Atticus Games

Atticus Summer Tournament

The summer tournament 2008 now in its third week has produced some fascinating chess. In this game two new club members went head to head to produce an exciting and original contest. Annotation by event organiser Luke Boumphrey.

Another Atticus player beats a GM (played 17th March 2008)

Nigel Davies, playing this season for Widnes 1, has over 35 years experience of tournament chess. He is a widely travelled GM, winning 15 international tournaments plus the British Rapidplay in 1987 and the British U21 title in 1979. Nigel is also a confirmed entry for the 4th EU Championship being held at the Liverpool World Museum in September 2008. In the following game he is outdone by a smart knight manoeuvre from Jonathan and after a disastrous blunder, he is mated.

HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland) Tournament 2008

Winner: Phil Hopkins

New club member Phil Hopkins played in the HBOS tournament in Edinburgh winning 4 and drawing 1 to finish first. Well done to him and for his excellent start to competitive league chess this year. Phil's rating for the Edinburgh event was about 140; his play being steady and quite attacking throughout. Over 200 players applied for the event and 77 were chosen.

The event was held at the HBOS headquarters (right) which has been a distinctive feature of the Edinburgh skyline for over 200 years.

Completed in 1806 as the head office of Bank of Scotland, it has been the corporate headquarters of HBOS plc since 2001.

Around 100 members of staff work in the building, including directors and senior executives. The building has recently undergone a major restoration by Malcolm Fraser Architects.

Atticus Tourney and Skelmersdale Rapidplay 2008

Winning a 'won' position.

The late IM Simon Webb in Chapter 8 ‘How to win won positions’ of his famous book ‘Chess for Tigers’ spoke of the difficulties we all face, including grandmasters, in winning ‘won’ positions. The phrase ‘the rest is just technique’ is so often heard but far harder to apply successfully in practice. He makes four main suggestions to reduce the number of games that might slip away. 1) Keep the initiative, 2) Give your opponent as little chance as possible, 3) Check complications carefully, but don’t be afraid of them and 4) Don’t assume the game will win itself.  

Here, Richie Noonan puts into practice those suggestions perfectly and wins a nice game with a very clever zugswang at the end to win a ‘won’ game.

Atticus 3 v Wallasey B, Division 2, January 2008

Atticus Club Tournament 2008

Leyland Congress 2007

Vojtech Fiser competed in the very strong Leyland Major over the Bank Holiday weekend. He played some very tough opponents scoring 3/6 and in round 6 defeated one of the highest rated and strongest players in the event, Robert Taylor from Preston. This must be one of Vojtech's biggest wins and is yet another indication of his steady improvement. Play through his five games including the last round win against Taylor.

Another excellent Atticus victory

Atticus player John Redmond 2212 has beaten Lithuanian GM Eduardas Rozentalis 2551 in round 2 of the Irish Championships. The 9 round swiss event is being held in the Royal Dublin Hotel from June 30th - July 8th and with a prize fund of 6800 Euros it's attracted a strong and experienced field of players. John's game was long (70 moves) but he out-manoeuvred his opponent in fine style. Further details, pairings and games from the event can be found on the Irish Union website.

Speed chess played with style

Here's a nice example of how to start a lightning game, maintain the initiative and then finish off your opponent in style. Luke Boumphrey's energy and opening knowledge was no match here for Black at the recently held MCA lightning event at the Adelphi Hotel on 18th June. If there was a best game prize for this event then this one would surely be in with a shout.

Another Atticus win at the 4NCL - played 5th May 2007

Atticus player and FIDE Master Charlie Kennaugh beat former England Olympiad team member and GM Danny Gormally at the 4NCL weekend in May. Playing for North West Eagles 1 Charlie kept his cool under considerable pressure and turned the tables after some fine defensive play.

See more Charlie Kennaugh games here.

Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation, ECO code: C68-C69

For more information about the Exchange Lopez click here.

