Blitz Tricks

It’s that time of year again – Blitz! I’ve (Tony Scannell) been playing a fair amount of it lately, on playchess.com. I am sure it has destroyed my long-time-control chess, but it certainly is fun.

I thought I’d show some neat tricks from a couple of my recent games. These were all 5-minute games played against opponents around 1600-1700 range. Killian, of course, beats GMs at 3-minute chess. I’m staggered at watching players bash out moves during those games and I find the pace just too much. Five minutes allows – I feel – a little amount of calculation at least.

Black to play and win.

I am playing black. White has just played the blunder 22. Bf4. I played the instinctive 22 … Rxf4! without a second’s thought. And after 23. gxf4 Ne3+  24. Kh3 Qg4#

The next game shows the value of quick development (I’m playing black again).

In the position above, white is terribly under-developed. But there don’t seem to be any clear ways through his defences and material is level.
After 17… Ne2+ 18. Kh1 Rd3 19. Re1 it still looks superficially level.

This is a move I spent over a minute calculating, which is quite an investment in blitz.

19… Rxf3!! I guess it is easy once you see it. 20. d3 (Of course, 20. gxf3 Bxg3#) Rf2 21. Be3 Rxg2? (Bxg2 is mate straight away!) 22. d4 Rg1#

In the next game, I am playing white and looking completely busted. After all, black is about to win at least an exchange and he looks comfortable enough. His king seems surrounded by pieces and pawns. But it is an illusion.

Here, I played 20. Qf2 which must have looked like capitulation to my opponent. I’m not even trying to win back the knight.
But after 20… Nxa1 21. Bxb7+ Kxb7 22. Qf3+ Suddenly white is closing in on the black king! 22… c6 (d5 is slightly better but is still losing).

23. bxc6+ Kc7 24. Na6+ Kc8 25. cxd7+ Rxd7 26. Qc6+ Rc7 27. Qxc7#
Even in that relatively short sequence, I missed many quicker alternatives. What about the amazing 23. Qxc6+!! which mates in 2. Or the relatively easy to find (but missed) 26. Qa8#? Even a winning combination can be far from optimal.

Kieran Cranny Blitz Grand Prix Final Standings

Round 3 Final Standings, played Thursday 23-Aug-12:

Place	Name	Loc	Score
1	Skrzypnik, Tomasz	1890	8.5
2	Burns, John	1795	6.5
3	Fagan, Leon	1881	5.5
4-5	Killane, Jack	1794	5
	Bermingham, Tony	1819	5
6-7	Nikrow, Shahram	1352	4
	Byrne, Ciaran	1231	4
8	Lynch, Peter	1553	3
9	Butler, Tom	1058	2.5
10	Maher, John	1347	1

Grand Prix Final Standings:

Place	Name	Loc	Round1 Score	Round 2 Score	Round 3 Score	Final Score
	GROUP A (1750+)
1	Skrzypnik, Tomasz	1890	7.5	7	8.5	23
2-3	Fagan, Leon	1881	7.5	7	5.5	20
	Burns, John	1795	7	6.5	6.5	20
4	Bermingham, Tony	1819	4	4.5	5	13.5
5	Goralski, Lukasz	1757	6	5.5	0	11.5
6	Killane, Jack	1794	0	5	5	10
7	Kennedy, Michael	1799	1	4.5	0	5.5
	GROUP B (1300-1749)
1	Nikrow, Shahram	1352	6	7	4	17
2	Lynch, Peter	1553	4	3	3	10
3	Gaffney, John	1449	4	0	0	4
4	Maher, John	1347	2	1	1	4
	GROUP C (<1299)
1	Butler, Tom	1058	4	1	2.5	7.5
2	Byrne, Ciaran	1231	3	0	4	7
3	White, Adrian	1295	3	2	0	5
4	Collins, Kevin	1100	3	0	0	3
5	Scott, Kevin	1000	1	0	0	1

Kieran Cranny Blitz Grand Prix 2012

The final round of the Kieran Cranny Blitz Grand Prix will take place this Thursday 23-Aug-12.  Don’t forget, any club member can take part even if they haven’t played in the earlier rounds.  Free entry.

