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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200815
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200816
DTSTAMP:20210812T112913Z
CREATED:20200411T124913Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210812T112913Z
UID:4422-1597449600-1597535999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of IM John Pigott (15-viii-1957)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes IM John Pigott all the best on his birthday (15-viii-1957) \nJohn Christopher Pigott was born in Croydon\, Surrey and his mother’s maiden name was Fletcher. \nIn 1975 John was selected by the BCF junior selectors and travelled with Jonathan Speelman and Peter J Lee (Hampshire) to the 8th Biel International Open in Switzerland. Leonard Barden wrote in the October 1975 British Chess Magazine (the cover was of Geller and Smyslov) : \n“17-year-old John Pigott’s 8.5/11 included wins against IM Kluger\, IM Messing and the 1975 Budapest Champion Rajna and earned him 2\,000 Swiss francs in prize money. The three English juniors who competed\, Pigott\, Speelman and Lee were chosen by the BCF junior selectors and travelled to Switzerland with the help of grant from the Slater Foundation and the London Chess Club.” \n[pgn]\n[Event “Biel International Open”]\n[Site “?”]\n[Date “2020.08.08”]\n[Round “?”]\n[White “Messing\, H”]\n[Black “Pigott\, John Christopher”]\n[Result “0-1”]\n[ECO “B67”]\n[Annotator “British Chess News”]\n[PlyCount “60”]\n[EventDate “1975.07.21”]\n[EventType “swiss”]\n[EventRounds “11”]\n[SourceTitle “BCM\, 1975\, page 447”] \n{[%evp 0\,24\,19\,38\,40\,41\,66\,77\,66\,31\,42\,26\,60\,60\,64\,51\,66\,43\,36\,29\,43\,50\,33\,58\,\n51\,51\,143]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7.\nQd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 b5 10. a3 {A fairly rare sideline} ({Much more\npopular is} 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Kb1 Qb6 12. Nxc6 Bxc6) 10… Rc8 11. Kb1 Be7 12.\nNf3 {threatening e5} b4 $146 (12… h6) 13. axb4 Nxb4 14. e5 $14 dxe5 15. fxe5\n({Better is} 15. Nxe5) 15… Nfd5 16. Nxd5 Nxd5 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. c4 ({Not} 18.\nBxa6 Nc3+ (18… Rb8 $1) 19. bxc3 Rb8+ 20. Ka2 Ra8 {“Regaining the piece with\nadvantage : according to Golombek”} 21. Qd6 $1 {is the move Golombek missed.})\n18… Nb6 19. Qf4 $6 (19. Qd6) 19… Qb4 20. Ng5 O-O 21. Qe4 g6 22. Qh4 h5 23.\nNe4 ({If} 23. Rd4 Na4 24. Qf2 Bc6 {and Black has the upper hand : Golombek})\n23… Nxc4 24. Nf6+ Kh8 25. Bxc4 Rxc4 26. Qf2 (26. Qg5 {does lead to mate :}\nQxb2+ $1 27. Kxb2 Rb8+ 28. Ka3 Ra4#) 26… Rf4 27. Qe3 Bc6 28. Rd2 Be4+ 29. Ka1\n({The ending after} 29. Nxe4 Qxe4+ 30. Qxe4 Rxe4 {is hopeless}) 29… Rc8 30.\nb3 $2 {white is lost anyway} (30. Rd4 Qa5+ 31. Qa3 Qxe5 $19) 30… Qa5+ {\nWhite resigned} 0-1\n[/pgn] \nJohn represented England at the 1975 Anglo-Dutch match (25th and 26th of October) scoring 0.5/2 versus Paul van der Sterren. The game scores appear to either have been lost on not recorded. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqVMNBdJfkc[/embedyt] \nIn 1976 John scored 4.5/5 in the Surrey Open and shared the 3rd\, 4th and 5th prize. \nThe caption is in the photograph below\nThe caption is in the photograph above\nJohn became a FIDE Master in 1984 and an International Master in 2017\, a gap of some 33 years! \nJohn plays for Little Heath\, 4NCL Barbican\, Hon Members LCCL and King’s Head chess clubs. \nAfter a sojourn from chess John returned to the ECF grading list in January 2015 with a grading of 269F attracting some attention. \nHis highest FIDE rating was 2419 in February 2018 at the age of 61.  \nWith the white pieces John plays the Queen’s Gambit and the Giuoco Piano. \nAs the second player John enjoys the Sicilian Najdorf and the Nimzo Indian Defence. \nJon Speelman’s Agony Column #40 \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2NHfrw_Y5s[/embedyt]
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-john-christopher-pigott-15-viii-1957/
CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/49460423371_c7279152fb_b.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200815
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200816
DTSTAMP:20260811T102336Z
CREATED:20200411T181253Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T102336Z
UID:4474-1597449600-1597535999@britishchessnews.com
SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Andrew Smith (15-viii-1959)
DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes Happy Birthday to FM Andrew Smith (15-viii-1959) \nAndrew became a FIDE Master in 1994 and is registered with the Irish Chess Union. \nHis highest FIDE rating was 2310 in July 1994 at the age of 35. \nFM Andrew Smith\, photographer unknown\nHe plays for Bourne End Chess Club in the Buckinghamshire League and in the Berkshire League. \nAndrew also plays for 4NCL Barnet Knights (he has played for Atticus)\, Buckinghamshire CCA in the Chiltern League and Hon Members LCCL. \nHe has won the Berks & Bucks Congress in 2018 and 2016 (joint) and he became Berkshire Individual Champion as a direct consequence winning the Cadogan Cup. \nWith the white pieces Andrew is (almost) exclusively a 1.e4 player favouring the Centre Game \nand as the second player Andrew plays the Philidor Defence and the Benoni. \nHe is known to favour “enterprising” variations such as the Mason Variation of the Philidor\, the Haldane Attack versus the French and other such exotica. \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CXXXII (132)\, Number 7 (July) front cover features FM Andrew Smith from the final 4NCL weekend of the 2011-2012 season\, courtesy of John Upham Photography\n[pgn]\n[Event “BCF-chT2b 1112 (4NCL)”]\n[Site “England”]\n[Date “2012.02.12”]\n[Round “6.3”]\n[White “Smith\, Andrew Philip”]\n[Black “Girdlestone\, Paul C”]\n[Result “1-0”]\n[ECO “C22”]\n[WhiteElo “2204”]\n[BlackElo “2191”]\n[Annotator “Andrew P Smith”]\n[PlyCount “75”]\n[EventDate “2011.11.12”]\n[EventType “team-match”]\n[EventRounds “7”]\n[EventCountry “ENG”]\n[SourceTitle “EXT 2013”]\n[Source “ChessBase”]\n[SourceDate “2012.11.22”]\n[SourceVersion “1”]\n[SourceVersionDate “2012.11.22”]\n[SourceQuality “1”]\n[WhiteTeam “Spirit of Atticus”]\n[BlackTeam “Brown Jack”]\n[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]\n[BlackTeamCountry “ENG”] \n{[%evp 0\,75\,19\,31\,34\,25\,5\,-1\,-3\,-12\,-20\,-36\,-38\,-31\,-26\,-30\,-41\,-8\,1\,-59\,13\,-2\,\n-2\,-222\,-254\,-322\,-193\,-225\,-133\,-160\,-85\,-149\,-83\,-101\,-80\,-80\,-69\,-43\,-41\,\n-84\,21\,48\,60\,-100\,-71\,-82\,65\,177\,182\,136\,220\,173\,273\,89\,89\,57\,57\,-140\,-137\,\n-128\,15\,36\,333\,767\,29985\,434\,394\,127\,141\,105\,125\,134\,245\,256\,273\,237\,29999\,\n-30000]} {My notes are based on my thoughts during the game and have not been\nchecked by a computer.  Going into this game\, I felt under pressure both from\nteam and personal perspectives. I joined Atticus at the beginning of this\n(2011) season and my first three appearences had seen me accumulate a very\nround zero !  We already suspected that our team would be in the second\ndivision ‘demotion pool’ so we desperately needed points to avert relegation.\nThis was my fourth game for the team so I was keen to address my shortcomings\nand put some sort of score on the board. No easy matter as my opponent was\nrated higher than myself and had beaten me the previous year at the Berks &\nBucks Congress.} 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 $1 {I have been playing this\n“Offbeat” line for over 25 years so I have a great deal of experience with it.\nOften scoffed at\, but as with many Offbeat lines it is not so easy for Black\nto deal with !} Nc6 4. Qe3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 O-O 7. O-O-O Re8 8. Bc4 $5 ({\nIn previous games I have also speculated with Morozevich’s tricky innovation}\n8. Qg3 {which he played against Mark Hebden} d6 9. f3 Ne5 10. h4 c6 11. h5 d5\n12. Nge2 Nc4 13. h6 {was Morozevich-Hebden\, Lloyds Bank\, 1994\, 1-0\, 27.}) (8.