One of the most fun chess events to play in, is without a shadow of doubt, the four nations chess league.

This is often a great weekend, where friends can catch up to have a nice meal, some beer and maybe a little bit of chess.

I am lucky enough to play for one of the most social teams in the event, ‘The Jutes of Kent’, a great bunch of people with fantastic team spirit. Before I move onto my games from the weekend I thought that it would be a bit of fun to introduce the players in the team, to the readers of gingergm…

I will start by listing the players who played last Saturday and then we will move onto the brains behind the operation…

Board 1. Myself:

 I am sure that you get enough of me on this site anyway, so I wont bore you with my details!

Board 2: Luis ‘The Iceman’ Galego:

Grandmaster

Elo: 2481

Strengths: Natural flair, positional play, party locater,

and most importantly Luis is horizontally relaxed!

Weaknesses: Lack of theory or chessbase, lack of Sleep.

This is a picture of Luis Galego, it looks like his opponent has let off a bad smell at the board…

Probably the most chilled out person in the chess world and maybe even the whole world. If you looked up ‘relaxed’ in the Oxford dictionary there should be a picture of Luis.

Luis, is a Grandmaster from Porto in Portugal and has been their best player for quite some time now.

Luis is a very talented player who would be a lot stronger if he actually ever studied any chess.

Some say he has a strong resemblance to the character in the clip below…

 

Board 3: Bragi ‘The Viking’ Thorfinnsson:

International Master

Elo: 2426

Strengths: Determined fighter, rounded player, good opening knowledge.

Weaknesses: May need to learn some more flexible openings.

Bragi is a very strong International Master from Iceland. Bragi has a tendency for positional play, but can also be very dangerous in tactical situations.

Iceland has produced some very strong players and everyone in the Jutes hopes that both Bragi and his brother Bjorn, will soon become Grandmasters.

This has the added benefit of earning a wage of roughly £20 000 a year in Iceland. A generous hand-out, from what must be, one of the most chess friendly governments in the world.

If only England had such a policy…

One of the most entertaining things I ever saw at a chess event, was when Bragi pointed out to a certain obnoxious and rude famous grandmaster, the fact that he had a fly buzzing about his face. In true ‘Mr Miyagi’ style the fly had to be removed with a swift slap of the hand…

 

Board 4: Bjorn ‘Puffin Killer’ Thorfinnsson:

International Master

Elo: 2406

Strengths: Does not know the meaning of ‘fear’, excels in tactical positions, solid openings.

Weaknesses: Does not know the meaning of ‘danger’, endgames, solid openings, chilli’s, ghosts…

Bjorn is another talented International Master from Iceland. As well as being a renown coach and organiser,  Bjorn has a tendency to play completely crazy chess which pulls in the crowds.

I am sure that he should swap from 1 c4 to 1 e4 in order to gain the Grandmaster title, but even with 1 c4, Bjorn tends to get some of the most chaotic positions that I have ever seen.

This interesting style has lead to Bjorn beating some 2700+ players, no mean feat.

Bjorn and Bragi were involved in a interesting story at the last 4ncl…

After the Sunday game, Bjorn and Bragi were booked into a hotel, in my home town of Godalming.

Not knowing the story behind the hotel it was suggested to them that the hotel was the most haunted one of it’s kind in England, and one room that they must aim to avoid was room eight.

A lady had been savagely butchered to death in that room, roughly 100 years ago and still enjoys haunting it to this day.

This story was explained to them in some depth just before arriving at the hotel and then the owner of the establishment handed over the key to room eight. Priceless!

Hence a rather sleepless night for the two brothers!

They only found out at the last 4ncl, that the story was somewhat fabricated…

It is good to know that even big strong Icelandic Vikings can become a bit scared by a good old fashioned ghost story!

I have the exciting prospect of playing the Reykjavik open this March, (highly recommended) but what excites me even more is the local delicacy for that time of year.

A meal which Bjorn insists that I have to try, and lucky me, he is taking me to a restaurant where it is a speciality.

I have the honour of this taking place just before the first round.

What is that delicacy you may ask!?

Rotten sheep balls!!

Yummy!!

It might be a case of ‘I am a chessplayer get me out of here!’

It looks like Bjorn and Bragi may yet get their revenge for a disturbed nights sleep in Godalming…

 

 

Board 5: Neil ‘Give it to them’ Dickenson

Fidemaster

Elo: 2322

Strengths: Solid positional and tactical player, always plays for the win.

Weaknesses: Time trouble, lack of competition chess.

Neil is a regular player in the team and from an early stage of the game, he always aims to put as much pressure on his opponents as possible. His style is aggressive/solid, he has taken some very good scalps and been a important factor in the ‘Jutes’ promotion to division one.

Board 6: John ‘Skin n Bones’ Naylor

Elo: 2174

Strengths: Huge talent, tricky openings, hurricane force when attacking and in good form.

Weaknesses: Sundays, cigarette breaks, tendency to over evaluate his position.

John has been a very good friend of mine for a while now. We first meet when I was 15 and due to play him in a tournament in Newcastle. Unfortunately, I was rather tired and having a little sleep at the board when he arrived.

John very kindly brought me a cup of coffee and then smashed me in a brilliant game.

It is a pity that he has yet to reach International Master strength, it is clear he has the potential, yet he does blunder rather too much.

