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Thursday, 23 May 2013 | Term 2, Week 4Mixed Fortunesat the ChessBy Henry Poole, Captain of ChessWelcome again to another week of the chess report. Last Friday theJuniors played the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and came awaywith a close 1.5/2.5 loss. Meanwhile the Intermediates and Seniorsplayed Scots with the Intermediates winning 3-1 and the Seniorsachieving a 2-2 draw in the last minutes. Overall it was a goodperformance by the boys against strong opposition and it is good tosee tactical play, for example in the Juniors, Lucas Burger agreeing to adraw. This is a good show of sportsmanship but also acknowledging theskill of your opponent and realising that the game can go either way, italso secures half a point in the process. A great show of tactical play andeven better that it came from a Junior player.On board 4 for the Juniors, Skanda Dolphin secured a victory againsthis opponent. Skanda utilised his pieces and employed a great use offorks with his knights, winning material but despite a few mistakesas the game wore on Skanda’s material advantage held him throughto a victory. On board 3 Flynn Eder unfortunately came away witha loss. In the early stages of the game Flynn gained what he thoughtwas a material advantage, it however turned out to be a gambit by hisopponent and with his pieces occupied he could not defend against hisopponents crippling attack. On board 2 Lucas Berger and his opponentagreed to a draw which, as already mentioned, was a great show of hischess knowledge. Lucas and his opposition were very evenly matchedwith each blow demanding an equal response from his opposition,when Lucas forked his opponent and gained material his oppositionsoon made it back. By the end all that each had left was a king and arook, and it was at this point that they agreed upon a draw. On boardChessnut Week 4, Term 2, 20131 Louis Shapiro fought valiantly but eventually had to concede defeat.Louis found it hard to gain an advantage over his opponent and in theprocess of trying he unfortunately blundered and lost material. Fromthere his opponent forced him into a checkmate position.In the Intermediates on board 3 Blair Chapman lost against hisopponents strong knight attack. On board 2 Jack Whaling won againsthis opponent. After an evenly matched mid game Jack managed toenter the mid game with more pawns than his opponent, which he thenpromoted and achieved victory swiftly.In the Senior team on board 4 Matthew Evat, who was stepping in atthe last minute, unfortunately lost. Similar to Jack’s game the battlepushed into the endgame but his opponent managed to get a pawn pastMatt’s defences after a hard fought endgame. On board 3 Nathan Leebattled into the evening, eventually securing victory with very littletime to spare. Coming down to the wire Nathan’s opposition blunderedin a key move which allowed Nathan to take the offensive and securevictory with little time remaining. Henry Poole on board 2 lost after atough fought battle. Henry played a mixed game but and over allocationof pieces to attack left him open and his opponent capitalised on thesituation. James Peters on board 1 played a strong match, coming backafter being down a knight for most of the game he eventually gained anadvantage over his opponent and achieved victory.Keep playing in the various lunchtime tournaments; the Senior,Intermediate and the Super Seven.Games can be played on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.XABCDEFGHY8-+-trr+-+(7wQR+-sn-+p'6-+pmk-zpp+&5+-+p+q+-%4-+-zP-+-+$3+-+-zPP+P#2PzP-+-+P+"1mK-tR-+-+-!xabcdefghyChessnutPilaj v CrundelAustrian Championship 2006The Black King has wandered out into the middle of the board whichis always a dangerous procedure with so many pieces still in play. Howdoes White proceed as Black has a material advantage and appears to bewell defended? Find the winning combination for White.Solution: The key move is 1.RxPcheck. If 1..KxR 2.Qb6mate. No betteris 1…NxR 2.Qc5check Ke6 3.Qc6check Rd6 4.QxR(e8)mateCorrection: Congratulations to Lewis Cooksley for spotting theerror in the solution to last week’s Chessnut. The correct key movewas 1.Re7 check (the move 1.Re6 check is impossible given theposition.) Chessnut apologies unreservedly for any offence caused.To err is human, to forgive divine.9