Tag: Chess

Cumnor 1 v Didcot 1 [Match Report]

Thursday night saw Cumnor 1 lose by the closest margin (2.5-3.5) to top-of-the-table Didcot 1.

Cumnor 1 Didcot 1
1 Terrington, Simon ( ) 0-1 Gough, Nicholas L (179)
2 Stevens, Gareth (142) 0-1 Robins, Andrew S (157)
3 Varney, Andrew (145) 0-1 Sheridan, Martin (142)
4 Varney, Daniel (142) 1-0 Jacobs, Robert B (126)
5 Glenn, Liam (141) 1-0 Harvey, John (132)
6 Sayers, Mark (138) 1/2-1/2 Duck, Mike J (107)
Match played: 27 Feb 2014 2.5-3.5

Daniel won his game first in typical fashion winning in under hour, it took another hour before Gareth lost his game. Simon lost his game on the top board and Mark played out a drawish game on the bottom. Liam finished his game with Quadruple Fork! Forking his opponents King, Queen, Rook and Bishop. In Andrew’s game, he went an exchange up but went in to the endgame with Rook and Bishop v Queen with little time on the clock, he lost the game and the match fell from Cumnor’s grasp. Cumnor 1 need to dust themselves down with the next game on Monday against Oxford City 2.

The updated table can be found here.

Witney 2 v Cumnor 1 [Match Report]

Monday evening saw Cumnor 1 lose for the first time in 2014. Going down 5-1 to Witney 2.

Witney 2 Cumnor 1
1 Hannon, Mark (179) 1-0 Terrington, Simon (-)
2 Asenov, Pavel (170) ½ – ½ Stevens, Gareth (142)
3 Searle, Howard AJ (154) 1-0 Glenn, Liam (141)
4 Weston, Richard (149) ½ – ½ Sayers, Mark (138)
5 O’Byrne, Daniel (143) 1 – 0 _default (-)
6 Edwards, Derek F (142) 1 – 0 Bennett, Steven (109)
Match played: 03 Feb 2014 5-1

Simon playing for the first time on board one lost his game, in a strange move Mark offered Simon a draw on move 3 (a grandmaster draw maybe). Gareth picked up a draw against young Pavel while Liam lost his game in the endgame and ended up just trying to win on time. Steve lost on the bottom board but it was Mark’s game which had the most entertaining endgame v Richard, eventually Mark offered a draw with Richard on 11 seconds left. Pako was meant to play on board 5 however due to a number of problems including a strangely acting SatNav he was unable to make it in time. The result keeps us mid-table and the updated table can be found here.

Kidlington Chess Congress

With 170 players, the 37th edition of Kidlington this weekend has featured the highest numbers for a good many years, with 22 starters in the top section (U225), 46 in the U180, 59 in the U145 section, and 43 in the U120.

7 Cumnor Players took part, Andrew Varney (U180), Zoe Varney, Simon Terrington, Daniel Varney, Liam Glenn, Robin Carr (all U145) and Isaac Terrington (U120).

Zoe and Simon came joint top of the U145 with 5/5!
The final standings can be found here

Under 225
Under 180
Under 145
Under 120

New Grades, Trophy Night, ect

Liam enjoying a pint from the Players Cup Trophy
Liam enjoying a pint from the Players Cup Trophy

The New Grades where released this week and can be found here.

Last night was the Trophy presentation night for the 2013 Players Cup. The final positions where as follows:-
1st Liam
2nd Gareth
3rd Steve

The 2014 Players Cup has already started with 17 players battling it out for the top prize, it will be very competitive this year.

Cumnor 2 played a match on Monday evening against Cowley 4 and drew 3-3

Cumnor 1 v Cowley 3 [Match Report]

Thursday night saw Cumnor 1 gain another win in the league to make it 4 wins in a row.

Cumnor 1 Cowley 3
1 Stevens, Gareth (149) 1-0 Marcus, Clifford (163)
2 Varney, Andrew (146) 1-0 Keeling, David (144)
3 Terrington, Simon () ½ – ½ Mate, Maria (140)
4 Glenn, Liam (140) ½ – ½ Viscu, Catalin (139)
5 Varney, Daniel (133) 1 – 0 Taylor, John F (137)
6 Sayers, Mark (134) 1 – 0 Stanley, William (Bill) (128)
Match played: 23 Jan 2014 5-1

Cumnor 1 fielded an unchanged team for the match and in typical fashion the first person to finish was Daniel, his opponent blundered a Knight in the midgame. Andrew went a piece for a couple of pawns up in the opening and went on to win. Liam and Simon entered drawish endgames and both agreed draws within seconds of each other, Liam was waiting for Simon to agree a draw so that his draw wound put us 3-1 up! Mark finished next with another win to make the win safe for Cumnor and Gareth playing on top board gained his first win of the season to complete the rout. Cumnor 1 are now in 3rd, the table can be found here.

