Five years ago, Hammersmith Chess Club had 23 members. We now have 108 members, including 23 juniors.
I’m delighted to announce the first ever report from our first ever junior team, expertly captained by chess-mum extraordinaire – Ekaterina MacLeod.
New to the club and Central London League, Hammersmith Junior Team has shown real gut and determination right from the start of the season.
We started with just 11 players in the team – all with relatively small ratings but great desire to play and improve our chess. Our youngest teammates: Alex, Zain and Cian have shown true sportsmanship and resilience – they faced really strong opposition from Kings Head 2, Streatham and our adult counterparts from Hammersmith. Conall is the man of the season – having not missed a match, after a slow start, he fought hard and brought the team 3 points on board 2. Jack and Kumar played beautifully and scored vital points for the team on board 1. A special mention goes to Jakub and Abakar who always help out when the team needs them. I remember a tough match and well deserved draw between Jakub (100) and his opponent from Pimlico 4 who was rated 114. Abakar (85) grew stronger by the match finishing the season with a win against a 116 rated opponent from Kings Head 2.
Our young stars represented the club in European Youth Championship in Estonia recently and showed great results – we congratulate them on their amazing performance in this tough and prestigious tournament.
Conall, Laith, Taymour and Nadhmi celebrate Hammersmith’s latest El Chessico victory
Currently in 3rd position with 2 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, Hammersmith Junior Team has everything to fight for in the second half of the league.
We welcome new members to the team and hope that they will enjoy playing with us in Central London League.
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed fewer match reports on the website this season compared to last… it’s time for that to change!
Captains have been busy writing bumper reports for the festive season. With 13 teams, we’re in for a treat! (I’m pessimistically expecting only 12 reports)
So sit down beside the fireplace, pour yourself a mulled wine, bite into a mince pie, and enjoy part one – the adventures of our “Hedger” team in the London League minor division.
It’s nearly Christmas, and this is the time captains do their mid-season reports. The Hammersmith Hedger team is in the 9th place of the table of the Minor section of the London Chess League, and anything can happen in the rest of the season, particularly the good side of anything. So let’s give it a good go in the new year and climb the ranks of this table!
The increasingly popular “minor” division
More importantly,
We can all call ourselves chess improving players in this team. We are not afraid of tough games, we are not afraid of losing and we are here to become better at the game. Like the Sunday football amateurs, we may not always offer the most spectacular game, but we are there week in week out on the muddy pitch offering our best play.
Even when sometimes other clubs go and bloat their small victory on social media, it doesn’t matter because we do our best, give it a good challenge and continue the improvement process. Sometimes we are the winners but in those cases we do behave on Twitter!
Sometimes nice surprises happen, and the games are spectacular. For example I remember the match against Battersea when our player Anastasija was able to offer a spectacular endgame, and from a rather inferior position she held very well, and took the half point while at least ten people holding their breath were standing around the board following every move of this fantastic endgame.
For every player in the Hedger team every game is breath taking and spectacular at least in the eyes of the two opponents themselves, and that’s what chess at improvement level is all about!
Another important thing to mention this season is how much depth a great club like Hammersmith can provide to a team like ours. The Captain job can be stressful enough at times, particularly when you need to recompose most of the team within twenty four hours from the match as things happen to everyone and sometimes they have to cancel. In those cases, Hammers stood up for the team and we were always able to find the right players despite the exclusivity rules within the London minor chess league preventing the same person playing for two different teams in the same season.
Moreover, I unfortunately had to miss a couple of games myself as captain this season due to unforeseen circumstances, and I am so grateful to Dave for his help providing fantastic captaining on those nights, coming early and staying till the end supporting every player in the team.
To all chess improving players out there in London, I would like to invite you to join our club and in particular the Hedger team. Joining a chess club is the best way to improve at chess, and don’t be afraid of playing league games, you will see, soon you will be playing very spectacular chess and you will enjoy it.
Plagiarism has a long ignoble history in chess, stretching from hundreds of years ago to the modern day. So, I feel no shame in utilising the timeless genius of Jane Austen and paraphrase her with the following quote:
“I rejoice in the superiority of our connections”
Hammer is fortunate to have Grandmaster Keith Arkell as a member of our club. I know how much that means to him and how enthusiastic he is about what the club has achieved and the direction it is going in.
