Chess Scotland Noticeboard

Paul Denham

Folks,

The main results of the EK Open have been posted on the club website by Jim Johnston.

Well done again to our new EK Open champion James Doyle with 4.5/5 and the talented junior champion Andrew McCusker on 3/5 (never saw him play but heard many adults comment on what a good player Andrew is already).

Missed out one major vote of thanks in my Master of Ceremonies duty this evening .... thanks to Andy Howie (Chief Arbiter) for all his efforts with pairings/posting draws and coping smoothly with some of the toughest situations he has ever had to arbitrate (is that the right word Admin?) on...

PD
_________________
It is said that life is too short for chess but that is the fault of life, not chess

Paul Denham · Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:11 pm Post subject:

Erm... the link is

http://www.ekchess.org.uk/
Embarassed

Srcoll down a bit for the results and final standings.

I am sure grading will follow in the next few days.

PD
_________________
It is said that life is too short for chess but that is the fault of life, not chess

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

Thanks Paul,

I'll put the results up later today, I really need to get some sleep.

I have a few people asking me about the last game to finish and why it was declared a draw after the whites flag fell. Unfortunately I had to rush and sort out the results, but promised to explain.

White had K + Q, Black K + N, Whites flag fell. Reason for a draw, there is no mating position for black!

Geurt Gijssen wrote an article on this a while back and I committed the positions to memory, for those that are interested. When whites flag falls,

1. K+Q vs. K+Q black wins
2. K+Q vs. K+R black wins
3. K+Q vs. K+B Draw
4. K+Q vs. K+N Draw
5. K+R vs. K+R Black wins
6. K+R vs. K+B Draw
7. K+R vs. K+N Black wins
8. K+B vs. K+B Either (Black wins if the Bishops are on different coloured squares; draw if they are on the same coloured squares)
9. K+N v. K+N Black wins (Pity they forgot about this one at the Womens world cup a few years ago)

Hope this clears it up

SteveHilton · King Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 443 Location: Greenock

Andy,
it was black who had the Queen whilst white had the knight. I just did not have the time to finish the game

Paul Denham · Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:59 am Post subject:

Andy,

Sure everyone will be patient on the results/grading front.

Yeah - I saw the ending and that the K+N was insufficient mating material.

Was expecting Steve to claim the draw verbally when you were counting him down "10 secs left" "5 secs left" ... but if I was in such a time scrambling knowing I had a won game I would have been reluctant to give it up too.

Paul
_________________
It is said that life is too short for chess but that is the fault of life, not chess

SteveHilton · King Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 443 Location: Greenock

Paul,
I played on because I wanted to try and finish with 4/5. I had nothing to lose by playing for the win knowing white only has a knight left. It is easy to lose track of time given the circumstances I play chess in it is tricky to calculate lines when visually impaired !!

Paul Denham · Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:18 am Post subject:

Steve,

Fully agree with you. Please don't think my post was in anyway a criticism of you or your decision to play on.

Watching on I appreciated just how difficult it must be for blind and partially sighted players to manage a time scramble and if anything it struck me that in fast chess the disadvantage a blind/partially sighted player is under is amplified by the speed the game has to take.

As a fully sighted player who regularly practices K+Q vs K+N on chessvideos.tv ( I will even admit to a guilty secret of recently having learned K+B+N vs K - all 20 steps of it as GM Soltis stated its not knowing it thats important its the other lessons (piece co-ordination etc) it gives you that is a reason why it can be worth learning it)..... anyway... I regularly try to blitz the machine at this ending (K+Q vs K+N) and probably 1 in every 3 times I allow the knight fork.... so I know how easy it is to let slip that win when under severe time pressure.

Best Regards
Paul
_________________
It is said that life is too short for chess but that is the fault of life, not chess

SteveHilton · King Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 443 Location: Greenock

I never took your post as a criticism Paul. You make a very good point in that the faster the time control the blind/visually impaired player will struggle. I have to admit that I have struggled a lot this year with the time control used at the EK Open.

SteveHilton · King Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 443 Location: Greenock

Andy,
I want to thank you for your help during the later stages of my match with Richard Wiltshire at the EK open last night. Especially after my mishap with the earplugs! I just hope that those who watched the end of the game enjoyed but it was dfficult to play for a VI player