(Newcastle Chronicle, 1 March 2024)

Northumberland’s teams have a tough battle ahead to qualify for the national stages of the Counties Championship after losing narrowly to Greater Manchester.

Northumberland, which draws players from Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, lost the Open match 5.5-6.5 and the Under 1650 match 5-6.
Both fixtures took place on February 17 in York.

The Northumberland teams now have to win their matches against Yorkshire to qualify for the national stages of the Counties Championship. These matches will be played on March 24 at Darlington’s Dolphin Centre.

Results in full (Northumberland players first):

OPEN
1 Tim Wall 1-0 Adam Ashton
2 David Walker 0-1 Paul Macklin
3 David Mooney 1-0 Ethan Norris
4 Andy Burnett 1-0 Aidan Rawlinson
5 Mate Ther 0-1 Robert MacLean
6 Andrew Dunn 0.5.-05 Chun Hei Wong
7 Paul Dargan 0-1 Yaoyao Zhu
8 Husain Nakara 0.5-0.5 Marek Mazek
9 Zheming Zhang 1-0 Andrew Wilson
10 Ravi Wariyar 0-1 Tetsuaki Sanada
11 Yaroslav Kolodiy 0-1 John Robinson
12 Nathan Ekanem 0.5-0.5 Alannah Ashton

UNDER 1650
1 John Awesome 1-0 Jonathan Miller
2 Steven Eggleston 1-0 Matthew Poon
3 Michael Allen 0-1 Andeel Mohammed
4 Brandon Russell 1-0 Graham Phythian
5 Kevin Cox 0-1 Ethan Parker
6 Alex Piercy 0-1 Anthony Jinks
7 Didrik Leivdal 1-0 Ian Mitchell
8 Kazam Khosravi-Nik 0-1 Steven Flaherty
9 Kai Harkensee 1-0 Paul Ashton
10 Steven Newsworthy 0-1 Samarth Mishra
11 (Default) 0-1 David Kilmartin

After five rounds of the Northumberland Individual Championships, clear leaders have emerged in the top two sections, while in the third, a four-way tie for the lead leaves it wide open.

Zollner (Open): Tim Wall (Newcastle) 5/5; David Henderson (Tynemouth) 2.5/4; Gustavo Leon Cazares (Gosforth) 2/3; Andy Trevelyan (Jesmond) 2/5; David Armbruster (Gosforth) 1/3; Chris Izod 0.5/3; and Gary Murphy (Jesmond) 0/3.

Sell (Under 1950): Paul Bielby (South Shields) 4/5; Mick Riding (Gosforth) & Raj Mohindra (Forest Hall) 3.5; James Ross (Gosforth) & Dalil Benchebra (Leam Lane) 2.5; Stuart Skelsey (Forest Hall), John Clarke (Tynemouth) & Alex Blake (Gosforth) 2; Ian Chester (Gosforth) & Morgan French (Forest Hall) 1.5.

Gilroy (Under 1700): Andrew Robinson, Mark McKay, Alex Blake (all Gosforth) & Kevin Cox (Gateshead) 4/5; Jeff Baird (Forest Hall) 3.5; Dave Peardon (South Shields), David Pritchard & Lev Drobiazko (Gosforth), Joseph Miller (Leam Lane) 3; David Simm (Morpeth), Jonathan Solomon, Gautham Sathishkumar (Gosforth) 2.5; Morgan French (Forest Hall), Denise Mosse (Gateshead), Andrew Hardy (Alnwick), Ethan Tatters (Forest Hall) 2; Bob Heyman & Aaron Cheung (Gosforth), Steve Downey (Leam Lane), Sanjay Sathishkumar (Gosforth) 1.5; Albert Griffiths (Gosforth) 1; Rob Appleby (Leam Lane) 0.5; Alan Johnson (South Shields) 0.

This week’s puzzles are from the Northumberland county matches and recent local league games.

Puzzle A: Nathan Ekanem (White) to play.

Puzzle B: What could Tim Wall (Black, to move) have played here?

Puzzle C: Didrik Leivdal (White) to play.

Puzzle D: John Awesome (Black, to move) – two solutions

Answers:

A: 1 cxd6 Qxd6 2 Bc5 Qd7 3 d6 wins the knight.
B: 1…Nxf4! 2 fxg4 Nxe2+ wins the queen.
C: 1 Rxh7! Kxh7 2 Rh5+ Kg8 3 Bxg6 1-0.
D: 1…Rxg2+! (1…Nf3+ 2 Kh1 Qg4! also leads to checkmate) 2 Kxg2 Qg4+ 3 Kh1 Qh3+ 4 Kg1 Nf3 checkmate.

(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 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.

(Newcastle Chronicle, 19 January 2024)

As many sports teams have found to their cost, the knockout can be a brutal form of competition. Just because your team has a higher ranking, it’s no protection against an early exit.

The equivalent of the FA Cup in junior chess is the ECF National Under 19 Schools Championship. For the last few decades, RGS School Newcastle dominated the North East regional qualifiers – until 2022, when St Mary’s Catholic School, Longbenton, beat RGS in the regional final. In 2023, St Mary’s were again in the ascendancy, finishing ahead of RGS in the National Finals.

But in 2024, a new school may win the North East regional final – as this week St Cuthbert’s High School, Benwell, defeated regional champions St Mary’s A 3.5-2.5 in a thrilling quarter-final.
St Cuthbert’s and St Mary’s were neck-and-neck on 2-2 with just Boards 1 and 2 to finish. Unfortunately for St Mary’s, a 3-3 tie would be broken in St Cuthbert’s favour, due to wins on higher boards. When St Cuthbert’s Board 2, Daniel Tong, defeated St Mary’s Jinwoo Lee, the match was effectively over. A subsequent draw on Board 1 between Tom Weinstein (St Cuthbert’s) and Joel Dyter (St Mary’s) merely underlined what an upset had occurred.

