Hammersmith Chess Club

As well as our first team in the Open section of the online London League, Hammer has entered two teams into the U1825 average-grade-limited division.

Round 1 pitted our two teams, Hammer Hodgson and Hammer Hedger, against each other; the Hodgsons prevailing, 3-1. Twitter legend Andrew Cuff takes us through his top board clash with Jon Smith, an instructive example of how to create and exploit a space advantage.

All three Hammer teams are back in action this evening. Follow all the action on Twitch or join the Zoom room for internal discussion and analysis.

Adam

Yes, Lord Clueless, chief chess correspondent for “The Woodpusher’s Gazette” is back!

Over the next few months I will be chronicling the weekly adventures of Hammer Firsts in the inaugural Online London League competition. We are playing in the Open Division.

Lord Clueless will be slipping in quotes from a particular movie in each of his reports – your job is to guess the movie. The relevant words are highlighted to help you – answers please in the comments. The first correct answer earns a pint from Lord Clueless!

I know I have used this style before – but the mantra in Clueless lazy journalism is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – so without further ado…

Hammersmith v Hendon – 21/10/2020

My fellow Hammers, it is with a great sense of duty and awesome responsibility that I take on the role of Captain of Hammersmith Firsts. I have been absent from the captaincy role for far too long and, like a good drug (I am a pharmacist!), you just have to try it out again.

Our first opponents were the dreaded Hendon. A team that has been absent from the LL OTB competition for several years – preferring to graze in the pasture of the Middlesex League. A little history here – I think it’s fair to say Hammersmith have had serious beef with Hendon in the past – mainly based on the culture and philosophy of both clubs – they are so different. Plus, this additional issue – Hendon’s home venue is so remote from any decent pub it constitutes a real slap in the face for all Hammers. Indeed, this fact and this fact alone condemns them.

However, in a world ravaged by Covid it is time to move on – there is no point in holding grudges. Sometimes you gotta spurn the beef.

The line-up for Hammer was a mixture of youth, good looks, experience and a definite hint of German (thank God). Yes, Hammer is a true international club. Here is the face-off table:

A solid 2-2 draw with a real chance missed for the win – but more of that later.

Before I get down to the nitty-gritty there is something surreal as a non-playing captain in online chess watching “your boys” do battle in cyber world. You watch the games as a detached observer but with real emotion involved. The best analogy I can think of is Jose Mourinho being sent to the stands to watch his team play and not being able to get involved. It is horrible – but in a Covid world we must all make sacrifices. How noble Lord Clueless is.

Board One saw Mark, playing White, take on a wily opponent – Bob Wilmoth. The game was a Dutch with Bob advancing to e4 – Mark retreating his knight to g1 with the idea of re-routing to h3 and f4. The first 15 moves were played rapidly as both players were definitely in their opening knowledge sphere. The first big think came when Mark played Qb3 – this is where things got complicated. From here it was tense and very double-edged. It was decided by a blunder in a tough situation – but hats off to Bob, Nf3 was devastating and immediately provoked resignation from Mark. I was gutted for him – he has played superb chess over the last 12 months, beating a GM amongst others and this was a definite aberration. However, I do not believe any version of the Dutch system, sorry Ginger GM, is totally secure.

Hammer down 0-1.

Board Two saw Lord Hurricane, the Skult, who is a one-man Cult, playing black in a Sicilian that involves an early massive pawn/piece swap early on. By move 16 there was a definite lack of bits on the board with a R + B for white versus a black R + N – with a number of pawns. It was definitely a book line – in the end I felt Chris had a small advantage but definitely nothing big enough to secure a win – one slight inaccuracy could lead to disaster – a draw was the result. I guess it was a case of the only way to lose is to play a move.

Hammer back in the game and on the scoreboard but still trailing 0.5-1.5.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man – yes Hammer hero and all-round star of our club – Christof, aka “Der Vater”, was up next.

The game was most pleasing – a London System – the favourite of our most excellent Club Secretary, Pickle. Christof played a blinder – with a nice tactic leaving his b5 bishop en-prise and playing the sublime Ne5. This was a masterclass of Nimzowitchian proportions – time for some Covid-era hyperbole – there is just not enough around.

