Baburin-Scannell revisited

I recently annotated my game against Alexander Baburin at the Galway Congress 2009. I have just seen that he annotated the game himself for his daily Chess Today column, back in October, which has been reproduced by the Galway Chess Club website. Chess Today.

My original notes are here. What’s immediately apparent to me is how subtle his annotations are compared to my own. He clearly notices more over the board – that’s what makes him a GM – but he also continues to learn more during analysis too. He points out several improvements possible for both sides and I’ll be studying my own notes again to see where I went wrong.

How we stand in the leagues

Armstrong league shows Rathmines struggling

Rathmines overall is doing extremely well in the leagues – aside that is from the Armstrong team! We’ve been slow out of the blocks in the top league. Last year, at this point, we were leading. We all felt that we were performing well above expectations last year and so it proved in the end, as we drifted back down the table. But at least we felt motivated and energised. Unfortunately, we’ve failed to gain any traction this year and our results have been well below expectations. My own score of 0/4 hasn’t helped!

Heidenfeld league shows best and worst of Rathmines

In the Heidenfeld, the A team leads the way on 20 points, but the B team languishes on 9.5. The majority of the A team were on last year’s Armstrong B team – it isn’t only in the English Premier league that teams yo-yo between there and the league below!

O'Hanlon league table with Rathmines in second and a game in hand

In the O’Hanlon, we sit proudly in second place and have a game in hand. If the Heidenfeld B team drops and this team goes up, they’ll meet in the Ennis next year.

(There are no results yet for the other leagues…)

Cafolla vs. Freeman, Lost Knights 2009

Leinster Chess Union have started an interesting new individual league tournament, happening over the entire season, called the “Lost Knights”. It features many leading players from the Armstrong Cup. Today’s game has been sent in by Peter Cafolla – an exciting win with white against Gordon Freeman.

Annotated by Peter Cafolla.

Replay Game Here in a separate window.

Lost Knights, Round 2.
Cafolla, P. vs. Freeman, G.
Slav Defence

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4
I know as much about the Slav as I do about bee keeping or the sex life of a gnat so I’m already in new territory here.
5. Nbd2 e6 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. c5 Qc7 8. Ne5 Nbd7 9. Nxg4 Nxg4

The position is level so I try to spice things up a bit.
10. f4 b6 11. Be2 h5
I thought this was a bit weakening but Fritz thinks otherwise so who am I to argue?
12. cxb6 axb6 13. Nf3 Be7 14. Bd2 g6?!

I like that Russian proverb (one of many) saying that if you say “A” then you must say “B” therefore 14 h4!? is probably called for here
15. Qc2
I like this move, it pressurizes c6 and puts the Queen on a path to richer pastures.
15… Kf8?! A bit OTT 15..c5! is best.
16. Ne5 Ndxe5?!
As often happens one mistake follows another, C5! is still needed.
17. fxe5 Kg7 18. e4

I felt it was important to strive for the initiative regardless of any weakening of my D pawn.
18… dxe4 19. Qxe4 c5?!
It’s too late for this now and the opening of the diagonal H1-A8 is perilous.
20. h3 Nh6 21. Bxh6+ Kxh6 22. O-O Kg7?
cxd4 is called for.

23. Bd3??
NO NO NO, Not a weak move in itself but I missed the lovely win: 23. Rxf7+ Kxf7 24. Rf1+ Kg7 25. Bd3 Rh6 26. Qxa8 Qd7 27. Qf3)
23… Rhf8 24. Rxf7+
Flashy as this is, the position is only level again.
24…Rxf7 25. Qxa8 Qd7 26. Qe4 Qxd4+ 27. Qxd4 cxd4 28. Rc1!

Obvious but strong. Gordon spent a long time finding the best continuation.
28…Bg5! 29. Rc6 Be3+ 30. Kh1 Rf2!
Attack is the best defence.
31. Rxe6 g5
Taking on B2 is safer.
32. g4
My turn to get cold feet, I should have devoured the B pawn but I was concerned about getting trapped in a mating net.
32…hxg4 33. hxg4 Rxb2 34. Re7+ Kf8 35. Rd7! += 35…Rxa2?? Probably caused by time trouble. 41..Rd2 should have held.
36. e6 Ra5??
Black is in desperate time trouble but his position is hopeless anyway.
37.e7+ Ke8 38. Rb7 Ra1+ 39. Kg2 Ra2+ 40. Kh3 Kf7 41. Bc4+ 1-0

Leinster Chess Blog

Peter Cafolla has alerted me to the a new site. Jonathan O’Connor has started an interesting blog over at Leinster Chess League Cogitations. He has games, results, and some commentary about chess issues in Ireland & Lenister. Interestingly, he has managed to find a chess replay plugin and it is for the same platform as this Rathmines site. I’ll be looking into adding it here too, in future.