Cumnor 1 v Bicester 1 [Match Report]

Cumnor 1 picked up another win on Thursday night vs Bicester 1.

Our second league win of the season was helped in part due to Bicester defaulting on two boards. Liam and Mark sat out meaning we started 2-0 up.

Cumnor 1 Bicester 1
1 Stevens, Gareth (149) 0 – 1 Hepworth, Nicholas J (156)
2 Varney, Andrew (146) ½ – ½ Burcham, Anthony (133)
3 Terrington, Simon () 1 – 0 Earl, Chris (115)
4 Glenn, Liam (140) 1 – 0 Default
5 Varney, Daniel (133) 0 – 1 Corduff, Ian ()
6 Sayers, Mark (134) 1 – 0 Default
Match played: 05 Dec 2013 3.5-2.5

Daniel lost his game while Simon playing his first game for Cumnor, won after gaining material in the opening. Gareth lost his game in a drawn endgame. Andrew agreed a draw in spite of there still being play in the position, to win the match for Cumnor.

Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen, World Chess Champion!

Viswanathan Anand has been dethroned by World No 1 Magnus Carlsen after Game 10 of 2013 World Chess championship ended in a draw.

Carlsen won the match 6.5-3.5 with 3 wins and 7 draws.

Carlsen, who became a grandmaster at 13, became the game’s youngest No 1 in history at the age of 18. His game against Anand was his first world championship and now is the youngest world champion at the age of only 22. Hopefully, he has many years ahead of him.

Thank you, for all the amazing games you produce from Cumnor Chess Club

Didcot 1 vs Cumnor 1 / Cumnor 2 vs Witney 4 [Match reports]

It was a mixed week for the two Cumnor teams this week with one win and one loss between them.

On Wednesday, the first team travelled to Didcot still looking for their first league win of the season.

Didcot, the team who were in division one last season, had a very strong team and when I say very strong I mean very very strong. Their fourth board being graded 171!

Didcot 1 Cumnor 1
1 Olehnovics, Andrejs (189) 1 – 0 Stevens, Gareth (149)
2 Gough, Nicholas L (179) 1 – 0 Glenn, Liam (140)
3 Crockart, Scott (173) 1 – 0 Bennett, Steven (114)
4 McInnes, Graham (171) 1 – 0 Cluley, Graham (113)
5 Cooper, Bernard D (157) 1 – 0 -Default-
6 Harkins, Sam (122) 1 – 0 Steel, Robert (87)
Match played: 6 Nov 2013 6 – 0

The Cumnor 1 team fell to a 6-0 loss but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Gareth Stevens looked to have made it to the endgame with a draw – however his opponent managed to force a win. Liam Glenn should have also picked up something from his game after gaining a tremendous amount of counterplay against his opponent’s king.

Meanwhile, Graham Cluley lost rapidly to his 171-graded opponent, at the hands of the Staunton Gambit.

Cumnor 2 had a better night on Thursday, with a 4-2 win over Witney 4.

Cumnor 2 Witney 4
1 Varney, Zoe (136) 1 – 0 Flory Mark (114)
2 Sayers, Mark (134) 1 – 0 Gilders Ian (113)
3 Carr, Robin (126) 1 – 0 Sheremetyeva, Elizaveta (114)
4 Cluley, Graham (113) 0 – 1 Coburn, Matt (101)
5 Ives, Marc ( ) 0 – 1 Blackwell, David ( )
6 Steel, Robert (87) 1 – 0 Murray, Jon (85)
Match played: 7 Nov 2013 4 – 2

Zoe Varney had a great endgame against her opponent on board one with minutes left. Mark Sayers and Robin Carr both won their games.

Graham Cluley is kicking himself endlessly over a blunder he made, giving away his Bishop – which he never recovered from.

Robert Steel picked up a win on the bottom board.

Watch Carlsen and Anand fight to be World Chess Champion

The FIDE World Chess Championship kicked off today in Chennai, India.

Reigning champ Visanathan Anand from India faces 22-year-old Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen.

Yes, that’s right – no Eastern Europeans are up for the champ title this time around. How novel is that? :)

Carlsen drew white for the opening game, which ended fairly quickly in a draw by repetition after 16 moves.

Hardly the thrill that any of us were hoping for.

If you want to follow the games, you don’t have to be India of course. You can watch the games unfold online via a variety of sources.

Here are some choices:

Separately, here’s an interesting article that argues that even though Magnus Carlsen is the world’s best chess player, he shouldn’t be the world champion.

If you have a view, or a preferred way to follow the World Chess Championship, leave a comment below.