Every December after the conclusion of the London Classic he always takes part in a simultaneous against Hammer members. This year , he went one step further, he took on twenty plus members and the next night debuted in the Middlesex League – for some reason playing on Board One???!!!!!
This is a brief report on those two evenings.
The simultaneous involved him taking on 23 Hammers and scoring 20 wins and three draws.
Say cheese
From beating Thomas (T-Bone) and Christof (Der Vater) to the Hammer Youth of Zain and Alex he was relentless – three hours of total concentration – that means he spent, on average, 8 minutes on each game. That is pretty awesome.
The three draws were achieved by Claudio, potential new member Vasil and young Cian.
Claudio played accurately and was the last to finish – showing his customary tenacity and stubborn qualities. He survived the famed Arkell endgame technique and was rightly praised by Keith in the Albion post-mortem.
Vasil – had an amazing game- I hope to bring you the game later. At the end Vasil was a Queen and Rook up (indeed he had two queens on the board) forcing Keith to play for a perpetual. Superb play.
However, without doubt the stand-out performance of the evening came from 8-year-old Cian Ward who displayed all the fighting chess qualities endemic in the heart and soul of every Hammer. He played so solidly and so well- maybe Keith could have won but Cian never gave up.
The highest praise was forthcoming from Keith for this performance – enjoy!!
The night ended inevitably in The Albion where Keith shared his thoughts on the Arkell endgame (King, Rook and Bishop vs King and Rook with no pawns), recent tourneys he had played and his chess books. A brilliant end to the evening.
The next day, his 13th day of chess in a row, he turned out to play for Hammer against Muswell Hill in Division 1 of the Middlesex League. His opponent was Mike Healey (ECF217) and a familiar face to many Hammers.
Celebrating the end of a gruelling week
Here is the game, annotated by the man himself. The final position is completely lost and a classic example of a Good Knight vs a Bad Bishop.
On behalf of the whole of Hammer – I wish to thank Keith – and wish him a most Merry Christmas and all the best in 2020.
We look forward to next year’s encounter – revenge is already in the air!
Five years ago, Hammersmith chess club was facing down the shotgun barrel of certain extinction. Yet another chess club set to join the annals of history and those many chess clubs who have passed away in the last quarter of century.
A website that was woeful, no social media, an ageing membership and a financial position that would not even register an Experion credit score. These were grim times with neither the will or the energy present in the club to reverse the decline.
Fortunately, the glorious June revolution happened and under the astute chairmanship of Bajrush “Wily” Kelmendi a complete overhaul of the club has been undertaken.
The club now boasts a healthy membership, a junior section and competes with multiple teams in four different chess leagues.
With this growth has come the added pressure on our venue capacity at Lytton Hall – affectionally known as “The Anvil” – we can have no more than 50 people in the Hall at any one time. Lytton has been our home for nigh on 40 years and has been an instrumental part of our club for two-thirds of our existence.
But as they say – nothing lasts forever – and the time is right for Hammersmith to move on.
Ever since the AGM in June your Committee has been acutely aware of the limitations of Lytton – with the obvious realisation we needed a new base. The fact we had to split match nights from club nights is far from ideal and has put pressure on the natural camaraderie in the club. We needed a new base – a new Anvil.
Both the Irish Cultural Centre and the POSK centre were looked at. Although both are superb venues, they were slightly too big. Then out of the blue came the Young Chelsea Bridge Club based at Goldhawk Rd. Read on to find out more.
The YCBC is the preeminent bridge club in London with a superb facility one minute’s walk from Goldhawk tube station or a 7-minute walk from Shepherds Bush Station.
They host both international and domestic bridge competitions.
The premises boast a café section where you can buy food, tea, coffee, soft drinks and beer.
One of several rooms at YCBC
They currently also host a Go club and Backgammon club as well – indeed the addition of Hammersmith Chess Club completes the circle and promotes the centre as Mindsports Central.
