English Women's Championship 2018

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
Jonathan Rogers
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Sat Sep 01, 2018 3:53 pm

All four Barbican entrants on 2/2; I'd like to frame the page!

LawrenceCooper
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sat Sep 01, 2018 4:08 pm

Jonathan Rogers wrote:
Sat Sep 01, 2018 3:53 pm
All four Barbican entrants on 2/2; I'd like to frame the page!
I'd been waiting for you to comment on that :)

Jonathan Rogers
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Sat Sep 01, 2018 4:31 pm

He knows me so well 8)

Alex Longson
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by Alex Longson » Sat Sep 01, 2018 5:35 pm

Round 2

Round 2 saw the first draw – but just the one leaving the % of decisive games remarkably high at 27/28 (96%). 3 of the top 5 seeds dropped points with the biggest upset being Louise Head losing to Natasha Regan (though I believe Natasha is significantly stronger than her rating would suggest – and has of course been over 2200).

So after 2 rounds we have 5 players on 2/2: Sheila Jackson, Kanwal Bhatia, Ingrid Lauterbach, Natasha Regan and Naomi Wei (2017 UKCC U18 Girls Champion).

On board one Louise built up a nice position with white in a Classical Dutch but Natasha was able to hang on and in the minor piece endgame turned the screw with her outside passed pawn

After 43…Ba4 44.Na1 the knight is dominated. 44…Nc4+ 45.Kd3 Na3 followed by …Nc2 won a piece and the game

On board two Zoe blundered quite badly out of the opening (a sharp 2 knights) allowing Sarah to gain a significant advantage. However – it wasn’t so easy to convert – though Sarah did miss a tactical chance on move 20. Zoe defended well and towards the end even had the better position, though she decided not to push her luck and a draw was agreed.

White has just played 13.Be4? How was this refuted?

Board three was contested between Sheila Jackson and the, hopefully returning to chess mother of three, Yao Yao Zhu. White generally held the advantage and eventually ground Yao Yao down in a rook endgame.

Alaa Gamal was doing quite well against Kanwal Bhatia but started to drift with the onset of time pressure and eventually blacks pieces invaded the white camp.

Helen Frostick – Naomi Wei was marred by a blunder from Helen on move 26 (time pressure).

26.Qc2??

Board six was looking very good for Nadia Jaufarally with the white pieces after winning a pawn in the opening with a tactic – but the position later got complicated and white blundered on move 29 moving Ingrid to 2/2.

In a Sicilian Kan, Black has just played 10…d6 allowing…?

LawrenceCooper
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sat Sep 01, 2018 7:08 pm

Jonathan Rogers wrote:
Sat Sep 01, 2018 4:31 pm
He knows me so well 8)
Not a bad afternoon for Barbican either:

Pairings/Results
Round 3 on 2018/09/01 at 1500
Bo. No. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg No.
1 6 WIM Lauterbach Ingrid 2010 2 1 - 0 2 WGM Jackson Sheila 2068 3
2 4 WFM Bhatia Kanwal K 2042 2 ½ - ½ 2 WIM Regan Natasha K 1942 8
3 13 Wei Naomi 1781 2 1 - 0 1½ Varney Zoe 1986 7
4 15 Volovich Julia 1731 1½ 0 - 1 1½ Rahulan Thivyaa 1829 11
5 2 WFM Longson Sarah N 2120 1½ ½ - ½ 1 WFM Head Louise 2161 1
6 18 WCM Sheikh Anum 1686 1 1 - 0 1 Frostick Helen M 2037 5
7 21 Denning Julie L 1658 1 0 - 1 1 Gamal Alaa 1862 9
8 10 Zhu Yaoyao 1836 1 1 - 0 1 Walker Kate 1667 20
9 30 Posadas Rayelynn 0 1 0 - 1 1 Jaufarally Nadia 1828 12
10 23 Wang Susie 1490 1 1 - 0 1 Chowdhury Feroza 1742 14
11 16 Sheremetyeva Elizaveta 1717 1 1 - 0 1 Dicen Imogen 1513 22
12 25 Kluckova Alzbeta 1281 ½ 0 - 1 ½ Maladkar Lavanya 1671 19
13 27 Jafarinejad Shohreh 0 0 - - + 0 Milewska Agnieszka 1687 17
14 28 Meng Hanzhi 0 0 0 - 1 0 Dicen Elis Denele 1390 24
15 26 Eccleston Bryony 1225 0 1 - 0 0 Naudé Nanette 0 29

LawrenceCooper
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sat Sep 01, 2018 8:11 pm

Round 4 on 2018/09/02 at 1000
Bo. No. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg No.
1 13 Wei Naomi 1781 3 3 WIM Lauterbach Ingrid 2010 6
2 11 Rahulan Thivyaa 1829 2½ 2½ WFM Bhatia Kanwal K 2042 4
3 8 WIM Regan Natasha K 1942 2½ 2 WFM Longson Sarah N 2120 2
4 3 WGM Jackson Sheila 2068 2 2 Sheremetyeva Elizaveta 1717 16
5 9 Gamal Alaa 1862 2 2 WCM Sheikh Anum 1686 18
6 12 Jaufarally Nadia 1828 2 2 Zhu Yaoyao 1836 10
7 19 Maladkar Lavanya 1671 1½ 2 Wang Susie 1490 23
8 1 WFM Head Louise 2161 1½ 1½ Volovich Julia 1731 15
9 7 Varney Zoe 1986 1½ 1 Frostick Helen M 2037 5
10 14 Chowdhury Feroza 1742 1 1 Eccleston Bryony 1225 26
11 22 Dicen Imogen 1513 1 1 Milewska Agnieszka 1687 17
12 20 Walker Kate 1667 1 1 Posadas Rayelynn 0 30
13 24 Dicen Elis Denele 1390 1 1 Denning Julie L 1658 21
14 29 Naudé Nanette 0 0 ½ Kluckova Alzbeta 1281 25
15 28 Meng Hanzhi 0 0 0 bye
16 27 Jafarinejad Shohreh 0 0 0 not paired

benedgell
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by benedgell » Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:53 pm

