The Blackpool Congress went ahead as planned despite all over major events being called off in the wave of hysteria. Anyway Trevor Blower did well in his section-he was one of the highest seeds and he performed well to achieve 3/5 in the standard section (under 115 grade) while George also performed to his relatively high rating this year by getting 2/5 in the under 155 grade intermediate section.
In the return fixture of the derby Barrow A vs Barrow B saw Barrow A win 4.5-1.5 with the the teams being (A first in board order) Matthew Mackenzie defeated Tony Kirby, Dave Cole defeated Chris Underhill, George Horne drew with myself,(alan Llewellyn) and our only win came from Frank Whalley losing against Trevor Blower. Now that means Barrow A look strong for the title of the Southern Cumbria League.
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| The solution to this white to win can be found here | The solution to this white to win can be found here |
In the Barrow Club Championship, see the table here, Frank Whalley still stands a chance if games dont get played even though he has 'lost' 4 points and usually the winner loses only a few points because it is now only two months away from ending and games arent being played often, at the moment. Frank is on 7/11. Probably the winner will come though from Martin Gawne, Jim Woodburn or Matthew Mackenzie, Martin is on 7/8 Jim 6/6 and Matthew on 5/5, i think unless coronavirus hits us badly and stops play the winner will be one of them 4.
In the Knock-Out cup the long awaited game between Jim Woodburn and Martin Gawne has held up the draw- the other players all through to the semi-final are Tony Kirby, Frank Whalley, and Matthew Mackenzie. Martin will have a tough opponent even if he beats Jim which is very difficult to do in the first place.
In the Time Ladder(the time handicapped competition) it is between Trevor Blower and Tony Kirby - mention should go to Derek Miller who found this competition his favourite part of the clubs events. He is no longer visiting the club but is often mentioned there.
In the Lightning Tournament it is mathematically possible for any of five of us to win, Matthew Mackenzie is favourite on 11 points and although i (Alan Llewellyn) too am on 11 points i discount 2 points in the final round which means basically all Matthew needs to do is turn up as all his points count-[note-this is due to the rail strikes affecting Matthews previous scoring rounds-he has only come to three rounds], similarly Tony Kirby and George Horne on 10.5 points and Trevor Blower on 10 points need Matthew to have a rail strike emergency and not be able to come from Millom. The table is below:-
The game below was played between Trevor Blower and Chris Underhill in the club championship- it was a tight slugfest which Trevor got the upper hand in the armwrestle in.
Sorry to blow my own trumpet here but I (Alan Llewellyn) have got a few games published in the world famous online Jon Speelman Agony and Ecstasy Coloumn he does for Chessbase, the top chess computer program firm provider. Sorry Jon Duffield but he chose a different game than ours though i think ours is good enough. He gives three games where in one i get hammered and in the other two i break through spectacularly. A link to the coloumn can be found here https://en.chessbase.com/post/speelman-agony-117 .
A past Barrow player who was featured on the coloumn previously was Mark Houlsby. a link to his jon coloumn is here:- https://en.chessbase.com/post/speelman-agony-107
In the County Southern League Barrow A marched ever onwards to defend their title which is certainly back on the cards with a return of Dave Cole from his physical problems. Its great to see Dave back to his near best if not in his play but in his results atleast. Barrow A played Ulverston A and beat them 5.5 - 0.5. The team was Matthew Mackenzie, Dave Cole, George Horne and Frank Whalley and everything started to go pearshapped for Ulverston from before the start when Ulverston A's strongest player Martin Gawne pulled out with ill health. The diagram below shows a position from a game in the match on board 1 between David Wright (of Ulverston A) and Matthew Mackenzie (of Barrow A):- with Black to play and win-
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| 1....Qxh2+ wins immediately as after 2 Kxh2 (forced) comes 2....Rh4# ie its mate. |
The Whitaker Cup was to delight the Ulverston chess hearts and disapoint Barrovians when they met in the Semi-Final of that handicap tournament. The Barrow team of (in board order), Tony Kirby, Trevor Blower, Frank Whalley and Jon Duffield met a completely underated team of Ulverston players in Ian Dacre, Neil Foxcroft, Mike Mason and Peter Hanks. You see the handicap is worked out on grade and the fact that Ulverston have a number of ringers was to have an important effect on the match result. Barrow had to take off 1 full point from their score so when Frank won aginst mike it was still only effectively 0-0 and with other results shared equally it was 1.5-1.5 and had to go to tie break which is to take off the last board in turn and re calculate the handicap. This system went Ulverstons way but it couldnt have been tighter.
