West London Chess Club

Eleven brave souls (plus a few non-combatants) converged on the Chiswick Town Hall on the 2nd of June for a simultaneous exhibition with the renowned Danny King, one of the UK's most influential and charismatic GMs. Danny achieved his IM title in 1982 and went on to become a GM in 1989. He has represented England numerous times at international level and has won tournaments from all over the world. Nowadays, he enjoys parallel careers in both chess and the media, and has commentated on many famous events including the Man versus Machine match in 1997 and Kasparov versus The World.

The evening was incredibly pleasant, food and drink was laid on for all participants, and a quick speech was made before the match started. Danny would be playing white on all boards this evening - he clearly had some preparation in mind!

Danny King rolls up his sleeves in anticipation (Does this not remind you of Neo vs Smith from the Matrix?)

The match was entertaining on many fronts - an early highlight included Harry Burdon's game which became fascinating as quickly as move seven (photographic evidence to boot) with several games becoming quite complicated reasonably quickly, including those of Kishan, Andy, Petr and Tom. The field of players was not weak this evening, with over half the participants at ECF-150 or higher.

After a lot of tea, biscuits and complicated positions were mulled over, Danny's opponents began to fall, with a few of the earlier boards getting second games. It soon emerged that there were several contenders for an upset, including Petr Vachtfiedl and Andy Hayler.

A knight sacrifice was played against Tom Fuller which looked incredibly strong, but Tom somehow managed to play a series of saving moves (with possibly a missed, but very complex, win for white - at the time Danny was still playing 7 boards though) which looked to grind down to a Knight vs 3 pawn endgame...and suddenly there were three boards in contention!

Some quick analysis... (Disclaimer: The computer was not actually turned on, this was just a posed shot :P)

Mixed fortunes then ensued towards the end of the evening. Petr unfortunately lost after gaining a good position but fell to a well timed counterattack, while Andy Hayler played an equalising move in a very complex but advantageous position and drew first blood with a draw! One of the last games to finish produced the most fireworks, however: Tom Fuller managed to prevent a passed pawn queening while advancing his own pawns in a very technical end-game which produced the only victory of the night for the challengers - well done! Tom and Andy both received copies of Danny King's "Kasparov vs Deeper Blue" book as reward for their efforts.

The final scores: Danny King 9.5 - 1.5 Challengers. All the photos are available on the photo page.

International Master Thomas Rendle will be visiting the club on the 19th May to give a talk/lecture on the current World Chess Championship. He will be going through some WCC games on a demonstration board, discussing openings played, plans, key points and taking questions from members etc.

If you are interested in this contact Bob by e-mail on bobkane66@aol.com as soon as possible. The charge will be £6.00 per person and £5.00 for students / unemployed.

There were 12 participants and £78 was awarded in prizes:

• Winner on 4.5 points: Colum Jezierski (won £25)
• Second place on 4: Russell Campbell (Won £15)
• Best Under-150 on 3.5 points:
  • Edward Tandi (Won £10)
  • Paul Robertson (Won £10)
• Best Under-120 on 2 points:
  • Deneys Kottler (Won £9)
  • Robert McPherson (Won £9)

The full results can be found here.

We are holding another Rapidplay tournament to be played over two Wednesday sessions on the 21^st and 28^th April. The details are as follows:

• Fixtures: Two Wednesday sessions, the 21st and 28th April at Chiswick Town Hall, starting at 7:30pm.
• Format: 6 rounds at 25 minutes per side (unrated). Pairing will be done by computer according to FIDE/swiss tournament rules.
• Entry fee: £10 with £5 concessions for non-workers.
• Results will go up somewhere on this Web site.
• Prize money is dependent on the number of players, but the following is almost certain:
  • 1st place - £20
  • 2nd place - £15
  • Best under 150 - £15
  • Best under 120 - £15

It is open to members and non-members alike, so if you are interested, please send an e-mail to: webmaster@westlondonchess.com

The club's AGM will be held on the 22nd of July at 7.15 pm in The Committee Room, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, Chiswick, London W4. Particular topics for discussion should be raised in advance by e-mail to Mark Lyell.

FIDE Master Mark Lyell will be holding a chess analysis workshop on the 20th May, starting at 7.30 pm. The session will be at least two hours in length and the first part of the session will cover submitted games on the demonstration board. In the second part of the session, Mark will be analysing ad-hoc game submissions on an individual basis. If there is time, he will cover illustrative games or endgame theory.

The cost is £5 for members and £7 for non-members. If you are interested, please contact Mark Lyell.

Running up to Christmas, there were only 7 participants, so the prizes had to be revised. The winners were as follows:

• 1st, with 5 points - Russ Campbell - £18
• 2nd, with 4½ points - Przemek Majcherczak - £12
• 3rd, with 4 points - Raghu Kamath - £10

We will resume rapidplays in the Spring/Summer.

We are holding another Rapidplay tournament to be played over two Wednesday sessions on the 3^rd and 10^th of December. The details are as follows:

• Fixtures: Two Wednesday sessions, the 3^rd and 10^th of December at Chiswick Town Hall, starting at 7:30pm.
• Format: 6 rounds at 25 minutes per side (unrated). Pairing will be done by computer according to FIDE/swiss tournament rules.
• Entry fee: £10 with £5 concessions for non-workers.
• Results will go up somewhere on this Web site.
• Prize money is dependent on the number of players, but the following is guaranteed:
  • 1st place - £20
  • 2nd place - £15
  • Best under 150 - £15
  • Best under 120 - £15

It is open to members and non-members alike, so if you are interested, please send an e-mail to webmaster@westlondonchess.com

• The Team captain reports show we had another successful season, with teams promoted into Middlesex League Division 2 and London League Division 2.
• A new 8-person team has been entered into London League Division 4, replacing the 4-person team in the "Fun" Division.
• Mark Lyell won the Henderson Cup for best Middlesex Division 1 performance, Raghu Kamath won the Sir George Thomas Cup for best London League Performance and Richard Matzko won the Spires Trophy for or best Middlesex Team 2 performance.
• Most of the existing officers we re-elected. Mark Lyell replaces Meri Grigoryan as the Equipment Officer and Ed Tandi is the captain for the new Division 4 team.
• The date for the AGM has been brought forward to July.

The club's AGM will be held on the 19th at 7.15 pm in the Tabard Public House, near Turnham Green Tube station at 1 Bath Road, W4 1LN. Particular topics for discussion should be raised in advance by e-mail to Mark Lyell.