Alex, thanks for writing reports and posting them here. Enjoying reading them.

benedgell
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by benedgell » Sat Sep 01, 2018 10:01 pm

I've got the second one of your puzzles fairly easily, the first took me far longer then it probably should have, and even now I'm not 100% sure of myself.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:06 am

Is the second one 13......f5!?
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Alex Longson
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by Alex Longson » Sun Sep 02, 2018 10:17 am

Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:06 am
Is the second one 13......f5!?
Yes - the game continued 13...f5 14.Nxf5 Bxf5 15.Bxf5 Nxc2+ 16.Bxc2 Rxf3 17.gxf3. Material is level but black has a clear advantage as white will find it difficult to develop properly and find a safe haven forher queen. However, with stubborn defence the game isn't over and in the game white acheived a light square dominance - it wasn't entirely clear to me where black went wrong (apart from the missed shot on move 20).

In Jaufaraaly - Lauterbach, 11.Nxb5 snatches a clean pawn

Alex Longson
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by Alex Longson » Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:30 am

Round 3

2 more draws this round – perhaps tiredness setting in (!). At the start of the round we had five players on 100% and at the end just two: the experienced Ingrid Lauterbach and the 2017 UKCC Girls Champion Naomi Wei.

Board one saw a wild battle between Ingrid and Sheila with the evaluation swinging from one extreme to another. In the end 38…Qxb5 was the decisive mistake. 40…Kf7 looks strange but 40…Kg8 is no salvation after 41.Qc4 (or 41.Qb3)



Board 2 saw the battle between Barbican teammates Kanwal Bhatia and Natasha Regan. From an Italian / Hungarian Defence the game developed quietly and was generally balanced except for an interesting moment in the endgame where it seems Natasha missed a big chance with 32…d3 33.Kf1 Kf6 and blacks bishop is dominating the knight – this might be winning for black.


White should play 32.Ne1 and 33.Nd3. Instead 32.Kf1? allows 32…d3! Though black played …Ke7?

Naomi Wei v Zoe Varney was a battle of the under 18s on board 3 – we could see a repeat of this at the Terafinal in September. On this occasion Naomi was victorious after achieving a significant plus in the middlegame. The game could have finished much sooner though the result was never truly in doubt from move 30 or so.

The battle of the juniors on board four culminated in a tense pawn endgame that was winning for black – but both sides made mistakes. In the key position below black had a key decision to make. 43…Kg6 and 43…h5 are two candidate moves – but one wins whilst the other draws. What would you choose and why?

43…h5 or 43…Kg6?

We also saw the clash of the top two seeds – though unexpectedly this was on board 5. This was a key game for both players with a draw not really suiting either. The opening was a quiet Exchange Caro which has received some attention recently from top players. We prepared a line where we felt white got some advantage and so it proved – white was more comfortable out of the opening with the two bishops though black was very solid. Sarah drifted on the board and on the clock and black had a serious initiative in the endgame with a standard minority attack – but Sarah managed to find just enough counterplay to hold the draw.

41...Re7! 42.Rc2 f5! would have given black better chances

Paul Cooksey
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by Paul Cooksey » Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:38 am

still no like button Carl? :-)

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JustinHorton
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by JustinHorton » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:00 pm

Alex Longson wrote:
Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:30 am
the game developed quietly and was generally balanced except for an interesting moment in the endgame where it seems Natasha missed a big chance with 32…d3 33.Kf1 Kf6
The bishop is occupying that square. Should it be e6?
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Ian Thompson
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by Ian Thompson » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:23 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:00 pm
Alex Longson wrote:
Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:30 am
the game developed quietly and was generally balanced except for an interesting moment in the endgame where it seems Natasha missed a big chance with 32…d3 33.Kf1 Kf6
The bishop is occupying that square. Should it be e6?
Not unless there is another mistake in the diagram - 32.Kf1 d3 would allow 33.Ne5+ winning the pawn if the bishop was on e6.

LawrenceCooper
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Re: English Women's Championship 2018

Post by LawrenceCooper » Sun Sep 02, 2018 1:01 pm

Ian Thompson wrote:
Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:23 pm
JustinHorton wrote:
Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:00 pm
Alex Longson wrote:
Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:30 am
the game developed quietly and was generally balanced except for an interesting moment in the endgame where it seems Natasha missed a big chance with 32…d3 33.Kf1 Kf6
The bishop is occupying that square. Should it be e6?
Not unless there is another mistake in the diagram - 32.Kf1 d3 would allow 33.Ne5+ winning the pawn if the bishop was on e6.
33...Ke6 I suspect.

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