Category Archives: Birthday

2023, 4NCL, Biographies, Birthday, British Championships, Player, Writers

Happy Birthday IM Paul Littlewood (18-i-1956)

January 18, 2021 John Upham Leave a comment

IM Paul Littlewood. Source : British Chess, Pergamon Press, 1983.

BCN wishes Happy Birthday to Paul Littlewood

Paul Edwin Littlewood was born on Wednesday, January 18th, 1956 in Skegness, East Lindsey, Lincolnshire. His parents were John and Jean Littlewood (née) Hadwick. Paul’s chess playing uncle was Norman Littlewood.

John and Paul on Skegness beach circa 1958. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood. George and Ringo are out of shot !

John, Jenny and Paul Littlewood, circa 1962. Kindly supplied by Paul Littlewood.

Paul attended Glenburn Comprehensive School in Skelmersdale from 1967 and then read Natural Sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge from 1974.

Paul played badminton for Lancashire and Cambridge and, in 1971, won the English Schools Mixed Championship when he was 15 years old.

Paul and family receive a chess lesson from John following John's win in the 1972 Southport Open — Paul and family receive a chess lesson from John following John’s win in the 1972 Southport Open

On leaving University Paul taught science at Southbrook Comprehensive, Daventry. Four years later Paul became a dealer at Phillips & Drew and followed this as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs. Stays at Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan were followed by a change of direction and since then Paul has been director of various food supply companies retiring in 2014.

Paul is married (3rd November 2006) to (his second wife) Fiona and lives in St. Albans, Hertfordshire.

PEL won the ECF President’s Award in 2007 and from the 2008 ECF Yearbook we have the following citation :

“International Master and accomplished bridge player. From British Chess champion (1981) Paul has presided over the 4NCL as chairman during its most successful period. When he became chairman over ten years ago the league consisted of two divisions and 32 teams. The league has now expanded to four divisions and a total of 72 teams. Most of England’s juniors play 4NCL. During this time 4NCL became one of the strongest leagues in Europe, at one time boasting a Division 1 rivalling the Bundesliga in strength in the top matches.

Paul has demonstrated the sound judgement of Solomon when dealing with league disputes and has drawn on his business acumen, honed during a successful career in the City with Goldman Sachs to make 4NCL the financially stable and expanding league it is today.”

Roll of Honour

British U18 Champion 1972
British U21 Champion 1975
British Champion 1981
As a junior represented England in Glorney Cup
International Master 1980

From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) by Botterill, Levy. Rice and Richardson we have this article from Richard W. O’Brien :

“Paul Littlewood was destined to become a strong player from birth. His father John was for some time one of the strongest players in the country and represented England on many occasions. His uncle Norman was for a few years not far behind. Paul, however, has surpassed them both and has become the first in the family to reach IM status. (Ed: JEL was very much worthy of the IM title but insufficient events of the right type held him back).

A. Howard Williams, Martyn J. Corden, Paul E. Littlewood and A. Jonathan Mestel

All three are essentially attacking players. There have been times in recent years when play at the Hastings Premier has become dull. However, Paul one of the English representatives at the last three tournaments, was certainly not to blame. (His game against Brito of Brazil which follows is a striking example of this).”

Coached by his father, Paul became British U18 champion in 1972 and three years later became British U21 champion.

Clearly more interested in an academic career he went up to Cambridge and then followed his father into the teaching profession. Opportunities to play in strong tournaments were thus very limited. These opportunities, however, were grasped in both hands. Three times in thirteen months between August 1978 and August 1979 he obtained an IM norm and thus the title.

Partial crosstable for the Lloyds Bank Open, 1978

The first caused a sensation as it was totally unexpected. He shared first place at Lloyds Bank ahead of several grandmasters including Shamkovich, who was the first grandmaster he ever defeated.

Leonid Shamkovich plays Paul Littlewood during the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters. Paul won the game.

Eight months later Aaronson Masters was won and then came the final norm, also at Lloyds Bank.

Tournaments abroad were limited although he represented England students. He did play at Kringsja (2nd equal) in 1978 and Borovo where he scored 6.5.13 finishing ahead of 3 GMs.

In 1981 came his finest achievement – winning the British Championship with a massive 9/11.

Partial crosstable from the 1981 British Championship in Morecambe

His father who was also competing in the championship was as proud as could be and deservedly so (he also coached Sheila Jackson who retained her British Ladies Championship that year). His excellent all round play took him to the title and only once during the tournament did he stand worse. His endgame play was so good that CHESS even published an article solely on these endings.

Paul Littlewood and friends during the 1978 Lloyds Bank Masters

Duties at school in Daventry meant he was, in February 1982, unable to take part in the zonal at Marbella. This followed an excellent Hastings when as British Champion he made a plus score – a rare event indeed.

IM Paul Littlewood during filming for the "Trick of the Mind" series from Derren Brown — IM Paul Littlewood during filming for the “Trick of the Mind” series from Derren Brown

In the summer he gave up teaching and joined Phillips & Drew (stockbrokers). He now (ed : this was in 1983) lives with his (first) wife Sue and family in the wilds of Essex (Billericay).

IM Paul Littlewood, event and photographer unknown

[pgn]
[Event “Christmas Congress 1980/81-56 Premier”]
[Site “Hastings”]
[Date “1980.12.29”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Brito, Luismar Jorge”]
[Black “Littlewood, Paul E”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C89”]
[BlackElo “2440”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “82”]
[EventDate “1980.12.29”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “15”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[EventCategory “10”]
[SourceTitle “MCD”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,74,38,46,10,19,22,18,17,-4,3,-20,5,-11,-3,-3,3,-22,16,28,6,41,12,18,
37,37,37,-8,19,23,29,24,24,2,29,38,18,6,23,17,-122,-311,-312,-312,0,-228,-322,
-287,-271,-271,-271,-271,-303,-827,-205,-205,-230,-195,-152,-193,-193,-180,
-193,-172,-240,-866,-1079,-1149,-1149,-1281,-1152,-1149,-1277,-1272,-1275,
-1275,-1332]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7.
Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 $1 {The Marshall Gambit and why not!} 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5
Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Be3 Bg4 16. Qd3 Rae8 17.
Nd2 Re6 {[#]} 18. c4 $6 {An idea of Byrne but not played since 2002.} ({
2021 thinking is} 18. a4 $1 f5 19. Qf1 Qh5 20. f4 bxa4 21. Rxa4 g5 22. Rxa6
gxf4 23. Bxf4 {is a modern main line.}) (18. Qf1 Qh5) 18… Bf4 $1 $17 19. cxd5
$2 (19. Qf1 {was required} Nxe3 20. Qxh3 Bxh3 21. cxb5 Nc2 {[#] A pretty wild
position! Do you know what is going on here?}) 19… Rh6 $19 20. Qe4 Qxh2+ 21.
Kf1 f5 (21… Bxe3 {is possibly more accurate.} 22. Rxe3 Rf6 23. f3 Bh3+ 24.
Ke1 cxd5 25. Qh4 Rh6 26. Qf4) 22. dxc6+ $146 (22. d6+ Kh8 23. Qxc6 Rxd6 24. Qb7
Bxe3 25. Rxe3 f4 26. Re7 fxg3 27. Rf7 Rf6 28. Rxf6 gxf6 29. fxg3 Re8 30. Ne4
Qe2+ 31. Kg1 Bf3 {Gesos – Fabry, 1977, 0-1.}) 22… Kh8 23. Qd5 Bxe3 24. Rxe3
f4 25. gxf4 Qxf4 26. Re2 (26. Nf3 Rh1+ 27. Ke2 Rxa1 28. Bc2 Rxa2 $1 $19) 26…
Rh2 (26… Qh2) 27. f3 Bh3+ 28. Ke1 Rh1+ 29. Kf2 Rh2+ 30. Ke1 Rh1+ {Oh what
fun!} 31. Kf2 Rxa1 32. Qe4 (32. Qe5) 32… Qg5 33. Nb1 Rxb1 34. Qxb1 Qg2+ 35.
Ke3 Rxf3+ 36. Kd2 Qg5+ 37. Kd1 Rf1+ {and white resigned.} {If} 38. Re1 Bg4+ 39.
Kc2 Rf2+ 40. Kd3 Bf5+ 41. Re4 Qd2# 0-1
[/pgn]

Paul gives a simultaneous display in Letchworth.

