Newcastle triumph in Northumbria League

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(Newcastle Chronicle, 23 February 2024)

Newcastle A have wrapped up the Northumbria League with two rounds to spare after a dominant performance in the club’s first season. After beating South Shields A 3.5-0.5, Newcastle have a maximum 16 points and cannot be caught by second-placed Gosforth Empire on 9 points.

Newcastle’s individual results are impressive: Tim Wall & Andy Burnett 6/8, Zheming Zhang 5.5/7 and Nathan Ekanem 4/4.

Newcastle A (formerly Forest Hall A) have this season formed their own club, which now meets at The Old George Inn on Tuesdays at 7:15pm.

At the foot of Division 1 are Tynemouth A (4 points) and Jesmond (5 points). The bottom team are automatically relegated, while the second-last team have to survive a playoff match against the second-placed team from the division below to stay up.

Division 2 is finely poised, with Gosforth Salters (13 points) ahead of Newcastle University A (12 points). The relegation dogfight is between Forest Hall Foxes (3 points) and South Shields B (1 point).

Tynemouth B and Gosforth Centurions (both on 13 points) are battling it out for the Division 3 title, while Morpeth B (4 points) and Forest Hall Woodpeckers (1 point) are in the drop zone.

In Division 4, Leam Lane Bullets (14 points) are ahead of Gosforth Hawthorns (12 points). The relegation battle is between Forest Hall Squirrels and Morpeth C (both on 2 points).

Newcastle University B (14 points) are Division 5 champions, beyond the reach of Gosforth Jedis (9 points). Leam Lane Comets (2 points) are almost certain to be relegated.

In Division 6, Newcastle B (12 points) still have to face second-placed Alnwick C (9 points).

Full scores:

Division 1:
1. Newcastle A 16;
2. Gosforth Empire 9;
3.-4 Leam Lane Aces, South Shields A 8;
5. Jesmond 5;
6. Tynemouth 4.

Division 2:
1. Gosforth Salters 13;
2. Newcastle University A 12;
3. Morpeth A 8;
4. Gosforth Regents 7;
5. Forest Hall Foxes 3;
6. South Shields B 1.

Division 3:
1-2. Tynemouth B, Gosforth Centurions 13;
3. Alnwick A 10;
4. Gosforth Ivy 5;
5. Morpeth B 4;
6. Forest Hall Woodpeckers 1.

Division 4:
1. Leam Lane Bullets 14;
2. Gosforth Hawthorns 12;
3. Gateshead 10;
4-5. Gosforth Woodbines, Tynemouth C 9;
6-7. Forest Hall Squirrels, Morpeth C 2.

Division 5:
1. Newcastle University B 14;
2. Gosforth Jedis 9;
3-4. Tynemouth D, Forest Hall Owls 8;
5. South Shields C 7;
6. Alnwick B 6;
7. Leam Lane Comets 2.

Division 6:
1. Newcastle B 12;
2. Alnwick C 9;
3. Tynedale 7;
4-5. Gosforth Otterburns, South Shields D 6;
6. Newcastle University C 4.

This week’s puzzles:

Puzzle A: Jon Speelman (White) to play.

Puzzle B: Paul Bielby (Black) to play.

Puzzle C: Gautham Sathishkumar (White) to play.

Puzzle D: William Claridge-Hansen (Black) to play.

Answers:

A: 1 Nxd5! wins a crucial pawn, as if 1…cxd5 2 Bc7! wins the queen.
B: 1…Rf3! 2 gxf3 Qxg3+ 3 Kf1 Qxh3+ 4 Kg1 Rg3+ 5 Kf2 Rg2+ wins.
C: 1 Qh8+ Kg6 2 Qxh6+ Kf5 3 Qf6+ Ke4 4 Qf3 checkmate.
D: 1…Rxg2! 2 Nxf4 (if 2 Kxg2 Nh4+, or 2 Re4 Rc2! wins) Rg4! 3 Nh5 Nxf3 4 Nf6+ Kf8 0-1.

Internationals shine at Old George Blitz

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(Newcastle Chronicle, 16 February 2024)

Any Newcastle or Sunderland football fan can testify to the benefits that talented young sportspeople from around the world bring to the North East. The same effect applies to chess, and international talent was very much on display this Tuesday at Newcastle Chess Club’s Open Blitz, held at the club’s new venue, The Old George Inn, just off the Bigg Market.

The nine-round tournament was won impressively by Husain Nakara, a Newcastle University student from India, on 8.5/9, ahead of fellow Newcastle University student Mate Ther on 8 and Newcastle’s Nathan Ekanem, on 6.5.

Despite only playing a few Northumbria League games so far, Nakara already has a provisional national rating of 2200 (master strength) – way above his official international rating of 1300.

The Under 1750 prize was won by John Awesome, a Newcastle player from Nigeria, while the Under 1500 prize was won by another Newcastle player, Didrik Leivdal, a Newcastle University student from Norway.

