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Atticus Games
HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland) Tournament 2008
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Winner: Phil Hopkins |
New club member Phil Hopkins played in the HBOS tournament in Edinburgh winning 4 and drawing 1 to finish first. Well done to him and for his excellent start to competitive league chess this year. Phil's rating for
the Edinburgh event was about 140; his play being steady and quite attacking throughout. Over 200 players applied for the event and 77 were chosen.
The event was held at the HBOS headquarters (right) which has been a distinctive feature of the Edinburgh skyline for over 200 years.
Completed in 1806 as the head office of Bank of Scotland, it has been the corporate headquarters of HBOS plc since 2001.
Around 100 members of staff work in the building, including directors and senior executives. The building has recently undergone a major restoration by Malcolm Fraser Architects.
Atticus Tourney and Skelmersdale Rapidplay 2008
Winning a 'won' position.
The late IM Simon Webb in Chapter 8 ‘How to win won positions’ of his famous book ‘Chess for Tigers’ spoke of the difficulties we all face, including grandmasters, in winning ‘won’ positions. The
phrase ‘the rest is just technique’ is so often heard but far harder to apply successfully in practice. He makes four main suggestions to reduce the number of games that might slip away. 1) Keep the initiative, 2) Give your opponent as little
chance as possible, 3) Check complications carefully, but don’t be afraid of them and 4) Don’t assume the game will win itself.
Here, Richie Noonan puts into practice those suggestions perfectly and wins a nice game with a very clever zugswang at the end to win a ‘won’ game.
Atticus 3
v Wallasey B, Division 2, January 2008
Atticus
Club Tournament 2008
Leyland Congress 2007
Vojtech Fiser competed in the very
strong Leyland Major over the Bank
Holiday weekend. He played some very
tough opponents scoring 3/6 and in
round 6 defeated one of the highest
rated and strongest players in the
event, Robert Taylor from Preston.
This must be one of Vojtech's
biggest wins and is yet another
indication of his steady
improvement. Play through his five
games
including the last round win against
Taylor.
Another excellent Atticus victory
Atticus player John Redmond 2212 has beaten
Lithuanian GM
Eduardas
Rozentalis 2551 in round 2 of the Irish
Championships. The 9 round swiss event is being held
in the Royal Dublin Hotel from June 30th - July 8th
and with a prize fund of 6800 Euros it's attracted a
strong and experienced field of players. John's game
was long (70 moves) but he out-manoeuvred his
opponent in fine style.
Further details,
pairings and games from the event can be found on
the Irish Union
website.
Speed chess played with
style
Here's a nice example of how to start a lightning game, maintain the
initiative and then finish off your opponent in style. Luke Boumphrey's
energy and opening knowledge was no match here for Black
at the recently held MCA
lightning event at the Adelphi Hotel on 18th June.
If
there was a best game prize for this event then this one would surely be
in with a shout.
Another Atticus win at the 4NCL -
played 5th May 2007
Atticus player and FIDE
Master Charlie Kennaugh beat former England Olympiad team member and GM
Danny Gormally at the 4NCL weekend in May. Playing for North West Eagles
1 Charlie kept his cool under considerable pressure and turned the
tables after some fine defensive play.
See more Charlie Kennaugh
games
here.
Ruy Lopez,
Exchange Variation,
ECO code: C68-C69
The Ruy
Lopez, Exchange Variation is still a very popular
opening. It begins 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6.
Black can take the bishop with either pawn but, 4...dxc6
is almost always played on master level. Black has the
bishop pair but a worse pawn structure, due to his
doubled pawns on c6 and c7. In the Exchange Variation,
white aims to reach an ending since he has the better
pawn structure and pawn structure is arguably one of the
most important factors in that phase of the game.
Here, Richard Noonan patiently exploits Black's passive
response with excellent piece play culminating in the
advantage being gained in classical style on the
Kingside. To play through the variations, click the
small white triangle.
For more information about
the Exchange Lopez click
here.
MCA League and Blackpool
Minor 2007
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Dave Stuttard has sent in a
very entertaining collection of 11 games from his recent league
matches.
Dave is a
regular Atticus 2 team member often travelling long
distances to play matches. He also does likewise for his
other team, Warrington Central.
Alongside are
Vojtech's
five games from the Blackpool Minor 2007 where he scored 4/5 and
collected a
£50 share
of the grading prize.
He is one of
the most improved players at the club this year. He also has
a good league score
of
3½/5
for Atticus 5.
