(Newcastle Chronicle, 20 September 2024)

As any sports fan will tell you, in Cup Finals underdogs often rise to the occasion and defeat the favourites. In the Northumberland Summer Chess Cup Final, Forest Hall Badgers pulled off an impressive giant-killing act to defeat Morpeth A, while Gosforth Regents defeated their club mates Gosforth Centurions in the Plate Final.

With the help of a 3.5-point handicap, Forest Hall Badgers (a Minor team) beat Morpeth A (an Open team) 5.5-2 – winning two games and losing two games against much higher-rated opposition.

Scores (Morpeth players first):

Board 1: Roger Coathup 1-0 Morgan French
Board 2: Mike Smyth 0-1 Hanif Zaman
Board 3: Martin Seeber 0-1 Reese Wright
Board 4: Alan Welsh 1-0 John Thomas

Forest Hall’s wins were helped by time trouble, with Smyth and Seeber allowing themselves to get into severe time trouble and then blundering. On Board 2, Smyth was a queen for rook ahead, but with only a minute left on his clock, he allowed a checkmate by Zaman with his king trapped on the side of the board.

That decided the match, as the Badgers only needed a single draw to clinch the title. Board 3 also went Forest Hall’s way after Seeber, a piece up with no counterplay, missed a tactic by Wright to win his queen.

Although both wins could be termed lucky, the fighting spirit showed by the young Forest Hall players, coupled with indecision by their more experienced opponents, turned the match in Forest Hall’s favour.

The Plate Final between Gosforth Regents and Gosforth Centurions (both Intermediate teams) was more straightforward. The Regents won comfortably 3.5-0.5, with greater experience this time the factor that swung the match.

Scores (Regent players first):

Board 1: Mark McKay 1-0 Steven Eggleston
Board 2: Marco Checchi 1-0 Antonio Stipanovic
Board 3: Ian Chester 0.5-0.5 David Pritchard
Board 4: Martin Beardsley 1-0 Michael Owen

As the winter chess season gets underway, the 6oth Northumberland Congress takes place at The Parks Leisure Centre, North Shields, over the weekend of 27-29 September. Over 130 players are expected to compete for a total of £2,200 in prizes. It’s still possible to enter the congress, with a range of tournaments for players to try their hand at: Open, Major (under 1900), Minor (under 1675) and Foundation (under 1450). You can enter online at: https://northumberlandchess.wixsite.com/congress.

PUZZLES

This week’s puzzles are from the Chess Olympiad currently taking place in Budapest, Hungary.

Puzzle A: Eicharb-Hillarp Persson. Black to play & win.

Puzzle B: Gumularz-Tuan Minh. White to play & win.

Puzzle C: Erigaisi-Prohaszka. White to play & win.

Puzzle D: Duda-Dragnev. Black to play & draw.

ANSWERS:

A: 1…Ne5+! 2 Kxe4 (2 fxe5 Qxg4 checkmate) 2…Qxg4! (2…Qg6+ also leads to mate) 3 Qxd6 Qf5 checkmate.
B: 1 Nb5! wins material. 1…Qa5 2 Nxa3, or 1…Rxa2 2 Rxb4.
C: 1 Qxh6+! gxh6 2 Rxh6+ Qh7 3 Rxh7 checkmate.
D: 1…Qxh3+! 2 gxh3 Rxf2+ 3 Kg3 Rf3+ 4 Kh2 (if 4 Kxh4 Rxh3 checkmate) 4…Rf2+ Draw. If 3 Kg1 Rxg2+ 4 Kh1 Bxh3 should draw.

(Newcastle Chronicle, 6 September 2024)

The Northumberland Summer Cup and Plate’s 22 teams have been whittled down to just four for the Finals, which take place on Monday September 16 at Gosforth Chess Club. Morpeth take on Forest Hall Badgers in the Cup Final, while Gosforth Regents play Gosforth Centurions in the Plate Final.

This year the competition has a new format, with World Cup-style qualifying groups before the knockout stage. Over 220 games have been played, helping chess clubs stay active over the summer months. Top teams from four groups qualified for the Cup semis, while second-placed teams from the group stages went through to the Plate semis. The handicap system awards extra points to lower rated teams.

