Category: Games

After the holiday period, our First team had their return to league matches with a crushing and undefeated win against a very strong Athenaeum. 5 wins and 3 draws with many interesting positions to analyze!

Happy New Year to all our members and readers! We present you with our top team’s first London League match of 2024: on the 10th of January, we visited Athenaeum Chess Club determined to get a win: our team would have been ready to play even if the Tube strikes had gone ahead!

In terms of lineups, we had a small edge on the top 2 boards, while the bottom six saw virtually no difference between our players and the opposition. It was an impressive team for Athenaeum and we knew from the start that it wouldn’t be an easy match.

The first two games to finish were on boards 3 and 4, with Fedja and Carsten making relatively quick draws, one with each colour so the match remained balanced. All the other six games went well past 9pm so it was a great fight!

The first decisive game came on board 5, where Gaston kept building up pressure against black’s pieces in the center until his opponent made a mistake that allowed him to win an exchange with Ne4! taking advantage of a pin on d5. There were some complications to go through, but the point went to us in the end.

Soon after, Maria also managed to win an exchange against Athenaeum’s team captain, and a full bishop a few moves later, and so she gave us our second win. Christof was facing some trouble on board 8, but he managed to not only defend against a very dangerous opening, and then going on to win after his opponent’s back rank weakness left the white queen overloaded after Qg5+!.

The score was 4-1 going into the last few games of the night, with Tom, Marco and Cian all having promising positions. On the top board, black was a bishop up but with a lot of weaknesses around his king, while white’s own monarch was able to walk up the board and regain the piece. After simplifying, white was about to win a lot more material with a fork on d6, and black resigned.

On board 7, young Cian had a very strong initiative, but his experienced opponent found ways to defend. A draw was agreed in mutual time trouble. Lastly, Marco showed great technique to win a long Rook vs Bishop endgame. Final Score: 6.5 – 1.5, with no defeats!

The win will brings us up to second place on the League Table, ahead of our match against the current leaders Richmond & Twickenham at the end of the month. It should be an exciting one, so keep an eye out!

Gaston

Hammersmith won a very exciting match against strong opposition, and we present you with some of the games, including analysis from our First team players.

As the League season is coming to an end, our last match for the First team in Division 1 was against none other than Cavendish Chess Club, a real powerhouse of the London chess community. We were sitting in second place (behind Wood Green, who had already secured the title), but since Cavendish had played fewer matches than us, they were one of the clubs with chances to catch us – the other one being Hackney. We were expecting them to bring their very best, so naturally we tried to do the same. The result was a thrilling match full of interesting games between the strongest players from both clubs!

We all gathered at Cavendish’s venue close to Russell Square, everyone was on time (yes, even Bajrush!) and ready for the big fight. Our Captain Jim Stevenson did not play, but he was present in support of the team and, as he had promised, he won the toss so we would get white on odd boards. Before the start of the games, we observed a minute of silence after hearing the tragic news of the passing of dear Hammer (and former board 1 for our club) WIM Sue Maroroa Jones earlier that day and our opponents respectfully joined us.

The games were entertaining from the start and Carsten drew first blood on board 6, not only defending against what looked like a scary kingside attack, but also setting up a devilish trap with precise calculation, which allowed him to win a piece when his opponent failed to see the danger. Carsten Pedersen’s thoughts on the game are below:

Cavendish hit back by winning on board 1, but Hammersmith took the lead again on board 8, with Bajrush ending his Div 1 season with an astonishing 6/6! Soon the score became 3-1 in our favour, with a win on board 7 full of tactics and hanging pieces. Comments by Gaston Franco:

Alex skilfully made a draw on board 3, in a game where it looked like one of his bishops might have been trapped at some point, but the rest of his pieces came to its rescue. We only needed one more win and we got it on board 4 with a positional masterpiece after his opponent got a weak pawn in the centre. Alistair Hill explains it below:

On board 6, Thomas was pressing with a strong initiative, but had given up some material and both players got in time trouble. As we all know, “T-Bone” is ruthless when it comes to blitz and spotted a nice tactic that ended the game immediately. The last game of the match was, as usual, played by Marco on board 2. His GM opponent sacrificed a pawn for initiative in the opening but black also had his chances and soon started playing for a win. Marco Gallana shares his ideas from a few instructive moments of the game:

Thus, the match ended with an impressive 6-2 win for our Firsts and the team went for a celebratory pint at a nearby pub, where we discussed the games and Jim may or may not have promised to stay as captain for one more season.

The win helps us remain in second place, and pending some results from other clubs it could mean we are the best (real) chess club in all of London! After getting some rest over the summer, we’ll be ready to try to defeat Wood Green next year once and for all.

While we still have a few more games to go for other teams/leagues, personally I might have to give them a miss. Wishing everyone a great summer and see you back soon at the board!

Gastón

Hammer Firsts went again last week against the mercenary lineup of the London Terminators. Lord Clueless presents his second report.

A different lineup for the Hammer crew this week, with debuts in this league for Ryszard, Carsten and Jeremy. How would they fare?

Last weeks hidden film was “Wargames” – this week a historical chess figure will be hidden in the report – the clues again will be in bold font. Answers please in the comments! 

So, to the games…

First, the scorecard – indicating another 2-2 draw for Hammer.

As usual the devil is in the detail. I genuinely believe Hammer should have won this match with Christof losing due to an error, and Carsten under time pressure missed a win that his logical and resolute play merited.