Christof’s opponent subsequently went into meltdown sacking the exchange in the hope of forcing a drawn position but forgetting a rook fork. Christof just went into Defcon 1 mode and obliterated him.

Hammer back on equal terms – 1.5-1.5 and all to play for.

All eyes turned to Jonathan, the last game to finish and saddled with the added burden of the outcome of the match. It could be said that the primary goal was to win the game. I think JH played solidly, although he did incur some verbal banter online from MC John “The Sarge” Sargent and his sidekick Jacques Tivillier, the Celtic Tiger and top bloke. Check this out:

In the end due to a clock running down but with a winning position achieved JH took the draw – probably if he had five more minutes on the clock, he would have plotted his way to victory.

A draw was agreed and the match ended 2-2, a solid start for Hammer Firsts.

Next match is next Wednesday 28th – Lord Clueless is content. Next time I’ll make sure I get the PGNs.

Finally, I appeal to all Hammers to get involved in this competition – it is something different – it’s against local rivals, and to be honest it is all we have got at the moment outside our Hammer Chess bubble! Hammer needs you all.

So before I signoff, can you identify the film? Answers in the comments please, and no Googling – that is cheating! – where have I heard that said before in relation to chess??

Lord Clueless.

One of the ongoing features of Hammersmith Chess Club in the time of Corona is the Junior Hour. Online, that is!

With the start of the new season, the online Junior Hour is open to Club Members including those who are so-called ‘late starters‘, or to put another way ‘adult improvers‘. Each Tuesday, the participants meet for one and a half hours in a dedicated Zoom room. A senior club members leads the group through the topic of the day, and we always start with a few warmup puzzles.

Last week, the topic was the London System. We went through the main features, focusing on 12 games which Magnus Carlsen played this year using the opening. We delved deeper into two of his games which demonstrated good examples of how to build a Kingside attack. Here is the first:

Believe it or not, an hour after leading the Junior Hour, Christof played for our sister club The Celtic Tigers in the online Four Nations Chess League, and was able to play the London System exactly in the spirit of what we had learned that same evening, taking a leaf out of Magnus Carlsen’s book! Here is the proof with Christof’s game – a short game with a nice mating attack:

Once per month, the lectures cover one of the many British chess legends. The last one was on Mir Sultan Khan, as a few weeks before another one was our own Club Member GM Keith Arkell. We analyse selected games and ask ourselves whether we would have found the Master moves, or – what we realise surprisingly often – whether we might even have improved on our role models.

We also did it with games of (name-dropping here!) the young Magnus Carlsen, Nigel Short and others. A few of these lectures are summarised in some short clips on the Club’s YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6fQcpSozPdx531L4Klha9w/playlists

Some of the participants then meet on Sunday evenings on lichess to compete with other members in the Weekly Hammer Blitz tournament, and I can assure you I see a gradual progress of our Juniors and Late Starters in playing strength.

We all wish the old times back, playing and meeting in our venue. The Club Committee is regularly reviewing the situation and when we might get back over the board in person, but sadly it does not yet look like there will be a return to F2F competition anytime soon.

So, whether we like it or not, if we want to play chess, we have to embrace the online version! The good news is, there is a lot on offer in a familiar Club environment:

Hammersmith Chess Club – 2020/21 Season

With Hammer’s Summer School having just drawn to a close, it’s time for a long overdue update about the upcoming season at Planet Hammer.

Sadly coronavirus is still very much a pandemic, affecting the lives of billions worldwide. With the government’s new “rule of six” coming into force this week, and winter fast approaching, it is with regret that the club sees no imminent return to over-the-board chess. This is a view shared by the vast majority of our rival clubs, as well as the organisers of all the leagues we play in.

Now for the good news… there are plenty of opportunities to play online chess!

Whether you’re a beginner or grandmaster, adult or junior, blitz addict or slowplay guru, we’re confident Hammer has something for you.

The Sledgehammer, Rockhammer & Jackhammer Cups

These tournaments proved to be increasingly popular last year – especially after moving online. The idea is that you can challenge any player at the club, and agree on a mutually suitable time to play. The Sledgehammer is a slowplay version, Rockhammer is rapidplay, while Jackhammer uses the Chess960 variant. Matches can be played online or over-the-board, with all Sledgehammer and Rockhammer games eligible for ECF grading.

