BCN sends Happy birthday wishes to Peter Griffiths
Peter Charles Griffiths was born on Thursday, August 15th, in 1946 in Birmingham, Warwickshire. His mother’s maiden name was Ward.
Peter was a strong player active from the 1960s until 1989. He played in the British Championships more than once and was a professional coach and writer. He wrote the column “Practical Chess Endings” which appeared in the British Chess Magazine. The column commenced in the December 1972 issue and columns became less frequent until around 1991.
Peter Griffiths (far left)
He wrote Exploring the Endgame
Exploring the Endgame
and co-authored Secrets of Grandmaster Play with John Nunn.
Secrets of Grandmaster Play
and wrote Improving Your Chess
Improving Your Chess
and Better Chess for Club Players
Better Chess for Club PlayersPeter Griffiths (far left)
IM John Pigott at the 2020 Gibraltar Masters. Photograph courtesy of John Saunders
BCN wishes IM John Pigott all the best on his birthday (15-viii-1957)
John Christopher Pigott was born in Croydon, Surrey and his mother’s maiden name was Fletcher.
In 1975 John was selected by the BCF junior selectors and travelled with Jonathan Speelman and Peter J Lee (Hampshire) to the 8th Biel International Open in Switzerland. Leonard Barden wrote in the October 1975 British Chess Magazine (the cover was of Geller and Smyslov) :
“17-year-old John Pigott’s 8.5/11 included wins against IM Kluger, IM Messing and the 1975 Budapest Champion Rajna and earned him 2,000 Swiss francs in prize money. The three English juniors who competed, Pigott, Speelman and Lee were chosen by the BCF junior selectors and travelled to Switzerland with the help of grant from the Slater Foundation and the London Chess Club.”
John represented England at the 1975 Anglo-Dutch match (25th and 26th of October) scoring 0.5/2 versus Paul van der Sterren. The game scores appear to either have been lost on not recorded.
FM Andrew Smith at the 2019 British Championships in Torquay, courtesy of John Upham Photography
BCN wishes Happy Birthday to FM Andrew Smith (15-viii-1959)
Andrew Philip Smith became a FIDE Master in 1994 and is registered with the Irish Chess Union.
His highest FIDE rating was 2310 in July 1994 at the age of 35.
FM Andrew Smith, photographer unknown
He plays for Bourne End Chess Club in the Buckinghamshire League and in the Berkshire League.
Andrew also plays for 4NCL Barnet Knights (he has played for Atticus), Buckinghamshire CCA in the Chiltern League and Hon Members LCCL.
Andrew started his chess aged 6 when his Mother taught him and he joined Lewisham Chess Club aged 13 and then Slough Chess Club (Thames Valley League and 4NCL) in 1988.
He has won the Berks & Bucks Congress in 2018 and 2016 (joint) and he became Berkshire Individual Champion as a direct consequence winning the Cadogan Cup.
With the white pieces Andrew is (almost) exclusively a 1.e4 player favouring the Centre Game
and as the second player Andrew plays the Philidor Defence and the Benoni.
He is known to favour “enterprising” variations such as the Mason Variation of the Philidor, the Haldane Attack versus the French and other such exotica.
British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXXII (132), Number 7 (July) front cover features FM Andrew Smith from the final 4NCL weekend of the 2011-2012 season, courtesy of John Upham Photography
{[%evp 0,75,19,31,34,25,5,-1,-3,-12,-20,-36,-38,-31,-26,-30,-41,-8,1,-59,13,-2,
-2,-222,-254,-322,-193,-225,-133,-160,-85,-149,-83,-101,-80,-80,-69,-43,-41,
-84,21,48,60,-100,-71,-82,65,177,182,136,220,173,273,89,89,57,57,-140,-137,
-128,15,36,333,767,29985,434,394,127,141,105,125,134,245,256,273,237,29999,
-30000]} {My notes are based on my thoughts during the game and have not been
checked by a computer. Going into this game, I felt under pressure both from
team and personal perspectives. I joined Atticus at the beginning of this
(2011) season and my first three appearences had seen me accumulate a very
round zero ! We already suspected that our team would be in the second
division ‘demotion pool’ so we desperately needed points to avert relegation.
This was my fourth game for the team so I was keen to address my shortcomings
and put some sort of score on the board. No easy matter as my opponent was
rated higher than myself and had beaten me the previous year at the Berks &
Bucks Congress.} 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 $1 {I have been playing this
“Offbeat” line for over 25 years so I have a great deal of experience with it.
