Sheffield Woodseats Chess Club

There's a very good and fair report on the match on Chesterfield's website, so I don't know how much I can add, apart from emphasising that it was very close-run thing and everybody played well.  I lost the toss but Andrew still got White.  Dave Latham decided that, as he was going to lose anyway... a noble sacrifice but it meant more whites lower down.  Well, he did lose. I'd not seen Andrew play the English before.  Botvinnik's system seems to be fashionable again.  Allan won White's Queen-I know no more- and Paul had a mighty passed pawn and a great deal of pressure through out the game.  It was nearly mate but his opponent resigned just in time!I've seen Martin Howard play twice recently and he's very good at the English Opening as well!  He seems to know where the pieces go.  Mark resisted nobly but towards the end it must have been like playing against a boa constrictor!  Stuart himself said that he played a 'tired' game but, from where I was sitting, which was 'next door', after having lost a pawn in the opening, he seemed to put up a very resourceful defence.  Unfortunately his opponent found a way of converting his advantage into a winning endgame.  My game started as a 'Veresov'  and then turned into 'French'.  I'd expected another English Opening but it ended up with Andy Mort playing e4.  Very unusual!  There was a minor moment of panic when I played c5 and, having forgotten to castle first, realised that White could play Nd6+ and make my King move.  After having calmed down, and seen that it wasn't all that bad, it was very amusing to watch Andy's face as he decided what he was going to do.  In the end he didn't give check and a draw ensued when we both started to get short of time.  

Bill was taking on Steve Bracey who's a dangerous player to have on board 8! I'm told that he's graded 170+ in the Derbyshire league.  Chesterfield certainly batted all the way down the order.  Anyway Bill dId very well.  He can't be used to defending himself when he plays the Dutch but he had to surrender in the end after a tricky ending (see the game).  So in the end it all turned on one game-Srini v. Steve Housley.  Dave Latham calls it coffee house chess in his report.  Well there certainly were pieces flying all over the place.  White (Srini) attacking on the kingside with a Saemisch Attack against the King's Indian and Black steaming down the other flank.  Srini did have the upper hand at first but it was very wild and Black had a lot of play for the piece that White eventually won.  Very difficult to play under the present time limit.  Although he lost, I don't think that our man has anything to blame himself for at all.  Do look at the game.  The notes are Srini's.  It was a very close match, played in a very good spirit.

Woodseats A v. Ecclesall A or the return to the land of the Snooker table.

It was a return to familiar surroundings, the  climb up the back stairs and then the room that had once been the centre of Sheffield Chess! An old friend was still occupying most of the available space-well that's a bit of an exaggeration. However the snooker table was still in residence but the chess sets were laid out and waiting when we arrived.  The reception was very friendly and there was time to ' catch-up' before the action started.
Amazingly Andrew against Dave Adams was the first to finish.  I don't know what happened because I was too busy exchanging pieces.  However the Ecclesall player had a rather  gratified expression on his face so I suspect that he had pulled off some tactical wheeze or other based on  craft and guile accumulated over the years...resulting in Andrew's granting him a draw.  A few minutes later my own opponent offered me a draw...and I thought why not?  I certainly wasn't winning.  Bill quickly realised that we were using new tactics tonight and got into the swing of things and also concluded hostilities with his opponent.  First lull them into a sense of false security and then pounce!  We didn't pounce quite yet because John, in spite of his excellent result in the recent Major Open on the Isle of Man (of which more later, I hope-we are promised at least a game) couldn't overcome the resistance of a well-prepared opponent who played very carefully.  All level and it was left to Allan, Paul and Mark to make the final assault.  Mark, with black, played aggressively and put a lot of pressure on his opponent who, understandably, finally cracked under time pressure and allowed a fatal check.  Allan had black in a Najdorf Sicilan.  His opponent adopted the positional approach with Be2 but went astray in the middle game and Black finished the game nicely.  With two wins in the bag, Paul, after striving hard to extract the maximum from his position, agreed a draw in, what seemed to be, a level position. Final score 5-3 to Woodseats!