[pgn]
[Event “London Aaronson Masters”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1979.04.16”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Basman, Michael John”]
[Black “Littlewood, Paul E”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A00”]
[WhiteElo “2405”]
[BlackElo “2405”]
[Annotator “British Chess News and George Botterill”]
[PlyCount “56”]
[EventDate “1979.04.12”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,54,19,-63,-56,-53,-52,-89,-55,-70,-50,-46,-26,-42,-48,-27,-38,-13,-18,
-50,-12,-67,-32,-98,-56,-99,-83,-83,-83,-73,-38,-100,-89,-89,-125,-108,-163,
-159,-164,-154,-163,-144,-144,-446,-303,-361,-364,-371,-364,-812,-1568,-2013,
-2191,-29975,-1329,-1430,-1569]} 1. b4 {Mike liked pushing his knight’s pawns.
On this day the b2 pawn was the victim.} e5 2. a3 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bb2 Bd6 5. c4
c6 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nf3 {White’s strategy is to induce the advance ….e4 and
thereby establish a strong outpost on d4.} Qe7 {Black resists temptation.} 8.
Nc3 Nc6 9. h3 $146 {Hardly an inspired choice. Maybe White thought he was
worse already?} ({Better is} 9. d3 O-O 10. Be2 Rd8 11. O-O $17) 9… O-O $17 {
Black’s lead in development is clear.} 10. g4 $6 {This can hardly be justified
but then again we refer to our note after move 1. Michael does sometimes get
carried away wit his outlandish ideas : GB.} Be6 11. Ne2 {Heading for f5
combined with Rg1 might stir up trouble for Black.} a6 (11… Ne4 12. Bg2 f5 {
and the f2 square is under some pressure.}) 12. Ng3 e4 {Black finally succumbs
to temptation, though not without justification. White’s set-up is too
artificial.} 13. Nd4 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Nd7 15. Qb3 {[#]} Ne5 $1 16. Be2 Nc6 $1 {
The refutation of White’s strategy. With the loss of his blockade on d4,
White’s game disintegrates.} 17. Bb2 d4 $1 $19 {The time has come to open the
position.} 18. Qd1 Bxg3 19. fxg3 d3 20. Bf1 f5 21. Qc1 {Desperation,} ({but on
} 21. gxf5 Rxf5 22. Bg2 Qg5 {he is defenceless.}) 21… fxg4 22. Qc5 Qf7 23.
O-O-O {White seeks some salvation on his side of the board, but instead finds
himself walking into a mating net.} Ba2 $1 24. hxg4 Na5 $1 {A neat touch} ({
though the prosaic} 24… Rac8 {also wins of course.}) 25. bxa5 ({Or} 25. Qxa5
Rac8+ 26. Bc3 Qb3 {forces mate}) 25… Rac8 26. Rh5 Rxc5+ 27. Rxc5 Qxf1 $1 {
and White resigned} 28. Rxf1 Rxf1# 0-1
[/pgn]

Chess Tactics, Paul Littlewood, Crowood Chess Library, 1991

[pgn]
[Event “British CF-68 Championship”]
[Site “Morecambe/ Lancashire”]
[Date “1981.08.08”]
[Round “6”]
[White “Chandler, Murray G”]
[Black “Littlewood, Paul E”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E52”]
[WhiteElo “2455”]
[BlackElo “2430”]
[Annotator “Bill Hartston, George Botterill and British C”]
[PlyCount “62”]
[EventDate “1981.08.03”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,62,19,35,34,-14,0,-4,33,16,34,17,17,25,44,6,8,4,-4,3,-6,0,-2,-2,17,-5,
-5,-22,6,-22,-18,-37,-21,-93,17,-26,-13,-44,-101,-101,-107,-91,-152,-150,-33,
-25,-100,-93,-95,-108,-110,-120,-117,-192,-169,-187,-38,-345,-312,-710,-996,
-996,-1001,-1027,-1029]} {Annotations sourced from BCM, 1981, page 498, game #
20170, Bill Hartston, British Chess, 1983, George Botterill and British Chess
News, 2021.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 {This is the third time these two
have crossed swords in this opening in 1981, though on the other two occasions
it was Chandler who had Black. Littlewood won at Hastings in January, but then
Chandler hit back with a masterly endgame performance in the ARC tournament.}
4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 b6 ({WRH : Both Chandler and and Littlewood have
played the fashionable line with} 6… c5 7. O-O cxd4 8. exd4 dxc4 9. Bxc4 b6 {
Here, perhaps just for a change, perhaps to avoid any prepared lines
Littlewood chooses something different.}) 7. a3 {GB : It seems to me that this
move would fit i better with the development of the white knight at e2 rather
than f3. WRH : This move is usually delayed until after 7.00 Bb7 Now tha game
quickly develops along unusual paths.} (7. O-O Bb7 8. cxd5 exd5 9. a3 Bd6 10.
b4 a6 11. Qb3 Qe7 12. b5 axb5 13. Nxb5 Nbd7 14. a4 c5 15. Ba3 Ba6) 7… Bxc3+
8. bxc3 Ba6 $1 {GB : White squares! WRH : When your opponent has the bishop
pair, you should exchange one of them. So said Nimzowitsch and here Littlewood
takes his advice. Black’s plan is gain control of the white squares after the
exchange of bishops.} 9. cxd5 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 exd5 11. c4 Nc6 {Black’s play is
reminiscent of the Tchigorin Defence to the Queen’s Gambit relying on piece
play to contest and restrain the centre.} 12. Bb2 $2 $146 {Underestimating the
activity of Black’s pieces.} (12. O-O Na5 13. Ne5 c5 14. Bb2 Rc8 15. Rad1) ({
Instead} 12. Bd2 Ne4 13. O-O {leads to an equal game.}) 12… Na5 13. Nd2 c5
14. dxc5 {This move indciates that White is still hoping for an advantage from
the opening.} ({but he would have done better to settle for slight inferiority
after} 14. O-O dxc4 15. Nxc4 Nc6) 14… dxc4 $1 15. Qc3 ({Black’s queenside
pawns give him the better chances after} 15. Qxd8 Rfxd8 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. O-O-O
Rd3) 15… Qd5 $17 16. cxb6 Rfd8 $1 {A fine pawn sacrifice. White cannot
castle kingside because his knight on d2 hangs. Meanwhile the Black major
pieces become very active.} 17. bxa7 Rxa7 ({WRH : note that} 17… Qxg2 {
would have been met by} 18. O-O-O Rxd2 19. Rdg1 $1) 18. e4 $6 (18. Nf3) 18…
Re7 19. O-O-O {At last the king has escaped from the centre, but its new home
is also far from safe.} Qa8 $19 20. Kb1 Rd3 21. Qc2 Red7 {Black’s simplest
threat now is 22..Qd8 followed, if necessary, by Nb3 or Nxe4. The pin on the
d-file must be broken before it is too late.} 22. e5 Ne8 23. Nf3 Qd5 {Mighty
centralisation of the black forces.} 24. Nd4 Rb7 {WRH : The final shift of the
attack to the b-file proves the last straw for White’s strained defences.} 25.
Rxd3 cxd3 26. Qa4 {Otherwise …Nc4 wins the pinned bishop} (26. Qxd3 {WRH :
loses to the prosaic} Nc4) 26… Rb8 {WRH : calmly defending the attacked
knight and renewing the threat of Nc4. To add to his problems, White was now
severly short of time.} 27. Ka1 Nc7 28. Rb1 d2 $1 {GB : White is quite lost
here. He has no defence against …Ne6 followed by a fatal check on b3. WRH :
With so many white pieces trying simply to plug gaps in his leaky position it
is almost impossible to find a move which does not lose everything.} 29. Bc3
Rxb1+ 30. Kxb1 Qc4 $1 31. Qc2 ({WRH : the final shock} 31. Qxc4 d1=Q+ {leaves
Black a queen ahead.}) 31… Qf1+ {and White resigned. WRH : a total triumph
for Black’s white-square strategy.} 0-1
[/pgn]

2021, 4NCL, Biographies, Birthday, Writers

Happy Birthday FM Charlie Storey (18-i-1971)

January 18, 2021 John Upham Leave a comment

Birthday of FM Charles H Storey (18-i-1971)

2021, Biographies, Birthday, British Championships, Player

Happy Birthday Martyn Corden (12-i-1951)

January 12, 2021 John Upham 1 Comment

Birthday of Martyn John Corden (12-i-1951)

From Chessgames.com

“Martyn John Corden was Under 18 British Champion in 1969 and played for England in the Siegen Olympiad in 1970.”

2023, Birthday, British Championships, Players, Writers

Happy Birthday IM George Botterill (08-I-1949)

January 8, 2021 John Upham 11 Comments

IM George Steven Botterill (08-I-1949) by Nigel Eddis

We send birthday wishes to IM George Steven Botterill born on this day (January 8th) in 1949.

Here is his Wikipedia page

Brian Reilly, Ray Keene, George Botterill, Anatoly Karpov, Harry Golombek and Viktor Korchnoi

and here is his academic page

Capa vs Corzo Rerun ? Nigel Short had 1977 British Champion George Botterill on the ropes at The National Bank of Dubai Open. In the photo Nigel is considering 42 Rh5 The champ just escaped with a draw.