Full scores of the Old George Blitz:

1. Nakara 8.5/9;
2. Ther 8;
3. Ekanem 6.5;
4. Awesome 6;
5-6. Leivdal, John Liddle (Gosforth) 5;
7-8. Jeremy Revell, Danny Atcheson (both Newcastle) 4;
9. Daniel Williams (Consett) 3;
10-11. James Ovens (Carlisle), David Sharp (Gosforth) 2;
12. Andy Thompson (Newcastle) 0.

Local youngsters were to the fore in the National Schools Championship this week, with the North East semi-finals between four Newcastle schools producing big wins and setting up the prospect of an exciting regional final.
RGS beat St Mary’s Catholic School B 5-1, while St Cuthbert’s won by the same scoreline against Jesmond Park.

Full scores:

RGS 5-1 St Mary’s B
1. Weiming Xu 0.5-.0.5 Aveesha Mapalana
2. Ben Robinson 1-0 Luca Barbieri
3. Prachi Arora 1-0 Daniel Clark
4. Naman Berry 1-0 Karthikeyan Nandakumar
5. James Reid 0.5-0.5 Jason Wang
6. James Phillips 1-0 Jiatong Wu

St Cuthbert’s 5-1 Jesmond Park
1. Tom Weinstein 1-0 Kai Harkensee
2. Daniel Tong 1-0 Jake Turner
3. Isaac Lancaster 1-0 Tal Thompson McKie
4. Joseph Messer 1-0 Michael Pearson
5. Aazmeer Ansari 1-0 Ewan Palmer
6. Jan Erico-Briones 0-1 Harry Woodman

This week’s puzzles are taken from the current Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge in Germany, where Magnus Carlsen is taking on the world’s best players at Chess960 (where the back rank pieces are shuffled randomly for each game).

Puzzle A: Should Nakamura (White, to play) take Carlsen’s bishop on h8?

Puzzle B: How would Carlsen (Black, to play) have won here?

Puzzle C: How did Aronian (White, to play) crash through?

Puzzle D: Caruana (White, to play). Find the winning move.

Answers:

A: No. If 1 Qxh8 Nf6 2 Qg7 Rg8 3 Qh6 d5! (or 3…d6) 4 f4 Rg6 traps White’s queen.
B: 1…h4! 2 gxh4 (or 2 Kh2 Ba5 3 Nf4 Bc7 wins) 2…g3! 3 h5 Bh6! (zugzwang) 4 Ng1 g2+ 5 Kh2 Bf4+ wins.
C: 1 Rxd6+! 1-0. If 1…cxd6 2 Bb6+ Kc8 3 Rc4+ Rc7 4 Qxc7 checkmate, or 1…Rxd6 2 Rxe8+ Kxe8 3 Qxg8+ wins the queen.
D: 1 Rd6! exd6 2 Bxb6+! axb6 3 Qxb6+ Kd7 4 Qd8+ Kc6 5 Rxe6 wins.

Newcastle’s oldest pub welcomes back the royal game

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(Newcastle Chronicle, 9 February 2024)

The Old George pub in Newcastle city centre was once the favourite hangout for chess-mad King Charles I during the English Civil War.
Now it is welcoming back the royal game for Newcastle Chess Club’s Open Blitz tournament on February 13.

The histories of King Charles I, chess and The Old George are intertwined.

On one occasion, the king was so engrossed in a chess game that he ignored a messenger telling him he had been betrayed by the Scots to the Parliamentary forces. Sadly for his majesty, he lost more than just the game, and eventually was beheaded in 1649.

While imprisoned (under fairly relaxed conditions) by the Scots in Newcastle during the Civil War, Charles was allowed to go out for a game of golf, and also take his jailers out for dinner and a pint at The Old George, just off the Bigg Market.

To this day, there is a painting of King Charles I inside the pub, which first opened its doors to punters in the 1580s. In an ironic twist, it shows him looking forwards, left and right – a kind of royal mugshot.

While plenty of ‘checks’ and ‘checkmates’ will be heard, hopefully no one will shout ‘Off with his head!’ at Newcastle Chess Club’s Open Blitz.

The event starts at 7:15pm on Tuesday 13 February, in The Old George’s upstairs function room, and runs until 10 pm. Entry is open to all, and costs £5.

To enter The Old George Blitz, contact: timpeterwall@gmail.com or 0750 372 2366.

While blitz offers a fast and furious alternative, classical chess continues in the 2023-24 Northumbria League season.

Newcastle A are leading Division 1 with 12/12, ahead of Leam Lane Aces and South Shields A on 8.
In Division 2, Gosforth Salters are top dogs on 11/14, ahead of Newcastle University A on 10.
Tynemouth B are the leaders of Division 3, with 13/14, ahead of Gosforth Centurions on 12.
The Division 4 race is tight, with Gosforth Hawthorns and Leam Lane Bullets on 12 points.
Newcastle University B are the runaway leaders of Division 5 with 14/14, ahead of Gosforth Jedis on 9.
And in Division 6, Newcastle B have a perfect 12/12 match points, ahead of Alnwick C and Tynedale on 7.

This week’s puzzles above are taken from the recent Chessable Masters won by Magnus Carlsen.

