Back in Business

The last couple of years have been difficult for chess in the area. Not only were we forced to move to online competitions because of the Covid pandemic, but three popular players and energetic supporters of Dyfed chess have sadly died: FM Iolo Jones, organizer of the Dyfed League and one of the pioneers of modern Welsh chess, Tony Haigh, Treasurer of the Dyfed Chess Association, and David Pinch, who kept chess going by organizing online matches and torunaments when over-the-board play was impossible. They are all much missed.

For Aberystwyth Town Chess Club, the problems were compounded by factors which had been apparent even before the pandemic, the erosion of our membership and the lack of a suitable place to meet. Two valued members, Rudy and Julie van Kemenade moved away from the area earlier this year, leaving us down to four active players, Adam Watkin-Jones, Tom Gunn, Sam Holman and myself - and, now Adam is unable to play for the time being due to pressure of work. In the circumstances, I thought it would be necessary to dissolve this historic club.

But, unexpectedly, things have begun to revive, both for the club and Dyfed. Several new players have moved into the Aberystwyth area, and at the same time FM Howard Williams, the Secretary of the Dyfed Chess Association, has begun the process of reviving the Dyfed League, which is due to start as a hybrid online / OTB event in January. As we look for a permanent meeting place, the Town club has been generously welcomed by our sister club at the University to their Wednesday afternoon sessions in the Arts Centre bar, and we have celebrated having enough players for a team by organizing some friendly matches.

The first of these was played between the University and the Town at the Arts Centre bar on Thursday 17 November. On top board for the Town, Peter Windows couldn't make progress with his kingside attack against Toby Carter's Pirc, and a misjudged exchange left him down in material, with a lost game. I built a defensive stronghold with my Caro-Kann against Toby Bates, and was eventually able to break out with a winning counterattack. Tom Gunn turned the win of a piece into a speculative queen sacrifice in an irregular Queen's Pawn Game against Harry Fox, and gained a decisive advantage in the ensuing complications. Samuel Rayburn also played a Caro-Kann against Rufaro Chisiwenga but lost a pawn to a neat tactic and was unable to get back into the game. A 2-2 draw seemed an appopriate result for this celebratory friendly.