Weekly Hammer Blitz

Over the spring and summer we held our “Corona Cup” series, with lots of you taking part in ad-hoc blitz tournaments and arenas. It will come as no surprise that the series winner was Thomas Bonn, who played excellent chess throughout. Congratulations T-Bone!

From this Sunday 20th September we’ll be putting on weekly internal 7-round Swiss tournaments, with a 5+3 time control. Be sure to join our lichess team to take part: https://lichess.org/team/hammersmith-chess-club. The first event can be found at this link.

Simultaneous Exhibitions

Over the spring and summer we also hosted a “Covid-19 Simul” series. Top club members and associates were invited to take on lots of you at the same time. Grandmasters Jon Speelman, Simon Williams and Keith Arkell were just a few of the names involved, with the series culminating in IM Adam Taylor simultaneously taking on 6 Hammers BLINDFOLDED, finishing with an astonishing 5.5 points.

A huge congratulations to Moritz Reuter, the winner of our Covid-19 simul series, who dismantled many extremely strong chess players!

We’ll be looking to offer lots more simuls over the coming months. If there’s someone you particularly want to play, please get in touch and we’ll try to make it happen!

League Chess

The London, Middlesex and Thames Valley leagues are all planning to start online competitions in the near future. These will provide opportunities for players of all levels to represent Hammersmith at a slower time control.

We expect the organisers to employ arbiters and anti-cheating measures to provide an experience as close as possible to competitive over-the-board chess. Furthermore we plan to open up our Zoom room after each match to facilitate virtual analysis and socialising.

If you are interested in captaining one of these teams please contact club captain Ben: ben@rothwells.org.

Challenge Matches

Over the last few years, the club has made a lot of connections with other clubs around the world. We have been on trips to Bury St. Edmunds, Cork, Wrocław and Amsterdam, with this summer’s tour to Lübeck sadly scuppered by Covid.

We are reaching out to all of these clubs to organise exhibition matches. Cork have also invited us to their online congress in October. Be sure to join our chess.com club, through which many of these matches will be arranged: https://www.chess.com/club/hammersmith-chess-club

Junior Hour

The club will be continuing a weekly Junior Hour at 5pm on Tuesdays, across a varied set of topics, focussing on improving chess understanding. As well as juniors, it will also be open to “late starters”: adult members relatively new to the game, looking for advice on how to improve. The first session will take place on Tuesday 22nd September. Please contact Christof if you’d like to take part: cbrixel@yahoo.com.au.

Subscriptions & ECF Membership

Hammersmith membership for 2020/21 was agreed at the AGM at the following rates:

• Adults & Juniors: £65 per annum
• Concession: £40 per annum (for senior citizens, and unwaged)

Despite the lack of over-the-board chess at present, the club still expects to have many costs for the year ahead. Please support us by paying your subs early. If it transpires that Covid-19 prevents OTB chess for a significant period of time, and venue and/or league fees are therefore much lower than usual, we are committed to offering a discount on 2021/22 subs to all 2020/21 members.

Subs can be paid via bank transfer:

• Name: Hammersmith Chess Club
• Sort Code: 40-03-21
• Account Number: 91245120

It is also time to renew your membership with the ECF, which, amongst other things, covers the costs associated with grading your games. Bronze membership this year costs £18 for adults, or £6 for juniors. Further details are available here.

Please contact Adam for any questions about membership: adam1234321@gmail.com.

The Hammersmith Committee

This year, Hammersmith Chess Club is organising a Summer Online School, for recovery from other exhausting holiday activities, for those rainy days, but mainly for a systematic improvement in the understanding of chess. Because we all want to be better and better when over-the-board chess resumes, or for any of the club’s online tournaments.

The Summer Online School is free for club members, and geared towards Juniors and Late Starters (adult beginners who know the basics and a little more). There will be 4 events each week, two of them reserved for Juniors. We do not expect huge crowds, so there will be ample time for individual attention. Each event will last 1-1.5 hours. Success is guaranteed – this is the summer of real improvement in the understanding of chess!

TUESDAY at 5pm, starting on 4 August

Juniors: A structured Zoom lesson, each time covering

1. a specific opening line (the focus is not on learning many lines but on the technique to create a simple opening repertoire),
2. a specific middlegame topic (focusing on the thought process and the positional characteristics),
3. a specific endgame type (each week with the focus on a different piece).

