The above position is from a game played online on a chess.com titled competition. There are a few good moves but only one leads to mate for White. Answer shown when highlighted below
game I have revisited on a dvd which was described as one of the best games of all time from the 1984 World Championship Semi-Final match between Smyslov and Ribli game 5. Smyslov won the match 3-1 with 7 draws but went on to meet a rampant Garry Kasparov in the final of the Candidates and he went on to become world Champion after defeating Alatoy Karpov. Anyway the game in question (by the ex-world Champion Vasily Smyslov) is shown below:-
on Wednesday 10th August 2022, the final night of the Summer League occured. Dave Cole, the winner of the event held over the summer had already proved he was the overwhelming strongest player and he didnt need to turn up, we had a bumper number of 8 players in alphabetic order there was Trevor Blower, Jon Duffield, George Horne, myself(Alan Llewellyn), Tony O'Malley, Matthew Paule, Ian Travis and Frank Whalley. On the night Trevor won with 5.5/7 and I(Alan) finished 2nd with 5/7 and George and Jon both finished on 4.5/7.
That left the final League results (best of 8) :-
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The above position is from a game played online on a chess.com titled competition. There are a few good moves but only one leads to mate for White. Answer shown when highlighted below |
1. Qxh6 Be4 2 Bxe4 f5 3 Rh3 gxh6 4 Nf7++ Kg8(because it is double check king is forced to move) 5 Nxh6# (ie its mate)
The penultimate Summer League night was held with the usual six suspects plus Tony O'Mally a returning member from years ago. Tony got 2.5/7 points but he admitted he was a touch rusty. In first place on the night was Dave Cole and myself(Alan Llewellyn), we both achieved a 6.5/7, in third spot was Trevor Blower on 4/7 overall scores were Dave Cole on 52.5/56 I moved into second on my own on 46/56 George Horne and Frank Whalley stayed on 44/56 and 40.5/56 respectively and Trevor Blower caught up a half point in 5th with 37/56.
The Summer League has a winner, with tonights(wednesday 27th July 2022) results even though Dave Cole finished in 3rd spot on the night with 5.5/7, he is still the Summer League Champion with a total score of 51 out of a possible 56. George Horne and myself(Alan Llewellyn) were top on the night with 6/7 which also meant we are also tied on 44/56 for our eight best scores in the League. Frank Whalley can still catch me for the Minor Champion position(minor is in relation to ability not age in chess, i am 51 y.o.), Frank is on 40.5/56 in forth. Note-I will be very pleased if i finish on the same or higher points than Frank and George because they are both very strong players particularly at Blitz chess. Also note that Trevor Blower with 36.5/56 in fifth(Also a strong slow player sometimes has bad days at blitz which he rarely has at slow chess.)
As we approach the end of the season, a new season starts in september 5th 2022 with all the competitions starting up again, then. There are two dates to be made aware of before then, the pairs competition on the wednesday 24th August 2022 and the AGM a week later on the 31st August 2022, all are welcome to the AGM and if you want to play in a team event one off with the Pairs event come along and join in.
| NAME | PLAYED | POINTS | % |
| Matthew Mackenzie | 8 | 7 1/2 | 94% |
| Russ Hayley | 5 | 4 | 80% |
| Alan Llewellyn | 5 | 1 1/2 | 30% |
| Trevor Blower | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| Kit Hopkins | 3 | 2 | 67% |
| Dave Cole | 3 | 2 | 67% |
| George Horne | 1 | 1/2 | 50% |
| Jon Duffield | 3 | 1 | 33% |
The above table is the averages(club team events performance) for the season 21-22, only 3 players results counted because you must play 5 games to count, which was difficult to achieve post covid.
Below is a game from a friendly 10 minute game played on 20th July 2022 between one of the juniors at the club (Matthew Paule) and myself (Alan Llewellyn). Matthew has obviously been working on his game because he convincingly beats me.(watch out for next season Matt is becoming very strong).
