I am currently working as manager of, ‘The Classical Games Shop’ in Godalming.

This afternoon my friend, Blair Connell, made an appearance in the shop. As well as working on the long overdue e-books we thought that it would be a good idea to start a Blitz chess game marathon.

The result of the first game is given below, I must warn you the quality is very low, let’s just hope things improve in the future…

Williams vs Connell

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I felt like my play of recent has been pretty good and I thought it was about time to give the Kings Gambit another showing.

My intended victim was Jonathan Parker, a strong GM who decided that his time was better spent making money in the city.

We had a very interesting opening and in my opinion the Kings Gambit with 3 Bc4 is a rather under rated opening.

I have song my praises about ‘The Fascinating Kings Gambit’ by Thomas Johansson before and it is really a very good book on 3 Bc4. If you want to learn the opening then this is the book to buy.

My only slight negative comment about the book is that it can be a bit tricky to follow, but that is far outweighed by the interesting and original ideas found inside.

Let’s move onto the game…

Simon Williams vs. Jonathan Parker, 4ncl, 14/01/2012.

1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Bc4

This seems to be the fashionable new way to play the Kings Gambit. Black has a number of ways to reply and yet it is unclear what path should be taken.

A number of players have made the comment that White is trying to equalize after 2 f4, that maybe the case but you are certainly guaranteed an interesting game!

3…Nf6

The main line.

4 Nc3 Bb4

A rather off beat but sensible variation. Black develops a piece, gets ready to castle and places pressure on e4.

5 Nge2!?

I was attracted to this idea, which aims for quick development.

The main move is 5 e5 when Black reply’s with 5…d5, I expect the position is equal then. The knight is well placed on e2 from where it supports my other knight and gets ready to capture the pawn on f4.

5…Nxe4!

This must be correct. Black takes the challenge up!

6 0-0!

Quick development is the key! Event though I am temporarily two pawns down, Black will have to return some material in order to stop my attack becoming too dangerous.

6…0-0 7 Nxf4 c6

Whilst my opponent was pondering the position here, I started to analyse the following fascinating variation.  7…Nxc3 8 dxc3 (in hindsight 8 bxc3 might be better but I had an idea in mind…) 8…Bc5+ 9 Kh1 c6 10 Nd5!?!?

A drastic way to stop Black from playing 10…d5. The position looked quite promising for White, for example,

a) 10…cxd5 11 Qxd5 with nasty pressure against f7! 11…Qe7 12 Bg5 Qd6 13 Rxf7 Qxd5 14 Bxd5 Rxf7 15 Rf1 with a mess!

b) 10…d6 11 Nf6+!

You will see that I got carried away with this idea later on in the game!

11…gxf6 12 Qh5 with a big attack. It would be interesting to see what the computer has to say about these variations!

8 Nxe4 d5 9 Nf6+

After the game my opponent pointed out the following plan.

9 Bxd5 cxd5 10 Nc3 which looks ok for White.

9…Qxf6 10 Nxd5 Bc5+

This is where I had my longest think. I now wanted to play:

11 Kh1 but I was concerned about the following variation:

11…Qh4! 12 Rf4 (12 Nf4 Bg4 is equal) 12…Qh6

When I could not find a good continuation. I spent a lot of time on;

13 d4 (13 Nf6+ gxf6 14 d4 Bd6 15 Rg4+ Bxg4!) 13…cxd5 (13…Bd6 14 Ne7+!?) but I could not find anything, back to plan ‘b’!

11 Ne3 Qe5

I was slightly concerned around here that I might be slightly worse with any kind of passive play, but I think my position is ok.

12 Kh1 Bxe3 13 dxe3 Be6 14 Bd3 c5?

This is far too slow and a bad error which hands me the initiative. Black should have played 14…Nd7. I can keep the balance after 15 e4.

15 Bd2!

The bishop becomes a very strong piece on c3. My e-pawn is not weak and I have good chances to pull off a successful attack on the kingside.

15…Nc6 16 Bc3 Qg5 17 Rf3 f6 18 Rg3 Qd5

My first instinct was to play 19 Rh3 here but I then decided that it was wise to move my queen into the attack.

19 e4 Qd7 20 Qh5! Qe7

What is the only White piece not taking part in the attack?

21 Rf1!

Here it comes!

In actual fact 21 Bxf6!? followed up with 22 e5 was also interesting.

21…Rad8 22 Rf4 Qf7?

Giving up without a fight. Black should have tried 22…c4 first, at least this saves the pawn on c5. The problem was that we had both spent so much time on the opening and time pressure was now playing a major part in deciding the outcome of the game.

23 Qxc5 Kh8

Those of you who know me should be able to guess my next move?

24 h4!

One of my favourite moves! Reinforcements are coming in!

24…Rc8 25 Qf2 Ne7 26 Be2!