MCA League and Blackpool Minor 2007

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Atticus players at Blackpool Conference 2007

Jonathan Blackburn competed in the Open section at this long standing and highly successful event scoring an excellent 4/5. He finished in joint 2nd place

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Jonathan Blackburn 2206 Atticus CC and North West Eagles

in the company of GM's Mark Hebden and Alexander Cherniaev and FM Jeff Horner. Meanwhile in the Minor section Vojtech Fiser also scored an excellent 4/5 and took a share of a grading prize. Well done to both players. Details of winners in all sections are now posted on the official site.

In the first of his two featured games, here in round 3 on Saturday, Jonathan calmly demonstrates the power of the two Bishops v two Knights in his battle against Thomas Pym. And in round 5 against Donny Muter, Jonathan again won in fine style with a powerful attack using both rooks and an extra pawn to force black on the defensive. (The official site initially reported this game as drawn).

During the weekend over 581,000 requests were made to  the website showing the live games broadcast.

Download 45 games from the Open section. See more photos from the weekend here.

Blast from the past

John Saunders, British Chess Magazine editor and regular contributor to our forum provided the score of this gem. Played nearly 40 years ago by Atticus stalwart Dr. Tom Bimpson and Raymond Keene (future GM, publisher and broadcaster) the match took place during the British Universities Team Tournament held in Liverpool. The event was organised by Atticus captain and fellow undergraduate John Carleton. More info. to follow about this soon...

Bimpson, Tom - Keene, Raymond  [C41]
British Universities Chess Assoc Team Tournament, March 1969
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 d6 4 h3 Be7 5 Be3 Nf6 6 Nc3 0-0 7 Bc4 exd4 8 Nxd4 Re8 9 0-0 Bf8 10 Bg5 h6 11 Bh4 Ne5 12 Bb3 Ng6 13 Bg3 a6 14 a4 c5 15 Nf3 Nxe4 16 Nxe4 Rxe4 17 Qd3 Bf5 18 Bd5 Nf4 19 Bxf4 Rxf4 20 Qd2 Rb4 21 c3 Rb6 22 Rfe1 a5 23 Re2 Be7 24 Qf4 Bg6 25 Rae1 Bf6 26 Nh2 Kh7 27 Ng4 Bg5 28 Qc4 Qd7 29 h4 Bd8 30 Re8 h5 31 Rf8 Qxg4 32 Ree8 Kh6 33 Rh8+ Bh7 34 Be4 f5 35 Qe6+ Bf6 36 Bxf5 Qxh4 37 Qe3+ 1-0

The most well known Universities Team event is the annual Oxford v Cambridge Varsity match. Originally suggested by Howard Staunton in 1853,  these matches have been played almost without interruption since 1871. The current match score is Cambridge 54-49 Oxford, with 18 drawn. More match details, history and photos on the Olimpbase website.

Another fine Carleton win - game played 13th Jan 2007

Atticus captain John Carleton playing for North West Eagles 1 in Division 1 of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) beat IM Malcolm Pein in fine style with a courageous kingside attack. Malcolm, an experienced International Master playing for Wood Green, is founder and proprietor of The London Chess Centre. 

John Carleton (2306) - Malcolm Pein (2401), 4NCL Div1 Coventry (5.5), NWE1-WGR1.

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 c5 4. e5 h6 5. Bc1 Nh7 6. f4 cxd4 7. Nf3 Bb4+ 8. Nbd2 Nc6 9. Bd3 O-O 10. a3 Be7 11. Ne4 d5 12. Nf2 f5 13. Qe2 Bd7 14. Bd2 Qb6 15. O-O Na5 16. b3 a6 17. Kh1 Rac8 18. a4 Nc6 19. g4 Nb4 20. Bxb4 Bxb4 21. gxf5 exf5 (diagram) 22. Rg1 Qd8 23. Rg3 Rc7 24. Rag1 Bc8 25. Nd1 Kh8 26. Qg2 g5 27. fxg5 f4 28. Rh3 Bxh3 29. Qxh3 Be7 30. g6 Rg8 31. Qxh6 Bf8 32. Qxf4 Bg7 33. Ng5 Bh6 34. Nf7+ Rxf7 35. Qxf7 Rg7 36. Qf5 Ng5 37. Qf6 1-0

After 6 rounds (of 11) North West Eagles have 7pts and in 6th place only 1 point behind Barbican 4NCL 1 and Slough Sharks 1. Rounds 7 & 8 take place on 3rd/4th March 2007 at Initial Style Conferences, Wokefield Park, Surrey.

