The 1st Bristol Summer Congress was held on Aug 22nd-24th and the section winners were as follows: Open: 1st S. Dilleigh. Major (U-155): 1st A. Papier. Minor (U-125): 1st Nikhil Hakeem – at 9 yrs old Nikhil is clearly one to watch.
Here is Dilleigh’s fine Rd. 3 win against a stronger opponent.
White: Ryszard Maciol (215). Black: Steve Dilleigh (182)
Queen’s Gambit – Exchange Var. [D36]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 Be7 8.Nge2 Nh5 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.Qc2 g6 11.0–0–0 Nb6 12.Kb1 Ng7 13.e4 dxe4 14.Bxe4 Black has to decide whether to risk castling on the kingside and inviting a pawn storm. However, if he castles long, White threatens to break open the centre with d5. 14…0–0 15.Nf4 Qf6 16.g3 Ne6 17.Nce2 Ng5 18.Bd3 Bg4 19.h3 Bf3 20.Rhf1 Rad8 21.h4 Ne6 22.Nxe6 Qxe6 23.Rd2 Qf6 24.Qc3 Rfe8 25.h5 White pushed on with his attack, but Black is able to create counter threats. 25…Nd5 26.Qb3 Qg5 27.Rc2 Qxh5 28.Nc3 Nxc3+ 29.Qxc3 Qg4 30.Rd2 Qxd4 Black is able to grab another pawn to open up the central files, while White’s pieces are not well co-ordinated. 31.Qxd4 Rxd4 32.Kc2 Red8 33.Re1 Bg4 preparing for the killer blow. 34.Kc3 Bf5 0–1 White can avoid losing a piece, with 35.Re8+ Rxe8 36.Kxd4 Rd8+ 37.Ke3 Rxd3+ 38.Rxd3 Bxd3 39.Kxd3. but is left a pawn down on both wings.
The solution to last week’s problem was the waiting move 1.Qh8! and wherever the king moves to 2.Qd4 or 2.Bf5 are mates.
In Alain C. White’s 1912 book, The Theory of Pawn Promotion, he talks about the evolution of the concept of what should happen to a pawn if it manages to get to the opposite side of the board, before assembling a collection of about 500 problems based on this idea. He writes “The origin of the Promotion of Pawns is buried beyond recovery in the past. Evidently, since pawns can only march ‘breast forward’, as Browning would have described it, something startling must happen when they reach the opposite end of the board. Several possibilities could be imagined. They might turn round and walk back again. They might be compelled to walk straight off the board in a novel form of self-annihilation. But this would be a penalty for their prowess instead of a reward. Their transfiguration is a most ingenious and appropriate solution to the difficulty.” He goes on to describe the gradual modification in the promotion rules, from queen-only, to any piece that has already been captured, to the present state of any piece, regardless of the earlier course of the game.
One of the given examples is this, his own 2-mover.
White to mate in 2