ke6 d1=Q 71. Kf6 Qd4+
72. Kg5 Qg7+ 73. Kh4 Qh6# 1/2-1/2

Rugby"C" Results

Results of Tuesday 26/01/10 Match - Away to Cov. E

Board 1 James - Win
Board 2 Roy - Win
Board 3 Chris - Lost
Board 4 Joe -Lost