Ryszard did very well to draw his game which for a long while was quite double-edged, with our man striving to make something happen on the board and probably over-reaching in his determination to score the full point. Judge for yourselves, here is the game:

Ryszard’s style definitely does not entertain compromise – he always strives for the advantage by direct combat. In so many ways his style is similar to Lasker, particularly in the Moscow 1925 tourney.

It was great to have him back in the Hammer colours.

Carsten’s debut in this year’s tourney was truly memorable and produced the game of the match. This was truly a marathon with thrills, spills, errors, and recoveries on both sides. It was a total roller-coaster.

The first 16 moves were blitzed out with both players familiar with the line. Carsten, aka “The Great Dane”, felt very comfortable and strategically outmanoeuvred his opponent. When this happens on the chess board, tactical opportunities always arise. His play to this point was crystal-clear and reminiscent of a great world champion of the past.

The problem was – could he translate his material and positional advantage into a deserved victory? The factor complicating this was time and this contributed massively to him missing out on a win but undoubtedly allowed the incredible finish that followed.

Enjoy…

Match score 1-1.

Board 3 saw Christof fall into a “Tarrasch-trap” of the 1914 variety – where he moved the wrong bishop. This was a simple oversight and just a bad day at the office. It happens to us all.

I have to say Christof is the ultimate team and squad player – he always makes himself available and responds very quickly to emails. This was a total aberration. Here is the game…

Hammer down 2-1.

All eyes turned to Jeremy, aka Brexit, returning to action for Hammer for the first time in 9 months. I was so glad he decided to participate – he is Hammer through and through and generally spurns online chess. After some fast talking a few coffee mornings, he agreed that the setup John Sargent, in conjunction with Adam Raoof, had devised was the best possible scenario for online chess.

Yep, Brexit was back and it was like he was never away. He played a great game with a fantastic finish and definitely employed the Speelman doctrine of playing waiting and provoking moves to induce errors from his opponent. The denouement was most pleasing.

I was truly delighted and it was most assuredly a get the cigars out moment. Here is the game.

The win made the match score of 2-2.

So, two matches and two draws, and a solid start and an indication to me that elusive win is just round the corner. Thank you to our four players.

Our next game is against another new team – Petts Wood and Orpington. It is time we got our first win.

Finally, can you spot the hidden chess player?

Hold the faith – the power of Hammer will shine through.

Lord Clueless.

 

 

24 hours in the Chess World of Lord Clueless

“Always look on the bright side of life, always look on the bright side of life…”

In the week that has seen the passing of the comic genius that was Python Terry Jones, the words from the song finale at the end of “Life of Brian” have been echoing in my head.

It is a perfect song to ensure that you sometimes keep all matters in life in perspective, but it is a particularly apt response to the chess curveballs that Caissa can throw at you.

Caissa, that fickle chess God, can bring you so low and then let you soar. 

So, read on for the Clueless version of a Kiefer Sutherland Chess 24 (too many puns – ed).

On Monday night I turned out for Hammer 2 in the Middlesex League against the might of Albany in the heart of Fitzrovia.

Playing board 4 against a wily opponent, Chris Todd (graded 169), I basically played like a patzer. After equalising quite easily against 1.f4 (Bird’s Opening), unfortunately complacency set in and I did not pursue control of the e4 square. I then fell into a pin and dropped a piece. The rest of the game was excruciatingly bad and painful to watch. Definitely not Lord Clueless’s finest hour. Hammer 2 went down 5.5-2.5, with wins for Jeremy and Liam (the latter’s play was outstanding) and a draw for Laurie (particularly galling as his resolute play should have been better rewarded).

Not a great night for Clueless and the Hammer Crew.

The next night saw Clueless at our new venue, the Young Chelsea Bridge Club, with a manic night ahead. We had two eight-board matches, the junior hour and a club night to put on. Plus, the inevitable flow of potential new members, coupled with the teaching debut of the dynamic due of Christof and Jim for Junior Hour.

A full plate was on for a morose Lord Clueless, who was still angry with his pathetic play form the night before.

This was the biggest night so far at our new venue, with probably 60 people attending, including parents and juniors and a lot to organise.

Redemption can sometimes come from the strangest source and this was the case this night. Our IM Mark did not appear and hence we had a gap on Board One against a very strong Ealing team. In the Thames Valley League the default is 30 minutes. Time was ticking.

Adam, our Secretary, approached me and asked if I would step in – I grabbed the moment.

Before we get to the game, I must pay tribute to my opponent Phil Makepeace – an absolute gent, sportsman, and a credit to Ealing Chess Club. He was generous in his post-match comments, and said how much he enjoyed the game.

My thought process whenever I play somebody who is 200-plus, which is pretty rare, is to take them out of their comfort zone. The premise being that they will crush me in main line theory – they know so much more – hence give them something they have not seen before.

This was the result:

The game was the last to finish, and a time scramble meant that not all the moves are there. In the end I was able to force a draw through repetition. The board at this stage was surrounded by both Ealing and Hammer players, willing both of us on. It was tense.

I definitely missed a win – if g4 had been played in the last few moves recorded, I would have had a decisive advantage. C’est la vie!

The draw ensured Hammer drew the match; Clueless had saved the day. Redemption was assured, and Clueless was the victim of several thank-you pints of beer!

This is the allure of chess – within 24 hours you can go from zero to here – from playing like a patzer to playing like a 200 plus player – that is why I love this beautiful game.