[pgn]
[Event “Bath zt”]
[Site “Bath”]
[Date “1987.02.15”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Botterill, George Steven”]
[Black “Chandler, Murray G”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E49”]
[WhiteElo “2370”]
[BlackElo “2595”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “80”]
[EventDate “1987.02.14”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[EventCategory “7”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 004”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1988.06.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1988.06.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,80,19,31,14,-14,-11,4,33,-47,-26,-31,-25,-25,-25,-25,-18,-14,-21,-11,
-13,-26,-12,-26,-22,-27,-29,-29,-7,-40,-38,-66,-42,-31,-1,-32,16,9,42,37,76,93,
73,50,48,32,50,15,16,19,36,17,35,27,39,21,36,28,-8,18,63,35,35,17,62,77,43,
-103,91,54,295,356,352,376,361,358,353,324,352,365,870,969,1250]} 1. d4 Nf6 2.
c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 O-O 7. cxd5 exd5 8. e3 b6 9. Bd3
c5 10. Ne2 Re8 11. O-O Ba6 12. Bxa6 Nxa6 13. Qd3 Nb8 14. Ng3 Nc6 15. Ra2 Rc8
16. Re2 h6 17. Bb2 Ne7 18. e4 Ng6 19. Qd2 dxe4 20. fxe4 Nh7 21. Nf5 Nh4 22. Qf4
Nxf5 23. Qxf5 Rc7 24. d5 c4 25. Bc1 Qd7 26. Qf3 Rc5 27. Qh5 f6 28. h4 Re5 29.
Qf3 Nf8 30. Be3 Ra5 31. Bd4 Re8 32. Qg3 Kh7 33. Bxf6 Rxd5 34. Bd4 Ng6 35. exd5
Rxe2 36. h5 Nh8 37. Rf8 Re7 38. Qb8 Nf7 39. Rg8 Re1+ 40. Kh2 Re5 1-0
[/pgn]

The Modern Defence, BT Batsford, 1972, GS Botterill and RD Keene

The Pirc Defence, BT Batsford, 1973, GS Botterill and RD Keene

British Chess, Pergamon Press, 1983. Editors : GS Botterill, DNL Levy, JM Rice and MJ Richardson

2023, 4NCL, Birthday, British Championships, Endgame, Players, Writers

Happy Birthday GM Keith Arkell (08-i-1961)

January 8, 2021 John Upham Leave a comment

Keith Arkell, London Chess Classic 2021, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

We send birthday wishes to GM Keith Arkell, born this day (January 8th) in 1961.

Here is Keith’s Wikipedia entry

This was written about Keith aged 18 prior to the 1979 Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display :

“Rednal, Birmingham. Rating 188. 2nd Lloyds Bank junior international, 1979.”

Keith was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 2014-15 season sharing with Jonathan Hawkins

Keith finally secured the Grandmaster title in 1995 as a result of the final leg of the French League Championship. Keith gained the IM title in 1985 and then made his three norms at Ostend 1990, Parthenay in France in 1993, and in the French League finishing in March. He became England’s 26th holder of the GM title.
On August 8th 2021 Keith became the 2nd British Online Champion

Here is an interview with ChessBase from 2016.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PIzZG4FlZ8[/embedyt]

[pgn]
[Event “BCF-chT 1415 (4NCL)”]
[Site “England”]
[Date “2015.02.14”]
[Round “5.164”]
[White “Rogers, Jonathan”]
[Black “Arkell, Keith C”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “B12”]
[WhiteElo “2277”]
[BlackElo “2497”]
[Annotator “Saunders,J/Arkell”]
[PlyCount “82”]
[EventDate “2014.11.15”]
[EventType “team-swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2016”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2015.10.08”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2015.10.08”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Barbican II”]
[BlackTeam “Cheddleton”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]
[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”]

{[%evp 0,82,19,38,72,69,71,77,64,2,30,17,14,9,29,24,35,-30,-50,-74,-74,-75,-88,
-128,-3,-16,-56,-32,-43,-43,10,5,20,16,16,-4,5,-3,-68,-61,-45,-40,-37,-1273,68,
-201,-202,-210,-197,-207,-208,-228,-194,-183,-149,-150,-148,-143,-143,-141,138,
141,141,150,138,140,138,173,201,198,198,210,213,236,232,190,225,138,142,100,
114,95,114,95,92]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c4 e6 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bb4+
$5 ({Databases are peppered with games where Keith has played} 6… Nc6 {
but perhaps he wanted to keep his opponent guessing.}) 7. Nc3 Ne7 8. h4 Nbc6 9.
a3 $5 {Jonathan, perhaps with the far-sighted plan of not being strangled
slowly in a rook and pawn endgame, wants to provoke something sharp.} Bxc3+ 10.
bxc3 Nxe5 11. Bf4 N5g6 (11… Nxc4 12. Bxc4 dxc4 {is tempting but maybe} 13.
Nb5 O-O 14. Qxd8 Rxd8 15. Nc7 Nd5 16. O-O-O $5 {gives White a bit of
compensation. Instead, Black gives back material to get some pressure on the
e-file.}) 12. Bg3 e5 13. h5 exd4 14. hxg6 Nxg6 15. Qxd4 O-O 16. cxd5 Re8+ 17.
Be2 Ne7 18. Rd1 Nf5 19. Qd3 {[diag]} Qg5 (19… Qg5 {We haven’t quite got
there yet, but we’re coming up to a spectacular mutual oversight which needs
explaining. Seeking enlightenment (and also wanting to be sure that the moves
were correctly recorded – mix-ups do happen), I got in touch with Keith on
FaceBook to ask what happened. Keith responded at some length, centring on his
thoughts as he planned the move 19…Qg5. What followed are his own words,
lightly edited by me: “It’s impossible to fully explain how such a thing can
happen, but let me try anyway. So, I’m sitting there analysing the move I want
to play in principle – which at the time was 19…Qd8-g5. I know that my
advantage increases if I can make the move, but obviously I am concerned about
his possible reply} 20. Qb5 {So I analyse} Re4 {(other moves didn’t look very
good to me)} 21. d6 {- the only move that could give me any problem, as it
threatens to win a piece. Visualising the position, I then hoped that} Be6 {
would be strong, as it threatened the winning 22…Bc4. Of course, the main
potential drawback to this is that he can then fork my rooks with} 22. Qxb7 {
I would then need} Rxe2+ {to work or I would be lost! So – and don’t forget,
all this is before playing 19…Qg5 – I set about analysing 22…Rxe2+ as I
(wrongly!) believed that 19…Qg5 hinged on this. So, 22…Rxe2+} 23. Kxe2 Bc4+
24. Kf3 {(obviously forced) and then, I thought, ”please let 24…Re8 be a
winning move”! It certainly looked winning. It was obvious he had to either
put a rook on e1 or his bishop on e5 to stop …Be2 mate. I didn’t look beyond}
Re8 {[diag]} 25. Rde1 ({I saw a pretty mate against} 25. Rhe1 {which was} Qh5+
26. Kf4 g5+ {(my favourite move!)} 27. Kxf5 Qg6+ 28. Kg4 f5+ 29. Kh3 Qh5+ 30.
Bh4 Qxh4#) ({so that just left the irritating} 25. Be5 {to deal with. Find a
good move there and I could play 19…Qg5. I decided that 25…h5 must be
winning and anyway certainly left him in trouble.}) 25… Bd5+ 26. Qxd5 Nh4+ {
So I analysed no more and plunged in with 19…Qg5. He quickly replied 20 Qb5
and, after briefly running through all those nice lines again, I confidently
played 20…Re4. He continued following my analysis, with 21 d6?? and I had 21.
..Be6?? ready for him. So there you have it. The explanation is that we were
playing out a variation I had analysed way ahead, and I didn’t stop properly
to check if there might be something else going on!”}) 20. Qb5 Re4 21. d6 $4 (
21. O-O Nxg3 22. fxg3 Re5 $5 {seems to be broadly equal.}) 21… Be6 $4 ({
What Keith had missed in his move 19 analysis, and what Jonathan also missed
when playing 21.d6, was the bone-crushing} 21… Nxg3 $3 {, which is game over
as} 22. Qxg5 {allows} Rxe2# {mate, while a capture on g3 loses the queen to 22.
..Qxb5 as the e2 bishop is pinned.}) 22. Qd3 $4 (22. O-O $1 Rd8 23. Bd3 {
and White is well in the game.}) 22… Nxg3 {This time Black doesn’t fluff his
lines.} 23. fxg3 Qe5 $1 24. Rh4 (24. d7 Rd8 {makes no material difference,
while a king move such as}) (24. Kf1 {loses to} Bc4 {.}) 24… Bg4 25. Qxe4 $1
({A much better bet than} 25. Rxg4 Rxg4 {, which looks pretty hopeless for
White.}) 25… Qxe4 26. Rxg4 Qe5 $6 ({There seems to be no reason not to
snatch a pawn with} 26… Qxg2 27. d7 Rd8 {, with very reasonable winning
chances.}) 27. d7 Qxc3+ $2 ({After this, Black’s winning chances evaporate.}
27… Rd8 {keeps the Black flag flying, though it’s by no means obvious how he
can go about winning.}) 28. Kf1 Rd8 29. Re4 $1 {White’s firm control of the
e-file is his salvation.} Qc6 ({Possibly another oversight, but it turns out
to be non-critical as the following tactical sequence doesn’t leave Black too
much to do to save the game. After} 29… Kf8 30. Bb5 Qf6+ 31. Ke1 g6 32. Re8+
Kg7 33. Rxd8 Qxd8 34. Rc1 {, the game peters out to a draw.}) 30. Re8+ Rxe8 31.
d8=Q g6 32. Qd5 Qc3 33. Bc4 Qf6+ 34. Kg1 Re7 35. Rf1 Qb6+ 36. Kh1 Qc7 {The
zenith of White’s game – Houdini scores it at +2.13 – but it is hard to see
how White can bring any more pressure to bear on Black’s position or make
meaningful progress. Maybe Magnus Carlsen would have found a way.} 37. Qd4 a6
38. Rd1 b5 39. Bf1 Re8 40. Kh2 Qc2 41. Qd3 Qc5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJgiN5MgOns[/embedyt]