There are 3 summer league nights left after the one tonight (mon 18th July 2022), and Dave cole won it on 6.5/7, on paper it was a close victory with myself (Alan Llewellyn) on 6/7 and George Horne on 5/7 but the manner was very conclusive (not shown by the results) and he goes into over leadership position with 45.5 with a full score yet to count. George is in second on 43 and myself (Alan) on 42.5 with Frank Whalley on 40.5.
13th July 2022
NCCU North v South Match
Message from Tim Wall - NCCU President
Hi folks,
Following on from the success of the online North v South Challenge match in September 2020, which the North won 60.5-46.5, I have proposed to ECF Counties Championship Controller Mark Murrell that there be an over-the-board North v South Challenge later this year.
There are various options for a venue, including one in the North (eg Leeds or Manchester), a neutral one in the Midlands (eg Birmingham) or in the south (eg London).
If the event takes place annually, the venue could rotate between North, neutral and South.
I believe this contest could be a great way to galvanise support for chess in the North, and I would be happy to help organise it from our side (alongside other county captains).
What do you think? Could you raise players from your counties to support this event?
Could Cumbria players let me know if they are interested in playing in the N v S match by the 12th August so I can report any interest to the NCCU AGM.
Cheers,
Dave
Their are 4 nights left of the Summer League after tonights(13th July 2022), in which Dave Cole is catching up quickly with a faultless 7/7 wining on the night. I say he is catching up as he didnt make a few nights early on but as its the total of the top eight results cont and because Dave is dominant, he is favourite.
George Horne was in second with 5/7, th rest of us were either on 4/7(Frank Whalley, Trevor Blower and myself(Alan Llewellyn)) or 3/7 Jon Duffield.
Martin Gawne entered the South Wales International in Bridgend in which he scored a brilliant 4/9 finishing in 33th spot out of 52.
A tournament in the 4 Nations chess League was held in Leamington Spa over the weekend of the 9th-11th July. Club member, Trevor Blower made the long journey and achieved joint 4th position in the minor u1700 with a brilliant score of 3.5/5. His determination to win is legendary as his his skillfull risk filled tactics and his play can be seen in the below games.
on saturday the 9th July 2022, The final of the county club KO competition called the Whitaker Cup was played. This was between Barrow and Carlisle B. Carlisle B had played and won in every round but we had got through with two defaults. We had the advantage of white on boards 1 and 3 who were Matthew Mackenzie and Jon Duffield respectively and they duely won but because Matthew was so highly rated we were handicapped in what is a handicap tournament.
With myself(Alan Llewellyn) black on board 2, I lost and that meant as we were deducting 1 point from our score initially we drew the match 1-1(ie 2-1 but we deducted 1 from our score), so the tie-break is to removed the bottom board and re-do the handicap, we were then losing half a point and with Jons win removed the initial score was 1-1 but became 0.5-1 on handicap so we lost.
Sorry for the delay to the Lancaster Rapidplay Congress results, held June 18th 2022, the results outstanding that I didnt know were the 2/5 scored by Peter Hanks and 0.5/5 scored by Ms Blood a promising junior, both players were in the minor (u1500) and from Ulverston.
I missed a Summer League night result, on the weds 29th June 2022. Dave Cole was away in Cardiff so it was left to Frank Whalley to shine with 6.5/7 and George Horne also finished with a creditable 6/7 and Trevor Blower came third with 5.5/7.
On 4 th July 2022, almost a week later Dave Cole was back and he trounced us all 7/7 with myself(Alan Llewellyn) in second a bit behind on 5/7 and George Horne and Frank Whalley in joint third on 4.5/7.
We have had 9 Summer League Nights now and George Horne is leading with 42.5, Frank Whalley in second on 40.5, myself(Alan Llewellyn) in third (with one full score to add because its best of eight scores) of 36.5, Trevor Blower in fourth on 34.5 and Dave Cole (who has 3 full scores to add and is thus the favourite to win) on 32.