In the Cup semi-finals at Gosforth on September 2, Morpeth fielded Division 1 stars Roger Coathup, Mike Smyth, James Turner and Alan Welsh to win 4-2.5 versus Forest Hall Magpies. The Magpies had their highly experienced lineup of Mike Smith, Jeff Baird, Steve Bowey and Jeff Bentham. Although the Magpies had a 2.5 handicap, Morpeth swept the board 4-0.

The other Cup semi-final saw two Minor teams, Gateshead and Forest Hall Badgers, duel it out. The Badgers, including three young players Morgan French, Hanif Zaman, and Reece Wright, triumphed 3-1 versus the more experienced Gateshead (Kevin Cox, Barry Edgar, Peter Wells and Alex Johnson). Since Gateshead had the lower average rating, the Badgers had needed 2.5 points to go through, while Gateshead only needed 2 points.

In the first Plate semi-final, underdogs Gosforth Centurions (Antonio Stipanovic, David Pritchard, Michael Owen and Brandon Russell) edged out Division 1’s Jesmond (Edward Dodds, Chris Izod, Andy Trevelyan and Alex Surtees) 3.5-3, after Stipanovic pulled off a fine giantkiller win against Dodds. With a 2.5-point handicap, this saw Centurions through to the final.

In the other Plate semi-final, Gosforth Regents (Mark McKay, Alex Blake, Ian Chester and Martin Beardsley) overcame Gosforth Hawthorns (Alex Piercy, Jacob Manley, Steve Armstrong and Andrew Brown) 4-2.5.

In the Cup Final, Open team Morpeth will be giving a 3.5-point head start to Minor team Forest Hall Badgers. Morpeth need a clean sweep, while just one draw will give the Badgers the title.

In the Plate Final, Major team Gosforth Regents give a 1.5-point handicap to Intermediate team Gosforth Centurions. The Regents need 3 points to win, while the Centurions just need 1.5.

Spectators for the Finals are welcome at the Gosforth Empire Club, 32-24 Salters Road, Gosforth. Matches kick off at 7:15pm.

The next big local chess gathering is the 60th Northumberland Weekend Congress, 27-29 September at The Parks Leisure Centre, North Shields. Entries are being taken at: https://northumberlandchess.wixsite.com/congress.

PUZZLES

Puzzle A: Andy Burnett (White) to play

Puzzle B: Jude Shearsby (Black) to play

Puzzle C: Billy Fellowes (White) to play

Puzzle D: David Wise (White) to play

ANSWERS:

A: 1 Rh3+ 1-0. If 1…Bxh3 2 Qxg5.
B: 1…Bxb2+! 2 Qxb2 Qe1+ 3 Kc2 Rd2+ 0-1
C: 1 Rxc6+! Bxc6 2 Rb1 1-0.
D: 1 Rxb7! Qc8 (1…Qxb7 2 Nxd6+! exd6 3 Ba6+) 2 Nxd6+! exd6 3 Bb5+ Be7 4 Bxd7+ Qxd7 5 Rxd7 and White won.

(Newcastle Chronicle, 23 August 2024)

The Northumbria Masters Congress is in full swing this Bank Holiday weekend, with a total of nine Grandmasters and 11 International Masters playing nine games each at the Dolphin Centre, Darlington. The congress, with 150 players in total, is the North of England’s top annual international event.

In the Masters Open tournament, six GMs are playing, including England’s Mark Hebden, Scotland’s Matthew Turner, Belgium’s Alex Dgebuadze, Norway’s Frode Urkedal, Ukraine’s Yury Shkuro and Oleg Korneev (Spain).

In the GM Round Robin, aimed at producing GM norms for up-and-coming players, Northumberland’s GM Danny Gormally will be taking on GMs Eldar Gasanov (Ukraine) and Keti Arakhamia (Scotland), plus Sohum Lohia, Alex Golding and Jonah Willow (England), Conor Murphy (Ireland), Nikolas Wachinger (Germany), Elliot Papadiamandis (France) and Ondrej Svanda (Czech Republic). The GM norm will be 7/9.