The benefits of the move are as follows:
We can have both match night and club night on the same evening
We will have the room we want to make this happen
The benefit of having a bar and restaurant on-site
A competitive rent fixed for the next five years
The facilities will be available to us for 52 weeks of the year if we want the bank holidays. The main thing is we will not have to have be based in an alternative venue for the summer.
The venue is far more appealing to women, juniors and discerning old gits like myself
This venue will make us more likely to recruit new members and retain them.
Our members have the option to also try out new Mindsports.
The Bridge club has allowed us to still play this season’s matches on the Tuesday in the club calendar
We are able to hire the facilities from 6pm-10.30pm
The move has been agreed by the Committee and we intend to open up there on the 6th January 7th January 2020. Our last night at Lytton Hall will be the match night of the 18th December 2019.
We probably will not run a Junior section that night as we will be getting used to our new home.
This is probably the most exciting moment in the development of our club. I am sure there will be teething problems but the Committee and I believe this is absolutely right for us.
I would like to thank Dawn and the Lytton Hall residents Committee for all their help and support over the years. They are all volunteers and very good community people.
I would also like to thank David Parry from the YCBC for being extremely accommodating and professional in the negotiations.
On a final note – change is good – maybe not always – but it does prove that you are alive and kicking.
I invite you all to be there on the 6th of January to see our new home.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Chess New Year.
There is a tradition in British advertising that up to the 25th December the consumer is bombarded with a stream of potential gifts for Christmas. Come Boxing Day the theme changes and suddenly sale information and next year’s summer holiday adverts take over. For the next two weeks you cannot avoid the inevitable deluge of destinations and flights you must and should have.
In Hammer we like to be ahead of the game – so am bringing you the exciting news of the Hammer European weekend in 2020.
The dates – June the 5th to June the 7th.
The destination – the beautiful and stunning North German city of Lubeck.
Read on if you are interested.
Lubeck is a stunning Hanseatic city and a major port in North Germany. With superb brick architecture and where human colonisation happened over 10,000 years ago. Wikipedia has its uses.
More importantly it has an extensive and thriving chess club with an excellent junior section.
Some Hammers may remember we hosted several of their young chess players earlier this year and really enjoyed their company and that of their team leader Nicole.
The weekend will follow the format of previous Hammer raids with us arriving on the Friday, playing chess on Saturday and Sunday morning before returning Sunday evening.
In view of their extensive junior section I am more than willing to entertain the idea of us taking a junior team as well as an adult team to challenge them.
Probably about thirty Hammers overall have enjoyed our trips to Amsterdam, Cork and Wrocław over the past three years – these are superb weekends, full of fun, camaraderie, chess, the occasional beer and making new friends
So when those holiday adverts kick in on Boxing Day – think Lubeck!!!
The best route is a flight to Hamburg and then high-speed rail to Lubeck.
The challenge has been made – the honour of Hammer is at stake.
I’m sure everyone remembers Christof’s debut article for Hammer – an account from the East Devon Congress – his first over the board chess tournament for nearly half a century!
Since then Christof has established himself as a Hammer legend – junior coach, Sledgehammer leader, and general top guy.
At the end of October he entered his second tournament – this time overseas at the 23rd Open International Bavarian Championship. Read on for Christof’s account of the topsy-turvy week.
I would like to whet the appetite to participate in these kind of international week-long open tournaments. And especially for this specific great festival in which the UK was underrepresented to put it mildly. While the 505 participants came from 29 nations, with 68 players from non-German Europe, 13 players from India, 11 from Russia, none came from Scotland, Wales, NI and only one from England (not me, but a junior against whom I had played this year, what a coincidence). Why this absence??? Was it Brexit day 31 October in the middle of the tourney? Well, everyone should have known that Halloween was not to be the last Brexit date. The rugby world cup?? Can this really be, rugby more important than chess??? But then, what do I understand about rugby, or about the English… So, only one UK chess club showing up in the players list, Hammersmith!
The great location needs mentioning. This one stands for an ideal holiday week at a mountain lake in Southern Germany, combined with highly competitive chess – the games start at 4pm, so there is ample time in the mornings to go to the mountains or around the lake, and my great city Munich is just one hour away.