I have a load of news to update you on, firstly there was a Summer League night on monday 20th June 2022 where Dave Cole returned to score a great 6.5/7, in first place, with George Horne and myself(Alan Llewellyn) on 5/7 in joint 2nd.
There was a Rapidplay Tournament (30 minutes each on the clock) in Lancaster on saturday 18th June 2022 where Nigel Davies was playing in the Open section, I went and so did Neil Foxcroft and Peter Hanks. I know Neil finished on 1.5/5 with myself(Alan Llewellyn) on 2/5 in the major section. Peter was in the minor section with a promising young lady player all three are Ulverston players appart from me. Note-Peters and the ladies results to follow (Ms Blood is her name).
The Candidates Tournament has started, they are playing to meet magnus for a match to win the World Championship. There isnt a single favurite and the winner could come from anywhere, google for the 'chess candidates tournament 2022' for coverage.
on the 15th June Summer League night 2022, theyre were only 5 of us and Frank Whalley finished 1st on the night with a strong 6.5/7, unbeaten. Trevor Blower and George Horne finished joint 2nd with 5.5/7.
We didnt win the weekend league, we did come second though, the position was Maryport had 18 pts going into the last game with us and we had 16 pts. Its three points for a win and 1 shared for a draw. Matthew Mackenzie won on top board (against Neil Jones) and Dave Cole drew against the strong Roger Hart, that left me needing a draw gainst Gary Sharkey for us to win and all hope that our gme would be drawn was thrown out the window as i sensed he was coming at me so i decided on aggression instead and it almost paid off but i got caught by a trick and went down, just when i had broken through. The exciting game is below:-
The final positions in the South Lakes Congress 2022 were Barry Hymer(of Ulverston club) 1.5/4 in the open
In the Intermediate George Horne 3.5/5 a brilliant performance.
In the Minor I Alan Llewellyn(myself) 2.5/5 , Frank Whalley 1.5/5, Neil Foxcroft(of Ulverston ex barrow club) 1.5/5
In the minor II Jon Duffield 2.5/5 , Bala Saravanan 1/5 , Saravanan Samuel 0/5
The full results are given on the south lakes congress page or can be seen here. the winners of the prizes can be seen here.
On the 6th June 2022 a Summer League night was held for hardy souls, I think George Horne in particular may have suffered from all his play finishing joint 2nd on 5/7 with Martin Gawne who hasnt had much chess practice due to work commitments but Dave Cole did suffer from tiredness issues as he got 7/7 i think thats the first top score and puts Dave back in prime position in the Tourney, although I think George is the current leader overall.
Two of the Barrow players achieved prizes in the South Lakes Congress 2022 held the weekend of the 3rd to the 5th of June, George Horne got the grading prize (best performance for a lower rated player in his section) in the Intermediate Section while I(Alan Llewellyn) achieved the best performance for a Cumbria player in the Minor 1 Section. A full list of points for Barrow players will be placed in this news section in a few days.
To give a flavour of the South Lakes Congress(from first 2 days of 3 days), i have included three puzzle like positions from my own play, below:-
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The above position is from Paul Taylor vs Alan Llewellyn, Round 2 of the south lakes congress in the minor 1. I have just played 7...g6 (what do you think I am trying to do with this move -it has an immediate threat if white castles long. Answer: after 8 0-0-0?? comes 8...h5 threatening Bg4 and if 9 Re1 or 9 h3 then 9...Nxf4 when 10 Qxf4 ends with 10...Bh6, the only chance is 9 exd6 when 9...Nxf4 10 dxe7 Qxe7 gets two pawns for the piece. move played wasnt 0-0-0 the move he played was 8 c4.(ie he didnt fall for it). |
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The above position is from Alan Llewellyn vs Kevin Cox, Round 3 of the south lakes congress in the minor 1. I play 18 Kh1!? here totally ignoring the threat of Nxd3 what have I planned? Answer: after 18 Nxd3!? comes 19 Ba5!! and after 19...Qxa5 20 Nxe7+ Kh8 21 Qxd3 i have quite an attack for the loss of the a2 pawn but he decided not to take the a2 pawn but he fell for the trap. |
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The above position is from Alan Llewellyn vs Kevin Cox, Round 3 of the south lakes congress in the minor 1. I have just played 30 Qh4?? why is that a bad blunder? Answer: after My opponent sat there and thought for 25 minutes and I was skirming thinking he had spotted my error. He has he spectacular 30...Rf1+ when 31 Bxf1 is forced then 31...Qxe4+ either wins the queen after 32 Kg1 Nf3+ 33 Kf2 Nxh4 or it leads to mate after 32 Bg2 Qb1+ 33 Bf1 [forced] 33...Qxf1 checkmate. He played 30...h5?? and he missed the win and i sighed with relief. The game ended drawn. |
Don't forget the south lakes congress this coming weekend platinum jubilee bank holiday.
