July ECF Grades

The July 2016 ECF Grading List has been published. The standard play grades for active Colchester players are:

Ref	Name	Age	Standard	Previous
139627E	Gooding, Ian		191B	189B
302172L	Voelker, Norbert		184D	182E
186371L	Stemp, Matt		176D	172D
297026A	Orava, Aleksandr		162D	163D
301977A	Schnell, Felix		155E	167E
299554C	Kjenner, Svein		152B	154D
140673F	Barnes, Nathan		148A	146A
120924D	Wagstaff, Michael		144C	148C
250046C	Bellinger, Clive		129C	133C
155695C	Daley, Phil		119C	121C
150405J	Harris, Martin		116A	118A
117812L	Remmer, Brian		110C	107C
213710A	Smith, Peter		108C	111C
293018D	Johnson, Mark		105B	104B
283272A	Harris, Peter		105D	95D
298130A	Jaufarally, Mohammud		104A	102A
301854E	Gonzales, Denzel		96F	105F
227455D	Duff-Cole, John		92C	93B
256466L	Goodman, Ed		86D	84C

A few players have increased their grades - with Peter Harris (+10) and Matt Stemp (+4) having the most significant increases.

 

The rapidplay grades for active Colchester players are:

Ref	Name	Age	Rapidplay	Previous
186371L	Stemp, Matt		175F	180F
140673F	Barnes, Nathan		149E	155E
299554C	Kjenner, Svein		149D	148D
250046C	Bellinger, Clive		139F	136F
293018D	Johnson, Mark		108D	109D
150405J	Harris, Martin		102D	101D
298130A	Jaufarally, Mohammud		97A	91B
227455D	Duff-Cole, John		92F	87F
155695C	Daley, Phil		85F	85F
256466L	Goodman, Ed		70E	74F
283272A	Harris, Peter		62E	68E
301407B	Parker, Leon	17	48F	54F

There are other Colchester players who have played some rapidplay graded games in the last half-season (but not enough to have a grade yet).

 

A few players have increased their grades - with Mo Jaufarally (+6) and John Duff-Cole (+5) having the most significant increases.

DITO 3

An opening disaster caused by not paying attention to the line being played and just playing "normal" moves for the opening without checking...

Today's DITO shows an example of a common idea against the Slav, or rather a common idea that is not often seen as Black doesn't normally allow it, taken from Forrester, A (ECF:134) 0 - 1 Barnes, N (ECF:146) (2016).

Nothing wrong with the first few moves 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Bxc4 4. e3

However, 4...Nf6 is dubious as Black is giving the pawn back and allowing White to develop freely at the same time. Nf6 is normally played in the Slav but this is not the right time, 4...b5 is best.

White's reply is obvious, but after 5. Bxc4 Black is just losing after playing another "normal" Slav move (5...Bf5).

White can now win material and get a better position, with a tactic that Black should be well aware of if they are playing this opening...

White is a pawn up, for no compensation, after just six moves and the rest (should be) simple. Black made things worse by playing 6...Qc8 7. Bxf7+ Kd8, which the computer evaluates as being nearly the equivalent of a piece down for Black.

Club Championship - round 5

The draw for the fifth round of the club championship has been made. Currently in the lead (based on completed games) are Nathan Barnes, Clive Bellinger and Norbert Voelker on 3/4, though there are a number of incomplete games so exact positions/scores could change. For the purposes of making the draw, incomplete matches have been counted as being draws - scores will be updated as matches are completed.

 

Round 5

WHITE		BLACK
Nathan Barnes (3)	V	Norbert Voelker (3)
Pete Smith (2.5)	V	Clive Bellinger (3)
Brian Remmer (2)	V	Felix Schnell (2.5)
Phil Daley (1)	V	Martin Harris (2)
John Duff-Cole (1)	V	Svein Kjenner (1.5)
Ed Goodman (1)	V	Mark Johnson (1.5)

 

Incomplete matches from previous rounds

WHITE		BLACK
Svein Kjenner	V	Mark Johnson
Felix Schnell	V	Phil Daley
Clive Bellinger	V	Felix Schnell
John Duff-Cole	V	Ed Goodman
Clive Bellinger (2.5)	V	Nathan Barnes (2.5)
Felix Schnell (2)	V	Norbert Voelker (2.5)
Pete Smith (2)	V	Mark Johnson (1.5)
Svein Kjenner (1)	V	Ed Goodman (0.5)
Phil Daley (0.5)	V	John Duff-Cole (0.5)