CCCCC

[Roger de Coverly]

Not sure if Julian Hodgson would approve of Timur Gareev's choice of 3.h4!?

There's over 20 examples with Hebden and Emms regular clients along with one-offs against Gufeld, Uhlmann and Beliavsky. Julian usually preferred to meet .. c5 with 4. d5 though.

[MartinCarpenter]

They found themselves a truly inventive way to mutually free those light squared bishops Looked horribly trapped on move 8!

[John McKenna]

Not sure if Julian Hodgson would approve of Timur Gareev's choice of 3.h4!? A little too eccentric for Julian, perhaps.

Well he played it on at least 24 different occasions including games against Adams, Beliavsky, Cramling, Emms, Hebden, Nunn, Rowson, Salov, Tukmakov etc so he was certainly prepared to give it a go

"Can a move such as 3.h4 be justified? The honest answer... must be no, but in chess there is plenty of room to experiment... It is essential to be in the right frame of mind; i.e ultra positive and determined... " (Secrets of the Trompovsky, GM Julian Hodgson)

There's over 20 examples with Hebden and Emms regular clients along with one-offs against Gufeld, Uhlmann and Beliavsky. Julian usually preferred to meet .. c5 with 4. d5 though.

"I have even less faith in 4.dxc5 than in 4.d5." (Secrets of the Trompovsky, GM Julian Hodgson)

The top-board encounter ended Gareev,T. 0-1 Vakhidov,J.

I wonder if either player knew those secrets of Julian's.

[MartinCarpenter]

Don't think the opening was to blame though? That ending surely can't have been too bad for white before he went in for all those really odd rook manouvers.

[John McKenna]

I agree with you about the ineffectual rook manoeuvres.

Did Black have some small queenless middlegame pluses - such as slightly better pawn structure and minor pieces and king activity - that made it difficult for White to find an active plan. Maybe Gareev was too "ultra positive and determined" for too long and should have just accepted that his position was a bit inferior and defended instead of attacking on the queenside.

[Chris Rice]

It's great to see our juniors being trained in the Classics as in this round 6 encounter between Harry Grieve (2106) - Daniel J Young (1807). I went to have a look at the position around move 7 when Jack alerted me to it. Both players were grinning broadly:

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 f6 3. Bh4 Nh6 4. e3 Nf5 5. Bg3 h5 6. Be2 h4 7. Bh5 Kd7 8. Bf4 g5 9. e4 dxe4 10. Bd2 c6 11. c3 Kc7 12. Bg4 e6 13. Qb3 Qd5 14. Na3 Qxb3 15. axb3 Nd6 16. Nh3 Be7 17. O-O Bd7 18. c4} 1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 f6 3. Bh4 Nh6 4. e3 Nf5 5. Bg3 h5 6. Be2 h4 7. Bh5+ Kd7 8. Bf4 g5 9. e4 dxe4 10. Bd2 c6 11. c3 Kc7 12. Bg4 e6 13. Qb3 Qd5 14. Na3 Qxb3 15. axb3 Nd6 16. Nh3 Be7 17. O-O Bd7 18. c4

Draw agreed.

[LawrenceCooper]

It's great to see our juniors being trained in the Classics as in this round 6 encounter between Harry Grieve (2106) - Daniel J Young (1807). I went to have a look at the position around move 7 when Jack alerted me to it. Both players were grinning broadly:

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 f6 3. Bh4 Nh6 4. e3 Nf5 5. Bg3 h5 6. Be2 h4 7. Bh5 Kd7 8. Bf4 g5 9. e4 dxe4 10. Bd2 c6 11. c3 Kc7 12. Bg4 e6 13. Qb3 Qd5 14. Na3 Qxb3 15. axb3 Nd6 16. Nh3 Be7 17. O-O Bd7 18. c4} 1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 f6 3. Bh4 Nh6 4. e3 Nf5 5. Bg3 h5 6. Be2 h4 7. Bh5+ Kd7 8. Bf4 g5 9. e4 dxe4 10. Bd2 c6 11. c3 Kc7 12. Bg4 e6 13. Qb3 Qd5 14. Na3 Qxb3 15. axb3 Nd6 16. Nh3 Be7 17. O-O Bd7 18. c4

Draw agreed.

I briefly glanced at that game and assumed that the live board had malfunctioned

[Matt Mackenzie]

That makes no sense after move 18?

[Chris Rice]

Sorry Matt not sure what happened there. It was an 18 move draw. Here it is again:

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 f6 3. Bh4 Nh6 4. e3 Nf5 5. Bg3 h5 6. Be2 h4 7. Bh5+ Kd7 8. Bf4 g5 9. e4 dxe4 10. Bd2 c6 11. c3 Kc7 12. Bg4 e6 13. Qb3 Qd5 14. Na3 Qxb3 15. axb3 Nd6 16. Nh3 Be7 17. O-O Bd7 18. c4 *

[Stewart Reuben]

It was an odd position for two youngsters to agree a draw with plenty of play still in the position.

[John McKenna]

So, the R5! Grieve-Young ended with 18.c4 (=).

Stewart, it looks like White, although higher-rated, was worried that if 18... e5 was played, and its crying out to be, Black'd be much better.

Today in R6 the pick of the pairings in the Masters is -

Bd. 1 IM Justin Tan (2452) 4 v. 5 GM Jahongir Vakhidov (2576)
Bd. 2 Marcus Osborne (2213) 4 v. 4 GM Ferenc Berkes (2644)
Bd. 3 GM Timur Gareev (2611) 3.5 v. 3.5 GM Bogdan Lalic (2425)

Will Vakhidov make it to 6/6?

Great to see Londoner Marcus Osborne in amongst the internationals.

Did Croydon man (Marcus) ever meet Harrow man (Colin Crouch) over the board?
I expect if they did it was probably near the banks of the Thames in the London League.

[Chris Rice]

Yesterday wasn't a good day for Chris Fegan to be playing an in form Mark Lyell!

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Qa4 d6 7. e5 Nd7 8. exd6 Nc5 9. Qh4 Qxd6 10. Be3 Nb4 11. Bb5+ Nd7 12. O-O Nc6 13. Rad1 Qc7 14. Nd5 Qd8 15. Qf4 Bg7 16. Nc7+ Kf8 *

1-0

[John McKenna]

Mark Lyell at his best, above, I remember him beating GM Keith Arkell comprehensively at least once in the past.

Back to today's agenda...

I'm sure I don't need to remind Chris of the following -

Bd. 12 Rice, Chris B (2038) 2 v. 2 Kalaiyalahan, Akshaya (2212)

I won't ask him how the prep's going... going... gone.

Hope he comes back on for a quick post-game-selfie interview, no matter what.

Good luck to both players.

[John Moore]

Ken Norman had a disaster in the Seniors today - it won't help Ken but everyone has one or two of these in their past.

I remember explaining to Michael Twyble in an Essex county match years ago (yes, I know - discussing the game, but I can't lose it twice) how I was playing a really deep positional idea. He looked a bit surprised as was I when I went back to the board since my opponent ignored my strategic brilliance and mated me in two. I also remember a game in a relatively minor league where my opponent (not very strong) bashed out a rook check with almost a roar of triumph. I thought what a pillock and then looked at the position and oh dear mate in two. See the pattern recurring - only point was the rook was en prise!

[John Moore]

Sorry - realised that I haven't made it clear in the second example that I resigned before realising the rook was en prise!