And imagine, every fifth player is a title holder, with 31 GMs, 31 IMs and 49 FMs. The average ELO rating at 1965 (ECF 169), the top 10 average at 2608 (ECF 254) the top 50 still at 2477 (237). And everyone plays in one Open group. If you score well enough in the first rounds, chances are you will play against a giant! Wow, what a challenge. My starting rank with ELO 1846 was 353rd of 505, my stretch target was to get 50% and earn a few ELO points. Well, Hammers like challenges…
In the first round, I had to overcome formidable determined opposition (as shown in the photo) which compensated for the ELO difference. Other greats lost their first points against juniors. Top-seeded GM Gata Kamsky drew against a 12-year old Indian more than 500 points below his 2685.
photo of my first round opposition by Thomas Müller
The second round saw me clawing to a draw by repetition against an opponent some 200 points higher.
Me as White to play: Rd7 – bxc4 – e6 – fxe6 – Rg7+ and the Black king cannot escape the checks. Could I have aimed for a win with cxb5 and Rd1? I decided not, with 5 minutes left for 7 moves.
I noted as well that the “English opening” guru GM Mihail Marin lost his game. Maybe he had been distracted after our unrelated discussion just before the round about the exhibited paintings of his wife and FM Mariya Yugina? Sorry mate.
In the third round I achieved a lucky draw after difficult defence. The computer later told me that I had not only followed my opening preparation unknowingly for the first 14 moves but then had 100% accuracy of the remaining 10 follow-up moves. Now, is that good or bad to play like a computer?
The fourth round set me against the local matador, a junior who surprisingly had beaten a Polish FM in the first round. I was soundly beaten as well. Now I was back to where I had started, at zero balance. In my tristesse, I was contemplating to buy one of the colourful paintings of Mariya Yugina on display, which shows a brighter side of life and chess.
photo courtesy of Mariya Yugina
Another loss in the fifth round against a formal full-time chess teacher. We skipped the post mortem in favour of a discussion on the Munich Chess Academy which provides chess lessons in various Munich public schools, very interesting and encouraging. In my time as a junior, these were exceptions, nowadays that seems to be more the rule and the distinction of a good school.
The sixth round generated mixed feelings after I broke my own principles to calculate seriously in endgames. I drew finally, but only after I could have won quickly and subsequently could as quickly have lost. Pawn endgames require accurate calculation and rarely draw.
Ke5 would have easily won the pawn race (White´s g vs Black´s b) respectively the subsequent queen endgame because White queens with check after having drawn the Black king to a8 and can exchange queens; my Kd5??? draws with difficulties.
As a punishment for my stupidity, in the 7th round I was paired against a 300 points higher opponent and lost, though only after I had given him a fright in the fifth hour of our game. Alas, loss is loss. The only consolation for now being at minus 2 was that my chances for easier opponents in the last 2 rounds had improved considerably.
Thus, in the penultimate round I was paired against a lower-rated lady from Austria. In the opening, the lady saved her queen with a pawn sacrifice as is demanded in real life at the royal court, though in chess the opposite is sometimes better:
My 14.Ncb5! axb5 15. Nxb5 Qc6 16.Bxd6 won the a-pawn and finally the game. But wait, later at home the computer surprised me with Black´s alternative of a queen sacrifice for 3 minor pieces, starting with 15….Bxg3 16.Nxc7 Bxc7 (computers don´t value old court rules anymore). The engine evaluated this with total equality 0.00, meaning it does not know what to make of the situation, and I might have struggled as well over the board, never having had this material distribution on board.
Dear me, the win catapulted me back into the higher pairing section and I again got an opponent 250 points above me, and this with Black, not a good basis for the last round. But the young player was apparently tired after 8 days of chess, or because the last round started in the morning, and he early on made a mistake which I was able to exploit to get a lasting structural advantage and finally bring a full point home.
So, with a little luck in the end, I had achieved my target of a 50% score, and thanks to the strong opponents an increase by 37 ELO points. First price was shared by 2 Ukrainian GMs with 7.5 points, Vitaliy Bernadskiy and Pavel Eljanov, half a point above Gata Kamsky and 10 other GMs. Of the other players mentioned in my text, best was the chess artist with 5.5 points, half a point above her husband GM. The chess teacher was at 4.5, my young tiger-supported opponent of the first round at 3.5 and the sole English player at 3. By the way, no German in the top-ten which shows the strength of the international participation.
