Category Archives: Players

Happy Birthday IM Eddie Dearing (30-x-1980)

BCN send best wishes to IM Eddie Dearing on his birthday.

Edward J Dearing was born on Sunday, October 30th, 1980 in Scotland.

Eddie Dearing publicity photograph, from EDs Facebook page.
Eddie Dearing publicity photograph, from EDs Facebook page.

In 2002 Eddie shared first place (with Karl Mah) in the Smith and Williamson Young Masters with 6/9 with a TPR of 2458 :

Cross table for the 2012 Smith and Williamson Young Masters
Cross table for the 2012 Smith and Williamson Young Masters

He became an International Master in 2002 and, according to Felice and Megabase 2020 achieved a peak rating of 2420 in July 2005 aged 25. He is currently ranked 8th in Scotland.

Eddie Dearing by Cathy Rogers, ChessBase profile image
Eddie Dearing by Cathy Rogers, ChessBase profile image

Eddie studied law at the University of Cambridge and did an MBA at the London Business School. Currently Eddie is a fund manager at MFS Investment Management.

In 2004 Eddie made his debut for Scotland in the Mallorca Olympiad.

Eddie is currently registered for Battersea in the London League and previously has played for Drunken Knights but has not been active since 2014.

With the white pieces Eddie prefers the Queen’s Gambit, Exchange Variation.

As the second player Eddie plays the Sicilian Dragon and the Semi-Slav Defence.

Eddie has plus scores against : James Cobb, Richard Palliser, Simon Williams, Karl Mah, Jacob Aagard, Colin McNab to name but a few.

Eddie has written two books, Playing the Sicilian Dragon for Gambit and Playing the Nimzo-Indian for Everyman. In June 2011 Eddie became a columnist for British Chess Magazine and wrote the “Dearing’s Discoveries” feature each month.

[pgn]
[Event “BCF-chT 0708 (4NCL)”]
[Site “Sunningdale”]
[Date “2008.03.01”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Dearing, Eddie”]
[Black “Cherniaev, Alexander”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D07”]
[WhiteElo “2381”]
[BlackElo “2491”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “41”]
[EventDate “2007.09.15”]
[EventType “team”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2009”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2008.11.26”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2008.11.26”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,41,34,28,15,-3,30,-10,34,34,31,7,38,21,33,31,40,28,28,45,20,47,57,34,
61,47,68,48,119,16,137,155,155,155,155,100,101,75,321,321,321,433,599,415]} 1.
d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bf4 Bxf3 6. gxf3 dxc4 7. e3 Bb4 8. Bxc4
Nge7 9. Rg1 $146 (9. Qc2) (9. Qb3) 9… Ng6 10. Bg3 Qe7 11. Qc2 O-O 12. O-O-O
Rfd8 13. h4 {[#]} Na5 (13… Bxc3 14. Qxc3 Qf6 $14) 14. Be2 $16 c5 (14… Nxh4
15. Ne4 Ng6 16. f4 $14) 15. d5 c4 16. h5 $18 Nf8 {[#]} 17. Rd4 $1 f6 18. Bh4
Bxc3 19. Qxc3 e5 20. Rdg4 b6 $2 21. Qxe5 (21. Rxg7+ Qxg7 22. Rxg7+ Kxg7 23. e4
$18) 1-0
[/pgn]

Play the Sicilian Dragon by Eddie Dearing
Play the Sicilian Dragon by Eddie Dearing
Play the Nimzo-Indian by Eddie Dearing
Play the Nimzo-Indian by Eddie Dearing
Challenging the Grunfeld, Eddie Dearing, Quality Press, 2005
Challenging the Grunfeld, Eddie Dearing, Quality Press, 2005

Remembering Reginald Broadbent (03-viii-1906 29-x-1988)

We remember Reginald Broadbent who passed away on October 29th 1988.

Reginald Joseph Broadbent was born on Friday, August 3rd 1906 (the year of the San Francisco earthquake) in Durban, South Africa. His father was Joseph Edward Broadbent (born 1879) who married Alice Cook on January 4th, 1903 in Durban.

According to the 1911 Isle of Man Census (FindMyPast, Richard James; thanks!) the Broadbent family (sans father) stayed at a guest house in Onchan on the night of February 2nd 1911. Reg (aged 4) was a boarder together with mother Alice (33), brother Roland (1) and sister Laura (4). Since Reg and Laura are both recorded as 4 years old it is reasonable to suppose that they were born as twins. We think that Reg had an additional sibling who had passed away and that the name is not recorded. Reassuringly Steve Mann agrees with this conclusion.

He married Catherine H Broadbent (née Crawford, born 19th September 1895) and were recorded as living (in 1939) in “Cheadle and Gately”, Cheshire. His profession was as a “Telephone Traffic Superintendent, Class II, Post Office Telephones” which was a a civil service occupation. Catherine carried out “unpaid domestic duties”.

They resided at 72, South Park Road, Gatley, Cheshire :

72, South Park Road, Gatley, Cheshire. SK8 4AN
72, South Park Road, Gatley, Cheshire. SK8 4AN

According to Steve Mann in his excellent Yorkshire Chess web site :

“At some time in 1946 or 1947, Broadbent moved down south to live in the general vicinity of East Grinstead, at Far End, Limes Estate, Felbridge, 2 miles NW of East Grinstead, and later at Southway, Priory Road, Forest Row, 3 miles SE of East Grinstead”

Reg was eight times Northern Counties Chess Union (NCCU) Champion in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936. 1937, 1938, 1945 and 1946.

The British Chess Magazine, Volume CVIII (108, 1988), #12 (December), p. 553 records this brief death announcement :

“Reginald J. Broadbent, British Champion 1948 and 1950 died on October 29 at the age of 82. He was a member of Manchester and Bradford Chess Clubs in his day, and was famous for his remarkable record in Anglo-Dutch matches.

After he moved to London around 1950 he was less free to play due to his senior post with the Post Office. A fuller notice will appear next month.”

As advertised in the British Chess Magazine, Volume CIX (109, 1989), #1 (January), p. 27 we have :

“Reginald Broadbent (3 viii 1906-29x 1988) was born at Durban and was British Champion in 1948 and 1950. In the latter content he actually won his last six games in a row to reach a score of 8.5 points, ahead of Klein, Penrose and Milner-Barry. He was often spoken of as “playing himself into form” in the first half of a contest as his work as a civil servant (the GPO) did not allow him the chance to practise regularly against strong opposition.

He was a member of the Manchester and Bradford clubs before the war when he built up a fine record in Anglo-Dutch matches and Northern Counties champion on many occasions.

Brian Reilly recalls that Broadbent was selected for the BCF Olympiad side in 1954, but was forced to turn down the invitation due to the exacting nature of his work in London, and thereafter his main connection with the game was a chess column in a West of England newspaper (The Western Morning News*) . He was a subscriber to BCM right up to his death.”

*Thanks Gary Lane.

With the white pieces Broadbent was a die-hard 1.e4 player who allowed the Marshall Attack against the Ruy Lopez.

As the second player RJB defended the Nimzo-Indian Defence and played Open games.

In the March issue of CHESS for 1963, (Volume 28, Number 427, pp.147-155)  William Winter wrote this:

R. J. Broadbent’s one weakness

R. J. Broadbent I consider to be typical of the best type of English amateur the Atkins type. A civil servant by profession he wins the Championship title, then retires to his country home in Surrey where he happily spends his time in gardening till the next championship comes along. Occasionally he is dragged out to play in a County match but he takes a lot of dragging. As a player he has great natural attainments and a temperament for the game, but he handicaps himself by the paucity of his opening knowledge. This compels him to start thinking almost from the word ‘go’ and the result is that he invariably gets on bad terms with his clock.

One of his great assets is his endgame in which he is perhaps superior to any practising British player. His skill in this department has rescued him from many a grim position. If he had studied the openings, and played in more tournaments, he might have gone far. As it is he is, and I fear will remain, just a first class British amateur. Probably he prefers it that way.