Me, John and Danny Gormally lived together for a bit and he would often smash up both me and Danny in blitz chess, proving his talent and entirely annoying both of his house mates.

He has a had a bad start to the 4ncl but I am sure that he will come fighting back. Even though it might be a wise idea to rest him for the Sunday games…

Board 7: Anthony ‘The Danger’ Stebbings

Elo: 2241

Strengths: Openings, A solid player who can produce results against anyone, even when greatly out graded.

Weakness: Lack of time to play.

Tony is one of the most valuable team players that the Jutes have. He has been an important factor in our promotion to division one.

Very capable of pulling off surprise results Tony is a danger to any opponent that he faces.

It would be nice to see Tony play more, as I am sure that he would quickly become a Fidemaster.

 

Board 8: Alexandra ‘Blondie’ Wilson

Women Fide Master (formally a WCM…)

Elo: 2042

Strengths: Very dangerous attacking player, sharp tactical ability, plays the French Defence and Dutch opening ; ) , easy on the eye!

Weaknesses: Some rather dodgy opening knowledge, lack of time to study the game and improve.

Aly has been another important team member. Capable of beating anyone on her day, she is certainly a player to fear in complicated positions.

With a fair bit of experience behind her, Aly should not have too much trouble reaching the rank of WIM. The only thing holding her up is full time employment with Blackthorne International transport.

Her boss is transport mogul and keen chess player Gary O’Grady. Gary is sponsoring the very popular Bunratty congress in Ireland, well worth checking out!

 

Other key member of the team include:

Chris ‘Blofeld’ Rice:

Elo: 2060

Strengths: Strategic manoeuvres, managing absent players, wake up calls, being stressed with absent players.

Weaknesses: Strategic manoeuvres.

One of the driving force behind the team.

Chris currently lives in Dubai and heads the Jutes of Kent operations from his underground Palace in the middle of the desert.

Some have called him the new bond villain, but to others he is the best captain any chess player could ask for, calculated, sociable, and highly intelligent; Chris makes a mockery of some of the other captains in the league.

Without Chris the team would not be around and everyone must thank him for this, he got the rock rolling, that rock has now turned into a boulder with attitude.

Can anyone stop the boulder!?

Andrew ‘The Stabilizer’ Mack:

Fidemaster

Elo: 2184

Strengths: Tendency to draw a lot of games, dangerous attacking player, strong in the endgame.

Weaknesses: Tendency to draw a lot of games, very solid openings.

Andy is another person who must be thanked for putting the Jutes of Kent team together, tirelessly working behind the scenes to make sure things run smoothly, Andy is also a very good player.

Early in his career, Andy destroyed Mikey Adams in the French Tarrasch. Sacrificing a number of pieces to give checkmate. What is now surprising, is that every time I look over at Andy’s position, it always seems that somehow he has managed to swap off most of the pieces. This could occur after 4 hours of play or 10 minutes.

It is rumoured that this happens due to an addiction to online poker, which has claimed many a member of the ‘Jutes’ team…

 

 

 

Nigel ‘The Rocker’ Donovan

Elo: 2033

Strengths: Good theoretical, aggressive repertoire, best when hacking away!

Weaknesses: Makes some positional errors.

Nigel is another important member of the team, making it along to every match, even when he is not playing.

Always smiling and with a beer within arms reach, the Jutes just would not be the same without Nigel.

I can remember bumping into Nigel when I was drinking with a friend in Brighton, he was with a lively crowd about to start a poker game.

This poker theme certainly runs through the team!

Mark ‘Let’s down some mead’ Rich

Candidate Master (yes, someone has actually paid for this title!)

Elo: 2107

Strengths: Dangerous opening knowledge, sharp tactical eye, smooth talker… (Mark always manages to get the team a free shot after the Indian on Saturday night!)

Weaknesses: Time trouble, needs to improve his ability to spot checkmate in one move, gets distracted easily…

I have not known Mark for long but we do get on like a house on fire.

Mark has a very quick sense of humour and is always fun to be around. A while back Mark, very famously, came within inches of winning the first Big Slick open, only failing when he missed a checkmate in one against Jonathan Rowson. To be fair to Mark, it was a blitz game.

One thing that it might be worth Mark avoiding is ‘Mead’. There was a famous day of drinking in Godalming, when Mark was challenged by Blair Connell to a mead drinking competition.

Let’s just say, it did not end well…

Alexis ‘The God’ Harakis

Elo: 2220

Strengths: Determined, aggressive, fighter.

Weaknesses: Tendency to sometimes move too quick, has an inbuilt dislike of chess clocks and always aims to destroy them during his games.

Alexis has been the hero of the Jutes on a number of occasions, most famously when he managed to win a long drawn endgame in the last match of the session. That result ensured the Jutes would get promoted.

A very good player who has the potential to win against anyone, he is often a regular at the 4ncl with his son.

Alexis can not always make it to the 4ncl but when he does the conversation is always that bit more interesting.

Other people who are registered include, Chino Atako, Chris Howell, Chris Cooley and Clair Summerscale. I would go into more detail about each member but my time is running out as a I have a chess match to get to!

In my next blog, I will show a win I had against Jonathan Parker, from the last 4ncl. If you are a fan of the Kings Gambit, stay tuned!

Anyway here are some photos of members of the team. All comments are welcome!