[pgn]
[Event “Crawley e2e4 Gatwick op 10”]
[Site “Crawley”]
[Date “2016.10.26”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Arkell, Keith C”]
[Black “Wadsworth, Matthew J”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D23”]
[WhiteElo “2450”]
[BlackElo “2290”]
[Annotator “Keith Arkell”]
[PlyCount “159”]
[EventDate “2016.10.26”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “Arkell’s Endings : Game 1”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2017.10.13”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2017.10.13”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,159,19,29,23,-4,25,20,30,-2,20,22,9,-6,15,-19,-25,-6,-8,-13,6,-4,-3,
-3,6,-21,-8,-11,22,0,7,1,14,1,3,11,8,0,5,5,29,50,52,22,21,24,45,27,63,69,55,70,
72,80,74,14,33,25,26,42,34,44,48,48,68,63,89,99,98,92,126,116,115,116,116,122,
128,113,128,129,132,133,135,151,158,147,151,136,137,132,142,134,152,152,156,
152,162,164,163,152,152,152,163,153,153,161,157,136,153,153,153,161,157,157,
162,157,157,157,157,157,158,134,158,134,208,189,189,189,189,141,189,165,182,
160,177,156,202,184,193,202,210,195,208,221,276,293,377,373,545,373,639,373,
373,367,365,381,371,480,537,732,1259,28004]} {Taken from Arkell’s Endings,
Game 14, pp 68-71} 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Qc2 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg4 6. Nbd2
Nbd7 7. g3 e6 8. Bg2 Be7 9. O-O Bh5 10. a4 $1 $146 (10. b3) 10… a5 11. Qb3
Qb6 12. Qxb6 Nxb6 13. b3 Nfd5 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Nc4 Nxc4 {This capture gave me
some encouragement as my pawn will gain in stature, and I will have long-term
prospects on the b-file.} 16. bxc4 Nb4 17. Rfd1 Rfd8 18. c5 Bf6 19. e3 b6 {
Against a waiting move I planned Rab1 and Ba3} 20. cxb6 Rab8 21. Rac1 Rxb6 22.
Rd2 Bg6 23. Bc3 Be4 {[#]} {I think this was an oversight and he had missed my
25th move.} 24. Ne5 Bxg2 25. Nc4 Ra6 26. Kxg2 {Now I have the kind of position
I like: no weaknesses and a guarantee of permanent pressure against his
queenside pawns.} Rda8 27. Nxa5 {It was hard to resist playing in this
straightforward manner. It will now be a very tough task for Wadsworth to hang
on to his backward c-pawn.} (27. Rb1 {runs into} c5) ({and} 27. Rb2 {allows}
Nd3) 27… Nd5 28. Nb7 Rxa4 29. Rdc2 Ra2 30. Be1 g6 31. Kf3 {[%csl Gc6] With
e3 defended I’m now threatening to capture his pawn.} Rxc2 32. Rxc2 Ne7 33.
Bb4 Ra6 34. Nc5 Ra7 {The c-pawn is lost whatever he does} ({For example} 34…
Rb6 35. Ba5 Rb5 36. Bd8 {with Nd3 or Ne4 to follow}) 35. Ne4 Kg7 {[#]} 36. Bxe7
{I could have exchanged both minor pieces, but felt that the subsequent ending
would be more favourable if I kept the knight, which tends to be more
effective than a bishop at close quarters.} Bxe7 37. Rxc6 h5 38. h3 {[#]} {
How do you set about winning such a position? Clearly not with the pieces
alone, but using pawns will unavoidably involve exchanges, and you don’t
want too many swaps as rook, knight and pawn versus rook and bishop is usually
a simple draw. The answer is somewhere in-between. Ideally you would like to
fix the kingside with g4-g5, and then organise e3-e4 and d4-d5.} Rb7 39. g4
hxg4+ 40. hxg4 Ra7 {[#]} {I was pleased to see this and thought he should
prefer 40…g5, but I guess he was reluctant to put a pawn on the same colour
as his bishop. 40…f5 was also interesting, but I didn’t expect him to
weaken his pawns in such a cavalier manner.} 41. g5 {Now I have a free hand to
slowly improve my position because …f6 will always leave Black with too many
weaknesses. So many times this is what we strive for in chess – leaving the
opponent without any real counterplay is often half the battle.} Ra5 42. Kf4
Ra7 43. Rb6 Bd8 44. Rb5 Rd7 45. Kg4 Be7 46. Ra5 Bd8 47. Ra8 {[#]} {If you
study the great endgame players such as Magnus Carlsen and Anatoly Karpov, you
cannot fail to observe their endless patience. Maintaining the tension rather
than committing oneself to immediate action tends to have a wearisome effect
on the opponent, as well as forcing them to defend accurately to avoid further
damage.} Be7 48. Rc8 Rb7 49. Re8 Rc7 50. Rb8 Rd7 51. f4 Rc7 52. Kf3 Ra7 53. Nc5
Rc7 54. Nd3 Ra7 55. Rc8 Bd6 56. Ke4 Rb7 57. Nf2 {From g4 the knight will have
a choice of entry points into the heart of Black’s position.} Be7 58. Ng4 Ra7
59. Rb8 Bd6 60. Rb5 Be7 61. Ke5 Ra3 {Spooked by my intention to make progress
with e3-e4 and d4-d5, combined with Nf6 and Rb8, Matthew gives some ground.}
62. Rb7 Ra5+ 63. Ke4 Kf8 64. Nf6 Ra8 65. Ke5 Rd8 66. Nh7+ Ke8 67. e4 Ra8 68.
Nf6+ Kf8 69. d5 exd5 70. exd5 Rd8 71. Rb6 {[#]} {Threatening to win on the
spot with 72 d6.} Bc5 72. Rc6 Ba3 73. d6 {Inch by inch I’ve brought about a
winning position. The rest is relatively straightforward.} Kg7 74. Kd5 Bb2 75.
Ng4 Ba3 76. Ne5 f6 77. Rc7+ Kg8 78. Nf7 Bxd6 79. Nxd6 fxg5 80. fxg5 1-0
[/pgn]

Arkell's Endings, Keith Arkell, GingerGM, 2020, ISBN-10 : 1527265595 — Arkell’s Endings, Keith Arkell, GingerGM, 2020, ISBN-10 : 1527265595

BCN has reviewed Arkell’s Endings in depth

2023, Birthday, Players

Happy Birthday GM Luke McShane (07-I-1984)

January 7, 2021 John Upham Leave a comment

We send best wishes to GM Luke James McShane on his birthday, this day (January 7th) in 1984.