Aiming to met 26…Ng6 with 27 Bh5.

26…b6 27 h5 h6 28 Qe3

Threatening 29 Rxf6!

28…Ng8 29 Rg6 Qe7 30 a3 Rfe8

Black would like to play …Bf7 next kicking my rook on g6 away.

31 Qg3!

Stopping …Bf7. This is what I would term a ‘prophylactic attacking’ move.

31…Bc4 32 Bg4 Rcd8 33 e5

Threatening Rxc4 and exf6 so my opponent resigned.

1-0

An interesting game and nice for me to stop the rot of losing in the 4ncl. The only disappointing thing was that the team lost 3.5/4.5, but we managed to win on the Sunday so our Europe hopes are still alive.

I am very tempted to film a DVD on the Kings Gambit with 3 Bc4, what does everyone think?

All that was left after the Saturday game was to win on Sunday, not normally my best of days. This time though I went to bed at the sensible time of just after midnight and felt quite refreshed for the next day. I will aim to report on that game in the next couple of days.

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!

I am currently running the Classical Games Shop in Godalming, which is a shop that stocks all types of games, obviously chess included. Just yesterday I got a visit from Simon Whitaker who is one half of the Whitaker brothers.

We closed the shop up, met with his brother Tym, took a trip down to the Rose and Crown and watched his latest music video on the large screen TV.

I have to say that I was so impressed, not just with the music but with the actual video, that I have decided to post it up. It’s not all about chess at gingergm!

They have just finished recording their album and hopefully it will be available to purchase soon. Let me know your views!

The other video they put on was

I must warn you that this video does contain some rather offensive language, you have been warned!!!!

Keep an eye out for Klaus, Mike the landlord of the Rose and Crown’s son…

On Sunday in my French league game I faced, what must be, the most critical line in the Classical Dutch.

Originally I assumed that 7…Ne4 8 Nxe4 would leave White with an advantage but the more I look into this line the less convinced I am. In actual fact, in my last three games played in this variation I have scored 3/3, against decent opposition.

In this game I was paired against French Grandmaster Jean-Luc Chabanon, who had obviously prepared for the game and currently has a rating of around 2490, so a real test for the variation. I will take a look at the game in the video below.

I had reached the following interesting position last Saturday, whilst playing for my French league team, Rueil Malmaison.

The match was being played over in Le Touquet, which is an easy drive from Calais.

Now to be honest, my form has been pretty terrible of late, so I have not been playing much chess. The hope is that I can make a recovery for Hastings.

My opponent was a 2280 FM and in the position shown, it felt that my pieces where about to flood over him.

There are a number of interesting possibilities but I went for the flash 43 Bg6!?

I played this move after getting carried away by a number of pretty lines, but yet again I started to regret my choice as soon as I really started to analysis the position (yes, I know that you are supposed to do this before playing the move!)

A much better move would have been 43 Nf5 with a devastating attack, for example, 43…Nxe7 44 Nxe7+ Kf8 45 Nf5 when all my pieces are attacking Black’s king.

Anyway, my opponent quickly blundered and the game was over after 43…Ra2??

Can you spot the finish?

44 Bxf7+ Kh8 45 Qxa2!

And my opponent resigned as 45…Qxa2 fails to 43 Re8+ with Bg6++ to follow.

Let’s go back to the original position and look at some other possibilities that Black might try:

Both 43…fxg6? 44 Rxg7+ Kf8 45 Nxg6+ Ke8 46 Qe4+ Kd8 47 Rg8+ and 43…Nxe7? 44 Qxf7+ Kh8 45 Qxg7++ are clearly bad for Black.

The line that I got most excited about started 43…Ne5!?

On first glance this move looks incredibly strong as White has a number of pieces being attacked and …Ne3+ is a threat. I was planning to respond with 44 Bxe5!

When White is winning! For example,

a) 44…Ne3+ 45 Kf3 Nxc4 46 Bxf7+ Kh8 47 Bxg7+!

47…Kxg7 (47…Kh7 48 Bf6!) 48 Bxc4+ Kf8 49 Ng6++

b) 44…Ra2+ 45 Kf3!? Qa3+ 46 Kg4!? Ne3+ 47 Kh5

Back can not avoid being checkmated.

So far so good! The problem was that I started to get really worried about 43…Qf8!

This move holds Black’s position together. My original plan was to play 44 Bh7+?! hoping for 44…Kxh7?! Qe4+ 45 Kg8 Re8 but I forgot that my opponent could meet 44 Bh7+?! with the simple 44…Kg8 when I have nothing.

I ended up resigning myself to the fact that I would have to play 44 Bxf7+ Qxf7 45 Rxf7 Ne3+ 46 Kf3 Nxc4 47 Rxg7+ Kf8 48 Rxd7 Nxb2 49 Nf5

When any result would have been possible!

The moral of the story. More haste less speed!