Here is one of his best games :

[pgn]
[Event “British CF-35 Championship”]
[Site “London (Bishopsgate)”]
[Date “1948.09.08”]
[Round “9”]
[White “Broadbent, Reginald Joseph”]
[Black “Aitken, James Macrae”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C79”]
[Annotator “Reginald Joseph Broadbent & BCN”]
[PlyCount “57”]
[EventDate “1948.08.30”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2008”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2007.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2007.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,57,19,31,34,19,13,4,13,-2,34,38,27,12,9,-7,4,-13,-6,-8,-7,-6,-6,-6,-6,
-1,4,-34,45,20,32,15,13,9,11,12,25,18,23,26,31,-7,34,17,60,59,98,31,63,72,224,
312,646,699,974,978,1026,1013,29995,29996]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4.
Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+ {At this point White has several good moves. The text suits
players who like a solid and clear-cut position with possibilities of enduring
pressure, slight though that pressure may be.} bxc6 6. d4 exd4 7. Nxd4 c5 {
It is important to attack the knight quickly – that is, before any advantage
can be obtained from Nf5.} 8. Nf3 Bb7 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. O-O Be7 11. Re1 O-O 12.
Qd3 (12. Bg5) 12… Nd7 {White plays to utilise his superiority in space by
rapidly mobilising his pieces and then opening up the game by e5. Black must
strive to prevent e5 or, failing that, to minimize its force.} 13. Bf4 {[#]}
Kh8 $6 $146 {Preparing for the next move, which certainly prevents e5 for a
long time, but at the same time cramps Black’s position.} (13… Re8 {however,
seems playable, to be followed by …Bf6.} {If then} 14. e5 dxe5 15. Nxe5 Nxe5
16. Bxe5 Qxd3 17. cxd3 Bd6 {Black would then have two powerful bishops in
compensation for his weak pawns.}) ({Black no doubt disliked, if} 13… Bf6 {
the continuation} 14. e5 dxe5 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 {after which is Q-side
pawn position would have become noticeably weak.}) 14. Rad1 $14 f6 15. Nd2 {
White plans to fix the Black K-side by advancing his pawns to f5 and then to
mass his pieces for a mating attack. At the same time he has to prevent, if
possible, any freeing manoeuvre by his opponent.} Ne5 16. Qe2 a5 17. Nd5 Ba6
18. c4 Re8 19. Bg3 Nc6 20. f4 Bf8 21. f5 (21. Nf3) 21… Bc8 22. Qh5 {[%cal
Gd5c7,Gh5e8]} Ra7 {White had threatened Nxc7} 23. Bh4 $16 Nb4 $2 {[#]} (23…
Ne5) 24. Nxf6 $1 {A break-through combination which allows White to bring all
his pieces into effective play.} gxf6 25. e5 Rxe5 ({If} 25… Bg7 26. exf6 {
wins} Rxe1+ 27. Rxe1 $18) (25… fxe5 26. Bxd8 (26. Ne4) 26… Rxd8 27. Ne4 $18
) ({if} 25… dxe5 26. Ne4 {wins the Queen.}) 26. Rxe5 Be7 (26… fxe5 27. Ne4
{wins}) ({If} 26… dxe5 27. Ne4 $18 Qxd1+ 28. Qxd1 {followed by Qd8 or Qg4
according to circumstances with an easy win – CHO’D Alexander.}) 27. Rxe7 (27.
Bxf6+ Bxf6 28. Re8+ Kg7 29. Qg4+ Kh6 30. Qh3+ Kg7 31. Qg3+ Kh6 32. Rxd8 Bxd8
33. Rf1 $18) 27… Qxe7 28. Re1 Qd7 29. Bxf6+ {Source: BCM, Nov 1948, p401 An
excellent example of the new champion’s style. I (CHO’D A) should like to take
this chance of voicing what I know to be the general opnion of the
Championship competitors : that Broadbent unquestionably deserved his victory,
and is in every way a worthy champion.} 1-0
[/pgn]

For an element of déjà vu here is RJBs obituary from the 1989 – 1990 BCF Yearbook, page 14 :

(The Yearbook editor was Brian Concannon and it would appear standard practise, at the time, not to credit or attribute sources for obituaries.)

BCF Yearbook, 1989-1990, page 14
BCF Yearbook, 1989-1990, page 14

A detailed biography (from Steve Mann)  may be found here

[pgn]
[Event “Staunton Memorial”]
[Site “Birmingham”]
[Date “1951.??.??”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Broadbent, Reginald Joseph”]
[Black “Bogoljubow, Efim”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C87”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “61”]
[EventDate “1951.05.26”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “15”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “MCD”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,61,19,38,41,14,14,9,9,7,7,7,25,-5,24,-2,18,22,27,-18,0,0,0,0,11,2,1,8,
6,3,-1,-13,-21,-13,0,0,62,13,107,100,103,82,100,100,167,87,83,115,171,212,169,
241,205,214,437,29988,29989,29990,29991,905,29987,1375,29993,29994]} 1. e4 Nc6
2. Nf3 e5 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Re1 Bd7 7. c3 Be7 8. d4 O-O 9. Nbd2
exd4 10. cxd4 Re8 11. Bb3 Bg4 12. Nf1 $146 (12. h3) 12… d5 13. e5 Bb4 14. Re3
Ne4 15. Ng3 Ng5 16. Rd3 Bxf3 $6 17. gxf3 Ba5 18. f4 $18 Ne4 19. Qf3 Nxg3 20.
hxg3 Bb6 21. Be3 Rb8 22. Kg2 Qd7 23. Rh1 g6 $6 (23… Ne7) 24. g4 Rbd8 25. f5
gxf5 26. gxf5 Kh8 27. Rxh7+ $1 Kxh7 28. Qh5+ Kg8 29. Bh6 Ne7 30. e6 (30. Rg3+
Ng6 31. fxg6 f5 32. exf6) 30… Nxf5 31. Rg3+ $18 1-0
[/pgn]

Best Wishes IM Susan Lalic (28-x-1965)

BCN wishes IM Susan Lalic Happy Birthday

Susan Kathryn Walker was born on Thursday, October 28th, 1965 in Chatham, Kent. Her mother’s maiden is / was Bacon. She has a brother, Stephen.

She attended Nonsuch High School for Girls from 1977 to 1984.

Susan married Keith Arkell in 1986 and then Bogdan Lalic in Lewes, East Sussex in 1994 and finally Graeme Buckley in Sutton in 2001.

With Bogdan she had a son, Peter D, who is a strong player in his own right who has been attempting to break a world record for the longest (number of moves) rated standard play game.

There are ten players in MegaBase 2020 whose surname is Lalic.

She became a Woman’s FIDE Master in 1986, Woman’s International Master in 1987, Woman’s Grandmaster in 1988 and an International Master in 1996.

Susan Walker
Susan Walker

According to Felice and Megabase 2020 Susan achieved a peak rating of 2405 in January 1997 at the age of 29.

From the Praxis Bath Zonal Tournament of 1987. Susan Walker is at the rear on the left.
From the Praxis Bath Zonal Tournament of 1987. Susan Walker is at the rear on the left.

Susan has played in the Four Nations Chess League for Slough, Wood Green and Guildford and her most recent games in MegaBase 2020 are from 2012.

Keith Arkell, Susan Walker and Jeremy Morse at the Lloyds Bank Masters
Keith Arkell, Susan Walker and Jeremy Morse at the Lloyds Bank Masters

She is five-time British Women’s Champion: 1986, 1990–1992, and 1998 and has represented England in nine Olympiads.

LK Semenova vs Susan Walker at the 1984 Women's Olympiad
LK Semenova vs Susan Walker at the 1984 Women’s Olympiad

Susan is very active is Surrey junior chess and teaches in many schools.

IM Susan Lalic at a Surrey Megafinal
IM Susan Lalic at a Surrey Megafinal

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GivfGnl_l1w[/embedyt]

With the White pieces Susan is almost exclusively an e4 player (preferring the Scotch Game) but curiously (and why not you might ask) she has employed The Polish Opening more than once with success. She is well-known for employing the Sicilian Alapin as her main weapon against the Sicilian Defence.

As the second player she defends the Caro-Kann, Larsen-Spassky, Smyslov and the Classical Variations and the Nimzo-Indian Defence.