Here is Luke’s Wikipedia entry

[pgn]
[Event “Hastings 9798”]
[Site “Hastings”]
[Date “1997.12.31”]
[Round “3”]
[White “McShane, Luke J”]
[Black “Plaskett, H James”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B44”]
[WhiteElo “2455”]
[BlackElo “2450”]
[Annotator “McShane,L”]
[PlyCount “45”]
[EventDate “1997.12.29”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[EventCategory “13”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 063”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1998.03.26”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1998.03.26”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,45,26,28,41,41,43,23,44,24,40,7,25,32,20,5,5,-1,-35,-20,20,20,0,-13,6,
30,1,-17,129,129,133,134,133,136,136,137,150,153,153,161,172,172,179,183,188,
177,189,185]} 1. e4 {Rodriguez,Am} c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5
d6 6. Bf4 e5 7. Be3 Be6 {Rodriguez: A flexible move order in a position where
only other three continuations are quite playable.} (7… Be7 {Rodriguez,Am}) (
7… a6 {Rodriguez,Am} 8. N5c3 Nf6 {is probably the most reliable now since:}
9. Bc4 Be6 10. Nd5 Nxe4 $3 {seems to work well for equality.}) (7… Nf6 {
Rodriguez,Am} 8. Bg5 Be6 {has been the main line for years but:} 9. Bxf6 gxf6
10. Nd2 $1 {looks promising for White these days.}) 8. Nd2 Nf6 (8… a6 {
Rodriguez,Am} 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. Nc4 {is an important line too} b5 (10… Rb8 $5
11. Bb6 Qd7 12. Qd2 Nb4 $1 $11 {Amador Rodríguez-Zapata, Mexico 1993}) 11. Nb6
Rb8 12. Nbd5 Be7 {used to work well for Black until my strong novelty 13.a4!.
See CBM 59 or inf 69/(163) for my game against Gilberto Hernández}) 9. Bg5 d5
$6 (9… a6 {Rodriguez,Am} 10. Bxf6 $1 gxf6 11. Nc3 {is much more playable
with many options, just one of them:} d5 12. exd5 Bxd5 {works better than in
the current game, for instance:} 13. Bc4 (13. Nxd5 Qxd5 14. Nc4 Nd4 $6 (14…
Qxd1+ $14) 15. c3 Rd8 16. Ne3 Qa5 17. Bc4 b5 18. O-O bxc4 19. cxd4 Rxd4 20. Qf3
$44 {Trepp,M-Wyttenbach/Bern op 1989}) 13… Bxc4 14. Nxc4 Qxd1+ 15. Rxd1 Bb4
16. O-O Bxc3 17. bxc3 Ke7 18. Nd6 Rab8 19. Nf5+ Ke6 20. Ng7+ {1/2-1/2
Kengis-Andersson/Haninge 1992}) (9… Be7 10. Bxf6 {Rodriguez,Am} Bxf6 11. Nc4
O-O {is also obscure and playable.}) 10. exd5 Bxd5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Bc4 $1 {
Rodriguez: A strong move I had already discovered many years ago when I
started to investigate this variation.} (12. Nc4 $6 {Rodriguez,Am} Be6 13. Qf3
(13. Ncd6+ Bxd6 14. Qxd6 Qxd6 15. Nxd6+ Ke7 16. O-O-O Rhd8 17. Nb5 Nb4 $17 {
Rodin,M-Milov,L/Komercni Banka op 1996/EXP 55}) 13… Nb4 14. Ne3 Bc5 15. Na3
Nc6 $15 {Trepp-Kaenel/Switzerland ch 1990}) 12… Rc8 (12… Bxg2 13. Rg1 $36)
(12… Bxc4 13. Nxc4 Qxd1+ 14. Rxd1 $16) (12… a6 13. Rg1 $36 (13. Bxd5 {
Rodriguez,Am} axb5 14. Bb3 Nd4 15. O-O Nxb3 16. axb3 Rxa1 17. Qxa1 Be7 18. Qd1
$14 {Leko,P-Portisch,L/ch-HUN1997})) 13. Qg4 $1 {Xc8} (13. Bxd5 {Rodriguez,Am}
Qxd5 14. Qg4 Qe6 $11) 13… Bxc4 {Rodriguez: A losing move} (13… Nb4 14.
O-O-O (14. Bxd5 {Rodriguez,Am} Rxc2 $5 {and even though the position looks
pleasant for White he must now find and active continuation not without risk.
As we will see soon, the game continuation was too easy.} (14… Nxc2+ 15. Ke2
Nxa1 16. Rxa1 Rc5 17. Bc4 $16) 15. Nc3 $6 (15. Ne4 $5 Nxd5 16. Rd1) (15. O-O $5
Qxd5 16. Rac1) 15… Nd3+ $1) (14. O-O h5 15. Qe2 Rg8 16. g3 a6 $13) 14… a6)
(13… h5 14. Qh3 (14. Qf5 $143 $6 Ne7) 14… Nb4 15. Bxd5 Nxc2+ (15… Rxc2
16. Qb3)) 14. Nxc4 {Rodriguez: With simply too many threats.} Nd4 $2 15. Ncd6+
Bxd6 16. Nxd6+ Ke7 (16… Qxd6 17. Qxc8+ Ke7 18. Qxb7+ $18 (18. Qxh8 $6 Nxc2+
19. Ke2 Nd4+ 20. Ke1 $11 (20. Kf1 Qa6+ $19))) 17. Nxc8+ Qxc8 18. Qxc8 Rxc8 19.
Rc1 Rxc2 20. Rxc2 Nxc2+ 21. Kd2 Nd4 22. Rc1 Nc6 23. Rc3 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn]
[Event “London Classic 2nd”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “2010.12.08”]
[Round “1”]
[White “McShane, Luke J”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A37”]
[WhiteElo “2645”]
[BlackElo “2802”]
[Annotator “McShane,L”]
[PlyCount “77”]
[EventDate “2010.12.06”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “7”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[EventCategory “19”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 140”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2011.01.18”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2011.01.18”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,77,19,-12,11,2,18,16,9,4,4,15,4,5,44,30,18,18,23,24,45,32,45,0,36,41,
37,-25,15,22,30,39,26,-3,22,33,28,67,9,33,35,11,71,73,65,65,80,77,65,65,94,100,
84,76,90,90,90,96,98,98,98,116,118,81,117,187,198,219,222,222,184,195,197,191,
198,218,228,228,231,236]} 1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6.
O-O Nh6 7. d4 $5 {With this interesting idea, White voluntarily gives up the
bishop pair in order to increase his lead in development.} (7. b3 {was played
in Flores-Carlsen at the Khanty Mansiysk-Olympiad in 2010}) 7… cxd4 8. Bxh6
Bxh6 9. Nxd4 Ne5 {[%csl Gc8,Gg2,Gh6][%cal Yg2a8] An ambitious decision,
refusing to simplify the position.} 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Rfd1 {[%csl Rd8,Rh6][%cal
Yc4c5,Yd4f5,Yd1d8] The position is calm on the surface, but the situation is
tense. Black’s queenside is under pressure, but if Black can catch up in
development then his pair of bishops will give him an advantage, so it’s
important for White to keep up the momentum and create threats. This move
creates the idea of c4-c5, and if d6xc5 then Nd4-f5 with a discovered attack.}
Nd7 12. Qa3 a5 13. b4 $5 {[%csl Ga3][%cal Ya3a8,Yc4c5] A brave decision which
took some time. I wanted to seize the initiative before my opponent had a
chance to unravel his queenside. The immediate threat is to advance c4-c5
which would break through the queenside defences.} Ra6 {[%csl Ga6][%cal Ya5b4,
Yb7a6]} (13… Nb6 {was the critical response, hitting c4 and protecting the
rook on a8 so that axb4 becomes possible. Now after} 14. c5 Nc4 15. Qb3 Nd2 $5
{is a surprising shot. During the game I thought White had good chances in the
tactical melee which arises after 16.Qd5!?, but perhaps} 16. Qa4 {is the
correct follow up after all.}) 14. b5 Ra8 {It’s not obvious who has gained
from the pawn’s advance to b5. If White can break through, the advanced pawn
will be an asset, but if Black can get a grip on c5 then the c4-pawn will be a
long term weakness.} 15. e3 a4 16. Rab1 Bg7 17. Ne4 {[%cal Yc4c5] White is
threatening c4-c5 again, which would open the floodgates for the rest of my
pieces. It’s correct to prevent that, but I had foreseen the nice maneouvre
with the other knight.} Qb6 18. Nc6 $1 {[%csl Gc6,Gd5,Re7][%cal Yc6e7,Yc6b4,
Yb4d5]} Re8 ({Capturing the knight wasn’t a great option:} 18… bxc6 19. bxc6
Qc7 (19… Qxc6 20. Nf6+ {wins the queen.}) 20. cxd7 Bxd7 21. c5 {and White
will probably pick up a pawn.}) 19. Nb4 {[%csl Rb6,Gd5,Ge4][%cal Yb4d5,Yc4c5]
Heading for a nice square on d5.} f5 {Certainly ugly, but both of us thought
this was a necessary evil. Perhaps though, moving the queen away was the best
bet.} 20. Nc3 $6 (20. Nd5 $1 Qd8 21. Ng5 $1 {was the strongest continuation,
threatening to hop into the hole on e6. After} Nc5 22. b6 {threatens a fork on
c7. If both the rooks flee then} Rf8 23. Nc7 Rb8 24. Rb5 $1 {is incisive, and
Black has no good answer to Rxc5.}) 20… Qc5 $2 (20… e6 $1 {was the best
defence. I was looking at some ideas with} 21. Na6 $5 {but the position
remains messy. Retreating the knight to d3 should preserve an edge though.})
21. Nxa4 Qa7 22. Na6 $3 {[%csl Ga6,Ra7,Gg2][%cal Yg2a8,Yb5b6,Ya6c7] Certainly
Magnus missed the force of this knight sacrifice. The threat is Na6-c7 and
taking the knight comes with its own problems.} bxa6 (22… Rf8 23. c5 $1 Nxc5
24. N4xc5 dxc5 25. Qxc5 {and the knight still can’t be taken:} bxa6 26. b6 Qb8
27. Qd5+ $18) 23. b6 Nxb6 24. Rxb6 $1 (24. Nxb6 Rb8 {is less convincing.})
24… Rb8 25. c5 $1 Be6 {Black faced an unappealing choice.} ({The alternative
was} 25… dxc5 26. Qxc5 Rxb6 27. Nxb6 Be6 28. Qc6 Bf7 29. Bd5 {and Black is
in huge trouble.} e6 $2 {allows a pretty finish:} 30. Nc8 Qb8 31. Bxe6 $1 Rxe6
32. Rd8+ Bf8 33. Ne7+ $1 Kg7 34. Rxb8 Rxc6 35. Nxc6 {with an easy win.}) 26.
Rdb1 dxc5 27. Rb7 Rxb7 28. Rxb7 Qa8 29. Nxc5 Qc8 (29… Bf7 30. Rxe7 $1 {
is winning comfortably, as a6 will also drop off after the exchange of rooks.}
Qb8 31. Rxe8+ Qxe8 32. Qxa6 {etc.}) 30. Qxa6 Bf7 (30… Qxc5 31. Qxe6+ Kh8 32.
Bc6 {[%csl Re7] wins the e7-pawn as well.}) 31. Bc6 Rd8 32. Nd7 $1 {[%csl Gd7]
[%cal Yb7c7,Ya6b6,Yb7b8] The neatest way to finish. The threat is simply to
play Qb6 followed by Rc7 or Rb8 to trap the queen, and there is no good
response.} Rxd7 (32… Be6 33. Qb6 Rxd7 34. Rb8 $1 {wins with a pin.}) 33. Bxd7
Qc1+ 34. Qf1 Qxf1+ 35. Kxf1 Bc4+ 36. Kg1 Bxa2 37. Ba4 $1 {[%cal Ya4b3] Forcing
off a pair of bishops makes the technical task much simpler.} e5 38. f3 $1 {
A final accurate move. After exchanging bishops, White will play e3-e4 to fix
a weakness on e5 before advancing the king.} Bh6 39. Bb3+ 1-0
[/pgn]

In January 2023 Luke accepted a role on the European Chess Union’s Trainers Commission!