The whole program is scheduled for 6 to 7 weeks duration, for a comprehensive coverage of each package. Each lesson starts with warm-up puzzles. The main lesson will cover a little theory and lots of practical examples. There will be suggestion for homework – of course on a voluntary basis.

THURSDAY at 6pm

Juniors and Late Starters: A second Zoom lesson as follow-up of the week’s Tuesday focus.

SATURDAY at 11am

Juniors: Christof or another club member will be available on Zoom for a consultation on anything chess-related; it could also be a game review, a practise game or a simul game if there is more interest.

SUNDAY at 6pm

Juniors and Late Starters: A blitz tournament will be organised on lichess for those who like to think and decide fast.

Late Starters wishing to participate, please contact Christof: cbrixel@yahoo.com.au. And anyone wishing to join the club as a new member, please contact Adam: adam1234321@gmail.com

Christof

Diversity is in the DNA of the Hammersmith Chess club, and what in chess can be more diverse than Chess960, also known as Fischer Random chess? Don’t think this is not chess. Even the FIDE has organised its first formal World Championship in Chess960 last year, and this is the only title not currently owned by Magnus Carlsen, but by Wesley So. So, there is something special about Chess960.

Over the last few months, Hammers have enjoyed lots of activities around this variation. During Corona lockout, our Finnish club legend Rauno gave a Zoom based introduction into Chess960. Shortly after that, our GM Keith Arkell offered a Simul exhibition on lichess exclusively for club members in the Chess960 format. In order to prepare for this, Christof shared his opening principles of Chess960 in another Zoom conference. Needless to say that Keith Arkell won all his eight games, confirming the statement that Chess960 brings out the true chess master, without players relying on memorised opening lines. Well, up to a point at least…

During the opening phase, it seemed that the ordinary club members generally performed as good if not even better than the GM, so there is something to learn from special 960 opening principles.

A further club event started early May and is still being played, a correspondence online tournament on chess.com with Chess960 rules. 12 games are still in progress, the farthest ahead in move 40. The scoreboard leader is Jim, but with Moritz close behind, it is a race comparable to Liverpool’s 2019 chase of Man City, and it will all depend on their 2 still undecided games against each other.

The club’s Chess960 activities continue. This week, a special session of the Junior Hour focusses on Chess960, and next week there will be another club internal Simul, this time by Christof against the Juniors. And in the recently started new season, the Jackhammer960 Cup has been added to the established Sledgehammer and Rockhammer Cups. Games are handicap-scored as well, but it is with randomly allocated Chess960 opening positions in rapid time control, as in the FIDE World Championship. It is time to register, please contact Nadim.

And if you want to come prepared, watch the club’s Youtube channel. A special playlist dedicated to Chess960 was set up with so far three videos: the general introduction, the opening principles, and the analysis of the Simul opening moves.

Christof

In 2019, Hammersmith introduced two new internal tournaments, with a handicap scoring system, allowing players from all levels to compete and have fun playing ECF graded over-the-board games. At least, that was the original idea until COVID-19 struck the world, and it became challenging to play OTB chess.

At that point the tournament rules were relaxed to allow online games to count for the tournament while not being ECF graded. This has enabled Hammers to continue playing in those tournaments during the lock-down period.

On June 30th 2020, the 2019 season was officially closed and we can now announce the winners.

Sledgehammer Cup 2019 results (Standard Play)

Winner:  Christof Brixel (97.5 points)
Runner-up: David Lambert (83.5 points)
Third: Nadim Osseiran (49.5 points)

Rockhammer Cup 2019 results (Rapidplay)

Winner:  Nadim Osseiran (49.5 points)
Runner-up: Christof Brixel (45 points)
Third: David Lambert (43 points)

All the details for the 2019 season (games & standings) can be found on this link to the tournament record sheet.

The 2019 cups will be distributed to the winners as soon as the social distancing situation permits, hopefully soon!

Launch of the 2020 Hammer Tournaments Season

This year we will have 3 different Cups:

• The Sledgehammer Cup for Standard Play
• The Rockhammer Cup for Rapid Play
• The Jackhammer960 for 960 chess variant in Rapid Play time control

Those tournaments are open to all Hammersmith Chess Club members. All you need to do is to contact fellow members and submit the game result via this link to the game submission form.