Further information, fixtures and game downloads available from the 4NCL website.

Carleton keeps his cool by IM Malcolm Pein, Daily Telegraph, 21st Nov 2006.

Round four of the Four Nations Chess League saw a match between Northwest Eagles and Barbican 4NCL two of the main challengers to the hegemony of Guildford ADC. Despite being out-rated by an average of nearly 80 points per board Northwest Eagles drew 4-4 to stay second in the table with 7/8 match points.

Barbican won on top and bottom board thanks to GM Jonathan Parker and Ingrid Lauterbach while Northwest Eagles kept the match level with wins on boards five and six where Stefan Macak and John Carleton overcame higher-rated opposition. John Carleton is one of the founder members of Atticus Chess Club in Liverpool and achieved great success in Correspondence Chess. In the following game he outplays an International Master and Irish International.

John Carleton (2306) - Sam Collins (2396), 4NCL Div1 Coventry (4.5), NWE1-Barb1
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 a6 7.Bd3 (Just because White plays the Exchange Slav creating a symmetrical pawn structure does not mean he wants a draw. This prevents Bf5 and is more accurate that Nf3) 7...Bg4 8.f3 Bh5 9.Nge2 Bg6 10.e4! e6 (10...dxe4 11.fxe4 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Qxd4 13.Bb5+) 11.e5 Nd7 (Although White has an advantage in space Black's position is fine, he has the 'bad bishop' out of the pawn chain on g6 while the Bf4 is misplaced and the c file should give him counterplay) 12.Be3 Be7 13.f4 Bxd3 (13...Nb4 14.Bxg6 hxg6 15.a3 Nc6 16.0-0 Rc8) 14.Qxd3 f5 (Otherwise f4-f5 could be awkward) 15.exf6 Nxf6 (diagram) 16.0-0 g6 (16...0-0 17.f5 exf5 18.Qxf5 and d5 is weak but there is also 17...Nb4 18.Qd2 Ng4!?) 17.Nd1 0-0 (17...Ne4=) 18.Nf2 Rc8 19.a3 Qb6 (19...Na5 20.b3 Qb6 was also reasonable) 20.b4 a5?! (This leads to the Nc6 being misplaced) 21.b5 Na7 22.a4 Rc4 23.g4! (The manoeuvre Nd1-f2 prepared this possibility a long way back) 23...Ne8 (23...Nc8 24.f5 gxf5 25.gxf5 Kh8 26.Kh1) 24.f5! (Carleton times this break well, the Na7 and Qb6 are needed on the kingside) 24...gxf5 25.gxf5 Ng7 (If 25...exf5 26.Nf4 Qd6 27.Kh1 with good play or 25...Rxf5 26.Ng4! Rxf1+ 27.Rxf1 and Black is defenceless) 26.Ng4! exf5 (26...Nxf5 27.Nh6+ Nxh6 28.Bxh6 Rxf1+ 29.Rxf1 wins) 27.Ne5 Rcc8 28.Kh1 Rcd8 29.Rf3! (This is one of those rare positions where an attack can be conducted with all the pieces) 29...Nc8 30.Rg1 Bf6 31.Nf4 (Now the possibility of an attack on h7 with Rh3 and Qd1-h5 overwhelms Black's defences) 31...Kh8 32.Rh3 Bxe5 33.Ng6+ Kg8 34.Nxe5 Rde8 (34...Nd6 35.Rxg7+ Kxg7 36.Bh6+ Kh8 37.Qg3 Ne8 38.Bxf8) 35.Bh6 Re7 36.Bxg7 Rxg7 37.Rxg7+ Kxg7 38.Qg3+ Kh8 39.Ng6+ Kg7 40.Nxf8+ Kxf8 41.Qe5 1-0 [Malcolm Pein]. More 4NCL games, downloads and information here.

A game from the match Atticus 1 v Wallasey A on 4th December 2006, thanks to Nick Wall. Atticus 1 won the match comfortably 5½-2½. Two more games, also from Division 1, thanks to Dave Robertson.