Appetite? Mark it in your calendar: The 24th OIBM will take place 31.10.-8.11.2020: www.schach-tegernsee.de
Or already in spring next year a similar 9-day Open International tournament with GM participation close to Munich: Bad Wörishofen 6.-14.3.2020: www.chessorg.de
If you want to start sooner, on a smaller scale over a weekend and closer to London, there is the Bunratty International Chess Festival (Ireland) where sound Hammer representation is guaranteed, 21.-23.2.2020: www.bunrattychess.com
And if you like to see or buy paintings of FM Maria Yugina: go to www.yugina.comor instagram: mariya_yugina, or contact her PR manager on facebook: mihail marin or email: mihailmarin21@gmail.com
I start with a disappointing announcement that El Chessico is being delayed and will not take place on the 4th December. Due to various factors, Aldo and I have taken the decision to postpone the match until the New Year. Christmas fortunately is not postponed.
It will still take part on a Wednesday night and I have submitted four suitable dates. I will keep you all posted.
However, I am delighted to announce that Hammer member, top man and a Grandmaster to boot – Keith Arkell – will be taking on 25 Hammer members in a simultaneous challenge on Monday the 9th of December at the Anvil, kicking off at 7pm.
This is a brilliant challenge and the first twenty-five people to register are in for a real treat. The evening will cost each participant £1.50… cash on the night.
I demand the sum of… ONE POUND FIFTY.
What you need to do:
– Be a fully paid member of Hammersmith Chess Club for 2020
– Email Lord Clueless on john.white49@ntlworld.com to confirm participation as soon as possible
This is a great event for the Yuletide season and brought to you by Hammer Chess Productions Inc.
Our last puzzle was from a sub-genre in the field of chess compositions. It is a help mate, that means Black does not always make the perfect move but assists in the mating sequence. The correct sequence was:
19.Nxe6! Qxe6 20.Rxd5+ Qxd5 21.Nxd5 Rag8 22.Rd1 Nf8 23.Nb6+ Kc7 24.Na8+! Kb8 25.Qe8+ Bd8 26.Rxd8# with all remaining pieces on the 8th rank.
This week’s puzzle requires White to move and win. The study is known for making one person famous because of a single move – a dream we club players all share. Fernando Saavedra, a Spanish priest, found the solution to this previously thought drawn endgame while living in Glasgow in 1895. He was a weak amateur player.
Do you have what it takes to take on the full T Bone, served with french onions, cooked rare and with a rich Bearnaise sauce in full mortal chess combat? If the answer is yes then read on….
Thomas, full blown Hammer hero, French to the core, a man with a mere 201 ECF rating and one of the finest men alive is taking on all comers next Monday the 28th of October.
A teenage T-Bone deep in thought
The place… The Anvil. The time… 6.15pm. The format is a mass simultaneous… first 20 bods who email Lord Clueless (john.white49@ntlworld.com) will grab the places. Priority will be given to our Junior members.
Thomas has promised not to employ any French rugby forward tactics (topical).
This is your chance to put aside study and work worries, and relish the chance to put your wits against the most visually expressive chess player in the club. He is so French!!!
Get emailing ASAP… places are going fast – so be sharp.
Clueless on holiday and enjoying the delights of Malta… but will be checking his email.
As all our members know, both the new and old, the greatest rivalry our club has is with Battersea Chess Club – affectionally or disrespectfully know as the “Noisy Neighbours”. In the past three years we have held three challenge matches – Hammersmith has emerged victorious on each occasion. This has given us severe bragging rights as well as the edge in the many social media exchanges.
There is no love lost at the chess board but there is always great camaraderie afterwards. Last year the match took place over thirty boards – check the report. Thanks to the Hammer Junior shock troops the result was never in doubt.
Scenes
So, to this year’s encounter.
This will be an ECF rated encounter with a time control exactly the same as the Summer League- one hour to start with and 30 second increments a move.
Basically the competition is on to see who can get the most players committed to the actual match to start with. So, Hammers I need you to commit ASAP to this match at Battersea’s venue starting at 7.15pm on the 4th December – a Wednesday.
