The Summer League is starting. Nomads have a team in Division Three and their fixtures can be found here.
Anyone who would like to play who hasn’t already contacted Steve please do so.
steve@deedah.org or 07799787080
Month: May 2016
Norbury's Nine Pawn Game
This is what Ecclesall player Ken Norbury has been up to lately. Building on the lunacy first explored in “the Shuffleduck,” Ken sets out to prove that for the first dozen or so moves at least, the moving of pieces can be entirely avoided. Instead Ken seeks to push pawns only, in the manner of a beginner scarcely aware of the rules. Welcome to Ken’s “Nine Pawn Game”.
Detailed analysis of this game has yet to be done. Any thoughts or criticisms are more than welcome.
Ravenfield Knights vs Nomads D
| Ravenfield Knights | 1 | 3 | Nomads D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Shaw | 0 | 1 | Les Day (w) |
| Roy Evans | 1 | 0 | Robert Shaw |
| Michael Hoyes | 0 | 1 | Jo Woollard |
| Pete Sharman | 0 | 1 | Gordon Shaw |
After a quiet opening, first Robert then his opponent gave away a rook, ending up in a rook and pawn endgame with Robert two pawns down. Once Roy forced promotion Robert resigned.
Gordon and Pete swapped off queens early, with Gordon gaining a bishop then winning a rook with a knight fork, a decisive material advantage. After some more manoeuvring, Gordon delivered this mate on move 30:
Coming out of the opening, Les had a dangerous looking knight on e5, but his opponent traded off minor piece. Both players were left with a queen, a single rook, and pawns, but Les had a four pawn advantage which proved sufficient for him to win a queen outright. Andrew then resigned.
In a quiet opening Jo and Michael both castled kingside. Jo won a queen for two pieces, but then Michael pinned her rook, gaining a rook for a bishop. However Jo won a knight with a queen fork, leaving her with a queen, rook and five pawns against two rooks and two pawns. After much manoeuvring, mate followed.
Nomads D vs Ravenfield Bishops
| Nomads D | 4 | 1 | Ravenfield Bishops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Nicholson (w) | 1 | 0 | David Tate |
| Robert Shaw | 1 | 0 | Steve Eyre |
| Jo Woollard | 1 | 0 | David Hill |
| Dave Kesteven | 1 | 0 | Martin Wilkes |
| Ashley Rogers | 0 | 1 | Phil Dexter |
Nomads won the toss, and chose white on odd boards.
Robert gained a couple of pawns early on, then swapped down to just a rook, a knight and pawns each. Both players promoted, but neither new queen lasted long. Robert ended up with a king and rook against a bare king, then Steve’s flag fell.
Jo also gained an early pawn, then she traded a knight for a bishop before gaining a full bishop, a decisive advantage. Simon went into the endgame with four pawns to one. When he forced promotion, his opponent resigned.
Ashley and Phil swapped down to rooks and pawns, then Phil outmanoeuvred Ashley, forcing promotion, so Ashley resigned. Meanwhile, after exchanging minor pieces and castling kingside, Dave sacrificed his queen to force mate.