WFM Helen Milligan vs Susan Arkell
WFM Helen Milligan vs Susan Arkell

[pgn]
[Event “GBR-ch 98th”]
[Site “Sheffield”]
[Date “2011.07.26”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Lalic, Susan”]
[Black “Hebden, Mark”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C47”]
[WhiteElo “2277”]
[BlackElo “2533”]
[Annotator “ChessBase”]
[PlyCount “91”]
[EventDate “2011.07.24”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 143 Extra”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2011.08.29”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2011.08.29”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,91,29,33,34,20,6,24,21,14,-15,-4,-10,-10,-10,16,5,5,4,10,7,0,16,0,3,
-15,-9,-31,-32,-36,-20,-18,-15,-15,-7,0,11,26,32,38,64,53,50,33,29,40,65,60,24,
0,30,-27,31,48,49,0,3,-53,-52,-52,-95,-88,-105,-132,-40,-23,0,0,122,132,132,
140,173,155,165,128,131,103,110,157,215,130,231,188,127,195,212,181,1163,1463,
29985,29986,29987,29988]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4
6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Bg5 c6 11. Qf3 Rb8 12. Rab1
Re8 13. a3 Bd6 14. Bxf6 Qxf6 15. Qxf6 gxf6 16. b4 Be6 17. Na4 d4 18. Nc5 Bxc5
19. bxc5 Rbd8 20. Rb7 Rd5 21. Rxa7 Rxc5 22. Re1 Rd8 23. h3 Rc3 24. Bxh7+ Kf8
25. g4 c5 26. Kh2 Bd5 27. a4 Kg7 28. Be4 Re8 29. Bxd5 Rxe1 30. Rxf7+ Kg6 31. h4
Re2 32. Kg2 Rcxc2 33. Kg3 Rxf2 34. h5+ Kh6 35. Be4 f5 36. Bxc2 Rxc2 37. Rxf5 d3
38. Rd5 c4 39. Kf4 Re2 40. Rd6+ Kg7 41. g5 Re7 42. h6+ Kh7 43. Kg4 Rc7 44. Kh5
Rc5 45. Rd7+ Kh8 46. h7 1-0
[/pgn]

Susan Lalic and friends
Susan Lalic and friends

From Wikipedia :

“Susan Kathryn Lalic (née Walker; born 28 October 1965) is an English chess player, holding both International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM) titles. She is five-time British Women’s Chess Champion: 1986, 1990–1992, and 1998.[2]

Lalic has played for England nine times in Chess Olympiads, from 1984 to 2000, inclusive. From 1986 to 1998, she played on the top board.[3]

Lalic was educated at Nonsuch High School for Girls from 1977 to 1984, and has been married in the past to Keith Arkell and then to Bogdan Lalić. Currently she is married to International Master Graeme Buckley.[4][5]

Highest rating from 1987-2012 is 2356(within 133 games)[6]”

Susan Lalic and friends, rear, second from left.
Susan Lalic and friends, rear, second from left
Your Chess Questions Answered by Susan Lalic,, 1999
Your Chess Questions Answered by Susan Lalic,, 1999

Best Wishes IM Michael Hennigan (08-x-1970)

We send best wishes to IM Michael Hennigan.

Michael Thomas Hennigan was born on October 8th, 1970 in Hammersmith, London. His mother’s name was Donnelly.

Michael attended the City of London School.

Michael became World Under-18 Youth Champion in 1988 in Aguadilla (Puerto Rico).

He became a FIDE Master in 1990 and an International Master title in 1991 and in the same year was British Under-21 Champion at Eastbourne and was British Champion in 1993 in Dundee beating Dharshan Kumaran in the play-off.

In 1995 he was 1st= in the Arnold Cup in Gausdal with Igor Rausis

His peak FIDE rating (according to Felice and Megabase 2020) was 2465 in July 1994 at the age of 24.

He played for North West Eagles in the Four Nations Chess League.

Michael married WIM Rita Zimmersmann and settled in London. Rita subsequently became Rita Atkins.

Michael stopped playing in 2010 but has recently in 2020 started playing online chess on the chess.com platform.

Michael is a Senior Director with FTI Consulting

With the white pieces Michael used to be an e4 player but in 2020 has switched to 1.g3 to get back into the swing of things.

As the second player he plays the Sicilian Four Knights and the King’s Indian Defence.

[pgn]
[Event “BCF-ch”]
[Site “Dundee”]
[Date “1993.??.??”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Hennigan, Michael”]
[Black “Ward, Christopher”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A04”]
[WhiteElo “2415”]
[BlackElo “2460”]
[Annotator “Bulletin”]
[PlyCount “67”]
[EventDate “1993.08.??”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “SCO”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 038”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1994.02.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1994.02.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,67,19,29,53,4,49,19,15,24,18,24,25,34,34,53,32,24,10,-25,-32,-32,-20,
-18,-26,-22,-15,-18,-7,-19,5,11,21,3,17,-4,1,-16,13,-22,28,26,17,134,134,134,
140,142,185,196,181,170,149,152,219,203,203,203,187,195,247,236,244,265,234,
240,249,111,840,919]} 1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O Nc6 5. e4 e6 6. c3
Nge7 (6… d5 7. exd5 exd5 8. Re1+ Nge7 9. d4 cxd4 10. Bg5 $5 dxc3 11. Nxc3 O-O
) 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4 d5 9. e5 f6 10. Re1 fxe5 11. dxe5 O-O 12. Bf4 (12. Nc3 $5
d4 13. Ne4 Nxe5 14. Nxd4 Qxd4 15. Qxd4 Nf3+ 16. Bxf3 Bxd4 17. Kg2 e5 $13) 12…
h6 (12… Rxf4 13. gxf4 Qf8 14. Qd2 Bh6 15. Ng5 Nf5 16. Nc3 $14) 13. h4 Bd7 (
13… Rxf4 14. gxf4 Nf5 15. h5 $1 gxh5 (15… g5 16. Bh3 $16) 16. Bh3 $16) 14.
Qd2 Nf5 15. Nc3 Qe7 16. Rad1 Kh7 17. Kh2 $1 Rac8 18. Bf1 Qb4 19.
Bd3 h5 (19… Na5 20. Nxd5 $1 Qxd2 21. Bxd2 $18) 20. Bb1 Nce7 $2 (20… a5) 21.
Nxd5 $3 Qxd2 22. Nf6+ $1 Bxf6 23. Rxd2 Bc6 24. exf6 Bxf3 25. fxe7 Rfe8 26. Bg5
Kg7 (26… Bd5 27. f3 $1 Bxf3 (27… Nxe7 28. Bxe7 Rxe7 29. Rxd5) 28. Be4 (28.
Rxe6 $4 Rc1) 28… Bxe4 29. Rxe4 Kg7 30. Rxe6 Kf7 31. Rf6+ Kg7 32. Rd8 Nxe7 33.
Rd7 $18) 27. Be4 Bxe4 28. Rxe4 Kf7 29. Kg2 Rc5 (29… Rc7 30. Rd8) 30. Rd7 Rb5
31. b3 e5 32. Rc4 Nd4 33. Rcc7 Ra5 34. Rd8 1-0

[/pgn]

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

Stuart Conquest vs Michael Hennigan at 4NCL,, photo by Meri Grigoryan
Stuart Conquest vs Michael Hennigan at 4NCL,, photo by Meri Grigoryan

Best Wishes IM Andrew Greet (05-x-1979)

BCN sends IM Andrew Greet best wishes on his birthday.

Andrew Neil Greet was born on Friday, October 5th, 1979 to Brian and Janet Greet (née) Neal in the cathedral city of Truro, Cornwall and has resided in St. Austell, Cornwall.

“Message in a Bottle” by The Police held the number one spot in the UK singles chart (three weeks in total). Andrew has a brother David who played as a junior.

Andrew attended Truro School leaving in 1998.

Andrew became a FIDE Master in 2004 and an International Master in 2005. His peak rating (according to Felice and Megabase 2020) was 2456 in April 2016 at the age of 37.

Andrew was British Under-18 Champion in 1996 at the age of 16 sharing the title with Oliver Rosten & Rohan Churm. In 1998 Andrew won the title outright.