2022, 4NCL, Birthday, Player, UKCC

Happy Birthday IM (elect) Jonah Willow (30-xii-2002)

December 30, 2020 John Upham Leave a comment

FM Jonah Willow, UKCC Terafinal 2018, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

Happy Birthday IM (elect) Jonah Willow

Jonah B Willow was born in Nottingham on Monday, December 30th 2002. Jacob was the most popular boy’s name in 2002. “Lose Yourself” by Eminem was number one.

Jonah has a chess playing sister, Hambel, who plays for Newcastle-under-Lyme, West Nottingham, Staffordshire CA and Nottinghamshire CA.

Jonah’s first recorded graded standard play tournament was the 2010 Delancey UK Chess Challenge Terafinal and his first recorded rapidplay event was the Nottingham Rapidplay in 2011.

Jonah Willow at the 2012 UKK Terafinal. Courtesy of John Upham Photography

Jonah’s first published standard play grade was 96D in January of 2012 :

Jonah's ECF grading progress — Jonah’s ECF grading progress

Jonah has represented West Nottingham, 4NCL Wood Green, Nottinghamshire CA and Syston (Leicester).

FIDE rating profile for FM Jonah B Willow from Megabase 2020

It is a little curious as to the reason for the rating profile to halt at the end of 2018 since Jonah has played plenty of FIDE rated games since. Compare the above with :

FIDE rating for FM Jonah Willow from fide.com

Jonah’s current (December 2021) FIDE standard play rating is 2381 and Jonah became a FIDE Master in 2018.

Jonah has plus scores against : Mike Surtees, Peter Svidler (!), Richard Pert, Peter Shaw, Ranesh Ratnesan, Shreyas Royal, Keith Arkell and Ameet Ghasi to name but a few.

With the white pieces Jonah is a committed 1.e4 player but he has scored 83% with 1.Nc3! first played by JH Blackburne against Noa in 1883 and named after Timothy A Dunst.

Jonah plays the unusual Chekhover Variation (4.Qxd4) in the 2…d6 Sicilian : this is an interesting alternative and has been discussed by GM Ben Finegold :

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liecBr62eqA[/embedyt]

and

GM Varuzhan Akobian :

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNoGIo4yjkM[/embedyt]

Jonah plays the Four Knights game with white.

As the second player he plays the Accelerated Dragon and the Modern Benoni.

[pgn]
[Event “Titled Tuesday intern op 17th Nov”]
[Site “Chess.com INT”]
[Date “2020.11.17”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Willow, Jonah B”]
[Black “Svidler, Peter”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B53”]
[WhiteElo “2386”]
[BlackElo “2723”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “59”]
[EventDate “2020.11.17”]
[EventType “swiss (blitz)”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
[SourceTitle “Mega2020 Update 58”]
[Source “Chessbase”]
[SourceDate “2020.11.27”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2020.11.27”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,15,29,25,61,47,79,62,86,57,70,22,12,11,15,6,5,0]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 {The Chekhover Variation (Vitaly Checkhover 1908 – 1965)} a6
{Black wishes to develop the knight without having it pinned. Probably also
makes it awkward for White to castle long.} ({The “main line” is} 4… Nc6 5.
Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 (6. Qd3 Nf6 7. c4 g6 8. Nc3 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. h3 a6 11. Bxc6
Bxc6 12. Nd4 Nd7 13. Be3 Rc8 14. Rac1 Nc5 15. Qc2 Ne6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 $14) 6…
Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Rhe1 O-O 11. Kb1 Qa5 12. Qd2 Qa6 13.
Nd4 Rfc8 14. f3 $11) 5. c4 Nc6 6. Qe3 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. h3 Nf6 9. O-O O-O 10.
Nc3 Nd7 11. Rd1 Nc5 12. Rb1 {[#]} f5 $2 {Probably not correct but active
nontheless. 13 games with this in MegaBase 2020 and the move is labelled as
“hot”.} (12… a5) 13. b4 f4 (13… Nxe4 14. Nxe4 fxe4 15. Ng5 $1 Kh8 16. Bb2 {
Removing the defender…} Bxb2 17. Rxb2 Bf5 18. g4 $18) 14. Qd2 $18 Bxc3 15.
Qxc3 Nxe4 16. Qc2 Nf6 17. Bxf4 $18 Bf5 18. Bd3 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 $146 (19. Rxd3)
19… Qc8 20. Bh6 Re8 21. Re1 (21. Qb3) 21… Qf5 22. Qd2 Rad8 23. Nd4 Nxd4 24.
Qxd4 e5 25. Qb6 Rd7 26. Rbd1 (26. b5) 26… Re6 27. Qe3 Kf7 28. Rd2 d5 $2 29.
g4 Qe4 30. cxd5 {and Svidler resigned.} 1-0
[/pgn]

He has his own Twitch TV channel.

On chess.com he is JonahWillow and his highest chess.com rating has been 2863 on April 5th 2020.

Jonah has achieved three IM norms at

1° Grandiscacchi Cattolica International 2022, 1st EJOCA Forest Hall Invitational 2021 and Dublin 2021.

2021, Biographies, Birthday, British Championships, Coaching, Player

Happy Birthday IM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar (26-xii-1959)

December 26, 2020 John Upham 2 Comments

Vaidyanathan Ravikumar (“Ravi” to his friends) was born in Paramakudi, Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, India on Saturday, December 26th, 1959. On this day Nelson Rockefeller announced that he would not seek the Republican Party nomination for 1960.

Ravi credits his father N. Vaidyanathan for help with his early chess development.

An early image of Vaidyanathan Ravikumar from page 81 of Ulf Andersson's Decisive Games — An early image of Vaidyanathan Ravikumar from page 81 of Ulf Andersson’s Decisive Games

In 1978 Ravi won the Asian Junior Championships in Tehran and was awarded the International Master title as a consequence. Ravi was India’s second International Master : Manuel Aaron was the first in 1961.

"Ravi" at the 2013 UKCC Terafinal at Loughborough Grammar School, Courtesy of John Upham Photography — “Ravi” at the 2013 UKCC Terafinal at Loughborough Grammar School, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

His earliest recorded game in Megabase 2020 was from the 3rd of September 1978 and was from the World Under-20 Championships in Graz, Austria. The event was won by Sergei Dolamatov and Ravi finished =25th on 6.5/13. The following year (Norway, 1979) Ravi improved to =12th with 7.5/13 and the title was won by Yasser Seirawan. James Plaskett was =3rd.

Ravi at the UKCC Southern Gigafinal 2014 at the Rivermead Leisure Centre, Reading. Courtesy of John Upham Photography

By now ( 1979) Ravi had graduated from The University of Madras with a degree in commerce and relocated to England seeking more playing opportunities. He played in his first Lloyd’s Bank Open in 1979.

Ravi and IM Andrew Martin providing the commentary for the 2015 British Championships in Warwick. Courtesy of John Upham Photography

Ravi made his first appearance for India in an Olympiad at Valetta, Malta 1980. In 1981 he was runner-up to Bjarke Sahl in the 6th North Sea Cup followed by a creditable equal 10th in the 68th British Championships at Morecambe won by Paul Littlewood. In round eight he played this attractive game against Daniel King. Notes by PC Griffiths :