Round 2 Final Standings, 16-Aug-12:

Place	Name	Loc	Score
1-3	Nikrow, Shahram	1352	7
	Skrzypnik, Tomasz	1890	7
	Fagan, Leon	1881	7
4	Burns, John	1795	6.5
5	Goralski, Lukasz	1757	5.5
6	Killane, Jack	1794	5
7-8	Kennedy, Michael	1799	4.5
	Bermingham, Tony	1819	4.5
9	Lynch, Peter	1553	3
10	White, Adrian	1295	2
11-12	Maher, John	1347	1
	Butler, Tom	1058	1

Overall Standings after Round 2:

Place	Name	Loc	Round1 Score	Round 2 Score	Total after 2 Rounds
	GROUP A (1750+)
1-2	Skrzypnik, Tomasz	1890	7.5	7	14.5
	Fagan, Leon	1881	7.5	7	14.5
3	Burns, John	1795	7	6.5	13.5
4	Goralski, Lukasz	1757	6	5.5	11.5
5	Bermingham, Tony	1819	4	4.5	8.5
6	Kennedy, Michael	1799	1	4.5	5.5
7	Killane, Jack	1794	0	5	5
	GROUP B (1300-1749)
1	Nikrow, Shahram	1352	6	7	13
2	Lynch, Peter	1553	4	3	7
3	Gaffney, John	1449	4	0	4
4	Maher, John	1347	2	1	3
	GROUP C (<1299)
1-2	Butler, Tom	1058	4	1	5
	White, Adrian	1295	3	2	5
3-4	Collins, Kevin	1100	3	0	3
	Byrne, Ciaran	1231	3	0	3
5	Scott, Kevin	1000	1	0	1

Kieran Cranny Blitz Grand Prix

The dates for our annual, three-round Kieran Cranny Blitz Grand Prix competition are Thursday 9^th, 16^th and 23^rd August 2012.  Starts at 8pm.  All members are invited to take part.  Free entry.

The rules are simple: three rounds of nine games each. Everybody is in one draw. You can enter any individual round, even if you miss a round, but obviously you stand a much better chance of winning if you enter all three rounds. There are prizes for the overall winner, an intermediates winner, and a junior winner (based on ratings). Organised by Michael Kennedy.

Blitz results

Players preparing for the next round

Killian Delaney showed his complete command of the art of blitz with a masterful 9/9 in the greatly delayed Rathmines Annual Christmas blitz last Thursday night. He had to beat such contenders as Sam Osborne (second on 7/9) a 2084-rated board one Armstrong player, Tomasz Skrzypnik, a 2048-rated player, and board one on the Armstrong B team, plus many 1800-rated players. If his estimated rating is slightly ludicrous (2792!), nevertheless the gulf in class between Killian and the rest is apparent. There is already talk of handicapping him next year by forcing him to play with rook odds…even queen odds are being discussed. I’d try forcing him to play blindfold personally…:-)

After Sam came Mindaugas Janusaitis (ahead on tie-break) and Tony Scannell on 6/9.

Ken Moore won the second tier, with 5.5/9. In our game (Scannell vs Moore) we both missed each others hanging queens for three moves, until Ken stopped the mutual nonsense by capturing mine. Blunder of the night? Apparently not, as many players reported having to snap off kings amid the time scrambles. Second and third in the B section were James Burke and John Crowley.

Speaking of time scrambles, DJ O’Donoghue managed to mate Tomasz with the barest of margins, Tomasz having six seconds on his clock, with DJ down to even less. Cooly repositioning his rooks for the inevitable mate of the king against the back rank, it was an impressive show of cool. In the end, having turned up late for round one, DJ was only stopped in his tracks by Killian in round 7.