On the 1st June 2022(wednesday), we had a further summer league night, in which despite get hammered early on by Frank Whalley in our game, I (Alan Llewellyn) won on the night with 6/7(although we all got 3 points of byes for turning up because theyre were only 5 of us there. George Horne finished second with 5.5/7 and Jon Duffield and Frank Whalley and Trevor Blower finished joint 3rd with 4.5/7 each. Jon got a well deserved win against Trevor Blower and like the French Rugby Union team you have no idea who will turn up (the french rugby team are famous for either being unbeatable or throwing the game away)- the Jon that will take all your pieces or the Jon who will get in a winning position then make an innacuracy and lose.
There is a page I have created for links for the parents of children at the club or in the community who wish to give further training for a talented youngster. See here
On the 23rd of May 2022, Dave Cole the leader didnt show up so it was left to the seven of us with Trevor Blower (who joint won on 6/7), and Kian missing different to last weeks entrants. I was also a joint winner on 6/7(Alan Llewellyn) and Frank Whalley finished 3rd on 5/7.
Above is a puzzle given by Paul Littlewood on facebook which was composed by Ernst and the top player at the time Anderssen 1852. White to play and mate in 4 (there is only one answer, highlight below to have answer):-
1 Bb6+ Kb3 2 Ra1 c2 3 Ba5!! Kc3 4 Ra3#
On wednesday 18th May 2022, the second night of the summer league saw a big surprise, David Cole pushed into 3rd place after both George Horne 6/7 in first, and myself(Alan Llewellyn) 5.5/7 in second both of us beat Dave in our games vs him, Dave scored 5/7 in third. We had two juniors in the competition who both played well for theyre age. One is 13 called Kian and the other is even younger aged 6 called samuel.
There are two major tournaments in the area in June- the 24th South Lakes Congress, a regular event held this year in Barrow, entry forms here .Also there is an innagural Lancaster Rapidplay Congress june 18th 2022 see a flyer here.
On Saturday the 14th May2022, Barrow Weekend League team moved into a shoot out position with Maryport A after a drubbing of Maryport B 2.5-0.5. The team was Matthew Mackenzie, Dave Cole and myself(Alan Llewellyn) on boards 1,2 and 3 repectively. Matt and myself won and Dave drew.
My win is below:-
The Barrow Club KO Cup 2021-2022(below and in archive)
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The Summer competitions kicked off on May 9th 2022 with the Summer League night being won as usual by Dave Cole with 6.5/7, our two top players at the club do'nt seem to be playing in it,(Kit Hopkins and Matthew Mackenzie), i know Matt never plays in it. Dave is an excellent blitz player and can give either of the top two a competitive game whatever the time control, he just blows the rest of us all away to be honest.
The closest rival to Dave was George Horne on 5/7 with Frank Whalley and myself(Alan Llewellyn) on 4.5/7 in joint 3rd.
Mention should go to one of our junior players (Samuel) the only junior to enter the summer league on the 9th, he is only 6 (yes six!!!) years old and he played a fair game for any age junior and an outstanding game for his age, he didnt get a point I don't think but he was sure impressive.