Basildon Chess Club

Basildon Chess Club Championships 2019-20 (Open and Under-140) The 2019-20 Club Championships commenced on 4th July 2019. 13 entries were received for the Open tournament and 4 entries for the Under-140.
The winner of the Open tournament will be crowned Club Champion and will receive a trophy and engraving on the Club Championship shield, which is also kept for one year. The winner of the U140 tournament will also receive a trophy.
The Open tournament consists of two all-play-all (once) groups. The winner and runner-up of each group will qualify for the semi-final. In the event of a tie for 1st/2nd place, the head to head game will act as a tie breaker. If this was drawn, 1st/2nd place will be decided by the toss of a coin. In the event of a tie for 2nd/3rd, a Rapid play off will take place. No tie breaker in this case.
The semi-finals will be Winner Group A v Runner-Up Group B and Winner Group B v Runner-Up Group A.
The U140 Tournament will be all-play-all twice. In the event of a tie, a rapidplay decider will determine the winner.
The time controls for all non-rapid games will be 80 mins + 10 secs per move.

TLDR The U140 tournament was won by Lakshan Siddharth and the club championship was eventually won by Bob Fowles after an 18 month delay due to covid.

Club Championship Group Matches
Pos Group A DK DM SC PS PL LS TB Pts             Pos Group B JB RB AG EG BF AD MM Pts
Q1 Dave Kraszewski x ½W ½B 1W 1B 1W 1B 5/6 =Q1 Justin Baptie x 1W 1B 1W ½B 1W 1B 5½/6
3 David Millward ½B x ½W ½B 1W ½B 1W 4/6 3 Radu Bara 0B x 1W -B 0W 1B 1W 3/5
Q2 Sean Clarke ½W ½B x ½W 1B 1W 1B 4½/6 4 Arunas Gedvilas 0W 0B x 1W 0B 0W 1B 2/6
4 Paul Savin 0B ½W ½B x 1W 0B 1W 3/6 =6 Ellie Gamal 0B -W 0B x 0W -B -W 0/3
6 Peter Laundy 0W 0B 0W 0B x ½W 1B 1½/6 =Q1 Bob Fowles ½W 1B 1W 1B x 1W 1B 5½/6
5 Lakshan Siddharth 0B ½W 0B 1W ½B x -W 2/5 5 Andy Daniel 0B 0W 1B -W 0B x -W 1/4
7 Tye Byram 0W 0B 0W 0B 0W -B x 0/5 =6 Mandar Mane 0W 0B 0W -B 0W -B x 0/4

