Black to move and win!
This is a position from a blitz game I played earlier this evening. This probably isn’t the most difficult puzzle but should entertain and delight.
Steve Withington
Henry wins Third Arena
Henry Withington (Nietzschescat) took first place losing one game to Jeremy and being held to a draw in one game by his dad. Jeremy came in second with a 100% win record. In third place was Robert from Wales, winner of the two previous arenas.
We had nine players taking part, including new player Matthew and Arjun Babu (who joined late). I think this was probably our best Arena event yet. The seven minutes plus ten second increment worked well and two hours seems to be a good length of time for the whole event.
Thanks to everyone who could make it.
For those of you not yet familiar with the Arena, it works like this:
You play blitz game after blitz game within a limited period of time. (This is usually two hours for Nomads tournaments.) You can take breaks and play as many or as few games as you like. It is a lot of fun, and you can play to win the tournament, or just to have a few good games of chess.
The Third Arena
Tuesday 8th September 7.30pm till 9.30pm is the date for the Third Nomads Arena. After two very enjoyable events we are doing this one with an eight minute plus five seconds increment played over a period of two hours.
To take part you need to be a Lichess member (completely free) and to join the Sheffield Nomads team on Lichess. https://lichess.org/team/sheffield-nomads
Club Night in the Real World
We will be meeting at the Trades and Labour club next Tuesday, 1st September at 7.30pm for casual games of chess. Me and Lez are guaranteed to be there. Anyone who fancies coming down please do so for our first club night in months.
We will be following the rules of the Trades and Labour club regarding social distancing etc.
We all appreciate that some Nomads are shielding and will not be able to come down, and really look forward to the time when things get back to normal and everyone can come and play as usual.
Also, we can discuss playing rated games in some kind of club tournament which could be a good alternative to the league games that sadly we won’t be playing.
Beautiful Bad Chess
The beauty of flawed chess games should never be underestimated. Here is a raw blitzy adventure that illustrates how plain bad moves can sometimes deliver unlikely victories.
In this game white strays from the path of righteousness quite early on. However, there are useful themes contained in this little rough gem that could be used in more serious games.
Has anyone else got crazy blitz games they’d like to post here. I’d love to see them.
Norbury goes Ape, explorations of the Reverse Polish
Allergy advice: may contain cheap tactics.
In this article Ken Norbury looks at the Reverse Polish/Orang Utan.
Forking Good Game
This game is somewhat flawed and has more to do with psychology than `best move chess` From the beginning Black is intent upon drawing his opponent into a fist fight where crude and nasty tactics have a fair chance of success. Keen observers may recognise certain similarities to the obscure lines in the Greco Counter Gambit (1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3Bc4 b5) where White can get into trouble quickly, even when making natural looking moves. Once committed to this kind of counter attack there is no turning back. Black has to find new ways of applying pressure and causing chaos and confusion, whilst always looking to justify and benefit from his early seemingly recklessness play. In this Reversed Orang Utan it should come as no surprise that there are elements of provocation and devilment in which false move can cost the game for either side.
Black is technically on the back foot in the initial stages but takes advantage of some inaccuracies that allow him to regain material and threaten checkmate.
Orang Utan clambers over Stonewall
Towards the end both players overlook the possibility and consequence of White checking with his Black Bishop rather than pulling his other Bishop back to d1. Although this ruins the spectacle and delight of Blacks second Knight sacrifice on d4 in the game it should not detract from the ingenuity of the play as a similar idea would have worked with the Knight moving instead to b4 as Whites pawn structure then would prevent the check.
Black throughout has chosen to engage in direct attack as White seemed to be want to hide safely behind the Stonewall Pawn Formation, and needed to be shaken out of his comfort zone. White wrongly goes out his way to swap Queens perhaps in the belief that this would lessen the impact of Blacks attack. Once the Rooks get a foothold on the seventh Black has some psychological sway as the aggressor. Even if the second Knight had gone, White although technically up by one and a half according to the computer, might still have found difficulty in co-ordinating his pieces.
There are many lessons to be learned from encounters such as this, not least that attitude intent and ambition although not necessarily tangible can have huge determinative effect on the direction and results of games. Had White had a little more self-belief he could have mustered a better defence but needed to do something other than swap hold and stodge.
As it turns out the choice of the Reverse Polish paid dividends as it signalled the fact that Black was not content with a normal game and was willing to use imagination to surprise and defeat his opponent.