From 1998 – 2001 had a break from chess to study Psychology at The University of Kent in Canterbury.

In 2005 he scored a record breaking 11/11 in the Four Nations League playing for Hillsmark Kingfisher. By now, Andrew had moved to Glasgow and had changed his FIDE federation from England to Scotland.

Andrew was joint winner (with Simon Knott) of the Southend Open in 2006.

In April 2009 Andrew joined Quality Chess in Sales and Marketing which led to the position of editor.

In 2010 Andrew became Scottish Champion outright.

In 2017 won outright the Dundee grandmaster tournament : here is the story of the tournament.

In 2018 he played board one for Scotland in the 43rd Olympiad in Batumi.

Andrew is a successful martial artist specialising in a a discipline known as Brazilian Jiujitsu, which is a form of grappling.

Here is an article (by Dave Regis) concerning a simultaneous display at Exeter Chess Club in 2010

From britishchess.co.uk :

“He has a very friendly personality which works well when coaching, and he has coached England juniors on foreign trips.”

[pgn]
[Event “Wellington College op 6th”]
[Site “Crowthorne”]
[Date “2005.01.29”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Cox, John J”]
[Black “Greet, Andrew N”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E25”]
[WhiteElo “2311”]
[BlackElo “2389”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “48”]
[EventDate “2005.01.28”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2006”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2005.11.24”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2005.11.24”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,48,16,18,18,-23,-3,4,22,-49,-29,-30,-13,-22,-32,-14,33,-11,50,61,53,
43,49,64,64,32,85,61,91,34,46,50,50,-93,-104,-202,-191,-191,-191,-204,-241,
-411,-559,-557,-570,-552,-635,-671,-680,-687,-724]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3
Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. dxc5 Qa5 9. e4 Ne7 10. Be3
O-O 11. Qb3 Qc7 12. Nh3 e5 13. Nf2 Nec6 14. Nd3 (14. Rb1) ({Relevant:} 14. Rb1
Na5 15. Qa4 Be6 16. Be2 Nd7 17. Rb5 b6 18. O-O Rfc8 19. Rd1 Nb7 20. cxb6 axb6
21. Qb4 Qxc3 22. Qxc3 Rxc3 23. Bxb6 Rc6 24. Be3 Nd6 25. Rbb1 Rxa3 26. Nd3 Rc8
27. Ra1 Rxa1 28. Rxa1 f6 {0-1 (28) Gilimshin,A (2607)-Taylor,W (2493) ICCF
email 2004}) 14… Na5 15. Qc2 $146 (15. Qd5) 15… Be6 $14 {[#]} 16. c4 $146 (
16. Nb4) ({Predecessor:} 16. Nb4 Nd7 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 Nxc5 19. Rb1 Nd7 20.
c4 Nb6 21. Rb5 Nbxc4 22. Bd2 Rac8 23. Bxa5 Qd7 24. Qb3 Nxa5 25. Rxa5 Qc7 26.
Ra4 Qc1+ 27. Kf2 Rc2+ 28. Kg3 f5 29. Kh3 e4 30. d6+ Kh8 31. Qe6 Qg5 32. Qe7
Qh6+ 33. Qh4 Qxd6 34. fxe4 f4 35. Ra5 Rf6 36. Rh5 Qe6+ 37. Qg4 Qxe4 38. Qd7
Rc3+ 39. g3 Rxg3+ 40. hxg3 Qxh1+ 41. Kg4 Rg6+ 42. Rg5 h5+ 43. Kf5 Rxg5+ 44.
Kxg5 Qxf1 {1/2-1/2 (44) Heim,S (2379)-Ostmoe,G (2327) Gausdal 2003}) 16… Nxc4
17. Bf2 Qa5+ 18. Ke2 Nc6 $19 19. g3 Rfd8 20. Bh3 Rxd3 $1 21. Qxd3 Rd8 22. Bxe6
Rxd3 23. Kxd3 Qd2+ 24. Kxc4 Qc2+ {and White resigned} 0-1
[/pgn]

[pgn]
[Event “BCF-chT 0506 (4NCL)”]
[Site “Birmingham”]
[Date “2005.10.23”]
[Round “2.1”]
[White “Greet, Andrew N”]
[Black “Rowson, Jonathan”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E11”]
[WhiteElo “2428”]
[BlackElo “2599”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “81”]
[EventDate “2005.10.22”]
[EventType “team”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2007”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2006.11.23”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2006.11.23”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Hilsmark Kingfisher”]
[BlackTeam “Guildford”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]
[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”]

{[%evp 0,81,19,31,14,30,28,4,34,34,44,30,30,19,25,27,33,33,29,43,30,34,36,34,
50,25,45,47,40,30,30,18,30,30,25,12,43,34,48,30,38,34,44,36,65,52,73,71,71,38,
44,44,112,80,90,112,131,109,112,99,138,106,190,142,141,101,163,175,257,183,178,
199,187,180,263,259,259,266,262,245,776,836,29991,29992]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6
3. c4 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Bxd2+ 7. Nbxd2 d6 8. O-O a5 9. e4 e5 10.
d5 Nb8 11. Ne1 h5 12. h4 Bg4 13. f3 Bd7 14. Qb3 ({Relevant:} 14. Nd3 Na6 15.
Qe2 Nb4 16. Rfc1 Nxd3 17. Qxd3 c5 18. Qe3 Ng8 19. Bf1 Nh6 20. Bd3 f6 21. Kg2 g5
22. Rh1 g4 23. Be2 O-O-O 24. Rhf1 gxf3+ 25. Nxf3 Rdg8 26. Bd3 Rxg3+ 27. Kxg3
Rg8+ 28. Ng5 fxg5 29. Be2 gxh4+ 30. Kh2 Ng4+ 31. Bxg4 hxg4 32. Qh6 g3+ 33. Kg1
Qg5 34. Qxg5 Rxg5 35. Rf6 Kc7 36. Rh6 {1/2-1/2 (36) Tirabassi,M (2330)-Komarov,
D (2555) Reggio Emilia 2004}) 14… b6 15. Qe3 Na6 {[#]} 16. b3 $146 ({
Predecessor:} 16. Nd3 Nc5 17. Nf2 {1/2-1/2 (17) Loemker,M-Groenegress,W Lemgo
1983}) 16… Nc5 17. Rc1 c6 18. a3 cxd5 19. cxd5 Bb5 20. Rf2 O-O 21. Bf1 Qd7
22. b4 axb4 23. axb4 Na4 24. Kh2 Bxf1 25. Nxf1 Nh7 26. Qd3 f5 27. exf5 $16 Rxf5
28. Rfc2 Rf7 29. Ne3 b5 30. Qg6 Nb6 $6 31. Rc6 (31. Rc7) 31… Ra2+ 32. N1g2
Rf6 33. Qxh5 {[#]} e4 $2 34. f4 (34. Rc7) 34… Nc4 35. Nxc4 bxc4 36. R1xc4 Qa7
37. Qe8+ Rf8 38. Qxe4 Nf6 39. Qe6+ Kh8 (39… Kh7) 40. Rc8 $1 Qf2 41. Rxf8+ 1-0
[/pgn]

Andrew has written a number of publications as follows :

Play the Ruy Lopez, Andrew Greet, Everyman, 2007
Play the Ruy Lopez, Andrew Greet, Everyman, 2007
Dangerous Weapons 1.e4 e5, Andrew Greet, John Emms & Glenn Flear, Everyman, 2008
Dangerous Weapons 1.e4 e5, Andrew Greet, John Emms & Glenn Flear, Everyman, 2008
Starting Out : The Accelerated Dragon, Andrew Greet, Everyman, 2008
Starting Out : The Accelerated Dragon, Andrew Greet, Everyman, 2008
Beating Unusual Chess Defences to 1.e4, Andrew Greet, Everyman, 2011
Beating Unusual Chess Defences to 1.e4, Andrew Greet, Everyman, 2011
Play the Queen's Indian, Everyman, Andrew Greet
Play the Queen’s Indian, Everyman, Andrew Greet
IM Andrew Greet
IM Andrew Greet

Happy Birthday GM David Norwood (03-x-1968)

We wish David Norwood all the best on his birthday,

David Robert Norwood was born in Farnworth, Bolton, Greater Manchester on October 3rd 1968. His mother’s maiden name was Mellor and his father was an electrician.