[pgn]
[Event “British CF-68 Championship”]
[Site “Morecambe/ Lancashire”]
[Date “1981.08.11”]
[Round “8”]
[White “King, Daniel J”]
[Black “Ravikumar, Vaidyanathan”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C06”]
[WhiteElo “2320”]
[BlackElo “2325”]
[Annotator “PC Griffiths & British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “84”]
[EventDate “1981.08.03”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1981, page 432.”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,84,26,16,41,46,23,50,2,12,-1,18,10,-5,-3,7,-1,-12,0,2,2,5,1,10,10,2,0,
25,55,4,21,36,50,-15,-2,-68,30,-17,-41,-34,-41,-33,-39,-43,-36,-43,-45,-39,-39,
-45,-16,-37,-23,-39,40,44,44,25,-36,-28,-33,-1,-1,-64,-48,-27,-27,-18,10,-304,
-291,-332,-292,-586,-427,-686,-317,-333,-322,-322,-104,-661,-662,-659,-671,
-670,-691]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Ngf3 (5. Bd3 c5 6. c3
Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. O-O Qc7 12. Bg5 O-O 13.
Bh4 Nh5 14. Qc2 h6 15. Bh7+ Kh8 16. Bg6 Rxf3 17. Bxh5 Rf8 18. Bg3 Bd7 19. Rac1
{is, more or less the main line in 2020.}) 5… c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Bd3 Qb6 8. O-O
{There is in any case no convenient way to defend the d-pawn again; if White
does not wish to play a gambit here, 5. Ne2 and later Ndf3 is the normal
method.} cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3 Qb6 12. Qa4 {One of White’s
intentions with his twelfth move is in some circumstances to switch the queen
to g4, though on the whole the main danger to Black comes on the queenside in
this variaton.} a6 ({Another common move here is} 12… Qb4 13. Qc2 Qc5 14. Qe2
Be7) 13. a3 h6 ({More common is} 13… Qc6 14. Qg4 g6) 14. b4 $6 $146 (14. Be3
$1 Qxb2 $4 15. Bd4 b5 16. Qd1 Qxa3 17. Rxa3 Bxa3 $18) 14… Be7 15. Be3 Qd8 16.
Bd4 O-O 17. Rfe1 Re8 18. Rad1 Nf8 19. Qb3 Bd7 20. a4 Rc8 21. Re2 b5 {[#]} {
Not easy to tell where White goes wrong in this game; his position still
lookes quite good, yet he is unable to penetrate Black’s fortress anywhere.
Perhaps he should have tried to occupy the c-file earlier?} 22. a5 Qc7 23. Qb2
Qb7 24. Nd2 Rc6 25. Qa3 {[#]} Rc4 $1 {For the exchange he will get a strong
passed pawn, play on the long white diagonal and useful targets in the white b
and e pawns.} 26. Bxc4 (26. Nxc4 bxc4 {would cost a second pawn at once.})
26… dxc4 27. Ne4 Ng6 28. Qg3 {A king-side attack would seem the best chance.
Nf4 and then Nd3 can scarcely be permitted.} ({but if} 28. g3 Bc6 29. Rde1 Rd8
{things just get worse.}) 28… Bxb4 29. Bc5 Bxa5 30. h4 h5 31. Qg5 Bc6 $2 {
and now it is Black’s turn to go astray…} (31… c3 {was correct}) 32. Nf6+
$1 gxf6 33. exf6 $18 Bc3 {[#]} 34. Bd4 $2 (34. Rd4 $3 {and Stockfish 12
excitedly announces mate in 13.}) 34… Bb4 $19 35. Qxh5 Bxg2 $19 (35… Rd8)
36. Qg5 $2 Qf3 $1 37. h5 Bh3 $2 (37… Bd6) 38. hxg6 $18 Qg4+ 39. Qxg4 Bxg4 40.
Re4 $4 {the final blunder after a roller coaster ride…} (40. f3 $1 Bxf3 41.
Rh2 Be4 42. g7 Bh7 43. Kg2 $18) 40… Bxd1 $19 41. g7 Bc2 42. Rh4 Bh7 {and
white resigned} 0-1
[/pgn]

IM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar v. Vassily Smyslov, Lloyds Bank Open, round 6, 30th August 1981. The game was drawn in 33 moves.

In 1982 Ravi scored a creditable =3rd at the 1982 British Championships (Mile’s year) in Torquay including wins over Basman, Muir and Plaskett :

Cross table for the 1982 British Championship in Torquay

1983 included an excellent win over James Tarjan at the Lloyds Bank Open but Danny King got revenge for his 1981 defeat!

[pgn]
[Event “Lloyds Bank op 07th”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1983.08.29”]
[Round “6”]
[White “Tarjan, James Edward”]
[Black “Ravikumar, Vaidyanathan”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E71”]
[WhiteElo “2535”]
[BlackElo “2400”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “118”]
[EventDate “1983.08.24”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,118,19,31,14,-14,31,41,60,47,41,45,40,30,27,44,62,50,54,58,55,36,66,
66,70,67,76,76,81,80,153,87,183,7,0,-91,-66,-71,-77,-85,-85,-73,-85,-79,-85,
-110,-95,-115,-130,-143,-151,-177,-175,-183,-180,-177,-189,-179,-181,-174,-159,
-176,-164,-222,-222,-222,-222,-222,-230,-215,-212,-205,-241,-251,-209,-228,
-220,-228,-239,-237,-205,-216,-222,-234,-239,-251,-221,-238,-238,-272,-376,
-394,-398,-396,-314,-324,-306,-325,-316,-323,-393,-415,-395,-433,-249,-292,
-325,-334,-341,-342,-348,-385,-388,-394,-394,-422,-420,-420,-431,-431,-431]} 1.
d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. h3 (7. Nge2) 7… a6
{third most popular after 7…e6} (7… e6 8. Nf3 exd5 9. exd5) 8. a4 e5 9.
Nge2 b6 10. Bg5 h6 11. Be3 Kh7 $146 12. Qd2 Nbd7 13. f3 Nh5 14. h4 Ra7 15. g3
$16 f5 {[#]} 16. O-O-O $6 {Sgt. Wilson would probably ask if long castling was
“wise” before preventing f4.} (16. exf5 gxf5 17. O-O-O $14) 16… f4 $1 $17 17.
Bf2 fxg3 18. Nxg3 Nxg3 19. Bxg3 Rxf3 20. Qg2 Rf8 21. Rdg1 $19 {Optically this
appears encouraging for White but Black has it all under control.} Qe8 (21…
h5) 22. Be1 Nf6 23. Be2 Nh5 24. Qh2 Nf4 25. h5 g5 26. Kc2 Nxe2 27. Qxe2 Raf7
28. Rg3 Rf4 29. b3 Qf7 30. Qg2 Rf1 31. a5 bxa5 32. Na4 Rxh1 33. Qxh1 Qf4 34.
Qg2 Bd7 35. Nb6 Be8 36. Rh3 a4 37. bxa4 Qf1 38. Qxf1 Rxf1 39. Kd2 g4 40. Rh2
Rf4 41. Nc8 Bf8 42. Bg3 Rf3 43. Bh4 Bxh5 {[#]} 44. Be7 $2 (44. Rf2) 44… g3 $1
$19 45. Rh1 (45. Rxh5 g2 46. Ke2 Rg3 {is crushing.}) 45… Rf2+ {Black now
shows good technique is wrapping this game up.} 46. Ke3 Re2+ 47. Kd3 g2 48. Rg1
Bxe7 49. Nxe7 Bf3 50. Nf5 Rxe4 51. Nxd6 Rh4 52. Ke3 Rh1 53. Kf2 Kg6 54. Nb7 e4
55. Rxg2+ Bxg2 56. Kxg2 Rc1 57. d6 Rd1 58. Nxc5 Rxd6 59. Nxe4 Rd4 {A great win
from Ravi against a strong GM.} 0-1
[/pgn]

Ravi at the closing ceremony of the 2014 British Championships at Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography

Ravi’s second Olympiad appearance for India came at Thessaloniki, Greece in 1984. This year provided Ravi’s highest FIDE rating of 2415 in January.

IM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar and friends at the 1990 NatWest Young Masters

Ravi continued to be active as a player until 2000 when he started a career in coaching. He was the National Coach of the Emirates for eight years and has accompanied the ECF junior chess team to World Youth Chess Championships in 2014, held in Al Ain, UAE.

Ravi at the 2014 British Championships at Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography

According to Spectrum Chess Calculation : “He is an experienced chess coach and provides chess coaching in 10 schools in Hertfordshire”

His first book was Karpov’s Best Games, Chess Check, 1984.

Following that Ravi wrote a biographical work on Ulf Andersson :

Ulf Andersson's Decisive Games, IM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar, Peja International, 1985. — Ulf Andersson’s Decisive Games, IM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar, Peja International, 1985.

and then

Play the Benko Gambit, Vaidyanathan Ravikumar, Pergamon Press, 1991

followed by

The Closed Sicilian, Vaidyanathan Ravikumar, Tournament Chess, 1993

Chess Tactics Quiz Book, Chess Check, Vaidyanathan Ravikumar, 2004

and most recently

Spectrum Chess Calculation, Vaidyanathan Ravikumar, Chess Check, 2011

There were also works on Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman as well as works on the Caro-Kann Defence.

Ravi is also India’s first vegan IM!

2021, Biographies, Birthday, Mathematics, Player, Variants

Seasons and Birthday Greetings to WIM Rita Atkins (25-xii-1969)

December 25, 2020 John Upham 1 Comment

WIM Rita Atkins, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

BCN wishes Happy Birthday (and seasonal greetings) to WIM Rita Atkins (25-xii-1969)

Rita Zimmersmann was born on Thursday, December 25th 1969 in Hungary.

She became a Women’s International Master in 1992.

Her peak FIDE rating according to Felice was 2225 in January 1998 aged 29, however according to MegaBase 2020 her peak rating was 2280 in July 1992 aged 23.

Rita has played for the Cambridgeshire CCA and 4NCL Blackthorne Russia.

Rita’s first recorded game in Megabase 2020 was runner-up the 5th Schoeneck Under-18 Girl’s Open with 5.5/7.

In 1990 she was =runner-up with 6/9 in the Aarhus Women’s tournament.

She was =1st in the Budapest Women’s IM tournament securing a norm.