Nomads First Arena Event
We had eight players in a two hour arena, with ten minute games. Even with this relatively small pool of players the arena worked really well. We will be holding many more events over the coming months and welcome ideas from all Nomads.
The Arena
Here is an idea for a virtual club night. The Arena. Everyday on Lichess there are arena tournaments that take various formats. The Arena is quite unlike a Swiss tournament. For a start there are no rounds. You play, and win or lose, you play again almost straight away, as soon as you reenter the arena and another player becomes available. There are no points for draws and winning quickly is the key to success.
We need a good pool of players for such an event. If we could match our current numbers in the First Nomads Online Tournament we would be doing really well. We could open such a tournament up to the broader Sheffield chess community.
Why not enter a few lichess arena tournaments and get a feel for this fun way of playing chess. When we do an arena tournament we need to get the format right. I think most players are not interested in anything less than five minutes per player.
My gut feeling is a two hour arena tournament with a ten minute time limit for each player. You can rest for as long as you like between games, but of course the energetic and ambitious will have an advantage.
Anyone interested in this please give a couple of arena tournaments a go, and get back to me with your suggestions.
First Nomads Online Chess Tournament
The format is 30 minutes with a 30 second increment, one game per week.
The white player should contact the black player to arrange the game.
An email with all the contact details of players has been sent to all entrants. If you have any queries please contact steve@deedah.org
Results in by 8pm Sunday at the latest please.
Final Table
The table has been compiled with the highest graded player being at the top of the score group except for 1st place where Chris won on a cumulative score tiebreak. Well done to Chris on becoming our first online Club Championship Winner 2020.
| Player/Grade/Rank | Score |
|---|---|
| 1st = Chris Shephard 199 (2) | 4/5 |
| 1st = Oskar Hackner 219 (1) | 4/5 |
| 1st = Jeremy Hamm 182 (3) | 4/5 |
| 4th Stuart Crosthwaite 164 (5) | 3.5/5 |
| 5th = Vasilis Pasialis 181 (4) | 3/5 |
| 5th = Henry Withington 158 (7) | 3/5 |
| 5th = Duncan Chambers 137 (11) | 3/5 |
| 5th = Lez Day 126 (13) | 3/5 |
| 9th = Rob Nield 132 (12) | 2.5/5 |
| 9th = Jo Woolard 112 (14) | 2.5/5 |
| 11th = Geoff / Arjun 161 (6) | 2/5 |
| 11th = Ray King 155 (8) | 2/5 |
| 11th = Dave Norris 89 (16) | 2/5 |
| 14th = Pete Morton 142 (9) | 1.5/5 |
| 14th = Steve Withington 138 (10) | 1.5/5 |
| 14th = Arkady English 96 (15) | 1.5/5 |
| 17th = Samuel Humphrey 85 (17) | 1/5 |
| 17th = Robert Shaw – (18) | 1/5 |
Round 5
Finished games can be viewed by clicking on the result link. Also you can view games live by searching either player on lichess and viewing their game as they play.
| White | Result | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Hamm 3 | 1 – 0 | Chris Shephard 4 |
| 2 | Oskar Hackner 3 | 1 – 0 | Rob Nield 2.5 |
| 3 | Henry Withington 2.5 | 1/2 – 1/2 | Vasilis Pasialis 2.5 |
| 4 | Stuart Crosthwaite 2.5 | 1 – 0 | Arjun Musuvathy 2 |
| 5 | Duncan Chambers 2 | 1 – 0 | Ray King 2 |
| 6 | Lez Day 2 | 1 – 0 | Steve Withington 1.5 |
| 7 | Pete Morton 1.5 | 0 – 1 | Dave Norris 1 |
| 8 | Robert Shaw 1 | 0 – 1 | Jo Woolard 1.5 |
| 9 | Sam Humphrey 0 | 1 – 0 | Arkady English 1.5 |
Round 4
Finished games can be viewed by clicking on the result link. Also you can view games live by searching either player on lichess and viewing their game as they play.
| White | Result | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Shephard 3 | 1 – 0 | Oskar Hackner 3 |
| 2 | Arjun Musuvathy 2 | 0 – 1 | Jeremy Hamm 2 |
| 3 | Vasilis Pasialis 2 | 1/2 – 1/2 | Stuart Crosthwaite 2 |
| 4 | Ray King 2 | 0 – 1 | Henry Withington 1.5 |
| 5 | Rob Nield 1.5 | 1 – 0 | Arkady English 1.5 |
| 6 | Steve Withington 1.5 | 0 – 1 | Duncan Chambers 1 |
| 7 | Jo Woolard 1 | 1/2 – 1/2 | Pete Morton 1 |
| 8 | Robert Shaw 1 | 0 – 1 | Lez Day 1 |
| 9 | Dave Norris 0 | 1 – 0 | Sam Humphrey 0 |
Round 3
Finished games can be viewed by clicking on the result link. Also you can view games live by searching either player on lichess and viewing their game as they play.