Results from Cumbria County Individual Championships here Frank Whalley and Dave Cole of Barrow finished joint second, Roy Ellames won it of carlisle, Frank won the Keswick Knight Trophy as the Minor Champion. Thanks go to Trevor Blower, Dave Cole, Janet Blower and Trish for running such a smooth tourney as usual they are the 4 that run the South Lakes Congress (Cumbrias very own large regional tournament) so well.
The game between Dave Cole and Alan Llewellyn showed off a new line in the Kings Indian Petrosian system an exciting Knight sacrifice but I missed the advantageous Qf6 move and went on to resign in a lost position. See below:-
again in the southern league Barrow B played but this time we ruined any chances of finishing top of the league with a narrow defeat to Ulverston A 4.5 - 1.5 [which is narrow because the board score was 2.5 - 1.5 but 2 point were awarded, to Ulverston A, for the win of the match]. It was the same team as below but Trevor was on board 3 and me on board 4.
Barrow B continued theyre form by drawing with a strong Kendal team 3 - 3 . The team was (in board order) Tony Kirby, Chris Underhill, Alan Llewellyn (myself) and Trevor Blower.
Below is a puzzle mate in 3 for white:- for the solution click here. Warning it is next to imposible...[puzzle from the British chess Magazine]
The Inter County (under 140) Northern section finished with Lancashire beating Yorkshire by 8.5 - 3.5 so all three counties finished with the same points, having all won one match and lost one but cumbria still finish last on board score tie-break. Lancashire are the winners.
The Barrow A team won their match with Ulverston B 4.5 - 1.5 with a welcome return for Dave Cole on board 1, with Jim Woodburn secconded onto board 2, George Horne on board 3 and Frank Whalley on board 4 who was the only one to win the others drew.
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| In the lightning where you must make a move on a buzzer every 10 seconds, I reached this position as White (alan Llewellyn), black was Tony Kirby, and he has just played 1...Be6 I thought that that was a mistake and played 2 Qxb7?? but this loses the Queen quite remarkeably to 2 Na5! when every single move possible by the queen is covered by a black piece or pawn. |
The Yorkshire vs Cumbria County match (under 140 grade) finished with a whopping 8.5 - 3.5 win by Yorkshire.
The positions in the club championship can be seen with the following link here.
Barrow B beat Ulverston B 5 - 1 which keeps us in with a chance of winning the South Cumbria League, the team was almost the reverse of the first half of the season with Tony Kirby(drew) on board 1, Trevor Blower(won) on board 2, Alan Llewellyn(me-drew) on board 3 and Jon Duffield(won) on board 4 playing Ian Dacre, Niel Foxcroft, Mike Mason and Richard Braithwaite respective.
The chess grades are out !!!!!!!!!!!!! a link to them can be found here to check the latest grades.
Martin Gawne finished with a great score(considering the difficulty of the world renowned competition he was in) of 4/9 in a Wijk Aan Zee Amateur section.
A spectacular game (from Wijk Aan Zee) with comments and analysis of his can be seen with the following link:-
In the NCCU County Championship between county teams of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire, in teams of 12, after beating Lancashire, back in Nov 2019, we got demolished by Yorkshire on 25th of January 2020. George Horne was on board 4 and lost and I was on board 6 and won.