Ciaran Byrne rounded off as winner of the C section, with James Osborne second and Roland McCrann third.

The entire night was most ably administered by Michael Kennedy, who even graciously gave up his place in the competition after round one, to even up the numbers. Every round proceeded smoothly. It is no mean feat collecting results from so many tables and getting the draw ready for the next one. Thanks Michael!

Prizes!

 

	Group A	Rating	Score
1	Delaney, Killian	2010	9
2	Osborne, Sam C.	2084	7
3	Janusaitis, Mindaugas	1838	6
4	Scannell, Tony	1822	6
5	O’Donoghue, Dennis J.	1853	5.5
6	Skrzypnik, Tomasz	2048	5.5
7	Fagan, Leon	1818	5.5
8	Killane, Jack	1793	5
9	Bermingham, Tony	1733	4
10	Moloney, Ian	1768	4
	Group B	Rating	Score
1	Moore, Kenneth	1590	5.5
2	Burke, James	1699	5
3	Crowley, John	1614	4.5
4	Gaffney, John P.	1407	4.5
5	Cosgrove, Pat	1517	4
6	Maher, John	1397	4
7	Kouhtev, Atanas	1365	3.5
8	Lynch, Peter J.	1549	3
	Group C	Rating	Score
1	Byrne, Ciaran J.	1318	5
2	Osborne, James	1356	4.5
3	McCrann, Roland	1234	4
4	White, Adrian	1000	4
5	Cooke, Peter	1029	3.5
6	Butler, Thomas	1000	2.5
7	O’Connell, John	1344	1
8	Prost, Arthur	1000	0

No |Name                 |Rtg | 1  | 2  | 3  | 4  | 5  | 6  | 7  | 8  | 9 

1. |Osborne, Sam         |2088|14:W| 8:W| 5:W| 3:L|10:W|13:W| 6:W| 4:L| 2:W
2. |Skrzypnik, Tomasz    |2048|15:W|10:W| 7:D| 6:W| 3:L| 4:L|13:W|22:W| 1:L
3. |Delaney, Killian     |2010|16:W|11:W|13:W| 1:W| 2:W| 5:W| 4:W| 8:W| 7:W
4. |O’Donoghue, DJ       |1853|  : |19:W|11:W|13:D| 7:W| 2:W| 3:L| 1:W| 5:L
5. |Janusaitis, Mindaugas|1838|17:W|12:W| 1:L| 7:W|15:W| 3:L| 8:L|16:W| 4:W
6. |Scannell, Tony       |1822|19:W|13:L|14:W| 2:L|21:W|10:W| 1:L|15:W| 8:W
7. |Fagan, Leon          |1818|20:W|22:W| 2:D| 5:L| 4:L|15:W|18:W|11:W| 3:L
8. |Killane, Jack        |1793|21:W| 1:L|12:W|15:L|14:W|11:W| 5:W| 3:L| 6:L
9. |Moloney, Ian         |1768|22:L|25:W|15:L|18:L|20:W|12:L|23:W|21:L|14:W
10.|Bermingham, Tony     |1733|23:W| 2:L|26:W|22:W| 1:L| 6:L|15:L|18:W|11:L
11.|Burke, James         |1699|25:W| 3:L| 4:L|19:W|22:W| 8:L|21:W| 7:L|10:W
12.|Crowley, John        |1614|26:W| 5:L| 8:L|21:L|24:W| 9:W|22:L|19:D|18:W
13.|Moore, Ken           |1590|24:W| 6:W| 3:L| 4:D|18:W| 1:L| 2:L|17:W|15:W
14.|Lynch, Peter         |1529| 1:L|24:W| 6:L|20:W| 8:L|21:L|26:L|25:W| 9:L
15.|Cosgrove, Pat        |1517| 2:L|21:W| 9:W| 8:W| 5:L| 7:L|10:W| 6:L|13:L
16.|Gaffney, John        |1407| 3:L|18:D|22:L|23:W|17:L|25:W|24:W| 5:L|20:W
17.|Maher, John          |1397| 5:L|23:D|19:L|26:W|16:W|18:L|25:W|13:L|24:D
18.|Kouhtev, Atanas      |1365|27:L|16:D|23:W| 9:W|13:L|17:W| 7:L|10:L|12:L
19.|Osborne, James       |1356| 6:L| 4:L|17:W|11:L|26:W|22:L|20:W|12:D|23:W
20.|O’Connell, John      |1344| 7:L|26:L|25:W|14:L| 9:L|24:L|19:L|23:L|16:L
21.|Byrne, Ciaran        |1318| 8:L|15:L|24:W|12:W| 6:L|14:W|11:L| 9:W|22:W
22.|McCrann, Roland      |1238| 9:W| 7:L|16:W|10:L|11:L|19:W|12:W| 2:L|21:L
23.|Cooke, Peter         |1029|10:L|17:D|18:L|16:L|25:W|26:W| 9:L|20:W|19:L
24.|Butler, Thomas       |1000|13:L|14:L|21:L|25:W|12:L|20:W|16:L|26:L|17:D
25.|Prost, Arthur        |1000|11:L| 9:L|20:L|24:L|23:L|16:L|17:L|14:L|26:L
26.|White, Adrian        |1000|12:L|20:W|10:L|17:L|19:L|23:L|14:W|24:W|25:W
27.|Kennedy, Michael     |1821|18:W|