Knockout Matches
Semi Finals
13-Feb-2020 Bob Fowles 1-0 Dave Kraszewski
13-Feb-2020 Justin Baptie 1-0 Sean Clarke
Final
30-Sep-2021 Justin Baptie ½-½ Bob Fowles
07-Oct-2021 Bob Fowles 1-0 Justin Baptie
Under-140 Championship
Pos LS BR AD MM Pts
1 Lakshan Siddharth x 1 1 1 1 - - 4/4
3 Bill Rippon 0 0 x 1 0 1 0 2/6
2 Andy Daniel 0 0 1 0 x 1 ½ 2½/6
4 Mandar Mane - - 1 0 ½ 0 x 1½/4
Group and U140 Match Reports Group A
4th July - Paul was outplayed by Peter in the opening and early middlegame, but with a win in sight, Peter blundered and allowed Paul to turn the tables.
11th July - Peter versus Sean started with a big space advantage for Peter, but after queens were exchanged, Peter's more advanced pawns proved a source of weakness. Sean eventually broke through, queened his 'd' pawn and claimed the point.
18th July - Sean v Paul was always fairly even. Paul gained an edge, but never enough to win, so the point was split.
25th July - David M inflicted a 3rd defeat on Peter via a powerful attack on the latter's king that led to an early resignation. Sean and Dave K eventually shared the point after Sean's opening mistakes were matched by Dave's endgame errors.
1st August - Paul and David M played a very even game that led to a draw. Sean had an early material gain against Lakshan and made no mistake to secure the win. Peter had a positional advantage against Dave K, but in mutual time trouble Peter made the decisive mistake to give Dave the point.
8th August - A 23 move draw between Dave K and David M. Boring? NOT! An unusually open game where DK's 12 Qh5+ forced Kf8. DK then missed a very promising follow-up exchange sacrifice. Within 6 moves the tables were completely turned and DM was pressing hard for the win. DK just about found a defence and with just 5 minutes left, offered the draw that was immediately accepted.
15th August - No Group A games this week, but we have a late new entry - a welcome return to the club to Tye Byram!
22nd August - David M made it a tough debut for Tye, with a strong performance culminating in f8=B mate!
29th August - Super Thursday in Group A. Peter finally achieved his first win after a fierce battle with Tye. Dave K had the worse of his game against Paul, until an incorrect exchange sac handed over the advantage and Dave made no mistake in the resulting endgame. David M allowed Sean to gain an opening advantage, which appeared to dissipate, but then Sean won multiple pawns and looked certain to win. However, in a desperate finish (no time!) David found unexpected resources and escaped with a draw.
5th September - Paul took advantage of Tye's dodgy opening, but then managed to go wrong. It didn't matter as Tye grabbed a pawn too quickly, which cost him a piece and the game. Lakshan maintained a level position against David M, and as the pieces were exchanged, any winning chances disappeared and a draw was the outcome. An excellent result for Lakshan against a much higher graded opponent.
12th/19th September - After an adjournment where Paul looked to be a safe pawn ahead, Lakshan managed to create unfathomable complications which Paul almost managed to successfully negotiate. Unfortunately for Paul, he found an immediately losing move in a winning position and Lakshan found the mating combination for a notable win.
26th September - Tye looked to have a very dangerous king side attack against Dave K, but the latter just about managed to keep things under control. Then counterplay on the other flank led to a mistake by Tye and Dave wrapped up the point.
3rd October - Dave K gained no advantage from the opening against Lakshan, and after most pieces were exchanged, a draw looked the likely result. However, Lakshan incorrectly exchanged queens which left him with the more difficult ending. After much manouevering, Dave eventually forced an error and, somewhat fortuitously, won the game and also Group A.
21st November - Tye's unusual opening against Sean led to a q-side attack on one side and a k-side on the other. Sean's proved to be the more powerful strategy and, despite Tye's best efforts, Sean had the winning endgame. This gave him the point that he required to qualify for the semi-finals.
12th December - Peter and Lakshan fought an even contest throughout, that ended in a draw.

Group B
4th July - Mandar, making his debut in our club competitions (welcome Mandar!), had a tough start meeting Arunas who proved to be too strong on this occasion.
11th July- Bob missed an opportunity against Justin, with a winning rook sac. The final position, Q, R and six Ps for Bob, v Q, B, N + four was tough to assess and moves were repeated, with Justin very short of time.
18th July- Arunas got a poor position from the opening against Justin and sacrificed a pawn for some counterplay. Justin had it all under control but it then became messy in mutual time trouble. In the end it was Arunas' Q v Justin's Q+NP, which Justin played very well and won quickly. Another tough night for Mandar, where Bob proved too strong for him.
25th July - Bob's loss of the exchange against Arunas turned into an inspired sac after Arunas castled q-side, where all Bob's pieces were lined up, ready for action. Arunas' defenders were no match, so Bob moves to the top of Group B.
1st August - Mandar miscalculated early and handed Justin his queen and the point. Arunas sacrificed a couple of pawns in the opening against Andy, but never really gained sufficient compensation. Andy turned things around and played superbly for a decisive winning attack.
8th August - Radu and Bob produced the expected attacking feast. First, Radu threw everything at Bob, who defended expertly. Then, with both kings exposed and major pieces running amok, Bob turned the tables and found a winning attack. The win takes Bob within touching distance of a semi-final place.
22nd August - Bob was in trouble against Andy, who had a black knight on e4 causing all sorts of problems. However, Bob managed to create threats on the g-file with doubled rooks and when Andy was unable to find the correct defence, the tables were turned and Bob notched up yet another win.
29th August - As per last week, Justin found Andy a difficult opponent. Material was equal well into the endgame, but Justin's q-side pawns proved to be too strong and were the key to his victory.
5th September - Radu played as Radu does. This time against Arunas, sacrificing 3 pawns to maintain an attack. Arunas defended well, but missed a winning line and in the ending his extra pawns were too weak and Radu prevailed.
12th September - Justin played the Morra gambit against Radu, sacrificed an additional pawn, then the exchange, but this gave him a decisive attack against Radu's uncastled king. It looks very much like Justin and Bob are now the Group B qualifiers.
19th September - Radu's sacrificial attack appeared to founder on the rock of Andy's excellent defence. However, with reduced material on the board, Radu finally found a way through and his major pieces proved decisive. Arunas had a persistent edge against Ellie and successfully turned this into material advantage which led to victory.
26th September - Radu made some obligatory pawn sacrifices against Mandar, but in return obtained a raging, indefensible attack that Mandar found indefensible. Bob had the best of a wild, tactical struggle with Ellie that looked like ending quite early. However, Ellie found a defence that led to an inferior ending of Q+2P v Q,B+2P with all the pawns on the same side. Now into a late night finish, with both players low on time, Bob finally broke through to gain victory and guarantee at least a shared 1st place in Group B.
23rd January - The final game of significance was a win for Justin over Ellie. The result could easily have been in Ellie's favour, but a pawn on d7 in a major piece middle game proved decisive. So Bob and Justin qualify as joint winners of Group B.