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| I got in this position in the NCCU Championships i was Black ie(alan Llewellyn) vs John Foo as white. I have various threats in the end he secumbs to one of them and plays 1.Nc3, he could have played 1.e5, or even the obvious 1.Nxc6 Qxd1+ 2 Kxd1 when Bxb2? I spotted at the time is a blunder, can you see what I saw... |
Trevor Blower actually shared the grading prize at Harrogate last weekend, in the minor section while Martin is keeping the flag flying for Ulverston as well as Barrow by scoring 2.5/6 in the important Tarta Steel 5th level amatuers C section.
The chess grades are coming out very soon a link to them can be found here to check whether they've come out.
Immediately below this is a link to an exciting bit of play in the game between Chris Underhill and Matthew Mackenzie in which Chris gets into a lost position but mixes it up with a series of sacrifices, in the end they turned out to be dropped pieces but there were many lines in a complex position to look at.
To keep you upto-date with Martin Gawnes progress check out the link to the results page of Tarta Steel, https://www.tatasteelchess.com/players/amateurs/tournaments/2020/nine-round/5/3/977
To summarise Martin is currently on 50% with 1.5/3 and Trevor Blower finished with a creditable 3/5 in Harrogate National League Tournament.
Both Barrow/Ulverston club member Martin Gawne and Barrow member Trevor Blower are in action this weekend and in Martins case up until the 27th January. Both lost their first games which is always a downer.
 Martin
Gawne with a prestigious friend, the great Vishy Anand ex world
champion. Martin is hobnobing it at Tarta Steel chess Tournament. |
Almost all the club were in action wednesday 15th January 2020, when Barrow A drew 3- 3 with Barrow B in the Cumbrian South League. in board order, Matthew Mackenzie beat me(alan llewellyn), George Horne drew with Tony Kirby, Chris Underhill lost to Trevor Blower and Frank Whalley drew with Jon Duffield.
a number of games wont be played in the knock-out first round- Wednesday the 8th January 2020 is the final day for them to be played. Below is the Club Lightning on going results:-
As the worlds best descend on Wijk aan Zee, including the likes of Magnus Carlsen (Chess World Champion), Fabiano Caruana (challenger to world champion in 2018) and Vishy Anand (previous World Champion). But also going to this world renowned tournament (also known as Tarta Steel) is our very own Martin Gawne from Barrow. He is in a 5th tier of the amatuers section as it is such a big tournament but he will be one of the favourites in his section in a 9 round event starting on the 17th January until the 26th. If you want to follow the masters tournament it starts on the 10th January. I will keep you all posted as to how Martin does. Additional note- the club championship positions for the mid season point can be seen here - they give added encouragement to Martin Gawne as he is leading at this still early stage taking over the lead from long time leader Tony Kirby.
The movie above is a wonderfully precise game from Josh Waitzkins famous draw against Jeff Sarwer from the film 'Innocent Moves' also known as 'Searching for Bobby Fischer'. As can be seen from the game and result, hollywood took a certain licence with the game. The result was actually a draw and a shared win of the Primary Championship of USA not a spectacular win as in the movie and Josh doesnt get his Queen out early-also a untrue movie plotline, and lose his queen.
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| this above is a position from a puzzle posted on Facebook by Bolton Chess Club. It is fairly easy, with white to play and mate in 3. The answer is here. |
A link below is a game betweem Jon Duffield and Trevor Blower from the Barrow Club Championship in which Jon competes well against his more experienced opponent and misses a win but resigns maybe a tad early.
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| this above is a position from a Capablanca game in which it is white to move and here Capablanca found a brilliant way to win-sure the move 1 f4 looks promising but there is another way to win. for the answer click here.. |
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| this above is a position from a puzzle posted on Facebook by Croatian Grandmaster (resident in Britain) Bogdan Lalic. It is fairly easy, with white to play and win but it isnt as easy as it appears for example 1...h8=Q is not the answer as the Black king infiltrates and it ends in a draw. I wont give the answer it is so easy, ask me if youre stuck. |
The latest table for the Barrow Club Championship is up see here...
