Canterbury moves

Press, 10 April 1979, Page 10

Canterbury moves

Home & People

Canterbury has long been proud of its status as the first province in New Zealand to boast a chess.club, but since those pibneer days in the late 1860 s little real growth has been achieved. Membership has rarely risen above 100, in one of the few sports which can be played by virtually anyone irrespective of age or physical disability. This statistic becomes even more surprising when it is considered that the number of people who actually play chess is at least 40 per cent of the population, according to one estimate. One of the chief reasons for the stagnant state .of the game in Christchurch has been the lack of facilities for purely “social” players. When the Canterbury Chess Club acquired its most recent premises in Bealey Avenue, attempts were made to increase membership, but these met with little success due to the rather cramped and “antique” nature of the premises. Of course, the unique nature of the game itself tends to work against the organised club. Chess can be played by consenting adults in private with the minimum of equipment, without the need to resort to a club. And perhaps, more significantly, there are no retired chess players so there is not the older group of able administrators that can be found in any “phyisical” sport. Despite these disadvantages, chess in the North Island has undergone a minor boom, Wellington and Auckland each boasting more than half a dozen clubs. In an attempt to bring Christchurch back to its former eminence in New Zealand chess an active committee of the Canterbury Club has in recent months acquired new rooms in the Arts Centre. It is hoped that in these new, relaxed surroundings an increased and active membership will be built up. The club now meets each Wednesday night (except for April 10 and May 8, when Tuesday will be club night) in the upstairs common room in the old Students Union building on the corner of Montreal and Hereford streets.

In conjunction with the move a series of tournaments will be held, catering for all strengths of player.

For those with a less formal approach to the game, a “noisy” room is provided in the same building. In this room, “lightning” chess, “transfer” chess, and any other .oddity you can think of are played, and “kibbitzing” (calling out advice), singing, and even the odd “expletive deleted” are the rule rather than the exception. The club has an entry fee of $5, but this is waived for school-pupil members. The annual subscription rates are: School pupils, $10; students and pensioners, $l5; full members, $2O. As well as full use .of club facilities, members receive the chess magazine, and the right to play in any chess association open tournatnent. There are signs that Canterbury chess is on the way out of the doldrums. Two Canterbury players were selected in the sixman squad for the Olympiad last year; and in November, despite their absence, the club defeated Auckland in the annual telegraph match 101-91 for our first victory in the event in living memory • — that is, since 1965. Any players wishing to start their own club, whether it be in a school, a business, or in a community centre, can obtain all the necessary information from the Chess Association, P.O. Box 8802, Symonds Street, Auckland. The following game was played in the handicap tournament currently underway at the local club. The winner is one of Canterbury’s most talented players, while the black pieces are mishandled by the province’s top junior. White: Roger Nokes. Black: Giles Bates. 1. P-K4 P-QN3 The Owen’s or English Defence which has been thrust on the world by a number of British players. Black hopes that an ambitious White will over-commit himself in the centre. 2. P-Q4 B-N2 3. B-Q3 P-K3 Giles refrains from the crucial and wild 3 . . . P-KB4 4.PxP BxP 5.Q-Rsch P-N3 6.PxP B-N2 (N-KB3 7.PxPch NxQ 8.8-N6 checkmate would be a short game.) 7.PxPch K-81.

4.. N-KB3 P-QB4 5. P-B3 PxP This does not seem to be the best. N-KB3 intending P-Q4 is a better try. Then

if the white Q goes to Q2, the QBPs could be exchanged, since that Knight has forsaken its best square on QB3. Black can only stay in the game in this avant-garde opening by pressuring the centre to such a degree that White must put his pieces on awkward squares to maintain it. 6. PxP N-QB3 7. N-B3 P-Q3? This further weakening of the white squares is fatal. N-B3 is still indicated. 8. 0-0 N-B3 9. P-Q5 N-K4? The last error he is allowed. N-QNI returning to the game via Q2 was the last hope of a meaningful defence. 10. NxN PxN 11. B-Nsch N-Q2 Dare I say that K-K2 is “better”? 12. PxP PxP If there were not an immediate crush the failure of Black’s opening would still be evident — doubled, isolated king pawns,

pinned knight, inferior piece development . . . but suddenly—--13. QRsch K-K2 If instead P-N3 then 14. R-KNI 15.QxPch and most of the black bits will soon be back in the box. 14. BxN Resigns There is no way to regain the piece without getting his jaw put badly out of joint, for example: Kxß 15.R-Qlch B-Q3 16.N-N5 or Qxß 15.R-Q1 Q-B2 16.8-N5 mate. Which brings me to the point of this metaphor. Less than a week after this game Giles managed to break his jaw in a rugby game which has put paid to his hopes of hzng selected in the Christchurch Boys’ High First XV for a while. Anyone who believes in the “reality” of chess would have taken note of the omen and stayed in bed.

BATES

NOKES Position after Black’s twelfth move.

CHESS

By

Vernon Small