Often scoffed at, but as with many Offbeat lines it is not so easy for Black
to deal with !} Nc6 4. Qe3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 O-O 7. O-O-O Re8 8. Bc4 $5 ({
In previous games I have also speculated with Morozevich’s tricky innovation}
8. Qg3 {which he played against Mark Hebden} d6 9. f3 Ne5 10. h4 c6 11. h5 d5
12. Nge2 Nc4 13. h6 {was Morozevich-Hebden, Lloyds Bank, 1994, 1-0, 27.}) (8.
f3) 8… d6 $5 (8… Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Nxe4 (9… Rxe4 $2 {loses} {to} 10. Bxf6 Rxe3
11. Bxd8 $18) 10. Qf4 $1 Qe7 $4 ({Instead of 10…Qe7 he could have played}
10… Nf6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 (11… gxf6 $16 {just looks too horrible to
contemplate.}) 12. Qxc7 Qxf2 (12… Qg5+ 13. Kb1 Qxg2 14. Qf4 Ne5 15. Bd5 {
again with great attacking chances for the pawn.}) 13. Nf3 $14 {with
tremendous compensation for the pawn}) (10… Nxc3 11. Bxf7+ Kh8 12. Bxe8 Qxe8
13. bxc3 d6 $16 {and I prefer White.}) 11. Re1 $1 $18 {winning as Black will
lose material after 12.f3}) 9. Nf3 $5 Bf5 $5 10. Qf4 Bg6 ({If} 10… Bxe4 {
White has} 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Ng5+) (10… Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Bxe4 12. Ng5 Bg6 13.
h4 {gives play.}) 11. Ng5 h6 12. h4 Ne5 ({If} 12… hxg5 13. hxg5 Nh7 14. Qh2 {
looks interesting, threatening f4 and f5} {and if} Bxc3 15. bxc3 Bxe4 (15…
Qd7 $1 $19) 16. Bd3 $18 {seemed good.}) 13. Bb3 Nh5 (13… hxg5 14. hxg5 Nh7
15. Qh4 $40 {with f4 and f5 to follow.}) 14. Qe3 Qd7 {I wasn’t sure what Black
would played here.} ({I analysed} 14… hxg5 15. hxg5 {and felt I had good
chances because Black’s knight on h5 is exposed to a White pawn surge.}) 15. f4
Ng4 16. Qf3 {The crisis point of the game is here. White threatens the
crushing 17.f5} hxg5 {Black saw now nothing better. The knight is finaly
captured after being en prise for five moves. I remember looking at the clock
situations and being amazed that we had only played 16 moves !} 17. f5 $1 ({If
} 17. hxg5 $6 {then} Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Bxe4 19. Qh3 Bg6 {and maybe Black is OK?})
17… Ne5 18. Qe3 Bxf5 ({Or} 18… Bc5 19. Qxg5 {is strong} Bxf5) 19. exf5 Nf4
{In a mutual time scramble this is a tricky little move.} 20. Kb1 ({Not
falling for} 20. hxg5 $4 Ned3+ {winning my queen.}) 20… Nc4 21. Qg3 Nxd2+ 22.
Rxd2 Qxf5 23. hxg5 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Re4 $18 {I could feel my opponents sudden
optimism after he played this move. If Black could continue with Rae8 then he
would be OK.} 25. Rf2 $1 {Repositioning my only ineffectual piece. On d2 , this
rook was not doing anything. – now it pins the knight against the queen and
all White’s pieces contribute a threat to Black’s king.} Qe5 ({I’m sure he
would have liked to have played} 25… Rae8 {but} 26. g6 {is still a difficult
reply to meet as} Qxg6 27. Qxg6 Nxg6 28. Bxf7+ Kf8 29. Bxg6+ {wins}) 26. g6 $1
{Fortunately for me Black’s capture on c3 has freed up a flight square on b2
for my king so I don’t have to worry about checks on my back rank.} d5 {
Blocking the diagonal of my strong bishop on b3. His king is about to be
exposed!} 27. gxf7+ Kxf7 {With both of use having a few minutes left and time
control a long way ff at move 40, the tension is palpable as this result is
crucial to the outcome of the match.} 28. Rh4 {To save the knight Black is
forced to expose his king still further.} g5 29. Rh7+ Ke6 30. Qg4+ Kf6 31. Qd7
{Probably winning for White} Qe6 $2 {A blunder – albiet in a lost position. –
but in mutual time trouble I let him get away with it.} 32. Qg7+ ({Now} 32.
Rh6+ {wins the queen and it would have been quite a nice game if it had
finished this way. But, I mistakenly thought he could intercept with the knight
forgettimg it was pinned.}) 32… Kf5 33. Rh6 Qe7 {Now with both flags hanging
and both players blitzing to reach the time control, I decided to bail-out and
win a piece.} 34. Qxe7 Rxe7 35. g3 Kg4 36. gxf4 gxf4 37. Bxd5 Kg3 $4 {three
seconds left !} 38. Rg2# {with about 15 seconds left ! It was big relief to
come away with the full point as the match score, after some heroic defence by
Sheila Jackson in her game with Mike Truran was 4.5 – 3.5 to us (Atticus).} 1-0
[/pgn]
FM Andrew Smith at the 2019 Keith Richardson Memorial, courtesy of John Upham Photography
In 2021 Andrew self-published “Off the Board Chess, The Best Games and Chess Experiences of Andrew Smith (FM)” which has received popular acclaim.
Off the Board Chess, The Best Games and Chess Experiences of Andrew Smith (FM), FM Andrew Smith, Self published, 2021, ISBN 978-1-5272-8572-9
We focus on the British Chess Scene Past & Present !