No |Name                 |Loc |Score|Exp.|Chg*K| Rav|Rprfm

1. |Osborne, Sam         |2088|7.0/9|7.56|  -14|1804| 2024
2. |Skrzypnik, Tomasz    |2048|5.5/9|7.74|  -52|1741| 1821
3. |Delaney, Killian     |2010|9.0/9|7.02|   48|1793| 2792
4. |O’Donoghue, DJ       |1853|5.5/8|4.56|   21|1806| 1947
5. |Janusaitis, Mindaugas|1838|6.0/9|5.94|    2|1722| 1847
6. |Scannell, Tony       |1822|6.0/9|6.39|   -9|1666| 1791
7. |Fagan, Leon          |1818|5.5/9|6.39|  -21|1657| 1737
8. |Killane, Jack        |1793|5.0/9|5.40|   -9|1717| 1760
9. |Moloney, Ian         |1768|4.0/9|8.46| -108|1330| 1287
10.|Bermingham, Tony     |1733|4.0/9|6.84|  -67|1534| 1491
11.|Burke, James         |1699|5.0/9|6.12|  -26|1569| 1612
12.|Crowley, John        |1614|4.5/9|6.84|  -55|1408| 1408
13.|Moore, Ken           |1590|5.5/9|3.42|   50|1678| 1758
14.|Lynch, Peter         |1549|3.0/9|5.58|  -62|1459| 1334
15.|Cosgrove, Pat        |1517|4.0/9|1.89|   50|1748| 1705
16.|Gaffney, John        |1407|4.5/9|5.13|  -14|1358| 1358
17.|Maher, John          |1397|4.0/9|5.85|  -45|1287| 1244
18.|Kouhtev, Atanas      |1365|3.5/9|2.08|   33|1575| 1495
19.|Osborne, James       |1356|4.5/9|3.42|   26|1444| 1444
20.|O’Connell, John      |1344|1.0/9|4.77|  -91|1325|  974
21.|Byrne, Ciaran        |1318|5.0/9|1.80|   76|1556| 1599
22.|McCrann, Roland      |1238|4.0/9|0.72|   79|1640| 1597
23.|Cooke, Peter         |1029|3.5/9|0.99|   60|1374| 1294
24.|Butler, Thomas       |1000|2.5/9|0.90|   38|1358| 1192
25.|Prost, Arthur        |1000|0.0/9|0.99|  -24|1355|  356
26.|White, Adrian        |1000|4.0/9|1.08|   69|1336| 1293

Blitz – Thursday, 20th January, from 7.30pm

Christmas Blitz Rescheduled

As you all know, the original fixture was snowed out. Quite how an indoor chess tournament can be snowed out will be debated for years to come!

