CHESS SCENE FOR ROSS HARRIS

Needed to get some physio treatment on my leg a short while ago. 

During the treatment, I told Ross Harris about a Chess scene from a movie.  I have found out that the scene is available online.

It is posted below, please excuse the bad language in the scene!

Thanks for the treatment Ross.


Psalm 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

LAST LEAGUE CHESS MATCH AT THE ULSTER BANK CLUB

Wednesday night saw the last League match a the Ulster Bank Club. The match result was a 4-1 win for Civil Service.

The club officials are in the business of locating another venue for the second half of the season.

ECC 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

ANALYSE THIS

Strand won both matches tonight, not quite sure what the exact scoring was.
I had a very interesting game, though I lost on time.

However a typical position arose which illustrates the type of position which club players have to deal with. It is not a tactical position, where you can win a pawn, a piece, or get a forced checkmate.

It is more of a mundane type of position, where there is possibly one or more options.

Just how is the club players supposed to work out which is the best, or one of the best moves to make?

Here is the position, it is very interesting. Black to play? What would you play?

I will post the move I made in the comments section and the reason I chose that particular move.

ECC 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

BOMBSHELL

Providence has landed a bombshell on the South Belfast Chess Club. Apparently the Ulster Bankers Club will be closing at the end of the year.

So, the SB committee will be urgently looking for a new venue. Will be ironic if they end up back at Fisherwick???

Meanwhile tonight`s league game against Civil Service was a decisive 4.5 defeat for the SB A team.

ECC 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

ONLINE CHESS

I very rarely play online chess on any server as I have discovered I can hardly win a game.

On Wednesday night I did play a couple of games on Chess.com. My opponent was a computer programme named Computer 3-HARD rated at 1603.

In both game I was victorious, just goes to show it is easier for me to win games against a computer programme, than it is to win games against "humans."

ECC 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

THE GINGER GM HAS THE ABILITY TO MAKE CHESS ENTERTAINING AND FUN

Great video of GM Simon Williams preparing for his match against GM Ben Finegold.   

Simon Williams has, or has developed, the art of making Chess entertaining and fun.  This is a real talent.

Proverbs 22:29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

NEVER MIND THE QUALITY, FEEL THE WIDTH

Forget about Magnus Carlsen winning the Isle Of Man chess, the tournament he took part in was not the most interesting tournament of the occasion.

The real interesting tournament was the Minor chess tournament which run alongside Magnus Carlsen`s tournament.

It was interesting for a bad reason which seems to plague what we could call "Amateur Chess."

Before the Minor tournament even started I was able to tell colleagues who would win it easily, plus I could point out that the winner would be one of the competitors who was not particularly highly rated!

A few years ago, I noticed a guy playing in one of the Gibraltar Amateur due to his "body language."  He was strolling about the place radiating an outward "super confidence" which belied his "Amateur status" and his rating of approx 1400!

Naturally he won the tournament, I suspect he may have won the same tournament on the following year as well!

His rating seems to have went up a little since Gibraltar, but not enough to hinder him, entering and easily winning the 2017 IOM  Minor tournament.

It has reached the stage where "Amateur chess players," who enter tournaments for people with ratings below 2000, need to start ascertaining before the tournament starts, whether all the "competitors" are legitimate or not.  It is too late to say or do anything once the tournament has started.

I am pretty certain if I see an Amateur chess tournament anywhere in Europe, and the entry consists of some "Moroccan players," some "Nigerian players" or some "Romanian players" then it is impossible to know if the players are genuinely of an amateur playing strength or not.

The first time I came across this phenomenon was in Gibraltar in 2009.  A certain Mr. Haddou Sellak from Morroco was put down in the starting list as approx a 1200 player.  

He exhibited the exact same body language as the "Romanian guy" who won the recent IOM Minor.

Body language can be a very interesting subject.  I did write about it on another blog.

Is there really such a thing as "Body language?"

Proverbs 6:16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT INJURY..............................................

An amusing surmise from an unusual source.

Proverbs 12:23
A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.

A FITTING TRIBUTE TO RAY DEVENNEY

The UCU website carries a very nice article paying tribute to our respected and popular Chess colleague, Ray Devenney.  

Ray is on the move to Newcastle Upon Tyne in North England.

Best wishes for the future Ray.  I am posting this picture courtesy of the UCU.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.

CAN YOU SEE THE MATE IN 10 ?

Can you see the mate in 10 in the position above?  

It is white to play and if he plays the proper move, he creates a situation where it is mate in 10, if black plays the best moves. It is mate in less than 10 if black plays lesser moves.

The whole scenario is hard to visualise.

During the game I missed the move and ended up with only a draw.

I will post white`s best move in the comments section.

By the way, all these positions are from Fritz Rated Mode games.
The current setting for Fritz 14 is 2198.

Most of the positions I post here are positions I missed during the game, then they are shown to me by the Fritz analysis.  

Sometimes I cannot believe I missed such a move, on other occasions I am not so surprised, as the position was so subtle and complex, well beyond my ability.

I will try and post the whole game here when I get time.