Mary Hopkin was still UK number one with “Those were the days” and would remain at number one for six weeks in total.

David Norwood
David Norwood

David read history at Keble College, Oxford before pursuing a successful business career (see below).

David became an International Master in 1985 and a Grandmaster in 1989 and his peak FIDE rating (Felice and Megabase 2020) was 2545 in July 1994 at the age of 26.

GM David Norwood
GM David Norwood

David has a score of +2 against Viswanathan Anand, +1 against Neil McDonald, +2 against Keith Arkell and +2 against Mark Hebden.

Preparing for David would have been fairly straightforward as he played almost the same opening with white and black playing 1.g3 (and less frequently, 1.d4) and the Modern Defence although his did flick the Modern Benoni into the mix every now and then.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM8wGSBHi2c[/embedyt]

As well as moving to Oxford for University he was =1st at the 1988 (fifth) NatWest Young Masters with 6/9 (along with Adams and Kudrin) securing a GM norm :

Crosstable for 1988 NatWest Young Masters
Crosstable for 1988 NatWest Young Masters
IM David Norwood at the 1988 NatWest Young Masters. Photo by Tom Elek
IM David Norwood at the 1988 NatWest Young Masters. Photo by Tom Elek

In 1990 David became the first Grandmaster to play in the annual Varsity match. This was the 108th such encounter and David played on board one against Jeremy P Sharp of Downing College, Cambridge. David first played in the 107th match in 1989 on board two below James Howell. David played one more time in 1991 scoring 2/3 from his three appearences.

IM David Norwood at the 1991 Varsity Match. Henry Gerald Mutkin (organiser and sponsor) is seated.
IM David Norwood at the 1991 Varsity Match. Henry Gerald Mutkin (organiser and sponsor) is seated.

According to FIDE David is registered with Andorra which appropriately (for DN) has Catalan as its national language. David has yet to win the Andorran Championship. He first played in the Andorran Open in 2011 and came close to winning in 2013 with 7/9. Since 2017 David has not played in a FIDE rated event.

One of David’s most important claims to fame was being the Best Man at the wedding of Julian and Lizette Hodgson.

A powerful Unisys personal computer being present to Bolton-born GM David Norwood by Alva Rodger (centre), general manager of Unisys banking district ad Dr Brian Bailey, managing director of Infolink, a credit referencing agency.
A powerful Unisys personal computer being present to Bolton-born GM David Norwood by Alva Rodger (centre), general manager of Unisys banking district ad Dr Brian Bailey, managing director of Infolink, a credit referencing agency.

[pgn]
[Event “London NWYM”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1988.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Norwood, David”]
[Black “Kudrin, Sergey”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A46”]
[WhiteElo “2470”]
[BlackElo “2545”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “71”]
[EventDate “1988.??.??”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[EventCategory “10”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 009”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1989.04.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1989.04.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,71,21,37,21,38,34,18,55,44,39,35,22,28,98,37,49,47,20,7,0,0,32,39,55,
60,65,46,41,49,33,43,31,54,57,53,59,51,59,71,79,83,108,90,97,74,78,70,105,127,
127,124,133,135,127,133,164,127,127,127,156,227,245,173,192,177,177,82,346,346,
29991,29992,29993,29994]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 b5 {This is more common
than you might imagine. There are 3500+ games with 3…b5 in MegaBase 2020.} 4.
Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Be7 (5… c5) 6. Bg5 (6. a4) 6… c5 7. c3 Na6 8. Na3 Qb6 9. c4
b4 10. Nb5 cxd4 11. Qxd4 $146 {[#]} (11. a4 {Pantaleev – Malakhatko, 2009.})
11… Qxd4 12. Nfxd4 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 O-O 14. Rfd1 Rfc8 15. Rac1 Nc5 16. Bf4 {
Preparing Nd6 should black play a6.} a6 17. Nd6 Bxd6 18. Bxd6 Nfe4 19. Nb3 $1 {
[#] with the pawn on g3 the dark squared bishop is perhaps less valuable.} Nxd6
(19… Na4 $6 20. Bxb4 Nxb2 21. Rd4 $16) 20. Rxd6 $16 Na4 (20… Ra7) 21. Rxd7
Nxb2 22. c5 Na4 23. c6 Nc3 24. Na5 Nxa2 25. Rc4 $18 g6 26. c7 Kg7 27. Nb3 g5
28. Nc5 (28. Nd4) 28… Kg6 29. Nd3 b3 30. Ne5+ Kf6 31. f4 (31. Rc5) 31… gxf4
32. gxf4 (32. Nxf7 $1 {is crushing} Kg7 33. Nd8+ Kf6 34. Rxf4+ Kg6 35. Nxe6 {
and its mate in 5.}) 32… Kg7 33. Rxf7+ Kg8 (33… Kh8) 34. f5 $1 b2 35. Rg4+
Kh8 36. Rgg7 {and Black resigned} 1-0
[/pgn]

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

David is an active director of Genomics Plc, and 4D Pharma Plc, both companies operate in the biomedical sector.

David Norwood
David Norwood

Here is a detailed article about David from the Oxford alumni pages.

 

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

As a writer David wrote a chess column for The Daily Telegraph and The Economist (London) and he has written the following books :

The Usbourne Book of Chess Puzzles, David Norwood, 1992
The Usbourne Book of Chess Puzzles, David Norwood, 1992
Winning with the Modern, David Norwood, B.T. Batsford Ltd., London, 1994
Winning with the Modern, David Norwood, B.T. Batsford Ltd., London, 1994
The Modern Benoni, David Norwood, Cadogan, 1994
The Modern Benoni, David Norwood, Cadogan, 1994
Grandmaster Meets Chess Amateur, Steve David and David Norwood, 1995
Grandmaster Meets Chess Amateur, Steve David and David Norwood, 1995
The Usbourne Guide to Advanced Chess, David Norwood, 1995
The Usbourne Guide to Advanced Chess, David Norwood, 1995
Chess Super-Talent, David Norwood, Batsford, September 1995, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805042238
Chess Super-Talent, David Norwood, Batsford, September 1995, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805042238

From Wikipedia :

“David Robert Norwood (born 3 October 1968) is an English businessman who runs an investment fund that finances spin-off companies from Oxford University science departments. He is also a chess grandmaster, chess writer, former captain of the English chess team and now represents Andorra at chess.”

[pgn]
[Event “Bundesliga 9394”]
[Site “Germany”]
[Date “1994.01.29”]
[Round “6.2”]
[White “Loeffler, Stefan”]
[Black “Norwood, David Robert”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A40”]
[WhiteElo “2440”]
[BlackElo “2525”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “46”]
[EventDate “1993.11.06”]
[EventType “team-tourn”]
[EventRounds “15”]
[EventCountry “GER”]
[SourceTitle “GER-chT”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “Zehlendorf”]
[BlackTeam “Solingen”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “GER”]
[BlackTeamCountry “GER”]