He is also in
third place in the Atticus Tournament 2007. |
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Annotated
versions
here |
Annotated
versions
here |
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Atticus
players at Blackpool Conference 2007
Jonathan Blackburn competed
in the Open section at this long standing and highly successful event
scoring an excellent 4/5. He finished in joint 2nd place
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Jonathan
Blackburn 2206
Atticus CC and
North West Eagles |
in the company of GM's Mark
Hebden and Alexander Cherniaev and FM Jeff Horner. Meanwhile in the Minor section Vojtech Fiser
also scored an excellent 4/5
and took a share of a grading prize. Well done to both players. Details of winners in
all sections are now posted on the
official site.
In the first of his two
featured games, here in round 3 on Saturday, Jonathan calmly demonstrates the power of the
two Bishops v two Knights in his battle against Thomas Pym.
And in round 5 against Donny Muter, Jonathan again won in fine style
with a powerful attack using both rooks and an extra pawn to force black
on the defensive. (The official site initially reported this game as
drawn).
During the weekend over
581,000 requests were made to the website showing the live games
broadcast.
Provisional dates
for subsequent Blackpool Chess Conferences are: 7th - 9th March
2008, 13th - 15th March 2009 and 12th -14th March 2010.
Download 45
games from the Open section. See more
photos from the weekend here.
Blast from the past
John Saunders, British Chess
Magazine editor and regular contributor to our forum provided the score
of this gem. Played nearly 40 years ago by Atticus stalwart
Dr. Tom Bimpson and Raymond Keene (future GM, publisher and broadcaster)
the match
took place during the British Universities Team Tournament held in
Liverpool. The event was organised by Atticus captain and fellow
undergraduate John Carleton. More info. to follow about this soon...
Bimpson,
Tom - Keene, Raymond [C41]
British Universities Chess Assoc Team
Tournament, March 1969
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 d6 4 h3 Be7 5 Be3 Nf6 6
Nc3 0-0 7 Bc4 exd4 8 Nxd4 Re8 9 0-0 Bf8 10 Bg5 h6 11 Bh4 Ne5 12 Bb3 Ng6
13 Bg3 a6 14 a4 c5 15 Nf3 Nxe4 16 Nxe4 Rxe4 17 Qd3 Bf5 18 Bd5 Nf4 19
Bxf4 Rxf4 20 Qd2 Rb4 21 c3 Rb6 22 Rfe1 a5 23 Re2 Be7 24 Qf4 Bg6 25 Rae1
Bf6 26 Nh2 Kh7 27 Ng4 Bg5 28 Qc4 Qd7 29 h4 Bd8 30 Re8 h5 31 Rf8 Qxg4 32
Ree8 Kh6 33 Rh8+ Bh7 34 Be4 f5 35 Qe6+ Bf6 36 Bxf5 Qxh4 37 Qe3+ 1-0
The most well known
Universities Team event is the annual Oxford v Cambridge Varsity match.
Originally suggested by Howard Staunton in 1853, these matches
have been played almost without interruption since 1871. The current
match score is Cambridge 54-49 Oxford, with 18 drawn. More match
details, history and photos on the
Olimpbase website.
Another fine
Carleton win - game played 13th Jan 2007
Atticus captain John
Carleton playing for North West Eagles 1 in Division 1 of the Four Nations
Chess League (4NCL) beat IM Malcolm Pein in fine style with a courageous
kingside attack. Malcolm, an
experienced International Master playing for Wood Green, is
founder and proprietor of
The
London Chess Centre.
John Carleton
(2306) - Malcolm
Pein (2401),
4NCL Div1
Coventry (5.5),
NWE1-WGR1.
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 c5
4. e5 h6 5. Bc1 Nh7 6. f4 cxd4 7. Nf3 Bb4+ 8. Nbd2 Nc6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. a3
Be7 11. Ne4 d5 12. Nf2 f5 13. Qe2 Bd7 14. Bd2 Qb6 15. O-O Na5 16. b3 a6
17. Kh1 Rac8 18. a4 Nc6 19. g4 Nb4 20. Bxb4 Bxb4 21. gxf5 exf5 (diagram) 22. Rg1
Qd8 23. Rg3 Rc7 24. Rag1 Bc8 25. Nd1 Kh8 26. Qg2 g5 27. fxg5 f4 28. Rh3
Bxh3 29. Qxh3 Be7 30. g6 Rg8 31. Qxh6 Bf8 32. Qxf4 Bg7 33. Ng5 Bh6 34.
Nf7+ Rxf7 35. Qxf7 Rg7 36. Qf5 Ng5 37. Qf6 1-0
After 6 rounds (of 11) North West Eagles have 7pts
and in 6th place only 1 point behind Barbican 4NCL 1 and Slough Sharks
1. Rounds 7 & 8 take place on 3rd/4th March 2007 at Initial Style
Conferences, Wokefield Park, Surrey.
