Happy Birthday

Played at the Navigation last evening -

Marple A           V        Macclesfield A  :Stockport Lge Div One : 07/01/2016

1 A Longson    0.5/0.5   R Shaw
2 G Trueman  0.5/0.5   C Sizeland
3 N Livesey        1-0       N Evans
4 A Hall           0.5/0.5    D Risley
5 C Baker           1-0       A Soames
6 D Preen           0-1        P Cattermole

                          3.5/2.5

I approached this match with a sense of trepidation. Macclesfield are playing well this season and are top of the league. No less than nine of our  higher graded players were unavailable and we were fielding on paper  the weakest A team we have put out  for several seasons. My one hope was the thought that playing at Chorlton  48 hours earlier might weaken  Macclesfield  and indeed a couple of their best performers were absent.  As I looked at the matchcard though I realised we were certainly up against it. On boards 3-6 the Marple players were outgraded on average by 29 points  ....

Alexs game was the first to finish. Robert plays quiet systems extremely well and in what seemed to be some sort of Nimzo/QID hybrid had what appeared to be a slightly superior Bishop and some chances on the Queenside. Alex's position wasn't much worse  but it was one where Black would find it virtually impossible to play for a win. When Robert offered a draw it was completely understandable why Alex accepted. (0.5/0.5)

Nigel then concluded what was a truly outstanding game which I was fortunate enough to see as I was on the adjacent board. Despite having the Black pieces and being outgraded by 24 points he seemed to be on top from before move ten. Nigels play reminded me of Petrosian as he forced Nick into playing with a terrible dark square Bishop whilst Nigels Knight, not to mention his active Rooks, created all sorts of threats. Soon it was all over ....(1.5/0.5)

Also superb was Chris' play on board 5. He too faced a redoubtable opponent with the Black pieces in Tony Soames who outgraded Chris by 26 points. Tony played a very quiet system presumably hoping that his experience would tell in a positional game.However it was Chris who gave the masterclass, achieving control of the c file and superior positions for all his minor pieces.Ultimately Tony dropped a Knight and resigned but his position was already unpalatable  by that point... (2.5/0.5)

Alan then made sure we couldn't lose the match with a very solid draw against Dave Risley. I suspect Alan may have been slightly disappointed, but he had drawn with a very experienced player graded 162 who has beaten lots of Marple players in past years.  (3.0/1.0)

It wasn't all over though as David lost against Phil Cattermole who has won every game I have seen him play over the last eighteen months. It was an unfortunate loss for David though who played a lovely game lor a long time with an exquisite pawn phalanx on e3,d4,f4 and e5. However Davids Rook became trapped and ultimately he had to resign (3.0/2.0)

My opponent was one of my oldest chess friends in Chris Sizeland. This was however the first time we had played a serious chess game since an Owens Park tournament in I think 1981. That game was a genuine Closed Lopez and last nights encounter morphed into something very similar. Chris has always had a dynamic style and he played very actively not worrying about a weak pawn on d6. In general I think this is the best way for Black to play in the Lopez as it emphasises the one drawback to the White position, namely his retarded development. By move 30 I still hadn't moved my Queens Rook.....Eventually  I won the pawn on d6 but I wasn't surprised to discover this morning that Fritz thinks Black had adequate compensation. I wasn't losing though but did have to be very careful in avoiding several nasty traps. The game was influenced for the last ten or so moves  by the match situation which dictated that Chris had to play to win.Eventually though Chris decided that I had succeeded in defusing the threats and offered a draw. This put me in a slightly difficult situation as I was still a pawn up, However it wasn't  going anywhere soon and even if I did advance it the unopposed light square Bishop could come in to the game. The pragmatic decision was to take the draw,  to win the match..... which was what I did, though I did feel a pang of regret in doing such a thing on of all days Paul Keres 100th birthday........(3.5/2.5)

So a tremendous victory against the odds to start the year. Many thanks to all who played in what I think was one of the best results for a Marple team in recent years.

I'd like to conclude these notes with a small tribute to my alltime chess hero without whom I probably wouldn't be playing chess today.Towards the end of 1977  I developed a very slight interest in chess. I looked in Buxton library to see if they had any chess books. There weren't  many but there was one absolute gem "Grandmaster of Chess :The early years of Paul Keres". I opened it up and was completely entranced. How could anyone not fall in love with Paul Keres?, His honesty and integrity but most of all his magnificent chess playing skills shone through every page. My feelings for Paul Keres have not diminished over the years, in fact they have grown. One of his quotes is the humorous "The older I get the more I value pawns" to which  could  be added -  The older I get the more I value Paul Keres.

Although I do think if the world had been different Keres could  have been world champion even I don't think he was the best player of all time. Perhaps though he was the greatest player of the Black side of 1e4 e5. I am still finding  forgotten Keres masterpieces, this game I discovered a couple of days ago. In case you are wondering the  player of the White pieces is no patzer, he was many times Swiss Champion and at the time this game was played had recently beaten someone called Bobby Fischer ...

White:Dieter Keller Black:Paul Keres Zurich 10/08/1961

1e4 e5 2Nf3 Nc6 3Bc4 Nf6 4d4 ed: 5e5 d5 6Bb5 Ne4 7Nd4 Bd7 8Bc6: bc: 90-0 Be7 10f3 Nc5 11f4 Ne4 12f5 Bc5 13c3 Qe7 14e6 fe: 15Qh5 g6 16fg: 0-0-0 17Be3 hg: 18Qe2 Rh2: 19Qa6 Kb8 20Kh2 Qh4 21Kg1 Rh8 22Rf8 Rf8 23Nd2 Ng3 0-1.