Crosstable for the 1991 Budapest IM Women's tournament — Crosstable for the 1991 Budapest IM Women’s tournament

[pgn]
[Event “Budapest Spring op 08th”]
[Site “Budapest”]
[Date “1992.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Atkins, Rita”]
[Black “Almasi, Zoltan”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C48”]
[WhiteElo “2255”]
[BlackElo “2390”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “59”]
[EventDate “1992.03.??”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “HUN”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 030 Extra”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1992.11.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1992.11.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,59,33,1,12,18,11,21,20,2,19,16,19,13,13,21,21,20,2,6,6,4,37,15,7,13,
19,22,12,-14,48,35,45,40,70,41,48,-3,2,-24,12,3,11,4,246,407,380,387,581,605,
1220,1092,2161,2161,29989,29990,29991,29992,29993,29988,29995,29996]} 1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Nd4 (4… Bb4) 5. Nxd4 (5. Ba4) 5… exd4 6. e5
dxc3 7. exf6 Qxf6 8. dxc3 c6 (8… Qe5+ 9. Qe2) 9. Bd3 d5 10. Be3 {[#]} Be6 $6
$146 {Looks rather passive. Maybe Black was considering long castling but
surely that is unplayable?} (10… Bd6 {is much more sensible and “main line”.
The bishop compliments the structure and the c8 bishop can find a decent home
later.}) 11. Qd2 {Discourages long castling for sure.} Bd6 12. O-O-O $16 {
On the other hand, long castles for white is totally the right way to go.} Qe7
13. Kb1 {possibly worried about d4 from Black.} O-O 14. f4 {Pushing the king
side pawns looks like the right plan commensurate with long castling. White’s
attack appears to be mich faster than Blacks.} b5 $2 {Too ambitious.} (14…
Rfe8) 15. f5 $18 Bd7 16. Rde1 {Black’s position is starting to creak.} Be5 17.
g4 f6 18. g5 Rfe8 19. Rhg1 fxg5 20. Bxg5 Qd6 21. Qf2 Bf6 $2 {[#]} 22. Re6 $1 {
It is likely that Black had missed this clever shot} Bxe6 23. Bxf6 g6 24. Qh4 {
Black can resign with dignity.} Bxf5 25. Bxf5 {It is mate in eight !} Qf8 26.
Bxg6 hxg6 27. Rxg6+ Kf7 28. Qh7+ Ke6 29. Be7+ ({Two moves faster to mate is}
29. Bd4+ Kf5 30. Qh5+ Ke4 31. Qe2+ Kf5 32. Qg4#) 29… Kf5 30. Rf6+ {and Black
threw in the Tal ! A good win against a strong opponent.} 1-0
[/pgn]

In 1992 she became Hungarian Women’s champion with 8/11 :

Crosstable for 1992 Hungarian Women's Championship — Crosstable for 1992 Hungarian Women’s Championship

With the white pieces Rita both 1.e4 and 1.d4 playing open Sicilians, the Trompowsky Attack and the Accelerated London System.

As the second player she plays the Sicilian Four Knights, the Modern Benoni and recently, the Czech System.

In 1997 Rita relocated to England and played in her first 4NCL weekend for Slough. She married IM Michael Hennigan and settled in London.

By 2014 Rita had transferred to Blackthorne in the Four Nations Chess League and had become Rita Atkins.

In the last few years Rita has become active in the field of chess education and has combined her interests of mathematics and chess especially in the teaching of children. She has presented at various London Chess Conferences and works with John Foley within ChessPlus.

WIM Rita Atkins at the 2016 London Chess Conference : The Didactics of Chess, Courtesy of John Upham Photography.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOTJKk_m4T0[/embedyt]

2021, Birthday, Player, Players, Writers

Happy Birthday IM Graeme Buckley (25-xii-1971)

December 25, 2020 John Upham 1 Comment

IM Graeme Buckley, London Chess Classic, 2021, courtesy of John Upham Photography

BCN sends best wishes to Graeme Buckley on his birthday.

Graeme Noel Buckley was born on Saturday, December 25th, 1971 in Wolverhampton, West Midlands.

His first chess club was Bushbury which is also known as Bilston Sports & Social Club Ltd. His father David is the long time club President.

Graeme’s first recorded games in Megabase 2020 were at the 1987 British Championship in Swansea were he scored a modest 4/11.

Graeme married IM Susan Lalic in Sutton, Surrey in 2001 and they reside in Sutton. They have two daughters, Lucy and Emma who attend Nonsuch High School for Girls following in the footsteps of their mother.

Graeme became a FIDE Master in 1994 and an International Master in 1995.

IM Graeme Buckley, courtesy of John Upham Photography

[pgn]
[Event “4NCL : Bolton”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1995.05.??”]
[Round “11”]
[White “Buckley, Graeme N”]
[Black “Quillan, Gary M”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A45”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “33”]
[SourceTitle “BCM, 1995, page 354”]
[WhiteTeam “Midland Monarchs”]
[BlackTeam “North West Eagles”]

{[%evp 0,12,19,31,14,-9,-11,2,24,5,6,3,5,-49,0]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bh4 (
3. Bf4 c5 4. f3 Qa5+ 5. c3 Nf6 6. d5) 3… c5 4. f3 g5 5. fxe4 gxh4 6. e3 Qb6
7. Nc3 Qxb2 (7… e6) 8. Nd5 Kd8 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. Qh5 Nc6 $6 (10… Qxa2 11. Rd1)
11. Nf3 $16 f6 $146 (11… cxd4 12. exd4 e6) (11… e6 12. Qg5+ Be7 13. Nxe7
Nxe7 14. Kf2 Qxa2 15. Bd3 Rg8 16. Qxc5 b6 17. Qd6 Qa4 18. Rb5 Ba6 19. Rhb1 Bxb5
20. Rxb5 Rc8 21. Ne5 $13) 12. Be2 Qxa2 $2 (12… cxd4 13. O-O) 13. O-O $18 Nb4
$2 {[#]} 14. Rxb4 $1 cxb4 15. Ne5 $1 fxe5 16. Qxe5 e6 17. Qf6+ {and Black
resigned.} (17. Qxh8 exd5 18. Qxf8+ Kc7 19. Qc5+ Kd8 20. Rf8#) 1-0
[/pgn]

He has played for Midland Monarchs and Wood Green in 4NCL, Surrey CCA, Wimbledon 4NCL Guildford and Bushbury (in Wolverhampton)

According to ChessBase Graeme reached his highest FIDE rating in July 2003, aged 32 of 2420.

Graeme teaches chess in many Surrey Schools and in conjunction with Susan.

Graeme has been a director of Surrey County Chess Association for four years resigning in 2011.

Graeme was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 2009-10 season

According to Easy Guide to the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Cadogan, 1998 :

“Graeme Buckley caused a stir in his first year as a professional player securing his International Master title in a matter of months, quickly followed by his first grandmaster norm. More recently he has been involved in some major coaching projects. In 1996 he was manager of the English youth team, who achieved the impressive double of winning both the Glorney and Faber Cups.”

With the white pieces Graeme playa the Queen’s Gambit nowadays with Nf3 appearing before c4 having flirted with the Trompowski in the early days.

As the second player he plays the Sicilian Scheveningen, the King’s Indian and not the Queen’s Gambit Accepted despite authoring a book about it!

Following this article a comment was made by a BCN reader as follows:

Mr Buckley taught me chess as a child. If there is any way he might see this post, I want to thank him for instilling a love of the game that has lasted to this day. A fine player and a great man. Thank you IM Buckley from the bottom of my heart.

[pgn]
[Event “BCF-chT 0708 (4NCL)”]
[Site “Sunningdale”]
[Date “2007.11.16”]
[Round “2”]
[White “King, Daniel J”]
[Black “Buckley, Graeme N”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C02”]
[WhiteElo “2528”]
[BlackElo “2390”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “44”]
[EventDate “2007.09.15”]
[EventType “team”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2008”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2007.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2007.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,44,19,38,40,41,41,1,15,-10,-7,-11,5,-11,3,-4,-9,-5,13,-37,-37,-26,-21,
-14,7,-20,0,0,-18,-35,-35,-72,-73,-86,-40,-162,-144,-211,-274,-475,-475,-474,
-510,-542,-509,-509,-509]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 d5 4. e5 Nc6 5. d4 Bd7 6.
Be2 Nge7 7. O-O Rc8 8. a3 Nf5 9. dxc5 $146 (9. b4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Be7 11. Bb2 Qb6
12. Qd2 O-O 13. Rd1 f6 14. Nc3 fxe5 15. dxe5 Be8 16. Rac1 Bh5 17. Na4 Qd8 18.
Nc5 Bxc5 19. Rxc5 $11) 9… Bxc5 10. Bd3 Nh4 11. Nbd2 Bb6 12. Qe2 O-O 13. Nxh4
Qxh4 14. g3 Qh3 $11 15. Nb3 $6 (15. Nf3 Qh5) 15… f6 $1 16. exf6 $6 (16. Be3
$19) 16… e5 $1 {[%cal Ge5e4]} 17. Be3 e4 18. Bb5 (18. Bxb6 exd3 19. Qxd3 axb6
20. fxg7 Kxg7 $19) 18… Bg4 19. f3 exf3 20. Rxf3 Ne5 21. Nd2 Nxf3+ 22. Nxf3
Rxf6 0-1
[/pgn]

Easy Guide to the Queen's Gambit Accepted by Graeme Buckley — Easy Guide to the Queen’s Gambit Accepted by Graeme Buckley

IM Graeme Buckley, Surrey Open 2013, courtesy of John Upham Photography — IM Graeme Buckley, Surrey Open, 2013, courtesy of John Upham Photography

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