{[%evp 0,46,19,31,76,50,32,32,35,29,60,26,34,34,23,42,93,89,91,60,61,49,69,38,
38,32,52,61,55,14,10,12,12,10,12,-192,-173,-209,-216,-383,-444,-722,-753,-840,
-799,-681,-681,-690,-685]} 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 f5 5. h4 Bxc3+ 6.
bxc3 Nf6 7. h5 Rg8 8. hxg6 hxg6 9. Nf3 Qa5 {[#]} ({Relevant:} 9… d6 10. Ng5
Qa5 11. Qb3 Nbd7 12. Bf4 Rb8 13. e3 b5 14. cxb5 Bb7 15. e4 fxe4 16. Bd2 c4 17.
Bxc4 Nc5 18. Qc2 Rc8 19. O-O Ncd7 20. Bb3 Qxb5 21. c4 Qa6 22. Bc3 Rxc4 23. Bxc4
Qxc4 24. Qb2 Qxd5 25. Rfd1 Qxg5 26. Qxb7 e3 27. Qxa7 e2 28. Rd3 Kf7 29. Re1 Rh8
30. Re3 Qf4 31. Rg3 Rh5 32. Qe3 Qxe3 33. Rxe3 e5 34. R3xe2 Ke6 35. a4 Nd5 36.
Rc2 Nc5 37. a5 Nd3 38. Ra1 N3f4 39. Be1 {Dautov,R (2610)-Vokac,M (2450)
Dortmund 1992 1-0}) 10. Qb3 $146 ({Predecessor:} 10. Bd2 d6 11. Ng5 Nbd7 12.
Qb1 Nb6 13. e3 Bd7 14. Bd3 {1/2-1/2 (14) Finegold,B (2445)-Vokac,M (2465)
Prague 1990}) 10… d6 11. Bg5 Nbd7 12. Nd2 Nb6 13. e4 Bd7 14. f4 fxe4 15. Bxf6
exf6 16. Nxe4 {[#]} O-O-O $1 $11 17. Nxf6 $2 Ba4 $19 18. Qa3 Rgf8 19. Ng4 Rde8+
20. Kd2 Rxf4 21. Ne3 Rf2+ 22. Ke1 Rc2 23. Rh8 Rxc3 0-1
[/pgn]

“The son of an electrician, Norwood graduated with a history degree from Keble College, Oxford University in 1988 before joining city investment bank Banker’s Trust in 1991.”

Peter Wells, Gary Lane, John Emms and David Norwood
Peter Wells, Gary Lane, John Emms and David Norwood

“Norwood cofounded Oxford Sciences Innovation, a £600m investment company dedicated to funding deep science from Oxford University, and was its CEO from 2015 to 2019. Formerly he was founder of IP Group plc, a fund that invested in spinoffs from Oxford University’s Chemistry department, in exchange for 50% of the revenues from the licensing of the department’s intellectual property.

In 2017, Norwood donated £1.9M to Keble College’s future hub for innovation at Oxford University.”

From The Times of London, November 20th, 2008 by Ian King, Business Editor :

“Entrepreneur David Norwood swaps City for sun, sea and writing

One of the City’s best-known entrepreneurs resigned all his directorships yesterday – to move to a desert island (in the Bahamas)  where he plans to become a writer.

IM David Norwood and IM Aldo Haik (France) taking a drink at the bar during Cappelle-Le-Grande, 1988. Photograph by Caroline Winkler
IM David Norwood and IM Aldo Haik (France) taking a drink at the bar during Cappelle-Le-Grande, 1988. Photograph by Caroline Winkler

David Norwood, a former chief executive of the stockbrokers Evolution and Beeson Gregory, resigned from the boards of a number of companies, including Oxford Advanced Surfaces, ORA Capital, Oxeco and Plus-listed Green Chemicals. He has also given up his role as special projects director at IP Group, the intellectual property commercialisation company, which he started eight years ago and floated on AIM in 2003. Shares of all five companies fell after the news was released.”

GM David Norwood
GM David Norwood

Happy Birthday Susan Caldwell (02-x-1958)

Happy Birthday Susan Linda Caldwell (02-x-1958)

Susan is / was a director of the Hallas Foundation Ltd. and Larkham Printers and Publishers Ltd. and is a partner to former Scottish international Les SF Blackstock.

A few (11) of her games may be found on chessgames.com

Susan Caldwell, from the CentYMCA Story by Jimmy Adams
Susan Caldwell, from the CentYMCA Story by Jimmy Adams
Beginners Guide to Playing Chess
Beginners Guide to Playing Chess
Beginners Guide to Playing Chess
Beginners Guide to Playing Chess

Happy Birthday IM Tom Rendle (29-ix-1986)

Best wishes to IM Tom Rendle on his birthday.

Thomas Edward Rendle was born on Monday, September 29th 1986. “Stuck with You” by Huey Lewis and the News was the UK’s number one single.

Tom was born in Hastings, East Sussex and his mother’s maiden name is Jefferies. Tom resides in Hastings.

Tom attended Bede’s School, Sussex and then St. Leonard’s College.

Tom Rendle aged 11 by David Crump
Tom Rendle aged 11 by David Crump

Tom studied physics at The University of Warwick and has two brothers, Tim and James and a sister Theresa.

Tom became a FIDE Master in 2004. In 2006 he became an International Master and achieved a peak rating (according to Felice) in July 2007 of 2416 at the age of 21. Tom has one Grandmaster norm.

 

Tom Rendle, sponsored by local printing company, FDM. Courtesy of Gary Lane
Tom Rendle, sponsored by local printing company, FDM. Courtesy of Gary Lane

Tom has played for 4NCL Grantham Sharks, Hammersmith (in the London League), Drunken Knights (in the London League), West London and Sandhurst (in the Surrey Border and Berkshire Leagues).

His first ECF grade to appear on the grading web site was 82A in July 1994 (however it could be earlier than that) at the age of 7 :

ECF Grading Progress of Tom Rendle
ECF Grading Progress of Tom Rendle

Tom played in the World U12 Championship won by Teimour Radjabov and his first major success was scoring 7.5/10 in the 2001 Smith and Williamson Young Masters. He became Hampshire Champion in 2001 with 5/6 and won the 2004 Rosny Sous Bois tournament with 7/9 and a TPR of 2568. He was runner-up in the Paignton Open of 2005 followed by runner-up in the Coulsdon Christmas tournament of 2005.

[pgn]
[Event “EU-ch U14”]
[Site “Chalkidiki”]
[Date “2000.10.08”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Rendle, Thomas E”]
[Black “Zinchenko, Yaroslav”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B50”]
[WhiteElo “2131”]
[BlackElo “2271”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “2000.10.02”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “GRE”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 078 Extra”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2000.11.10”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2000.11.10”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,63,27,13,58,56,90,37,27,10,0,-1,-13,-9,-10,-18,-27,-8,33,41,20,27,14,
20,33,22,97,-17,67,19,-4,-13,8,8,157,157,416,257,257,255,327,292,292,406,406,
773,727,1103,29983,29984,29985,29986,29987,29988,29989,29990,29991,29992,29993,
29994,29995,29996,29997,29998,29999,-30000]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4.
Be2 Nc6 (4… Nxe4 $4 5. Qa4+) 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 Nxe4 7. d5 Qa5+ 8. Nc3 Nb8 9.
O-O Nxc3 10. bxc3 g6 (10… Nd7) 11. Qd4 {[%cal Gd4h8]} Rg8 (11… f6 12. Rb1
Bg7 13. Bb5+ Kf7) 12. Rb1 Bg7 $146 {A novelty not since repeated.} (12… a6
13. c4) 13. Qc4 (13. Qh4) 13… Qc5 14. Qa4+ Nd7 15. Ba3 Qxd5 $6 {This pawn
grab enables White to seize the initiative.} ({Safer was} 15… Qc7) 16. Bc4
Qf5 (16… Qc6 {was required} 17. Qb3) 17. Rb5 Qf4 18. Ng5 ({Better was} 18.
Bc1 $18) 18… d5 19. Rxd5 e6 20. g3 (20. Re1) 20… Qc7 21. Rc5 $1 Qd8 {
[#] Black’s position is painful !} 22. Nxf7 $1 (22. Nxe6 fxe6 23. Bxe6 Rf8 24.
Rd1) 22… Kxf7 23. Bxe6+ $1 Kxe6 (23… Ke8) 24. Qc4+ Kf6 25. Qf4+ Ke6 26.
Re1+ Ne5 27. Rexe5+ Bxe5 28. Rxe5+ Kd7 29. Qd4+ Kc7 30. Rc5+ Kb6 31. Qb4+ Ka6
32. Qb5# 1-0
[/pgn]

Tom’s GM norm was earnt at Gibraltar 2007.

Tom Rendle in 2011
Tom Rendle in 2011

Tom has his own popular YouTube Channel

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

With the white pieces Tom is almost exclusively an e4 player but he has flirted with Bird’s Opening many times. Having shared accommodation with Gawain Jones there are signs of influence in the choice of the Grand Prix Attack.

As the second player Tom plays both the Winawer and the Classical French and is a noted expert on the Classical Dutch and Dutch in general.