Just the other day I was visiting my parents house and I noticed a rather interesting picture hanging up on the wall.

Apparently, it was a photo taken of a simultaneous display by J.R.Capablanca, at the opening of the new premises of the Imperial chess club.

The photo also stated that the simultaneous took place at the premises of  the Imperial chess club in Guildford and the photo was taken on October the 7th, 1922.

I have only heard of the Imperial chess club in London, so I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me on the facts behind the photo.

Did the simultaneous take place in London or Guildford? Another note on the picture stated that Capablanca scored 41 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. Intriguing!

A quick search on Google showed that Capablanca was in London at the time. As Wikipedia states, ‘Capablanca won the London tournament of 1922 with 13 points from 15 games with no losses, ahead of Alexander Alekhine on 11½, Milan Vidmar (11), and Akiba Rubinstein (10½).^’

Here is the photo enlarged, does anyone recognise the building?

Or, another scanned photo of the simultaneous…

So, can anyone enlighten me on the facts about this simultaneous. I will have to dig further to find out how my dad came across the photo!

Last Tuesday the Drunken Knights, Surrey branch, was due to play against it’s main rivals, Sandhurst.

Sandhurst had dominated the Border league for a couple of years now, but this year they had some serious competition.

Gary O’Grady, captain and chief commander of the Drunken Knights, Surrey branch, had quite possibly, pulled together the strongest team to ever grace the border league.

The Drunken Knights team of 5 was due to be the following:

1: Nigel Short     

2: Simon Williams

3: Mark Hebden

4: Luis Galego

5: Keith Arkell

We knew before the match that the opposing team would have at least Nick Pert and Peter Wells in it’s line up, but the rest of the formation remained a mystery…

Unfortunately the day before that game was due to be played, Sandhurst withdrew from the match. I am not sure of the details, but it was a massive disappointment for all our players.

I guess the fear of being beaten may have had something  to do with Sandhurst’s decision…

It was a real pity though. Nick Pert from Sandhurst still made it along to the pub where the match was due to take place, and he seemed to enjoy himself somewhat….

Rumour had it, that Sandhurst had planned to have had Mickey Adams and Bogdan Lalic in their team, but unfortunately Mickey and Bogdan apparently withdrew from the match. I am not sure how true that was though, as I spoke to Bogdan a few days later and he informed me that he was ready and willing to play.

Anyway, Gary decided to honour his team and everyone except Nigel made it down to the, ‘Rose and Crown’ pub in Godalming.

A great little pub that is a 2 minute stroll from where I live and Godalming train station. The landlord, Mike, (seen in the background of the top photo) got into the swing of things and even arranged a poker hold ‘em tournament at the end of night.

A lot of blitz was played and everyone had a great night. I have included below a selection of photo’s from the night. I have left some out for obvious reasons…

Comments are welcome!

Mark Hebden, Nick Pert and Gary O’Grady enjoying a quiet beer…

Luis Galego and Mark Hebden having a quiet conversation.

Nick Pert, Luis Galego, Mark Hebden and some ginger moron…

Enjoying a game of poker…

Gary starts to feel the pace…

Mike the landlord, Nick Pert and Luis Galego.

It seemed like most players enjoyed the night anyway…

You may ask who won the poker tournament? Aly, took 1st prize home!

After a somewhat dodgy game I found myself two pieces up for absolutely nothing (+8 or something on Fritz). 4 Moves later I had to agree a draw… Let’s just say, I am feeling rather annoyed with myself at the moment!

Anyway for your pleasure take a look at, quite possibly, the worse blunder ever played by a Grandmaster. Someone take my title away!

37 Rb1

Assuming my opponent was going for a last ditch ‘50/50’ shot I now played…

37…Rxb1???????????????????????????

As soon as I touched my opponents piece, I saw the point of my opponents move…

38 Qg6+!

Pretty, but I am not appreciating it at the moment…

38…Kg8 39 Qf7+ Kh7 40 Qg6+ Kh8 41 Qh7+

Sometimes this game just makes me want to cry like a little baby…

Play Like Tal with GM Simon Williams

Order DVD | Description | Promotional Videos | DVD Contents | Reviews | Discuss   Order DVD   Available now! ^Top Description   “Chess, first of all, is art.” – Mikhail Tal Arguably one of the world’s most exciting chess players of all time, Grandmaster Mikhail Tal will always be remembered as an attacking genius. [...]

A first of it’s kind!!! An interactive chess DVD that can be played on all platforms!

I presented this two DVD box set, the aim of which is to get the viewer to try and think along the same lines as the great Magician from Riga, Tal!

Our interactive promotional video can be viewed below. If you want to go straight to the interactive part, jump to around 8:30 on the video!

This two DVD box set can be pre-ordered from our shop. It has around about seven hours of interactive viewing, with interactive puzzles.

Released soon.