In the IM Round Robin, IMs Peter Large (England), Gavin Wall (Ireland) and Angus Dunnington (Scotland) face Gosforth’s James Moreby and Jude Shearsby (England), Newcastle’s Andy Burnett (Scotland), Petr Hollan (Czech Republic), Zala Urh (Slovenia), Santhosh Abhyuday (India) and Moritz Collin (Switzerland). The IM norm is 7/9.

The final results will be in on Monday, when the Grandmaster, International Master, Open, Challengers and Major tournaments finish. Players compete for £6,000 in prizes and also aim to complete Grandmaster and International Master norms. Spectators are welcome from Friday 23 to Monday 26, with rounds running 10am-2pm and 3pm-7pm. The top games can be followed online at: https://lichess.org/broadcast and https://chess.com/events.

Sponsors for the congress include the English Chess Federation, the Chess Trust, the Friends of Chess, Durham County Chess Association, Northumberland Chess Association and the Northumbria Junior Chess Association.

The next major regional event coming up is the 60th Northumberland Weekend Congress, organised by Gosforth Chess Club, which takes place at the Parks Leisure Centre, Howdon Road, North Shields, North Tyneside, NE29 6TL from September 27-29. Tournaments include the Open, Major, Minor and Foundation, and a total of £2,200 in prizes is at stake. To enter online, go to: https://northumberlandchess.wixsite.com/congress. Queries should be addressed to: davidarmbruster51@googlemail.com.

As the North East’s players and clubs gear up for the new season this September, entries are also invited for the 2024-25 Northumberland Individual Championships, which run with one game per month. Entry is free for members of the English Chess Federation, and there are three competitions (Zollner Open, Sell Under 2000 and Gilroy Under 1700). Competitors should write to: championships@northumberlandchess.com. Entries close on Sunday 22nd September 2024.

PUZZLES

Puzzle A: Reti-Bogoljubow, 1924. White to play.

Puzzle B: Thompson-Wells, 2024. Black to play.

Puzzle C: Rapport-Carlsen, 2024. White to play.

Puzzle D: Nepomniachtchi-Ding, 2024. White to play.

ANSWERS:

A: 1 Be8! 1-0.
B: 1…Qd5! 0-1.
C: 1 Rxd2! 1-0. If 1…Rxd2 2 Be3+.
D: 1 Nfg5! 1-0. If 1…Qd7 2 Rxh5 gxh5 3 Nf6+, or 1…Qe7 2 Qa8+ Kg7 3 Qxc6.

(Newcastle Chronicle, 2 August 2024)

Seven Grandmasters and 10 International Masters are expected to play in the North East’s premier chess congress, the Northumbria Masters, which runs over the Bank Holiday weekend (22-26 August) at the Dolphin Leisure Centre in Darlington.

The congress, which has been run annually since 2018, has a prize fund of over £6,500 and includes three nine-round Swiss tournaments: a Masters Open, Challengers (for players rated under 2000 FIDE) and Major (for players under 1700 FIDE). There are also two all-play-all tournaments, aimed at enabling competitors to score Grandmaster and International Master norms.

Over 150 players are expected to attend, including most of the North East’s top players. The event is being sponsored by the English Chess Federation, the Chess Trust, the Friends of Chess, Northumberland and Durham Chess Associations and Northumbria Junior Chess Association.

The Dolphin Centre, which includes the 200-player capacity Victorian Central Hall, plus a café and overflow rooms for games analysis and a chess bookstall, is hosting the congress for the first time. The location is ideal for visiting players, as it is just off the busy Horse Market Square, with several hotels nearby. The centre is just half a mile from Darlington station on the East Coast Main Line and six miles from Durham Tees Valley Airport.

The Masters Open will also serve as the 2024 Northern Counties Individual Championship, and the highest placed player from Northumberland, Durham, Cleveland, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire will qualify for the 2025 British Championship.

Last year, a total of seven title norms were scored at the Northumbria masters. The 2023 Masters Open was won jointly by Grandmasters Daniel Gormally (Alnwick) and Gudmundur Kjartansson. The GM norm tournament was won by 16-year-old Rajat Makkar (France), and the IM tournament was won by 15-year-old Krzysztof Raczek (Poland).