[[Event "Aberystwyth Town vs Aberystwyth University"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/VLj"] [Date "2022.11.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Windows, Peter"] [Black "Carter, Toby"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "1713"] [BlackElo "1891"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/pwbourne"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 d6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d3 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. h3 O-O 6. Be3 c6 7. Qd2 e5 8. Be2 {With the pawn on d3, it would be more usual to fianchetto the bishop, King's Indian Attack style.} Re8 9. Bh6 Bh8 10. Nh2 d5 $11 {Black's counterthrust in the centre at least balances White's kingside prospects.} 11. Bf3 Be6 12. Ng4 {Hoping to eliminate a defender and / or open the h file.} Nbd7 13. Bg5 Qc7 14. Nh6+ Kf8 15. Ng4 d4 16. Ne2 Ng8 { Guarding h6. White's attack still doesn't amount to much.} 17. Bh4 {Presumaby Peter isn't castling queenside because of} (17. O-O-O Bxa2 18. b3 a5 19. Kb2 a4 {with unclear complications.}) 17... Bg7 $15 18. Bg3 Qd8 19. Nc1 {Heading for b3 to allow queenside castling, but it takes a piece away from the kingside.} f5 $17 20. Nxe5 $2 {A miscalculated exchange, but Black was looking better.} Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Bxe5 22. Nb3 fxe4 23. Bxe4 Nf6 24. f4 Nxe4 25. dxe4 Qh4+ 26. Qf2 Qxf2+ 27. Kxf2 Bxb3 28. axb3 Bxf4 29. Kf3 Be5 30. Rab1 Kg7 31. Ke2 Rf8 32. Kd3 Rf2 33. g4 Raf8 34. Rhf1 $2 {Ending the game quickly.} Rxf1 0-1 [Event "Aberystwyth Town vs Aberystwyth University"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/VLj"] [Date "2022.11.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Bates, Toby"] [Black "Francis, Matthew"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B15"] [WhiteElo "1563"] [BlackElo "1648"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/pwbourne"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 {The Tartakower variation of the Caro-Kann.} 6. Nf3 Be6 {Murray Smith, our strongest player, thinks the bishop is misplaced here. I was aiming at a formation I'd seen online, with bishops at e6 and d6, a rook at e8 and a knight at f6, but it seems more logical to develop the kingside first.} 7. Bd3 Bd6 8. Be3 O-O 9. h4 Re8 10. h5 (10. Ng5 fxg5 11. hxg5 g6 {and White's sac hasn't achieved anything. }) 10... Nd7 11. Nh4 Nf8 {Black's defensive plan is complete.} (11... Bf4 12. Bxf4 $2 (12. O-O $1) 12... Bg4+ {looks tempting, but White doesn't have to capture the bishop.}) 12. Kf1 $5 {Avoiding pinning ideas on the e file.} Qd7 { Guarding f5.} 13. c3 Rac8 {Preparing the typical c5 break in this opening.} 14. Qc2 c5 15. Nf5 cxd4 16. Bxd4 Bc5 $14 17. Rh4 Qc6 18. Rg4 {Sacrificial ideas on g7 or f6 don't work.} Bxf5 19. Bxf5 Rcd8 20. Rd1 $11 {Black's defence has held and the pieces start to come off.} Bxd4 21. Rdxd4 Rxd4 22. Rxd4 h6 {Planning to let the knight out at last, though it never happens.} 23. Qd2 $6 (23. Qd3) 23... Qb5+ 24. Qd3 (24. Bd3 Qxh5 25. Kg1 {looks better.}) 24... Qxb2 25. Kg1 $2 {The losing move. After Qc2 White could fight on.} Re1+ 26. Kh2 Qxf2 27. Qf3 ({ There's no defence, eg,} 27. Qc4 Qg1+ 28. Kg3 Re3+ 29. Kf4 Qf2+ 30. Kg4 Qg3#) 27... Qg1+ 28. Kg3 Re3 0-1 [Event "Aberystwyth Town vs Aberystwyth University"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/VLj"] [Date "2022.11.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Gunn, Tom"] [Black "Fox, Harry"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D35"] [WhiteElo "1422"] [BlackElo "1504"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/pwbourne"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d5 $6 {The Marshall Defence, which is considered dubious.} 3. e3 (3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 {threatening 5.e4 with a dminant position.}) 3... b6 $6 {Premature and weakens the queenside. Black shoud transpose into the QGD with 3.e6.} 4. Nf3 (4. cxd5 $1) 4... e6 5. Nc3 Bb4 $2 {Losing a piece.} 6. Qa4+ Nc6 7. Qxc6+ Bd7 8. Qxa8 $2 (8. Qb7 {saves the queen.}) 8... Qxa8 $19 9. Bd2 O-O 10. Bd3 a5 11. Ne5 Qa6 $2 {Putting the queen on a vulnerable square.} 12. cxd5 $15 Bb5 $2 (12... Qc8) 13. Bxb5 $18 Qb7 14. Bc6 Qa6 15. O-O-O Bxc3 16. Bxc3 exd5 17. g4 Ne4 18. Be1 {Defending against the fork.} f6 $2 19. Bxd5+ Kh8 20. Nf7+ Kg8 21. Ng5+ Kh8 22. Nxe4 c6 23. Bb3 a4 24. Bc2 Re8 25. Bd3 Rxe4 { Desperation.} 26. Bxa6 Rxg4 27. d5 1-0 [Event "Aberystwyth Town vs Aberystwyth University"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/VLj"] [Date "2022.11.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Chisiwenga, Rufaro"] [Black "Raybone, Samuel"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B12"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/pwbourne"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bd3 { 5.Be2 is the Short variation.} Bxd3 6. Qxd3 c5 $11 7. Qb5+ Qd7 8. Qxd7+ Nxd7 9. Be3 {White has played the opening unambitiously. Now 9...cxd4, weakening White's hold on the centre, looks good.} Ne7 10. Nc3 ( 10. dxc5 Nc6 {and White can't hang on to the extra pawn.}) 10... Nf5 11. Nb5 Kd8 (11... cxd4 12. Nc7+ Kd8 13. Nxa8 dxe3 {and Black gets two pieces for the rook.}) 12. Ng5 Ke7 13. dxc5 Nxe3 14. fxe3 Nxc5 $11 15. O-O (15. Nd6 f6) 15... f6 16. Nh3 a6 17. Nd4 Ne4 (17... fxe5 18. Nf3 Nd7 $17) 18. exf6+ gxf6 (18... Nxf6 $1 {defends the d-pawn so that the e-pawn can advance when attacked.}) 19. Nf4 Bh6 20. Nxd5+ $1 exd5 21. Nf5+ Ke6 22. Nxh6 $17 Rac8 23. Rac1 b5 24. Nf5 Rhg8 25. Nd4+ Ke5 { Trying to stay active, but the king is moving into danger.} 26. c3 Rg6 27. Rcd1 Rcg8 28. g3 h5 $2 {Losing another pawn.} 29. Rf5+ Kd6 30. Rxh5 Nxg3 {Desperation.} 31. hxg3 Rxg3+ 32. Kh1 Rxe3 33. Nf5+ 1-0