CONGRATULATIONS TO STEVE SCANNELL AND ALL THE OTHER PRIZE WINNERS

Full details of the 2017 Ulster Championships are available online. Congratulations to Steve Scannell on  winning his 9th title and congratulations to all the other prize winners.

The game below played by Thomas Donaldson was given the best game award.

Play chess online

ECC 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

WIN AS WHITE

It is white to move. White`s next move is decisive in bringing about a winning position.  

At  first glance it may seem that black should be able to sacrifice the rook for the white pawn while pushing his own pawn, thereby gaining a draw.

In the game I missed the best continuation and ended up with a draw.

I was not in time trouble, it was just a really bad mistake by me.

Can you see white`s best continuation? I will post the key move in the comments section.

I WOULD BE INTERESTED TO SEE A COMPUTER MATCH

Computer matches against top Chess players seem to be a thing of the past, since the advent of the really, really, really strong super computers.

However I would like to see Magnus Carlsen play a match against a commercial programme, with the programme`s rating strength set to the same as Carlsen`s ELO.

His current ELO is 2822, how would he fare in a 6 game match with Fritz using the programme`s rated play mode also set at 2822?

Such a match must have the possibility of being a good earner for Magnus or any other top player?

This is just one of the computer matches I remember following online.

BEST WIN FOR A WHILE

Got this position in a recent Rated mode game. It turned out to be my best win in quite a while. It is white to play, I played Nh5 and the game ended when Fritz resigned 5 moves later.

What pleased me most was the fact I was able to accurately visualise all the ramifications after Nh5, in many of my games I fail to visualise accurately.

Ecc 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

GOOD ENDGAME STUDY

Here is a good endgame study from a recent game. It is white to play. In the game I ended up drawing as I was running  out of time. Should be a forced mate in 9 or less.

The move I made was Ng5, which was not the best, though white is still winning.

WIN INSTEAD OF DRAW

Here is a position from one of my games against Fritz rated play.  It is an endgame with black having one extra pawn.  

In the actual game I ended up drawing, I am black and it is black to play. I was concerned that my King was too far away from the pawns and white`s King would be able to start breaking through.

Can you see the best continuation for black?

No doubt some people will find this easy, during the game I missed it.  I will post black`s best move in the comments section.

Ecc 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

PAWN SACRIFICE

Just noticed the movie "Pawn Sacrifice" is presently available online.

Ecc 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

BOBBY FISCHER AND "BRITISH ISRAELISM"

Due to the death of a local, sinister, mysterious and notorious exponent of "British Israelism," I was reminded of an article I had published some time ago titled "BOBBY FISCHER AND BRITISH ISRAELISM."

Here is s link to the Bobby Fischer article.  

BOBBY FISCHER AND "BRITISH ISRAELISM"

FORCED MATE IN 16

A position arose in one of my games against the computer programme, which leads to a forced mate in 16 moves  for the black pieces.

Needless to say, I did not see it during the game, though I still won. See if you can visualise the forced mate in 16. The position is below, it is black to play

BELFAST RAPID PLAY

Here is a very short video of the Belfast Rapid Play which took place on 28/4/2017. There was a very good turn out for this enjoyable and well run tournament.

A link with full report for the tournament site.

Congratulations to all the prize winners.

Ecc 12;12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

LAST MATCH OF THE SEASON

The last match of the season was a 3.5-1.5 defeat at the hands of potential champions Muldoons.

Well done to Graeme and Richard on scoring the 1.5

Here is a short video of the Muldoons versus BS match which took place at Muldoons alternative venue in Clifton House.

This video shows the BS versus Muldoons match which took place at the BS alternative venue a few weeks ago.

Ecc 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

GM MARK HEBDEN SIMUL VIDEO

ANNUAL CHESS SIMUL NEXT THURSDAY

The traditional UCU Chess simul is on Thursday 16th February at Inst.
This has proven to be a very popular annual event and this year GM Mark Hebden is the guest star.

TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE

A brilliant idea has emerged from within the Ulster Chess Community.  A fundraising venture to send three kids to Russia.

Brendan Jamison seems to be deeply involved in the enterprise.

You can read the details at this link.

Here is a Russian folksong which was hi-jacked and turned into a Western pop tune.

James 1:5

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

SOUTH BELFAST VERSUS QUEENS

A very brief report from Rookie and video clip.





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1.Ray Devenney 0.5-0.5 Sergio Esteve Sanchez;

2. Sam Flanagan 0.5-0.5 Stephen Rush; 

3.John Bryars 1-0 John Masterson; 

4.Bruce MacLean 0-1 Calum Ormerod; 

5.Bobby Thompson 0-1 Ian Woodfield. 

Total: 2-3. +Bonus: 2-5. 

So close this time. It was down to the last game. And a second great result for John after his draw with Nick Pilkiewicz. 

We're now 7.5 points behind Ballynafeigh 2 with a game in hand. 

That game in hand is next Monday, 16/1/17, at 8pm away to Muldoon's, Corporation Square. Where there's life, there's hope!

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SOUTH BELFAST VERSUS MULDOONS

Here is a short video of the latest Belfast South match.