In the other schools match played this week, St Mary’s B beat Dame Allan’s 5-1. St Mary’s could therefore still reach the regional final.

In the other two quarter-finals, RGS travel to Longridge Towers near Berwick, while Jesmond Park take on Bede’s, Blyth. Who wins the regional final is now anyone’s guess, as all teams remaining in the draw are closely matched.

The North East schools competition has expanded rapidly since the pandemic, with 16 teams now taking part. The higher level of participation is thanks to the hard work of St Mary’s Paul Richardson, the competition’s regional organiser, who has encouraged many new teams to enter.

Full results:

St Mary’s A 2.5-3.5 St Cuthbert’s
1 Joel Dyter 0.5-0.5 Tom Weinstein
2 Jinwoo Lee 0-1 Daniel Tong
3 Otto Nemeth 0-1 Isaac Lancaster
4 Daniel Francis 1-0 Joseph Lesser
5 Feitong Wu 0-1 Aazmeer Ansari
6 Hyunwoo Lee 1-0 Jan Ericho-Briones

St Mary’s B 5-1 Dame Allan’s
1 Daniel Clark 1-0 Oliver Savin
2 Aveesha Mapalana 1-0 Ethan Pattinson
3 Jan Siemens 0-1 Edward Cottam
4 Karthikeyan Nandakumar 1-0 Mo Chen
5 Alistair Craggs 1-0 Ben Thompson
6 Jiatong Wu 1-0 Nuo Li

This week’s puzzles are from the Four Nations Chess League last weekend.

Puzzle A: Julia Terbe (Black) to play & win

Puzzle B: Jon Speelman (Black) to play & win

Puzzle C: Daniel Fernandez (Black) to play & win

Puzzle D: Can Durak (White) to play & win

Answers:

A: 1…Rd2! 0-1 if 2 Qxe6+ Kh8 3 Kh1 Rxg2! 3 Kxg2 Rd2+ forces checkmate.
B: 1…Qa7! 0-1. The pin wins a piece.
C: 1…Kf3! 0-1. If 2 Ke1 Nd3+ 3 Kd1 Ke3 4 Ba4 Rd2 checkmate, or 2 Kg1 Rb1+ 3 Kh2 Ng4+
4 Kh3 Rh1 checkmate.
D: 1 Rxe6! Kxe6 2 Bd8! 1-0.

(Chronicle Chess 5th January 2023)

When is a draw not a draw? In chess, as in warfare and sports, the ‘honourable draw’ has a chequered history: Both sides fought bravely, but in the end no one could win and a peace treaty was signed.

Many games played by World Champion Magnus Carlsen go on to the bitter end with just king versus king: it’s a draw because neither player has enough pieces to deliver checkmate. Less honourably, some games in professional tournaments are agreed drawn in just a few moves because players want to split prize money or conserve their energy.

Players can have different ideas of what a draw looks like. Some juniors follow the example of John Cleese’s Black Knight in ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail,’ who suggests ‘Let’s call it a draw!’ after all his limbs have been hacked off.

Last week, a scandal erupted after a pre-arranged draw at the World Blitz Championships in Uzbekistan. Two Russians, Daniel Dubov and Ian Nepomniachtchi (Nepo for short), were caught on camera agreeing to a draw before the game and then performing a ‘Dance of the Knights’ – where they swapped the positions of their knights from g1 to b1 and b8 to g8, and then shook hands.
The referees penalised both players, awarding them zero. Dubov missed gold by half a point and Nepo finished just out of the medals.

The scandal has split the chess world, with Carlsen saying that no draws should ever be agreed, except when the same position occurs three times or when players run out of pieces.

Meanwhile, Chess.com has banned draws agreed under 30 moves in its prize tournaments. Some grandmasters have objected, claiming that ‘professional draws’ are necessary for them to earn a living.

A few people have even suggested going back to the pre-16th century rules, where the player delivering stalemate was awarded a win.

The World Chess Federation (headed by Russian politician Arkady Dvorkovich) has been accused of double standards, as other players agreed short draws in Uzbekistan without being forfeited. Dubov and Nepo, unlike some Russian grandmasters, are both vocal critics of Russia’s war with Ukraine, prompting suggestions that the referees were leaned on.

In North East club chess, there are few short draws, as players simply play for enjoyment. But sometimes a draw is agreed once a league match is decided or players simply want to catch the last bus home.

This week’s puzzles show spectacular ways to force a draw by perpetual check and stalemate.

Puzzle A: Siebrecht (White) to play & draw.

Puzzle B: Bernstein (White) to play & draw.

Puzzle C: Christiansen (Black) to play & draw.

Puzzle D: Boerkoel (Black) to play & draw.

Answers:
A: 1 Rh3! Qxf7 2 Bg6+! Draw by perpetual check.
B: 1 Rxb2! Rh2+ 3 Kf3 Rxb2 stalemate.
C: 1…Qxf6! 2 Qxf6 Rh2+! Draw. If 3 Kxh2 Rg2+! 3 Kh3 Rg3+! 4 Kh2 Rg2+! 5 Kh1 Rg1+! 6 Rxg1 stalemate.
D: 1…Rxf2! 2 Kxf2 (if 2 gxh4 Rg2+ 3 Kh1 Rh2+) 2…Bxg3+! 3 Nxg3 Qf4+ 4 Ke2 Qg4+ 5 Kxe3 Qg3+ 6 Ke4 Qg4+ draw by perpetual check.