Puzzle A: Joe Martinez (Black) to play.

Puzzle B: Daniil Dubov (White) to play.

Puzzle C: Jeffery Xiong (White) to play.

Puzzle D: Magnus Carlsen (White) to play.

Answers:

A: 1…Qg1+ 2 Kh3 Qh1+ 3 Kg4 Qxg2+ 4 Kf5 (if 4 Kh5 Rh8+) Qf3+ 5 Rf4 Nd4 checkmate.
B: 1 Rh4! Qxa1+ 2 Kg2 Be4+ 3 Rxe4 Qd1 4 Rh4! Qd5+ 5 f3 1-0.
C: 1 Ng3! 1-0. If 1…Nxf3 2 Re4 checkmate, or 1…e2 2 Nxe2 checkmate.
D: 1 Ba4+! Ka7 (if 1…Nxe6 2 dxe6 wins) 2 Re7+ White wins: 2…Kb8 3 d6 Rc8 4 Re4 Nf5 5 Kf2 Rxc5 6 Re8+ Kb7 7 d7 Rd5 8 d8(Q) Rxd8 9 Rxd8 1-0.

North East county teams aim for national titles

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(Newcastle Chronicle, 2 February 2024)

Northumberland’s teams are gearing up for another crack at the national county championships, two years after winning the 2022 Open Championship for the first time in the county’s history.

Northumberland, which also includes players from Newcastle, North Tyneside and clubs south of the Tyne, is playing in the Open and Under 1650 competitions.

The Northumberland teams play northern qualifying matches against Manchester on February 17, at the York Quaker Meeting House, and against Yorkshire on March 24, at Darlington’s Dolphin Centre.

Anyone interested in playing for the Northumberland teams should contact the county captain, Tim Wall: timpeterwall@gmail.com. New players are always welcome.

Wall is also in action in the 2023-24 Northumberland Individual Championships, which this season include players aged from eight to 87.

Wall is leading the Zollner (Open) section after four straight wins.
Full scores:
1 Wall (Newcastle) 4/4; ahead of
2 David Henderson (Tynemouth) 2.5;
3 Andy Trevelyan (Jesmond) 2;
4-5 Gustavo Leon Cazares & David Armbruster (both Gosforth) 1;
6 Chris Izod (Jesmond) 0.5; 7 Gary Murphy (Jesmond) 0.

Eighty-seven year-old veteran Paul Bielby (South Shields) is currently the joint leader with Mick Riding (Gosforth) of the Sell (Under 2000) competition.
Full scores:
1-2 Bielby & Riding 3/4;
3-4 Raj Mohindra (Forest Hall) & James Ross (Gosforth) 2.5;
5-6 Stuart Skelsey (Forest Hall) & John Clarke (Tynemouth) 2;
7-8 Morgan French (Forest Hall) & Dalil Benchebra (Leam Lane) 1.5;
9-10 Ian Chester & Alex Blake (both Gosforth) 1.

In the Gilroy (Under 1700) event, Jeff Baird (Forest Hall) is clear leader, while eight-year-old Lev Drobiazko (Gosforth) is making his debut.
Full scores:
1 Baird 3.5/4;
2-7 Dave Peardon (South Shields), Andrew Robinson, Mark McKay, Alex Blake, David Pritchard (all Gosforth), Kevin Cox (Gateshead) 3;
8 David Simm (Morpeth) 2.5;
9-13 Morgan French (Forest Hall), Denise Mosse (Gateshead), Andrew Hardy (Alnwick), Joseph Miller (Leam Lane), Drobiazko 2;
14-18 Bob Heyman, Aaron Cheung, Gautham Sathishkumar (all Gosforth), Jonathan Solomon (Forest Hall), Steve Downey (Leam Lane) 1.5;
19-20 Albert Griffiths (Gosforth), Ethan Tatters (Forest Hall) 1;
21-22 Robert Appleby (Leam Lane), Sanjay Sathishkumar (Gosforth) 0.

For those who like their chess fast and furious, the next 9-round Newcastle FIDE-rated Blitz is on Monday February 12 at the Tyneside Irish Centre. Kickoff is at 7:15pm, with a time control of 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. Entry is £5 on the door, with entry fees returned as prizes. To enter, contact timpeterwall@gmail.com or 0750 372 2366.

This week’s puzzles are from the recent Tata Steel Congress.

Puzzle A: Anish Giri (Black) to play & win

Puzzle B: Alireza Firouzja (White) to play & win

Puzzle C: Hans Niemann (Black) to play and win.

Puzzle D: Parham Maghsoodloo (White) to play & win

Answers:

A: 1…Qf6! 0-1. If 2 f3 axb3 3 fxe4 Qxd4+.
B: 1 Qd3! 1-0. If 1…Bc5 2 Rxe4 dxe4 3 Qd7 checkmate.
C: 1…Qxe2+! 2 Kxe2 Bxf4+! 3 Ke1 Bxg3+ 4 Kf1 Rxd1 checkmate.
D: 1 Rc8! Qxc8 2 Nb6+! Ka5 3 Nxc8 wins.