[pgn]
[Event “Chekhov”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2000.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Kremenietsky, Anatoly M”]
[Black “Rendle, Thomas E”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “A89”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “56”]
[EventDate “2000.??.??”]
[SourceTitle “chessgames.com”]

{[%evp 0,56,32,32,77,49,38,38,58,43,67,60,82,58,66,47,29,0,64,64,53,48,43,25,
66,57,201,180,278,279,286,211,-270,-530,-680,-840,-1016,-1016,-1016,-1016,
-1085,-1073,-926,-927,-959,-1129,-952,-950,-1022,-1185,-1123,-1438,-1574,-1574,
-1620,-1686,-1935,-29993,-2397]} 1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. g3
Bg7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. e4 f4 {[#]} 11. b4 (11.
gxf4 exf4 12. e5 Ng4 13. e6 Ne5 14. Re1 Nxc4 15. Re4 Nd6 16. Rxf4 c6) 11… g5
(11… e6) 12. Bb2 Qe8 $5 13. Nb5 $16 Ng4 $2 14. h3 $18 Qh5 {[#]} 15. hxg4 $2 (
15. gxf4 $18) 15… Bxg4 $19 16. f3 $2 fxg3 $1 17. Rf2 Qh2+ 18. Kf1 gxf2 19.
fxg4 Qg1+ 20. Ke2 Qxg2 21. Qf1 Qxg4+ 22. Ke3 Qf4+ 23. Kd3 Qf3+ 24. Kd2 g4 25.
Nc3 Bh6+ 26. Kc2 g3 27. Nd1 Qxe4+ 28. Kc3 Qe1+ 0-1
[/pgn]

IM Tom Rendle at the King's Place Rapidplay, 2013, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
IM Tom Rendle at the King’s Place Rapidplay, 2013, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

From Wikipedia :

“Thomas Edward Rendle (born 29 September 1986) is a British FIDE International Master chess player and coach. Rendle became an International Master in June 2006 and is part way towards becoming a Grandmaster, with one GM Norm.

IM Tom Rendle
IM Tom Rendle

He gained an interest in chess at an early age, and soon entered chess tournaments, gaining success in his age categories (such as becoming Mini Squad Under 7s Champion, England Under 11 Champion).[citation needed] He was put on top board for the England under 11 team and won the Sussex Under 18 Championships, whilst still under 12.”

In 1998 Rendle played Garry Kasparov in the BT Wireplay Challenge 1998. In 2005 he was a coach for England’s team at the 1st FIDE World Schools Championship in Halkidiki, Greece and in 2006 he coached with the England Team at the European Youth Chess Championships in Montenegro.

Rendle currently works as a chess coach, both online and face-to-face. He is a regular coach of England Juniors.”

IM Tom Rendle, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
IM Tom Rendle, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

Happy Birthday IM Richard Palliser (18-ix-1981)

We wish IM Richard Palliser all the very best on his birthday

Richard Julian David Palliser was born September 18th in 1981 in Birmingham, West Midlands. His mother’s maiden name was Hyde.

He became a FIDE Master in 2000 and an International Master in 2001.

Richard Palliser
Richard Palliser

His peak FIDE rating (according to Felice and Megabase 2020) was 2482 in July 2012 at the age of 31.

In 1995 Richard was joint British U13 Champion together with David Hodge and Richard S. Jones.

Palliser was joint (with Danny Gormally) British Rapidplay Chess Champion in 2006. He writes regularly for ChessMoves and “Everyman Chess” who also employ him as an editor and advisor.

In recent times Richard has become the editor of “Popular Chess” and of CHESS Monthly.

Richard represents in matches 4NCL White Rose, York RI, Yorkshire CA, and ‘Eagle and Child’

According to “Play 1.d4!” :

“is an international master and recipient of a special British Chess Federation young player’s award for achievement. In addition to being a very active tournament and match player he also writes regularly for CHESS magazine and other periodicals and is noted for his theoretical knowledge and analytical ability.”

IM Richard Palliser at the King's Place Rapidplay, 2013.
IM Richard Palliser at the King’s Place Rapidplay, 2013.

[pgn]
[Event “GBR-ch”]
[Site “Scarborough”]
[Date “2004.08.09”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Palliser, Richard J D”]
[Black “Rudd, Jack”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A45”]
[WhiteElo “2411”]
[BlackElo “2281”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “51”]
[EventDate “2004.08.02”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 101 Extra”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2004.09.01”]
[SourceVersion “2”]
[SourceVersionDate “2004.09.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,51,26,37,30,2,-3,5,29,36,34,26,30,40,34,37,32,36,43,30,35,36,33,16,26,
14,41,24,85,84,35,65,178,156,153,143,256,140,135,143,143,92,942,1002,1095,1150,
29991,29992,29993,29994,29997,29998,29999,-30000]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4
c5 4. f3 Qa5+ 5. c3 Nf6 6. d5 Qb6 7. b3 e6 8. e4 exd5 9. exd5 Bd6 10. Bg5 O-O
$6 ({better is} 10… Be7 11. Bc4 O-O 12. Ne2 $14) 11. Bxf6 Re8+ 12. Ne2 gxf6
13. Nd2 Qc7 ({better is} 13… Be7 14. Ne4 f5) 14. Ne4 Be5 15. Qd2 {[%cal
Gd2h6]} Kh8 (15… d6) 16. Qh6 $18 Qb6 {[%cal Gf6f5]} 17. d6 $1 c4 (17… Bxd6
$2 18. Nxf6) 18. Rc1 (18. O-O-O Rg8 19. N2g3 Qd8 20. Bxc4 Nc6 21. Nf5 Rg6 22.
Qd2) 18… cxb3 19. axb3 {[#]} Qxb3 $2 {Too ambitious : Black’s Queen is well
off-side and Black’s Queen side pieces are on their starting blocks.} (19…
Na6 {The queenside pieces need to come out to play.}) 20. f4 {[#]} (20. Nd4)
20… f5 $4 ({Better was} 20… Qc4 21. Nd4 Qd5 22. Bd3 Bxd4) (20… Qd5 21.
N4g3 Qe6) 21. fxe5 fxe4 22. Nd4 {[%cal Gd4b3,Gd4f5]} Qd5 (22… Qe6 {was the
best the engine could find !}) 23. Qf6+ Kg8 24. Nf5 Qxe5 25. Nh6+ Kf8 26. Qxf7#
1-0
[/pgn]

According to “tango!” :

“His debut book Play 1.d4! was very well received by critics and the chess public alike”

His handle on the Internet Chess Club is “worcester”.

IM Richard Palliser
IM Richard Palliser

With the White pieces Richard plays 1.d4(!) and the Queen’ Gambit, Exchange Variation is the main weapon of choice.

As the second player Richard plays the Sicilian Najdorf and the King’s Indian Defence.

