"Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you." - Arnold Palmer

Saturday 26 October 2013

Grantham Sharks 4NCL Website

It was brought to my attention that Grantham Sharks 4NCL has already new website and new logo.
Please visit this new website and link is here.

Grantham clowns 1 and 2

Colin Crouch has recently published on Google+ his comments on the merge of Pandora Box Grantham and Sambuca Sharks under headline "Grantham clowns 1 and 2" which you can read in full below:

"It is at the moment far from clear what is happening in two of the teams in division 1 of the 4NCL chess league. These happen to be Grantham Sharks 1 and Grantham Sharks 2. As the names imply, there was a sudden cut-and-paste between two pre-existing teams. There is the additional implication that the two team captains feel that they will be unable to hold a position in division 1, and that possibly they can just about salvage something if they join forces.
But then what happens with their second team? Quite simply, their team will be vastly weakened, all the more so in that various players, including myself, who are capable of holding their own in the top division have been kicked out. And why would this have happened? The answer is not immediately obvious, until one notes the Sharks second second team was dropped for the new season, and that captain Ben Purton, rated well below 2200, would not be strong enough on merit to justify a place on team. Watch out for an easy demotion.
Meanwhile, I am suddenly looking for a division 1 teams, as does Chris Ross, Britain's leading blind player."




Thursday 24 October 2013

Nottingham University 1 Surprises Grantham 1

The NCA league championship defender - Grantham 1 - played last Tuesday another match against rather unpredictable but strong team of Nottingham University.


Nottingham
University 1
2½:2½
Grantham 1
Whitefield C
-
0:1
Mangione C
203
Lee D
166
0:1
Birtwistle N
196
Walker A
166
½:½
Payne N
180
Poole T
156
1:0
Prior S
181
Le, Nguyen
161
1:0
Hebert A
160


Grantham top players - Claudio Mangione and Nigel Birtwistle - did their duties on the board 1 and 2 and gained 2 points for Grantham.
Nick Payne drew on the board 3, so the the match had to be decided on the bottom boards.
Steve Prior was playing on board 4. He has had very good season so far and he qualified himself recently for British Championship. In this match however, he slipped and lost the game against Tim Poole.


Poole vs Prior, after 30.b4=


The Black's position was not so bad and as you can see on diagram above after 30.b4 it seems to me rather equal.
However, the position on the diagram below, after 59...Rf4, is obviously lost for Black.



Poole vs Prior, after 59...Rf4 +-


Also Andy Hebert, who has had an excellent season so far as well, lost to Nguyen Le on the bottom board.

Monday 21 October 2013

Chris Dorrington Drew With GM Zvjaginsev!


And now a very good news for British Chess!
Chris Dorrington, who used to play for Lincolnshire County team, is currently playing in the European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece. He is representing his 4NCL team Barbican 4NCL
Chris's FIDE rating is 2313 and he had a brilliant first day when he drew with GM Vadim Zvjaginsev rated 2659
When you have a look at this game you can be surprised that it was GM Zvjaginsev who slipped in 18th move and had to fight for equality till 28th move!





Nottinghamshire vs Lincolnshire - 10 : 6

It was a "Black Saturday" for Lincolnshire County Chess Team. Travelling to the Bramcote our players faced very strong opposition of Nottinghamshire and they were outgraded on most but top two boards.
The final result is not what we exactly wanted but it is perhaps a fair expression of the current strength of both teams.



Section:  Open

Home Team: Nottinghamshire
Away Team: Lincolnshire
Venue:  Bramcote
Date: 19th October 2013
Team having White on odd boards:  Lincolnshire
Result reported by:  Nigel Birtwistle


Board
ECF Code
Grade
Home team players’ names
Score
Score
Away Team players’ names
Grade
ECF Code
1
106259B
201
 Michael Barnes
½
½
 Claudio Mangione
203
280480H
2
119931G
169
 John Swain (res)
½
½
 Nigel Birtwistle
196
106801F
3
246346F
199E
 Alex  Posazhenikov
1
0
 Nick Stead
192
119269H
4
258610B
196
 Pablo Padilla Cabrero
1
0
 Samuel Milson
190
247736J
5
117916A
190
 Robert Richmond
0
1
 Paul Cumbers
189
103734B
6
191288E
187
 Alexander Combie
1
0
 Kevin McCarthy
170
244268B
7
165575K
171
 Richard Truman
0
1
 Keith Palmer
169
116655E
8
113252A
170
 Steve Hunter
0
1
 Andrew Hebert
160
190995H
9
259443C
170
 Daniel Broughton
½
½
 Ivan David
159
772821E
10
107648L
169
 Steve Burke
1
0
 Steve Allott
159
152031D
11
120954B
166
 Andrew Walker
1
0
 Graham Ladds
158
113979E
12
271898E
167
 Mark Kenyon
½
½
 Ian McDonald
157
222114H
13
174274H
165
 Brian Thompson
1
0
 Stuart Macdonald
151
277271G
14
119873H
164
 Drag Sudar
½
½
 Denis Georgiou
149
111157H
15
105357H
160
 Nick London
½
½
 Chris Holt
148
222114H
16
104365B
158
 David Levens
1
0
 Ben Mason
140
139887J




10
6