The link below is to a game played in the club championship which was close and the result of Martin Gawne holding off a strong attack from Trevor Blower might have impact on the way the club championship is decided. The unfortunate news that Dave Cole is ill and hasn't played any games yet has to have impact on the result of the championship as he is a big contender for the title not that that matters under the circumstances it puts it all into perspective. Our sympathies go with Dave and we wish him a good recovery. Martin is in the small group of recent winners and he is looking like a strong contender as well.
Barrow A came back with a flourish against Ulverston A with a very strong 6 - 0 win, maxinum points which put them right back in the mix for title, the team was also made up mainly of reserves, the team being Matthew Mackenzie, George Horne, Chris Underhill and Trevor Blower, all won.
The Club championship table can be seen by clicking on this link for the beginning of December.
The Barrow Lightning for season 2019-2020(above)-only best 4 results count
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| this above is the game between Fred Clough and myself from last wednesday the 27th November 2019 from the whitaker cup- the Black knight has come from the d4 square and it is white to move and it is double check so i have to move the King- my last move while the knight on e2 was on d4 was 21 b4!! i only played it because i thought i had 22 Rf2 after the double check but after 21...Ne2++ my move played 22 Rf2 was illegal as the king is still in check from the knight on e2 even though the Queen check uncovered has been parried. After the only decent legal move 22 Kh2 Trevor Blower in his analysis a few days later with me blew me away as Black but the computer says after 22...Qd6+ 23 e5 Qxd3 24 Ne4!! Black is in some trouble and 24...Bxc4 or 24..Qxc4 loses a piece to threats such as the white knight coming into f6 and the Queen to h4 or white knight going to d6 and the Black knight attacked with Rae1 if the Queen takes on e5, the knight f6 move wins the Queen if the knight then moves from e2- it is very complex and a I as only a human player would struggle in that position like that. |
In the County Matches for the North region, Cumbria achieved an inourgural win in the under 140 grade, section against Lancashire. with a result of 7 - 5 in Cumbrias favour the barrow players that played were George Horne and myself(Alan Llewellyn), we both got draws, in Georges game he said he swapped off until there were no pieces left to win with and in my (Alans) game i was doing well then missed he had a threat if i contiued an attack which won for him so i found myself a pawn down and in a king and pawn endgame which he just happened to not understand as well as me and i flooked a draw.
The Barrow Whitaker Cup handicap team reached the last 4 after a decisive 2 - 0.5 win over Penrith 2 after giving away a massive 1.5 points in the handicap which is based on rating and expected results. Barrow are reigning champions and the team of me (Alan Llewellyn), Tony Kirby, Chris Underhill and Trevor Blower in board order while there was some controvercy. With my game i put my game through the computer as usual and the computer spotted an illegal move by me. Under the rules your opponent has to spot it at the time or the result stands but I offered the opponent Fred Clough a draw via email while returned home later that night but his captain rather sportingly accepted my win, much kudos goes to Andy McAtear what a star.
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(White to move and win).The above position is from the internet ,
actually to be precise from Bolton Chess Clubs facebook page. It isn't
very easy but I will give the answer-try the puzzle to get an answer before reading
further than here. A clue is to not be distracted by the impending pawns on the 2nd rank wanting to Queen. Having said that the answer involves an underpromotion. The answer |
https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=QxJ6JD9gAFyvmZr6ctia2gvAQ7OUz7mz9AvsP272seW6U9b+CIIOYR9gCuFsw0pB this is a game from the Barrow club championship between Trevor Blower and Matthew Mackenzie which is superb.
The Barrow A team was out of form against Kendal on thursday last week, it lost 0.5 to 5.5. The team was Dave Cole, George Horne, Chris Underhill and Frank Whalley and it was only Frank that got any points getting a draw.
Barrow B pulled up another brilliant result with a crushing 5 - 1 beating of a strong Ulverston A team. Massively outgraded on all boards we won the match 3 - 1 (getting 2 extra points for winning the match), with our top two boards of Tony Kirby and myself(Alan Llewellyn) both drawing and Chris Underhill and Trevor Blower both winning on boards 3 and 4. it was our first won match in quite sometime as we finished a poor last in the South League last year.
The positions from the Barrow Chmpionship are out here.
