YORKSHIRE LEAGUE DIVISION ONE 2017/2018.CALDERDALE ‘A’ v HULL & D.C.A. ‘A’.

23 rd September 2017.

Woodhouse Cup 23rd September 2017.

Home Team Away TeamCalderdale 'A'. Hull & D.C.A. 'A'.

Board. YCA YCA Home Result Away YCA YCA

Code GradeGrad

e Code1 4971 195 Phil R. Watson ½ - ½ John G. Cooper 194 38752 4606 175 Richard J. Webster 0 - 1 John Thackray 171 56583 2627 178 Robert A. Newton ½ - ½ John W. Atkinson 175 38664 3911 171 John M. Morgan ½ - ½ Douglas Vleeshhouwer 170 44465 2757 170 Mark A. Whitehead 0 - 1 Dave W. Stephenson 161 40646 3572 168 Andrew Jaques 1 - 0 Dave Stothard 139 48457 1532 159 David A. Patrick 0 - 1 Richard O. Callis 141 11628 2039 163 David Shapland 0 - 1 Paul Allison 139 3479

Home Team Score 2½ - 5½ Away Team Score

The first fixture of the season saw Hull & D.C.A. ‘A’ travelling to King Cross Working Men’s Club, Warley Road, Halifax for a Division One fixture against Calderdale ‘A’. This trip is the longest journey of the season and matches between teams from both of these Yorkshire Chess Association Constituent Members put pressure on away captains to field a competitive line-up. Although there is a bar at the venue, refreshments are not provided, so it is useful to take something with you to eat or know the location of nearby shops.

In my absence, John Cooper captained a team whose lower boards usually feature in the ‘B’ team. Transport considerations resulted in their promotion to the ‘A’ team and everyone performed creditably. Calderdale ‘A’ enjoyed a grading advantage on every board, yet managed to win just one game. The 5½-2½ victory offers a sound platform for the rest of the season, with the next fixture being at newly promoted Bradford Central on 14th October 2017.

(2) Richard J. Webster. - John Thackray. [D35]Y.C.A. Division 1. 2017/2018. 23.09.2017.1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.Nge2 0–0 9.0–0 Re8 10.a3 (After the game my opponent thought he should have played 10. f3 immediately and that appears to be the book move.) 10...Nf8 11.f3 Ng6 12.e4 dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nd5 14.Bd2 Qc7 15.Rc1 Ngf4 (Fritz prefers 15. ... Qb6 with the possibility of then playing Ne5.) 16.Nxf4 Nxf4 17.Bb1 Nd5 18.Re1 Be6 (The computer again prefers 18. ... Qb6 19. Bc3 with a slight advantage to black.) 19.Qc2 g6 20.b4 a6 21.Qb2 Rad8 22.a4 Nb6 23.Nc5 Bxc5 24.dxc5? (This gets the isolated 'd' pawn out of the firing line but loses the exchange. Instead 24. bxc5 Nc4 25. Qc3 Nxd2 26. Qxd2 is equal.) 24...Nc4 25.Rxc4 Bxc4 26.Rxe8+ Rxe8 27.Be4 Qd7 28.Bh6 f5! (Averting the threat of mate and challenging the bishop on e4.) 29.Qc3 fxe4 30.Qxc4+ Qd5 31.Qc3 Qe5 32.Qb3+ Re6 33.Bc1? (33. fxe4 Qd4+ 34. Be3 Qxe4 35. Kf2 is better, but black is still winning.) 33...exf3 34.gxf3 Qd5 (Forces the exchange of queens and then black has a winning endgame, however 34. ... Qe1+ 35. Kg2 Kg7 36. Qb2+ Kf7 secures the victory more quickly.) 0–1

(4) John Morgan – Douglas Vleeshhouwer. ½–½Yorkshire League, Calderdale ‘A’ vs Hull & D.C.A. ‘A’, 23.09.2017. [A25: English Opening vs King's Indian with ...Nc6 but without early d3]1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Nc3 f5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Nf3 [last book move] 5...Bb4 [5... e4 is more common but I wanted to continue with my Grand Prix Attack setup] 6.0–0 0–0 7.d4 [7.Nd5 would have been better, avoiding the double pawn on the c-file] 7...e4= [Black gains space and equalises] 8.Ng5 Bxc3 9.bxc3 h6 10.Nh3 Na5 11.Qa4 b6 [Black's Knight on a5 is keeping White's Queen busy with defending the c4-pawn, giving Black the edge in this position.] 12.f3 d6 13.Nf4 Bd7 14.Qc2 A key moment in the game:

I considered … Nxc4, but I didn't want to lose my e-pawn. Also, after 14...Nxc4!? 15.fxe4 fxe4 16.Bxe4 Nxe4 17.Qxe4 I was worried about White playing Qd5+, threatening to take my Knight on c4. However, I could have just played 17... Qe8 followed by 18... Qf7 and I would have an advantage due to White's weak Bishop and underdeveloped a1-Rook. Instead I thought I could grab space on the Kingside. Unfortunately, after this allows White to equalise: 14... g5 15.Nd5= Nxd5 16.cxd5 exf3 17.Bxf3 Nc4 [A great square for my Knight and it isn't a bad move but 17... Qf6 would have been better, activating the Queen, allowing my Rooks to link up (Rae8 will follow soon to put more pressure on White's position) and meet White's next move. Black would definitely have been in the driver's seat.] 18.Bg4 [I missed this trick which appears to win White a pawn but despite the extra material Black's position is actually better because his Knight is so much stronger than White's Bishop. Instead, White should have kept the Bishop pair and played 18.Qd3!? b5 19.a4 =] 18...Qe7 19.Bxf5 Bxf5 20.Rxf5 Rxf5 [20...Kg7!? would have given Black the edge. I had looked at this but incorrectly thought the move order wouldn't make a difference.] 21.Qxf5 Kg7 22.Qd3 [I missed this. It is still equal as long I respond correctly but I was taken by surprise.] 22... Na5?! [Is the wrong continuation! I thought I could no longer play 22...b5 because my Bishop is no longer there to protect it against 23.a4. The engine shows however that Black forces a draw with 22... b5!? 23.a4 Rf8 24.axb5 Qf7 25.Be3 (25.Qxc4?? Qf1 mate!) Nb2 26.Qe4 Nc4 27.Qd3 Nb2=.] 23.Bd2 Re8?! [Trying to win a pawn when instead I should have grabbed the only open file with 23...Rf8. White would still be better though.] 24.Re1± Qe4 [thinking that after 24.Qxe4 Rxe4 followed by Nc4 I have nothing to fear as White has got no way of getting through, but I missed White's next move:] 25.c4!? Qxd3 26.exd3 Rxe1+ 27.Bxe1 Nb7 Let's pause here for a minute.

White has an extra pawn but it is buried in the triple(!) pawn on the d-file. Can he force a way through on the Queenside? That was certainly my opponent's intention but I couldn't see how he could achieve it so I simply routed my Knight to f7 to support the King in keeping the Kingside safe. Even if White first tries to create space for his Bishop by attacking the Kingside with 28.h4 Kg6 29.Kg2 gxh4 30.gxh4 Nd8 31.Kf3 Kf5 32.Bd2, Black can stop the Bishop from becoming a threat with 32... Nf7. Black will just keep moving his King between f6 and g6 to stop White's King and Bishop from moving forward: 33.Be3 Kg6 34.Ke4 h5 35.Bd2 Kf6 36.Bf4 Kg6 37.c5 Kf6. 28.Bb4 Nd8 29.c5 Nf7 30.Kf2 Kf6 31.Ke3 Kf5 32.cxb6 cxb6 33.h3 h5 34.a4 a6 35.Kf3 Kg6 36.Ke4 Kf6 37.g4 h4 [37...hxg4 would have been even better: 38.hxg4 b5 39.axb5 axb5 40.Ke3 Ke7. The White King cannot go after b-pawn because he'll lose the g-pawn and quite possibly the game.] 38.Kf3 and White offered a draw.

(7) Richard O. Callis. - David A. Patrick. [D00]Y.C.A. Division 1. 2017/2018. 23.09.2017. 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nd2 Qb6 6.Qb3 c4 7.Qc2 Nh5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Be2 Nf6 11.Bg3 h5 12.h3 h4 13.Bh2 g4 14.e4 gxh3 15.gxh3 e6 16.Ngf3 Bh6 17.e5 Ng8 18.Rg1 Nce7 19.Rg4 Nf5 20.Bf4 Bxf4 21.Rxf4 Bd7 22.Ng5 Qd8 23.Rg4 Ngh6 24.Rg2 Rg8 25.Ndf3 a5 26.Qd2 a4 27.a3 Ra6 28.0–0–0 Qb6 29.Rdg1 Qb3 30.Bd1 Qa2 31.Bc2 Rb6 32.Bb1 Qb3 33.Nh7 Rxg2 34.Rxg2 Kd8 35.Nf6 Kc7 36.Rg5 Bc6 37.Ng8 Nxg8 38.Rxg8 Bd7 39.Rg4 Ra6 40.Nxh4 Ra8 41.Nxf5 exf5 42.Rg3 Rh8 43.Qg5 f4 44.Qxf4 Be6 45.Qf6 Rxh3 46.Rxh3 Bxh3 47.Qxf7+ Kb6 48.Qxd5 Ka7 49.e6 Qb6 50.e7 Qh6+ 51.Kd1 Bg4+ 52.f3 Qh1+ 53.Kd2 Qh2+ 54.Ke3 Bxf3 55.Kxf3 Qh1+ 56.Kf4 Qxd5 57.e8Q Qh1 58.Qxa4+ Kb8 59.Qe8+ Ka7 60.Be4 Qh2+ 61.Kf5 Qf2+ 62.Ke5 Qg3+ 63.Kd5 Qg5+ 64.Kxc4 b5+ 65.Kb4 Qg7 66.Qa8+ Kb6 67.Qb7+ 1–0

Hull & D.C.A. ‘A’ board 4 and 5 – Douglas Vleeshhouwer and David Stephenson.

My thanks to John Thackray and Douglas Vleeshhouwer for annotating their games.

David G. Mills – Match Captain.