U140
25th July - Mandar built up some k-side pressure against Bill, who then succumbed by blundering his queen and handing the point to Mandar.
22nd August - Bill gained revenge for his earlier loss to Mandar, who grabbed a poisoned a2 pawn with his knight and found it trapped. Bill took full advantage and continued to pick up extra material and secure the win.
5th September - Andy won a couple of pawns early on against Bill and slowly swapped material. It was still a difficult ending, but Bill made a mistake and Andy took the point.
26th September - Bill had a difficult time against the in-form Lakshan. An early pawn gain was followed by a tactic leading to the winning of a rook and Lakshan converted the extra material into a win.
3rd October - Bill again gained revenge for an earlier loss - this time reversing his earlier result against Andy.
14th November - Andy against Lakshan was quite even for the opening and early middle game, but then Lakshan took control to gain the full point and maimtain his perfect start in this competition.
5th December - The Lakshan-Andy return match went the same way as the first. Lakshan gained an advantage and eventually reached a 5P v B ending in which Andy was powerless to prevent the advance of at least one of Lakshan's pawns.
23rd January - Andy was in material deficit early on against Mandar, but this was a mirage as Mandar's pieces were not well placed. Andy made good use of his positional plus and forced the win.
20th February - Mandar manufactured a winning attack against Andy. Ready to deliver the final blow, he queened his bishop's pawn. And then tragically realised that Andy's king was in the corner and with no pawn moves available it was stalemate!
27th February - Lakshan steamrollered his way through Bill to bring up his fourth straight victory and guarantee first place in this competition. Well done to Lakshan!
Knockout Reports 13th February - A coin toss pitted Bob against Dave and Justin against Sean (due to the tie for first place in Group B). Justin was white against Sean and a long attritional encounter was finally decided in a rook and multi-pawn ending when Justin broke through Sean's defences. In spite of being short of time, Justin efficiently ended Sean's resistance to reach the final for the 6th year running!
In stark contrast, Bob v Dave was a fairly wild affair. Dave misplayed the opening and Bob obtained a winning advantage, but then allowed a counter attack with probably his only error of the night. Queen's were exchanged to reach a R+B+Ps ending with an extra pawn for Dave. However he then misplayed the ending and it ended with Bob's 3 king side passed pawns being decisive. So Bob reaches his first final since the late 1980s!
30th September 2021 - After an 18 month delay due to Covid, Justin and Bob resumed battle and an even game ended in a draw without major chances for either side.
7th October 2021 - In the replay, this time Bob playing White, his 2 c3 Sicilian proved to be a good choice as Justin blundered a piece in the opening. Although the game continued for a while afterwards, Bob never relinquished his advantage and so claimed his first club championship title since 1987.
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