\nf3) 8… d6 $5 (8… Bxc3 9. Bxc3 Nxe4 (9… Rxe4 $2 {loses} {to} 10. Bxf6 Rxe3\n11. Bxd8 $18) 10. Qf4 $1 Qe7 $4 ({Instead of 10…Qe7  he could have played}\n10… Nf6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 (11… gxf6 $16 {just looks too horrible to\ncontemplate.}) 12. Qxc7 Qxf2 (12… Qg5+ 13. Kb1 Qxg2 14. Qf4 Ne5 15. Bd5 {\nagain with great attacking chances for the pawn.}) 13. Nf3 $14 {with\ntremendous compensation for the pawn}) (10… Nxc3 11. Bxf7+ Kh8 12. Bxe8 Qxe8\n13. bxc3 d6 $16 {and I prefer White.}) 11. Re1 $1 $18 {winning as Black will\nlose material after 12.f3}) 9. Nf3 $5 Bf5 $5 10. Qf4 Bg6 ({If} 10… Bxe4 {\nWhite has} 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Ng5+) (10… Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Bxe4 12. Ng5 Bg6 13.\nh4 {gives play.}) 11. Ng5 h6 12. h4 Ne5 ({If} 12… hxg5 13. hxg5 Nh7 14. Qh2 {\nlooks interesting\,  threatening f4 and f5} {and if} Bxc3 15. bxc3 Bxe4 (15…\nQd7 $1 $19) 16. Bd3 $18 {seemed good.}) 13. Bb3 Nh5 (13… hxg5 14. hxg5 Nh7\n15. Qh4 $40 {with f4 and f5 to follow.}) 14. Qe3 Qd7 {I wasn’t sure what Black\nwould played here.} ({I analysed} 14… hxg5 15. hxg5 {and felt I had good\nchances because Black’s knight on h5 is exposed to a White pawn surge.}) 15. f4\nNg4 16. Qf3 {The crisis point of the game is here. White threatens the\ncrushing 17.f5} hxg5 {Black saw now nothing better. The knight is finaly\ncaptured after being en prise for five moves. I remember looking at the clock\nsituations and being amazed that we had only played 16 moves !} 17. f5 $1 ({If\n} 17. hxg5 $6 {then} Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Bxe4 19. Qh3 Bg6 {and maybe Black is OK?})\n17… Ne5 18. Qe3 Bxf5 ({Or} 18… Bc5 19. Qxg5 {is strong} Bxf5) 19. exf5 Nf4\n{In a mutual time scramble this is a tricky little move.} 20. Kb1 ({Not\nfalling for} 20. hxg5 $4 Ned3+ {winning my queen.}) 20… Nc4 21. Qg3 Nxd2+ 22.\nRxd2 Qxf5 23. hxg5 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Re4 $18 {I could feel my opponents sudden\noptimism after he played this move. If Black could continue with Rae8 then he\nwould be OK.} 25. Rf2 $1 {Repositioning my only ineffectual piece. On d2 \, this\nrook was not doing anything. – now it pins the knight against the queen and\nall White’s pieces contribute a threat to Black’s king.} Qe5 ({I’m sure he\nwould have liked to have played} 25… Rae8 {but} 26. g6 {is still a difficult\nreply to meet as} Qxg6 27. Qxg6 Nxg6 28. Bxf7+ Kf8 29. Bxg6+ {wins}) 26. g6 $1\n{Fortunately for me Black’s capture on c3 has freed up a flight square on b2\nfor my king so I don’t have to worry about checks on my back rank.} d5 {\nBlocking the diagonal of my strong bishop on b3. His king is about to be\nexposed!} 27. gxf7+ Kxf7 {With both of use having a few minutes left and time\ncontrol a long way ff at move 40\, the tension is palpable as this result is\ncrucial to the outcome of the match.} 28. Rh4 {To save the knight Black is\nforced to expose his king still further.} g5 29. Rh7+ Ke6 30. Qg4+ Kf6 31. Qd7\n{Probably winning for White} Qe6 $2 {A blunder – albiet in a lost position. –\nbut in mutual time trouble I let him get away with it.} 32. Qg7+ ({Now} 32.\nRh6+ {wins the queen and it would have been quite a nice game if it had\nfinished this way. But\, I mistakenly thought he could intercept with the knight\nforgettimg it was pinned.}) 32… Kf5 33. Rh6 Qe7 {Now with both flags hanging\nand both players blitzing to reach the time control\, I decided to bail-out and\nwin a piece.} 34. Qxe7 Rxe7 35. g3 Kg4 36. gxf4 gxf4 37. Bxd5 Kg3 $4 {three\nseconds left !} 38. Rg2# {with about 15 seconds left !  It was big relief to\ncome away with the full point as the match score\, after some heroic defence by\nSheila Jackson in her game with Mike Truran was 4.5 – 3.5 to us (Atticus).} 1-0\n[/pgn] \nFM Andrew Smith at the 2019 Keith Richardson Memorial\, courtesy of John Upham Photography
URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-andrew-p-smith-15-viii-1959/
CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer
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