The rescheduled date is Thursday, January 20th, 2011. All members welcome, there are three sections (Senior, Inter, Junior) and there are plenty of great prizes for everybody. It is always the highlight of the year. And now I’ll just nip off and check the weather forecast…

Blitz Round 2

The next round of the Kieran Cranny Blitz Tournament is happening this Monday, 22nd February. Be sure to join in, even if you didn’t attend Round 1! Just drop in on the night and we’ll add you to the line-up.

Just a reminder of the leaders after round 1:

1 Skrzypnik, Tomasz 2050 7
2 Fagan, Leon 1790 6.5
3-5 Moore, Ken 1657 6
Kalam, Abul 1993 1993 6
O’Brien, Cormac 1475 6
6-7 Scannell, Tony 1866 5.5
Ahern, John 1760 5.5

And there are prizes for best intermediate and best junior players too, so plenty still to play for.

Blitz results

The 2009 Rathmines Blitz Tournament was held on Tuesday 27th January. It was a quiet night by the standards of this competition, with just 12 players. However, there are two more rounds to go and any player can join in for any round, so watch out for announcements! The next two rounds are to be held in March sometime, no date set yet.

Killian Delaney demolished the field with 9/9, showing again his dominance over five minutes. It is all that practice on Chessbase! Right behind him was John Crowley on 8/9, John again showing he can produce great results in blitz. The rest of the field was strung out behind them – Atanas Kouthev and Tony Scannell shared third on 6/9, with Jack on 5.5/6. The other players were John Maher, Roland McGrann, James Osborne, Paul Mogerley, Peter Lynch, Ciaran Byrne, and Pat McEvoy.

I am awaiting the full results from the organisers (thanks to John Crowley, the controller, and James Osborne for supplying the equipment).

Blitz results

The last round of the Rathmines blitz tournament was held last night, March 18th. There was a large turnout of 19 players for the nine games, including one new player, Steve Song. The main interest was over the destination of the top prize for winner of the senior section.

Blitz Results Round 2

Leader Board After 9 Rounds 

1-2  JANUSAITIS, MINDAUGAS           1932 8    
      KILLANE, JACK                   1747 8   
  3   GORALSKI, LUKASZ                1752 7      
  4   ELICEGUI, YOSEBA                1300 5.5   
  5   CROWLEY, JOHN                   1682 5    
6-11  McCRANN, ROLAND                 1200 4   
      McEVOY, PAT                     1580 4  
      MAHER, JOHN                     1443 4   
      O’CONNELL, DAVID                1390 4   
      BYRNE, CIARAN J                 1257 4   
      CUNNINGHAM, ED                  1000 4  
 12   O’BRIEN, CORMAC                 1100 3.5  
 13   O’BRIEN, PAT                    1099 3   
 14   KEENAN, LIAM                    700  2     
 15   MOWLDS, DEE                     800  1    
 16   O’HARA, DEIRDRE                 999  0      

For Cross Table and Ratings….click here…

Blitz Results after Round 1

Standings

Place Name Feder Rtg Loc Score
1-2 DELANEY, KILLIAN 2001 8
JANUSAITIS, MINDAUGAS 1932 8
3 SCANNELL, TONY 1782 6
4-7 O’CONNELL, DAVID 1390 5.5
  CROWLEY, JOHN 1682 5.5
  MAHER, JOHN 1443 5.5
  KILLANE, JACK 1747 5.5
 8-9 CUNNINGHAM, ED 1000 5
  BYRNE, CIARAN J 1257 5
10-11 WALSH, ALASTAIR 1069 4.5
  KENNEDY, MICHAEL 1777 4.5
12 OSBORNE, JAMES 1390 3
13-14 McEVOY, PAT 1580 2.5
ELICEGUI, YOSEBA 1300 2.5
15 WALSH, KEVIN 1211 1
16 MALONEY, MICHAEL 990 0 