Among the Grandmasters confirmed as playing this year are Gormally and Mark Hebden (England), Yury Shkuro and Eldar Gasanov (Ukraine) and Alexandre Dgebuadze (Belgium).

To enter the congress online, go to: https://northumbriamasters.com. Enquiries about place sin the GM and IM invitational tournaments should be sent to: info@northumbriamasters.com.

A number of free entries for English players under 21 are available, thanks to the John Robinson Trust. To apply, please write to the tournament director, Tim Wall, at: timpeterwall@gmail.com.

PUZZLES

This week’s puzzles are from the 2024 British Championship currently taking place in Hull.

Puzzle A: Grieve-Golding. Black to play and win.

Puzzle B: Rudd-Willow. White to play and win.

Puzzle C: Gasanov-Hebden. White to play and win.

Puzzle D: Banarjee-Rudd. White to play and win.

ANSWERS:

A: 1…g5+! 0-1. If 2 fxg6 Qh6 checkmate.
B: 1 Nh5+! 1-0. If 1…Nxh5 2 d7.
C: 1 Nd7+! 1-0. If 1…Rxd7 2 Qe8+ Kg7 3 f8(Q) checkmate.
D: 1 Nd6+ 1-0. After 1…Kxd8 2 Nxf7+.

(Newcastle Chronicle, 19 July 2024)

Great sporting talents, such as those at Euro 2024, do not appear overnight – they are many years in the making. Yet football clubs such as Newcastle tend to buy in the best talent from around the world, rather than undertake the hard work of developing homegrown talent, which takes far longer. If this is true with football, it’s doubly true with chess, where top players’ careers are measured in decades.

For many years now in North East chess – like English chess as a whole – not enough top players have come through. The top boards in the region’s tournaments and leagues lack young players. It’s a problem that local organisers are trying to fix by organising junior chess sections in their clubs (at Gosforth, Forest Hall and Newcastle). But it’s going to take time, and a lot of hard work, to find and develop the new champions.

England’s heyday in world chess was in the 1980s and 90s, when an explosion of interest in the game followed Bobby Fischer’s victory over Boris Spassky in 1972. England went toe to toe with the Soviet Union, and produced a world championship challenger: Nigel Short, from Bolton in Lancashire.

North East congresses sprang up in Alnwick, Tyne & Wear, Seaham, Durham, Middlesbrough and Redcar organised by enthusiastic volunteers. Supportive local councils in those days could offer affordable venues in schools, town halls and community centres.

The engine rooms for chess development were primary and secondary schools, where teachers would give up their time to run after-school and lunchtime chess clubs, and thriving out-of-school junior chess clubs were run by dedicated volunteers. Nowadays, hard-pressed teachers often don’t have the time and energy.

English chess has now been far outstripped by new powerhouses from Eastern Europe, China and India. Eighteen-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh, from Chennai, is the new world championship challenger. Considerable state funding has been put into developing chess talent in India and many other countries.

Finally, English chess may be turning the corner, however, since the UK government’s decision last year to provide close to £1 million for chess development, with money for schools’ clubs and to coach and develop future champions. The plan to develop grassroots chess is being coordinated by the English Chess Federation and supported by Northumberland and Durham Chess Associations. For more information about getting chess going in your area, contact: mickriding@hotmail.co.uk.

The next big regional event is the Northumbria Masters, which takes place from August 22-26 at The Dolphin Centre, Darlington. There are tournaments for everyone from newcomers to budding grandmasters, and entries are being taken online at: https://northumbriamasters.com.

PUZZLES

Puzzle A: Magnus Carlsen (aged 14). White to play.

Puzzle B: Bobby Fischer (aged 16). White to play.

Puzzle C: Judit Polgar (aged 12). Black to play.

Puzzle D: Dommaraju Gukesh (aged 15). White to play.

ANSWERS:

A: 1 Rf7+ Kxe6 (1…Kd8 2 Qxd6+) 2 Qc4 checkmate.
B: 1 Bd7! 1-0. If 1…Qxd7 2 Rxg6+! hxg6 3 Qxd7.
C: 1…Qa4+! 0-1. If 2 Rxa4 Rxa4+ 3 Kb1 Rh1+.
D: 1 Re7! 1-0. If 1…Qxb2 2 Rh7 checkmate.