Horfield & Redland Chess Club

Clifton were 3 from 3 coming into this match but decided they’d challenge themselves by only bringing five players and no James Cobb. On board 1 Callum and Chris played a surprisingly conventional QGD opening. After minor complications in the middlegame, that involved a queen trade, white missed black’s Rd2 attacking bishop and b2 pawn. …

Continue reading "Match Report: Horfield A vs Clifton A (1 November)"

In September Peter was in the wide expanses of Vaduz representing Guernsey and rubbing shoulders with royalty. His report is attached. peter-kirbys-liechtensteinDownload

Being a good host is of course important, the C team has been as generous as any this season. Last night was no exception. Let us start at the beginning (we will finish at the end). On board one I had expected to be playing Stuart. I took advice from better players about approaches and …

Continue reading "Match Report: Horfield C vs Clevedon B (1 November)"

We had eight players at the Bristol Rapid play. This is not a tournament report but instead something much more parochial; similar to 'Fog in the Channel; Continent cut off'. Derek finished on 5/6, half a point behind the winner. His blot was against Chris Beaumont and his last round evisceration of Aron Saunders was …

Continue reading "Bristol 2nd Autumn Rapid Play Tournament (30 October)"

The D team played on Monday away to Clevedon. A very satisfactory result and the team now has three wins out of three. Board one was first to finish. Ben had traded down to a winning endgame a pawn up however Alex was able to exploit the black king being stuck on the back rank …

Continue reading "Match reports: D team (24 October), B team (25 October): Top of the league(s)!"

Splendid. Downend were without Oli and Graham but had managed to whistle up Michael as an excellent board 1 replacement and Tena, a WFM with a previous rating of 1960, for board six. We were 4 A team regulars short of a full team but the B team replacements did an entirely adequate job of …

Continue reading "Match report: Horfield A vs Downend B (19 October)"

The B team: A curates egg of a match for the B team. On board one Phil transformed a solid two pawn advantage and an opportunity to open up the centre onto Fergus’s king into something less palatable, by, and I quote, ‘contriving to play moves that made his otherwise innocuous attack work’. John on …

Continue reading "Match reports: B and C teams in action (18 October)"

A late start to the league season for the B team who played their first fixture at Keynsham. On board one Phil and John K played a wild game in which white was very pleased to accept the draw offer from black. On two John R, still easing his way back into chess, moved a …

Continue reading "Match Report: Horfield B vs Keynsham A (13 October); starting with a win"

Two home matches and a tough night. The A team hosted the defending league champions and came off worse against a strong team performance from the students. Callum and Matias lost on the top two boards and Steve and Andy finished on the wrong side of games that, with a different wind,  might have been …

Continue reading "Match Reports: Horfield A vs University A and Horfield C vs Bath B (4 September)"