Cross Table

1. DELANEY, KILLIAN 6:W 2:L 12:W 15:W 8:W 9:W 3:W 7:W 4:W
2. JANUSAITIS, MINDAUGAS 7:W 1:W 13:W 9:D 14:W 3:D 12:W 8:W 6:W
3. SCANNELL, TONY 8:D 11:W 5:W 14:W 9:W 2:D 1:L 6:L 15:W
4. KENNEDY, MICHAEL 9:L 5:L 10:D 11:W 15:W 13:W 6:L 16:W 1:L
5. KILLANE, JACK 11:D 4:W 3:L 6:L 10:W 15:L 16:W 14:W 9:W
6. CROWLEY, JOHN 1:L 7:W 14:D 5:W 12:L 11:W 4:W 3:W 2:L
7. McEVOY, PAT 2:L 6:L 16:W 8:L 13:W 12:L 10:D 1:L 14:L
8. MAHER, JOHN 3:D 9:L 11:W 7:W 1:L 10:W 14:W 2:L 13:W
9. O’CONNELL, DAVID 4:W 8:W 15:W 2:D 3:L 1:L 11:W 12:W 5:L
10. OSBORNE, JAMES 14:L 12:L 4:D 16:W 5:L 8:L 7:D 15:L 11:W
11. ELICEGUI, YOSEBA 5:D 3:L 8:L 4:L 16:W 6:L 9:L 13:W 10:L
12. BYRNE, CIARAN J 15:L 10:W 1:L 13:W 6:W 7:W 2:L 9:L 16:W
13. WALSH, KEVIN 16:W 14:L 2:L 12:L 7:L 4:L 15:L 11:L 8:L
14. WALSH, ALASTAIR 10:W 13:W 6:D 3:L 2:L 16:W 8:L 5:L 7:W
15. CUNNINGHAM, ED 12:W 16:W 9:L 1:L 4:L 5:W 13:W 10:W 3:L
16. MALONEY, MICHAEL 13:L 15:L 7:L 10:L 11:L 14:L 5:L 4:L 12:L

Ratings

No Name Feder Loc Id Loc Score Exp. Chg*K Rav Rprfm
1. DELANEY, KILLIAN 2001 8.0/9 8.55 -6 1538 1889
2. JANUSAITIS, MINDAUGAS 1932 8.0/9 8.46 -5 1491 1842
3. SCANNELL, TONY 1782 6.0/9 7.47 -15 1507 1632
4. KENNEDY, MICHAEL 1777 4.5/9 8.10 -36 1412 1412
5. KILLANE, JACK 1747 5.5/9 8.10 -26 1376 1456
6. CROWLEY, JOHN 1682 5.5/9 5.49 0 1605 1685
7. McEVOY, PAT 1580 2.5/9 6.21 -37 1442 1276
8. MAHER, JOHN 1443 5.5/9 3.60 19 1517 1597
9. O’CONNELL, DAVID 1390 5.5/9 2.25 33 1582 1662
10. OSBORNE, JAMES 1390 3.0/9 4.95 -20 1351 1226
11. ELICEGUI, YOSEBA 1300 2.5/9 2.25 3 1490 1324
12. BYRNE, CIARAN J 1257 5.0/9 2.07 29 1464 1507
13. WALSH, KEVIN 1211 1.0/9 2.61 -16 1372 1021
14. WALSH, ALASTAIR 1069 4.5/9 0.45 41 1529 1529
15. CUNNINGHAM, ED 1000 5.0/9 0.36 46 1505 1548
16. MALONEY, MICHAEL 990 0.0/9 0.81 -8 1370 371