Further information, fixtures and
game downloads available from the 4NCL
website.
Carleton
keeps his cool
by
IM Malcolm Pein,
Daily Telegraph,
21st Nov 2006.
Round
four
of
the
Four
Nations
Chess
League
saw
a
match
between
Northwest
Eagles
and
Barbican
4NCL
two
of
the
main
challengers
to
the
hegemony
of
Guildford
ADC.
Despite
being
out-rated
by
an
average
of
nearly
80
points
per
board
Northwest
Eagles
drew
4-4
to
stay
second
in
the
table
with
7/8
match
points.
Barbican
won
on
top
and
bottom
board
thanks
to
GM
Jonathan
Parker
and
Ingrid
Lauterbach
while
Northwest
Eagles
kept
the
match
level
with
wins
on
boards
five
and
six
where
Stefan
Macak
and
John
Carleton
overcame
higher-rated
opposition.
John
Carleton
is
one
of
the
founder
members
of
Atticus
Chess
Club
in
Liverpool
and
achieved
great
success
in
Correspondence
Chess.
In
the
following
game
he
outplays
an
International
Master
and
Irish
International.
John Carleton
(2306) - Sam
Collins (2396),
4NCL Div1
Coventry (4.5),
NWE1-Barb1
1.d4 d5 2.c4
c6 3.Nc3 Nf6
4.cxd5 cxd5
5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3
a6 7.Bd3
(Just because
White plays the
Exchange Slav
creating a
symmetrical pawn
structure does
not mean he
wants a draw.
This prevents
Bf5 and is more
accurate that
Nf3) 7...Bg4
8.f3 Bh5 9.Nge2
Bg6 10.e4! e6
(10...dxe4
11.fxe4 Nxd4
12.Nxd4 Qxd4
13.Bb5+)
11.e5 Nd7
(Although White
has an advantage
in space Black's
position is
fine, he has the
'bad bishop' out
of the pawn
chain on g6
while the Bf4 is
misplaced and
the c file
should give him counterplay)
12.Be3 Be7 13.f4
Bxd3
(13...Nb4
14.Bxg6 hxg6
15.a3 Nc6 16.0-0
Rc8) 14.Qxd3
f5
(Otherwise f4-f5
could be
awkward)
15.exf6 Nxf6
(diagram)
16.0-0 g6
(16...0-0 17.f5
exf5 18.Qxf5 and
d5 is weak but
there is also
17...Nb4 18.Qd2
Ng4!?) 17.Nd1
0-0
(17...Ne4=)
18.Nf2 Rc8 19.a3
Qb6
(19...Na5 20.b3
Qb6 was also
reasonable)
20.b4 a5?!
(This leads to
the Nc6 being
misplaced)
21.b5 Na7 22.a4
Rc4 23.g4!
(The manoeuvre
Nd1-f2 prepared
this possibility
a long way back)
23...Ne8
(23...Nc8 24.f5
gxf5 25.gxf5 Kh8
26.Kh1)
24.f5!
(Carleton times
this break well,
the Na7 and Qb6
are needed on
the kingside)
24...gxf5
25.gxf5 Ng7
(If 25...exf5
26.Nf4 Qd6
27.Kh1 with good
play or
25...Rxf5
26.Ng4! Rxf1+
27.Rxf1 and
Black is
defenceless)
26.Ng4! exf5
(26...Nxf5
27.Nh6+ Nxh6
28.Bxh6 Rxf1+
29.Rxf1 wins)
27.Ne5 Rcc8
28.Kh1 Rcd8
29.Rf3!
(This is one of
those rare
positions where
an attack can be
conducted with
all the pieces)
29...Nc8
30.Rg1 Bf6
31.Nf4 (Now
the possibility
of an attack on
h7 with Rh3 and
Qd1-h5
overwhelms
Black's
defences)
31...Kh8 32.Rh3
Bxe5 33.Ng6+ Kg8
34.Nxe5 Rde8
(34...Nd6
35.Rxg7+ Kxg7
36.Bh6+ Kh8
37.Qg3 Ne8
38.Bxf8)
35.Bh6 Re7
36.Bxg7 Rxg7
37.Rxg7+ Kxg7
38.Qg3+ Kh8
39.Ng6+ Kg7
40.Nxf8+ Kxf8
41.Qe5 1-0
[Malcolm Pein]. More 4NCL games,
downloads and
information
here.
A
game from
the match
Atticus 1 v
Wallasey A on
4th December
2006, thanks to Nick
Wall.
Atticus 1 won
the match
comfortably
5½-2½.
Two more
games, also
from Division 1,
thanks to Dave
Robertson.
See the downloads
page on the 4NCL website for the games from 2006/7 and all
previous seasons in PGN.
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