Some changes have been made to the rules as follows:

• Online games will now count towards the ECF online grading (except for 960 chess)
• Only games that are rated on the online platforms will be accepted, casual online games will not be accepted
• Players are encouraged to have a live video connection during online games
• Game results will only be accepted via the provided game submission form, results by email will not be accepted.

For complete information and rules, please have a look at the Hammer Tournaments 2020 Documentation

Good luck for the 2020 Hammer Tournaments Season!

The Internal Tournaments Team

Hammersmith’s Junior Hour tutor, YouTube star, and 2020 Club Personality of the Year, Christof, shares some selected highlights from his diaries over the last four months.

My Corona Diaries

On 25th of February, Corona shows up for the first time in my diary notes. There are worrying reports about increasing numbers of infections and deaths from the virus in Korea, to where my wife has planned a trip in three weeks time. We agree to postpone the trip until the end of Summer, observe how Korea deals with the situation and wonder whether similar measures would be possible to adopt here in the UK.

Chess becomes increasingly affected by Corona. In early March, I participate in a weekend Congress in Exeter. Last year, I had been a returnee to chess and surprisingly won the Major Section there. This year, I play in the Open section (finishing joint 6th), but that is not the only difference – people are allowed to not shake hands before or after the game. Allowed to abstain, not required to do so, well that sounds harmless. But does the virus travel via the palms, or in the air? Even today, I still remember the hot breath of my opponents, two feet away, for 20 hours over 3 days…

During the Congress I receive an email from FIDE informing me that the Amateur World Championship for which I was nominated to play in April on Crete, is postponed for half a year. Well, that now starts to affect my daily life.

I had endured a rigorous training program for the past three months and there were just three more weeks to go until the big event and before resuming a normal life again. How will I be able to keep up that energy level for another six months? Well, being in principle a positive-thinking person, I convince myself that I should be lucky to be healthy, with numbers of virus infections and deaths quickly starting to increase in the UK. But read on.

Club life changes in early March. It soon becomes clear that over-the-board chess will disappear for some time, and that club members are looking for alternatives. In a club which never sleeps, there are so many people with lots of ideas, enthusiasm, and some with time (including me, not having to prepare for my Crete tournament anymore), and a lot of new activities are organised. It seems chess has never been more diverse and vibrant.

Lockdown starts, but for me as a pensioner there are not many changes in the daily routine. Okay, no pubs, fine dining and cultural events anymore. No day trips to the country, all international travel cancelled, but otherwise even more chess than before – not too bad!

News about Brexit is replaced by news about Corona. Worrying news. Death rates spiralling out of control, the government obviously indecisive. I cherish the health and social care workers. And then comes my own personal encounter with the health crisis.

One morning I wake up with never before experienced excruciating pain (though my wife reassuringly tells me it will be nothing compared to labor pains) and I have to call the emergency services.

Dry cough or similar symptoms? No. Fever? No. Periods of unconsciousness? Not yet. Well, then they cannot send an ambulance, sorry – the NHS has to be protected.

After some time the GP answers my calls, delivers a remote diagnosis and prescribes me some medicine. For two weeks I live on drugs before I am back to normal.

Some afterthoughts remain and I cannot forget the pictures of the PM boastingly shaking hands in Corona-infected hospitals when I diligently restricted myself to elbow-checks with my chess opponents, and we both fell sick during the same days a month later. And I will not forget whose responsibility it was and is for the underfunding of the NHS.

Social life goes on during the next weeks in lockdown, but no, not as some privileged politicians do. Gatherings now take place via Zoom, be it in normal chats or in highly sophisticated cocktail hour groups. Discussions circle around health issues (mostly my older friends) and economic worries (the younger ones). Political discussions with family and friends abroad compare the different national approaches to the crisis. I tell them, being a chess player I believe in post-mortem, an exercise where you learn from mistakes by going through the finished game together with your opponent. While the term may currently be inadequate, I express my hope that one day such an exercise will be done on Corona, because I dream of a life after lockdown and definitely do not want to have to repeat this experience.