[pgn]
[Event “Guernsey op 21st”]
[Site “Guernsey”]
[Date “1995.10.16”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Palliser, Richard”]
[Black “Coathup, Roger”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E81”]
[Annotator “Palliser,Richard”]
[PlyCount “93”]
[EventDate “1995.10.15”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “7”]
[EventCountry “GCI”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2005”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2004.11.15”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2004.11.15”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,93,14,19,39,4,38,33,42,41,40,16,3,-16,-11,-7,23,-37,22,-56,8,9,16,16,
16,16,55,-2,-2,9,9,13,41,21,39,7,90,0,141,-90,-83,-52,78,85,85,103,224,202,202,
128,122,78,74,54,60,58,65,57,196,150,153,153,272,318,340,342,325,325,327,329,
456,481,481,270,399,425,433,428,1028,489,505,517,517,414,960,1064,1165,1272,
1378,1471,1471,1514,1533,1525,29961,29958]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4
d6 5. f3 {The sharp Samisch system.} O-O 6. Bg5 {This is more positional than
the main move} (6. Be3) 6… c5 7. d5 a6 8. a4 Qa5 9. Ra3 {White wants to play
Qd2 and if b5, axb5. However the a4 pawn would be pinned and so White moves
the rook.} e6 10. Qd2 exd5 11. cxd5 Re8 12. Be2 Qc7 13. Bh6 Nbd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7
15. g4 {White now decides to go for a kingside attack.} h6 ({Possibly} 15… h5
{would have been a better defence.}) 16. h4 Ne5 17. Nh3 Rb8 18. h5 {White gets
on with attack, because b5 can no longer be prevented.} ({If} 18. a5 b5 19.
axb6 Rxb6 {Black will have counterplay down the c-file.}) 18… b5 19. Ra1 b4
20. Nd1 Nexg4 {Black decides to complicate the issue, unfortunately for him,
White can turn down the offer and still emerge with the better game.} 21. hxg6
fxg6 22. Nhf2 Nxf2 23. Qxh6+ Kf7 24. Nxf2 Qe7 25. Qf4 {This threatens 26.Rh7+,
Black decides to exchange before White brings more pieces into the attack.} Qe5
26. Qxe5 Rxe5 27. Kd2 a5 28. Bb5 g5 (28… Rg5 {was better, however White
still retains an edge}) 29. Rh8 g4 30. fxg4 Nxe4+ 31. Nxe4 Rxe4 32. Rf1+ Kg7
33. Rff8 {White is now winning.} Rd4+ 34. Ke3 Rxd5 35. Rhg8+ {This is a slight
innacuracy, because it drives the King towards the pawn. Black does however
return the error with 36…Re5.} Kh6 36. Rxc8 Re5+ 37. Kf4 Rxc8 38. Rxc8 Re1
39. g5+ Kg7 40. Rc7+ Kf8 41. g6 Rg1 42. Kf5 Rg2 43. Kf6 {White has lots of
ways to win, however because of time trouble, he does probably not choose the
quickest.} Rf2+ 44. Ke6 d5 45. g7+ Kg8 46. Kxd5 Rxb2 47. Kxc5 {Black never
really had enough counterplay and probably did not defend well enough on the
Kingside.} 1-0
[/pgn]

IM Richard Palliser and IM Jovanka Houska, British Championships, 2019
IM Richard Palliser and IM Jovanka Houska, British Championships, 2019

Richard is Editor of “CHESS” and has authored a number of publications :

Play 1.d4 !, Batsford, 2003
Play 1.d4 !, Batsford, 2003

Palliser, Richard (2005). Tango! A Dynamic Answer to 1 d4. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-388-8.

Tango! A Dynamic Answer to 1 d4
Tango! A Dynamic Answer to 1 d4

Palliser, Richard (2006). Beating Unusual Chess Openings. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-429-9.

Beating Unusual Chess Openings
Beating Unusual Chess Openings

Palliser, Richard (2006). Starting Out: Closed Sicilian. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-414-8.

Starting Out: Closed Sicilian
Starting Out: Closed Sicilian

Palliser, Richard (2007). Starting Out: Scilian Najdorf. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-601-2.

Starting Out: Scilian Najdorf
Starting Out: Scilian Najdorf

Palliser, Richard (2007). Starting out: the Colle. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-527-5.

Starting out: the Colle
Starting out: the Colle
The Complete Chess Workout, Everyman, 2007
The Complete Chess Workout, Everyman, 2007

Palliser, Richard; Kosten, Tony; Vigus, James (2008). Dangerous Weapons: Flank Openings. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-583-1.

Dangerous Weapons: Flank Openings
Dangerous Weapons: Flank Openings

Palliser, Richard (2008). Starting out: d-pawn attacks. The Colle-Zukertort, Barry and 150 Attacks. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-578-7.

Starting out: d-pawn attacks
Starting out: d-pawn attacks

Palliser, Richard (2009). Starting Out: the Trompowsky Attack. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-562-6.

Starting Out: the Trompowsky Attack
Starting Out: the Trompowsky Attack

Palliser, Richard; Williams, Simon; Vigus, James (2010). Dangerous Weapons: The Dutch. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-624-1.

Dangerous Weapons: The Dutch
Dangerous Weapons: The Dutch
Dangerous Weapons : The Caro-Kann, Everyman, 2010
Dangerous Weapons : The Caro-Kann, Everyman, 2010
The Complete Chess Workout II, Everyman, 2012
The Complete Chess Workout II, Everyman, 2012
The Iron English, Richard Palliser & Simon Williams, Everyman Chess, 2020, ISBN-13 : 978-1781945803
The Iron English, Richard Palliser & Simon Williams, Everyman Chess, 2020, ISBN-13 : 978-1781945803
IM Richard Palliser
IM Richard Palliser

Happy Birthday WGM Anya Sun Corke (12-ix-1990)

We wish happy birthday to WGM Anya Sun Corke on her birthday.

Anya Sun Corke was born in California, USA on Wednesday, September 12th 1990.

In 2013, Anya graduated from Wellesley College summa cum laude with a B.A. in Russian and Philosophy

She became a woman’s Grandmaster in 2004.

Her peak FIDE rating (according to Felice) was 2301 in October 2008.

FIDE rating profile of WGM Anya Sun Corke
FIDE rating profile of WGM Anya Sun Corke

With the white pieces Anya played the Queen’s Gambit and Trompowski Attack

As the second player Anya played the Sicilian Kan, French Rozentalis (3.Nc3 Nc6) and the Grünfeld Defence.

Anya won outright the 2007 Budapest First Saturday FM tournament :

Budapest First Saturday FM Tournament, 2007
Budapest First Saturday FM Tournament, 2007

She gave up competitive chess in 2014.

An almost miniature from the 2006 British Championship :

[pgn]
[Event “GBR-ch 93rd”]
[Site “Swansea”]
[Date “2006.08.10”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Corke, Anya Sun”]
[Black “Shaw, Peter”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B00”]
[WhiteElo “2179”]
[BlackElo “2122”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “37”]
[EventDate “2006.08.07”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “WLS”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 113 Extra”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2006.09.14”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2006.09.14”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,37,30,27,44,50,58,62,48,67,63,48,53,71,71,87,81,14,162,182,263,62,87,
120,203,131,158,141,332,313,447,409,457,459,453,485,490,488,687,733]} 1. d4 e6
2. e4 b6 3. Bd3 Bb7 4. Nf3 c5 5. d5 $1 exd5 6. exd5 Bxd5 7. Nc3 Bb7 $6 (7…
Be6) 8. Bc4 $1 $16 {[#]} Nc6 9. O-O Nge7 $2 {[%csl Gd6] The weakness of the d6
square decides.} (9… d5 10. Nxd5 Be7 $16) 10. Qd6 ({Crushing is} 10. Re1 $18
{and Black can resign with dignity}) 10… Na5 11. Nb5 Rc8 12. Qf4 (12. Qxc5 $3
Rxc5 (12… bxc5 13. Nd6#) 13. Nd6#) 12… Nxc4 13. Ne5 Nf5 14. Nxc4 Bd5 15.
Re1+ Be7 16. Qxf5 Bxc4 17. Nd6+ Kf8 18. Nxc4 Rc6 19. Ne5 {and Black threw in
the towel.} 1-0
[/pgn]

From Wikipedia :

“Anya Sun Corke (born 12 September 1990 in California, USA) is an English chess player holding the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She played for Hong Kong, where she was the top ranked chess player, until 2009.[1]

Corke earned the WGM title with her performance in the 36th Chess Olympiad, playing for the Hong Kong men’s team.[2][3]

She was the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008 Hong Kong National Champion (for men and women), one of the youngest national champions ever at the age of 13 years and 9 months.

She was the British Junior Under-11 Champion in 2002[4] and the Under-12 Champion in 2003,[5] the first girl to win either of these age groups. In 2004, she became joint British U-14 Champion.[6]

In December 2004, she won the Asian Youth Girls U-14 Championship in Singapore.[7]

In August 2005, she jointly won with Alisa Melekhina and Abby Marshall the second annual Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls under-19.[8]

Corke represented the England Women’s team at the 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey,[9][10] and the 2013 European Team Championship in Warsaw, Poland.[11]

In 2013, she graduated from Wellesley College summa cum laude with a B.A. in Russian and Philosophy.[12][13]

In 2014, she started a Ph.D. program in Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University.”

WGM Anya Sun Corke
WGM Anya Sun Corke