Below is a game from the club championship played on armistace day, despite a promising win of a queen by me i get on a sticky wicket and as if played in slow motion the tragic comedy plays out...I(alan llewellyn) was white and Robert Jones a complete beginner to serious chess, was Black.
In the cumbrian weekday league Barrow B valiantly almost beat Kendal but while Trevor Blower was winning his game he blundered away a rook and in the end the result was inevitable. The team of (in board order) Alan Llewellyn, Tony Kirby, Trevor Blower and Jon Duffield was totally out graded but only lost 4.5-1.5 (2.5-1.5 on board score and 2 pts added for the win for Kendal).
Latest news: Martin Gawne finished joint winner of the Scarborough Congress Major(under 170 grade) with an outstanding performance of 4/5.
In the whitaker cup handicap, Barrow won 4 to -0.5, they were giving away half a point off they re total but we won on all 4 boards against a strong Windermere the team on board order was George Horne, Alan Llewellyn, Tony Kirby and Trevor Blower.
The Cumbria Individuals Tournament will be held in february in Barrow- for further details download an entry form here...
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(Black to move and mate in 3).The above position is from the internet , actually to be precise from
Bolton Chess Clubs facebook page. It is average difficulty so i
wont give the answer-try the puzzle to get an answer before reading
further than here. I found the answer difficult until I saw the esteemed player Paul Littlewood's comment on the puzzle it said something like 'The power of a double check', to which I answered as a attached comment on facebook 'you gave it away'.... |
latest club championship positions here.
The AGM Minutes have been produced by club Secretary Dave Cole and last seasons AGM and previous seasons are available just click here.
The Cumbria South League got under way for Barrow B on the 21st October 2019 with a match draw 3 - 3 with Ulverston B a position in my game in the match rediculously placed on board 1, is shown below can you guess the move which came like a bolt from the blue and won the game? Ian Dacre as Black made a move here playing me(alan Lllewelyn) and i was white.
The move was 25...Ng3!! which totally busts whites position threatening several mates. If 26.fxg3?? Qg2# is mate or 26.Rfe1?? Qh1# is mate and 26...Qh1# has to be avoided so i was left between a Hobsons choice of 26.f3 loosing the bishop or 26.Kh2 which i reluctantly chose. the game continued 26...Nxf1+ 27.Rxf1 R8xe3!? 28.Qc5 (total desperation) 28...Qf3 White Resigns all roots end in mate as far as i saw 29.Kg1 Qxh3 30.Rg3+!! fxg3 31.Qg2# is mate.
The latest club championship table is out see here.
Trevor has decided to give me the info i copy and paste without altering more often concerning the club championship more often-please note i do not alter info if any looks different to in-club versions on paper it is not my fault but other peoples as what i get has wierd computer programs all embedded which may effect the text shown to certain people. click on the link below for latest club positions.
Some more great news for the clubs membership and the competitions- Martin Gawne has said he will come back to play in the club competitions. The current club championship positions can be seen here.
Jon Duffield has returned to our club and is entering all the tournaments is some great news. We now with our other, completely new member,(Robert Jones), who hasnt been beaten yet in 3 rated games that takes our club championship entry to 14 and thus 13 games a season for the championhsip alone.
The Cumbria Individual Championship is in Barrow on the 21st to 23rd of February it will be confirmed as either at The British Legion, Holker Street. or at St Marys Center on Walney. Details to follow.
Robet Jones pulled off a brilliant win knocking me out of the KO club cup in the first round with a high standard of play in his first ever proper English Chess Federation rated game. So much for 30 years of experience on my part. He will be a valuable addition to the club teams.
The contact details are up on the password protected area of the site- see the info page in a yellow box it says members area, its password protected for the password ask me.
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| The above position is from a puzzle i saw online- its a tricky-from the start position with only legal moves how did, after the 7th move is made by both sides, you get to this position, only one answer fits exactly- a computer is no help and it certainly had me pulling chunks of hair out. click here for the answer... |
The colours of your games in the swiss tournament is worked out see here as is the itenerary here. New rules for the time ladder are here.