And now, 15 weeks after my first Corona diary entry, my 3-month Carlsen-style beard shaved off, close to start of Summer, it feels more like Spring is beginning, everything re-awakening. Discussions are intensifying about resuming regular chess activities, not only in other countries which have already overcome the crisis, but even in the UK. I feel anxious.

Christof.

Hammers – as many of you will already be aware, we sadly lost one of our own recently when long-standing player and stalwart John Woolley passed away. He will be greatly missed in the world of London Chess, having been an active player on the circuit at various clubs for many years.

Fellow Hammer and long-time friend of John’s, Carsten, offers us a fitting tribute.

John Woolley: A personal Appreciation

I no longer remember when I first met John, but it must have been late Summer or Autumn 1995 when I joined Hammersmith after a few years away from chess. We became regulars in the same teams for the next 20+ years, most of them with John as captain of the Thames Valley team.

As is thankfully still the case, we usually socialised after matches in a local hostelry, and we were also both in groups where a few of us would occasionally meet up outside the club to play some blitz and put the world to rights, so over time I think I came to know John quite well.

He was instantly recognisable – a thin man always in a jacket, a size too large, shirt whatever the weather, and an overall slightly dishevelled appearance giving a somewhat eccentric impression.

However, behind the exterior was a keen mind with a wide range of interests, and our conversations ranged well beyond chess, usually including discussions about whatever book I was reading, exhibitions John had been to (there were many!), films he’d seen (he had a love of arthouse cinema), politics (left!), football (Arsenal!) or any other topical issue of the day. We didn’t always agree – in fact often we did not – but it was always stimulating and frequently gave me a different perspective, which I appreciated. I hope I did the same for him.

Saying all of the above, we of course primarily met through chess, where John’s contribution to Hammersmith Chess Club was substantial.

As mentioned, he was Thames Valley captain, a league he felt a strong affiliation with – for many years a committee member, and a regular for other teams as well as being a very frequent club night participant. One of the reliable regulars every chess club needs.

Checking the ECF grading list I see that John’s grade when we first met was consistently in the mid-150’s, roughly equivalent to 165-170 today. Somehow I remember him as stronger than that.

In a sense, he was. John had a classical positional style and quite a strong aesthetic view on how chess should be played correctly.

This gave him a somewhat impractical attitude to competitive chess, and as a result he got swindled more often than he should have been, especially in time trouble. This, combined with a propensity for premature resignations – especially if he felt he’d messed up a good game – and draw offers, meant that his practical results were always below what they should have been purely based on his chess ability.

These traits got more pronounced in his latter years, and his results declined in line with that, but for those who only know him from this period, he was more than you saw.

I must also mention John’s absolute honesty and insistence on always doing what he felt was the right thing to do, and his expectation that others would reciprocate. This sadly on occasion was to his detriment.

At an away match at Harrow, John’s opponent was playing on in a stone-cold theoretically drawn ending, clearly trying to flag John who was down to his last couple of minutes while his opponent had plenty of time. John was murmuring under his breath, clearly unhappy, and the Harrow captain, Nev Chan, was standing next to the table also not looking happy.

Eventually John’s flag fell, and Nev immediately asked “John, why didn’t you offer a draw? I would have immediately accepted it as a section 10.2 claim, as our player clearly wasn’t trying to win by normal means”. John’s response was along the lines that it didn’t occur to him, he was too upset by his opponents unsporting behaviour.

John didn’t say so, but I think another factor may have been that his opponent was an irrelevant pawn up, but classic good manners in that situation dictates that the player with extra material should offer the draw. This is undoubtedly what John himself would have done.

Of course, to him, chess was more than a competitive game – it was a lifelong passion with an appreciation of the aesthetics and history of chess.

As I sadly don’t have one of John’s own games to show, I will invite you to play through a game he several times mentioned as one of his absolute favourites, played by his great idol Tigran Petrosian, to get a feel for his chess ideals.

Petrosian – Botvinnik, 5th game, 1963 World Championship match:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032639

Chess has lost a great friend, rest in peace, and thanks for the memories.

Carsten.

John’s funeral will take place at Mortlake Crematorium on Monday 15th June, starting at 10am. Please refer to the Mortlake website for visitor information:

https://www.mortlakecrematorium.org