Which reminds me…anybody who wants to see any of their games on this Rathmines club site, just send me an email (scannell_tony@yahoo.co.uk) or attach a comment. PGN and/or Chessbase notation desired, please. Your own comments are especially welcome. I have added games from players whose ratings ranged from 1100 to 2100, so there are NO restrictions that way. An interesting game is all that matters.

It does take some time to add a fully-annotated game, and my time has been very limited for the last 6 months or so, but I will always endeavour to add games of interest.

Armstrong vs. Dun Laoghaire result

RATHMINES DUN LAOGHAIRE

BD. PLAYER ICU. NO. RATING RESULT PLAYER ICU.NO. RATING

1. John Delaney 318 2211 0.5-0.5 Anthony Fox 456 2094
2. Peter Cafolla 159 2035 0.5-0.5 Bernard Palmer 1354 1961
3. Killian Delaney 5104 1980 0.5-0.5 John Lane 764 1926
4. Mindaugas Janusaitis 12148 1869 1-0 Tony Dennehy 324 1901
5. Tony Scannell 1533 1856 0-1 Liam Hearns 573 1840
6. John Burns 137 1744 0-1 Paul Cassidy 194 1832
7. Jack Killane 740 1860 0-1 Eddie Butler 1791
8. Philip Doyle 367 1697 0-1 Peter D. Jackson 2122 1751

Match Result : Rathmines 2.5 – 5.5 Dun Laoghaire

Heidenfeld Result

Bd	Rathmines A	ICU no.	Rating	Result	Lucan	ICU no.	Rating
1	David Goggins	497	1817	0.5 – 0.5	Garry Windebank	3342	1819
2	Lukasz Goralski	10298	1787	1 – 0	Jim Murray	977	1734
3	Leon Fagan	406	1790	1 – 0	Patrick Daly	5600	1805
4	James Burke	1819	1718	0 – 1	Anthony Bourached	12061	1568
5	Philip Doyle	367	1697	0.5 – 0.5	John McMahon	10217	1491
6	Michael Kennedy	3955	1838	1 – 0	Brendan Norris	10218	1553
7	John Crowley	277	1613	0.5 – 0.5	Patrick Fitzgerald	5278	1443
8	Atanas Kouhtev	5571	1367	1 – 0	Shane Brennan	4026	1444
				5.5 – 2.5

In the Armstrong, I do not have the scorecard, but I believe it was a bad day for Rathmines. We had losses for Jack, Tony, John Burns, and Philip with draws for Peter, John, and Killian. Mindaugas pulled off our only win. So currently, to the best of my knowledge, 2.5-5.5 down. I might be wrong on a result or two, but not enough to change the nature of the defeat unfortunately…:-)

Paul Mogerley

It is with great sadness that I must announce the sudden passing away of our long-standing and much-loved club member, Paul Mogerley. Paul was an Honorary Member, committee member, and regular attender at the club. He won a board prize on the Ennis Shield in 1997/98 and the ladder many times. He contributed hugely to the annual Rathmines chess tournament in organising and supervising it. Above all else, Paul was always ready with a smile and encouraging word for all members. With his great friend, Kieran Cranny, he set the tone for the club over many years.

Rathmines Chess Club would like to extend their sincerest condolences to Paul’s family and friends.

The death has occurred of Paul MOGERLEY of Beaumont, Dublin

Suddenly. Formerly of Maryland, Dublin 8. Late of ESB. Removal tomorrow, Tuesday, from his home to the Church of the Nativity, Beaumont, arriving at 5.30pm. Funeral on Wednesday after 10am Mass to Fingal Cemetery. Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, to the Mater Hospital Foundation. Date published: Monday, November 02, 2009 Date of death: Friday, October 30, 2009