Monday’s position came from an offhand game played between Edmund Macdonald and Amos Burn, one of England’s strongest players of his time, in Liverpool back in 1910.

White has given up material for an attack, and the black king is now in trouble.

Burn’s next move is one of the most spectacular ever played, 33… Qg4!!, leaving the queen en prise to three enemy pieces on an unprotected square, but blocking both the g-file and the d1-h5 diagonal.

White has no choice: after any other move he’ll just be down on material. 34. Rxg4 Nf3+ when there is a critical choice. He should have chosen 35. Kg3! (KUFTE: King Up For The Ending) 35… Nxd2 36. Rxg5+ when Stockfish tells me White’s extra pawn should win. But the game continued 35. Kg2? Bxd2 36. Rxg5+ Kg6 37. h4 Nxb3, which was level, although Burn later outplayed his opponent and won the game.

So Qg4, although a brilliant move, should only have sufficed to reach a losing ending.

Here’s the complete game. As always, click on any move for a pop-up window.

Mixed fortunes for our teams this week.

There are currently some very strong student teams in the London League. We recently lost a league match against Imperial College, and on Monday we faced UCL in the Eastman Cup (London League KO).

It was good to welcome Declan to our team, but unfortunately his opponent failed to arrive. Although there were good wins for Maks and Sampson, our young opponents were to strong for us on boards 2-4, so we went down to a narrow defeat.

On the same evening two of our Thames Valley League teams visited Ealing.

We fairly soon found ourselves 3 points up, winning all our games with White, but unfortunately we were much less successful with the black pieces, and, after an exciting finish on board 2 we were only able to draw the match.

Our D team also started well, with David’s Stonewall giving him another quick victory, but we were overpowered on the lower boards: well done to Ealing D on their victory.

There was better news on Tuesday, where our Ellam Trophy team maintained their 100% record by defeating Epsom C.

Wins from James and Bertie put us two points up, and further points from Alastair and Adrian took us over the line, although our opponents fought back on the remaining boards, on both of which they were the exchange up in the ending. Sampson went down, but Maks managed to set up a fortress and share the point.

As always, thanks to all who played (and provided transport to Ealing), and especially to our hard working match captains.

This week’s position languished in obscurity for almost a century before being rediscovered. Thanks to my virtual friend Neil Blackburn for reminding me about it.

Black to play. He’s a knight ahead but appears to be in trouble. Two questions.

1. What is his best move here?
   
2. How would you assess the resulting position?

Analysis, as always, is required for full marks.

The game Balaji – Roe concluded from this position:

20… Ngxf2+! 21. Rxf2 Qh3+!! 22. Kg1 Nxf2 23. Kxf2 Qxh2+ 24. Kf3 Re4! 25. Bb2 g5! and White resigned.

I’ll give you 5 points for Ngxf2+ and another 5 points for Qh3+.

Here’s the complete game: as always click on any move for a pop-up window.

A very quick post this week, with just one result to report, a draw against Ashtead B in the Fred Manning Trophy.

Welcome back to Mark and well done to Alex and Michael L.

Simon Roe of St Albans, a Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club London League player a few decades ago, defeated IMs in Rounds 4 and 5 of the XTX Markets London Chess Classic Open last week.

This position is from his round 4 game, where he was playing Black against Aaravamudhan Balaji.

How did Simon continue in this position?

A selection of games played in last week’s matches. As always, click on any move for a pop-up window.

Here’s Mike Healey’s win from our TVA match against Ealing A.

Mike also sent the conclusion of his game from our London League match against Imperial College the following evening.

Finally, here’s Matt Stewart’s game from the match between Richmond C and Maidenhead C.

If you’ve played any interesting games recently (or even not so recently) you’d like to see featured here do please send them to me. Annotations are welcome, but not essential.

Another position from the forthcoming Chess Heroes: Puzzles Book 2.

Richard James – George Leyton Richmond Congress (Junior Section 1, I think) 1967.

The answer, as it appears in the book:

1… Nxe4 is the way to go, winning material in every variation and scoring 5 points. If you saw that either 2. Rde2 or 2. Rdd1 would be met by 2… Nd2+ you can add another 5 points. If you’d worked out 2. Bxe4 Rxd2 3. Bxb7+ Kb8 4. Rxe7 Rd1+ with a back rank mate there are 5 more points for you.

If you’d like to see an advance copy or perhaps help with the proofreading, do let me know!

A busy week, for me as well as for the club. Five matches, two victories and three defeats.

On Monday our TVA team visited Ealing A. We were slightly outrated and went down to a narrow defeat.

Congratulations to Mike and Bertie on their wins.

Meanwhile, our Ellery Williams team faced a trip to Epsom, where they also cam out second best.

Well done to David for putting us on the scoreboard.

There was better news in our third away match of the evening, where our TVE team were successful against Hounslow C.

Well played everyone, especially Michael L and Karl.

On Tuesday our London League team faced tough international opponents in the students from Imperial College.

A second excellent win from Mike Healey, along with draws by Mike S and Sampson, constituted our score.

At the Adelaide, our TVC team welcomed Maidenhead C, who slightly outrated us, but, in a tight match we managed to emerge ahead, with David scoring the vital point with some excellent endgame play.

Wins also from Matt and Michael S (it’s not true, by the way, that you can only play for us if your name is Michael)!

Thanks to all who played this week, especially Mike H and David, both scoring 2/2 for us, and, as always, to our gallant match captains.

Another position from the forthcoming Chess Heroes: Puzzles Book 2.

Richard James – George Leyton Richmond Congress (Junior Section 1, I think) 1967.

Black to play: how would you continue and why?

The more analysis you provide, the more points you will score!