| White | Result | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oskar Hackner 2 | 1 – 0 | Vasilis Pasialis 2 |
| 2 | Stuart Crosthwaite 2 | 0 – 1 | Chris Shephard 2 |
| 3 | Jeremy Hamm 1 | 1 – 0 | Jo Woollard 1 |
| 4 | Duncan Chambers 1 | 0 – 1 | Arjun Musuvaty 1 |
| 5 | Henry Withington 1 | 1/2 – 1/2 | Rob Nield 1 |
| 6 | Lez Day 1 | 0 – 1 | Ray King 1 |
| 7 | Pete Morton 1 | 0 – 1 | Steve Withington 1/2 |
| 8 | Arkady English 1/2 | 1 – 0 | Dave Norris 0 |
| 9 | Sam Humphrey 0 | 0 – 1 | Robert Shaw 0 |
Round 2
Finished games can be viewed by clicking on the result link. Also you can view games live by searching either player on lichess and viewing their game as they play.
| White | Result | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ray King 1 | 0 – 1 | Oskar Hackner 1 |
| 2 | Chris Shephard 1 | 1 – 0 | Henry Withington 1 |
| 3 | Vasilis Pasialis 1 | 1 – 0 | Pete Morton 1 |
| 4 | Rob Nield 1 | 0 – 1 | Stuart Crosthwaite 1 |
| 5 | Geoff Frost 1 | 0 – 1 | Lez Day |
| 6 | Dave Norris 0 | 0 – 1 | Jeremy Hamm 0 |
| 7 | Steve Withington 0 | 1/2 – 1/2 | Arkady English 0 |
| 8 | Robert Shaw 0 | 0 – 1 | Duncan Chambers 0 |
| 9 | Jo Woollard 0 | 1 – 0 | Sam Humphrey 0 |
Round 1
| White | Result | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oskar Hackner | 1 – 0 | Steve Withington |
| 2 | Duncan Chambers | 0 – 1 | Chris Shephard |
| 3 | Jeremy Hamm | 0 – 1 | Rob Nield |
| 4 | Lez Day | 0 – 1 | Vasilis Pasialis |
| 5 | Stuart Crosthwaite | 1 – 0 | Jo Woollard |
| 6 | Arkady English | 0 – 1 | Geoff Frost |
| 7 | Henry Withington | 1 – 0 | Dave Norris |
| 8 | Sam Humphrey | 0 – 1 | Ray King |
| 9 | Pete Morton | 1 – 0 | Robert Shaw |
List of players
| Player/Grade | Lichess Username |
|---|---|
| Oskar Hackner 219 | prawiarwac |
| Chris Shephard 199 | Prothiersch |
| Jeremy Hamm 182 | JeremyH |
| Vasilis Pasialis 181 | VSheff |
| Stuart Crosthwaite 164 | StuartCrosthwaite |
| Geoff Frost 161 | Geofffrost |
| Henry Withington 158 | Nietzschescat |
| Ray King 155 | redlentils |
| Peter Morton 142 | PeterMorton |
| Steve Withington 138 | withington |
| Duncan Chambers 137 | DuncanChambers |
| Rob Nield 132 | Rdeborn |
| Lez Day 126 | negames4me |
| Jo Woollard 112 | joffee |
| Arkady English 96 | arkadye |
| David Norris 89 | djn1972 |
| Samuel Humphrey 85 | ConBlack23 |
| Robert Shaw - | Carandol |
Oskar Hackner vs Steve Withington
I knew this game would be difficult. With my lucky monkeys sitting by the laptop I steeled myself and waited for Oskar’s challenge on lichess. At six o’clock the challenge came in. I clicked the green tick to accept and immediately the sky grew dark and the heavens opened. Thunder and lightning raged outside and my lucky monkeys looked somehow forlorn.
It wasn’t too long before Oskar had outplayed me and over run my position, and I had no alternative but to resign. At this point the electrical storm ended abruptly and the sky began to brighten.
Online chess is turning out to be a lot of fun and I am really looking forward to the next round.