Historic Games 1898 - 2012
Games played by members of Maidstone Chess Club between 1898 and 2012
Games List
Game: 1898
The oldest recorded game (so far) involving a Maidstone player is listed below:
Maidstone v Hastings
Col W. Gully v G. A. Herington
Result 0 - 1
Date 02.03.1898
Note that the match was played at Ashford on board 5.
Comment (by Ian Watson):
3.c3 Ponziani’s Opening, not played much these days as Black can get easy equality.
3…Nf6 The Jaenisch Variation, which is respectable and a safe reply.
4.Qa4 The standard move here was, and is still, 4.d4. White was probably confused in his memory of the theory, as Qa4 occurs in several other variations of the Ponziani.
7…Ne7 Black misses 7…Nd4.
12.Na3 Poor; a modern player would focus on the battle for the central squares.
16.Qxe4 A futile piece sac, losing the game in one move. Maybe White thought he’d get a central pawn roller?
16…cxd4 The rest is merely mopping up:
Grading did not start until the 1940's, but on today’s scale, White’s play was at about 100 and Black’s around 120. In general, both players played reasonable moves most of the time, except for the ridiculous 16.Qxe4, but they missed somewhat better moves at very many points. The game is not untypical of chess a century or so ago – many published games were disfigured by outright blunders. We can reasonably assume the unpublished ones were considerably worse...
Game: 1902
The second oldest recorded game involving a Maidstone player is listed below:
Maidstone v Hastings
J. Oxbrow v H. F. Cheshire
Result 0 - 1
Date: 12.03.1902
'and Black won'
Note that the match was the annual friendly v Hastings, played @ Ashford on board 2.
3...d5. This is now generally adopted, to give up the pawn, but obtain excellent development and attack.
7... Ne7. Up to this point the game has followed the usual course, and the position may be regarded as the normal, from which spring many variations.
8. g3. An extraordinary move. Nf3 or Bc4 is probably best at this point; White quite misses his way.
10. hxg3. The only reasonable course now seems to be exd5; the text move loses two pieces, a very grave error.
16. The game was continued by some further play, but was quite futile on Whites part.
Game: 1949
The third oldest recorded game involving a Maidstone player is listed below:
Rochester v Maidstone
W. W. Hunt v C. G. Spicer
Result 1 - 0
Date 29.01.1949
This was a Kent County Cup match, played on Board 1, published by the Chatham Standard on 16 February 1949.
Comment (by Ian Watson):
A much higher-quality game than the ones we have seen from 1898 and 1902, reflecting not only the progress in chess in the half-century, but perhaps also that this was a Board 1 encounter and between two close rival teams.
The opening could well be seen in a similar match in the 21st century. The only difference, I think, would be that nowadays both players would strive somewhat harder for an advantage in the early stages – here they both seem content to get into the middle game with a secure position and good development. That change in style can also be seen at the very top level, comparing today’s top GM games with those of the mid 20th century.
Black goes wrong by allowing the opening of the game.
16…f6 was probably better, striving to keep the position closed, although White can in due course invade via f6.
Also 17…Qxe5 would reduce the chance of his exposed king being attacked. His position only really starts to collapse when he allows White to get in c5 and 22…Nd6 is the culprit.
After that, because most of Black’s pieces are on the queenside and his king has little pawn cover, all White has to do is to shift his attack to the kingside.
White has lots of alternative wins in the final moves.
Game: 1954
The fourth oldest recorded game involving a Maidstone player(s) is listed below:
Maidstone v Hastings
Result 0 - 1
Date 1953/54
This was a correspondence game between Maidstone Chess Club and Hastings Chess Club. It was published on 10 April 1954 by The Hastings and St. Leonards Observer. The game started in November 1953 and was completed in about April 1954.
Comment (by Ian Watson):
A surprisingly poor effort for a postal game. Although it purports to be between the two clubs, which should mean a set of strong players on each side, I guess it was not the first, or even second, team.
The variation of the Marshall gambit played in this game was already fairly well-developed by the 1950s. It was already known that capturing early on d5 is asking for trouble because swopping off the white-square bishop leaves only the queen available to protect the weakened white squares on White’s kingside.
17.Qxd5 compounds the problem by wasting time - allowing the Black queen’s rook to become active. It’s also useful to leave that capture available against a later …f5 by Black, when it will happen with check.
19.Bd2 is capitulation - it does nothing to stem Black’s attack. Perhaps 19.f4 might survive, but I doubt it. One difficulty is that if the Black bishop goes to f3 and subsequently White attacks it with Nd2, it can retreat along the long diagonal, which it could not have done if there were still a Black pawn on d5.
Game: 1989
This was a County Cup game, played in the final on Board 1, between I. R. Watson (from Maidstone) and IM N. McDonald (from Gravesend) at Dartford in May 1989. It was originally published by Maidstone Chess Club in 1989 as Newsletter No 1.
Maidstone v Gravesend
I R Watson v N McDonald
Result 1 - 0
Date: May 1989
Comment (by Mathew Sadler, who was an IM at the time):
8...Re8 keeping the tension in the centre, was probably better. Black declares his intentions a little early.
9...Again releasing the central tension too early. Black wishes to blockade the White centre with ...c5, but White counters this effectively.
13. Rb1 !! A brilliant move. The manoeuvre Nc3-b5-d6 is prepared. With the rook on b1, the b7 pawn hangs when the knight reaches d6. The rook is very effectively placed on this file. 13...Black has no convincing moves. 13...b6 weakens the queenside too much whilst 13...Bf8 is too passive. Black opens the centre in the hope of counterplay, but White convincingly demonstrates an advantage.
14. The active position of the knight is more important than the pawn on d4.
15...Black attempts to sacrifice the exchange to relieve the position and launch a kingside attack. However White carefully avoids the threats. 15... Re6 is no better.
16. c5 places Black in a complete bind. 16. Avoiding the awkward position that arises after 16. Nxe8 Qxe8 17. f3 Nxd3. If 16...Bh5 then Nxe8 Qxe8 18. f3! with a winning position. The bishop is trapped on h5. 16...Nf3+ A desperate attempt for counterplay.
17. Avoiding any unpleasantness.
17...This loses without any resistance. 17...Re6 was better although after 18. Nf4 White is clearly on top.
20...Black could now have resigned but both players were in time trouble.
Game: 2012
This game was from the National Club Championship 'Open' final, played on Board 5 v Wood Green:
Maidstone v Wood Green
David Munford (174) v IM Graeme Buckley (220)
Result 1 - 0
Date: 08.07.2012
English Opening
6…Modern Chess Openings (14th Edition), Col 108 gives O-O continuing 7. Bc2 f5 8. d4
7…Black has moved his Knight 3 times already! Normal move's are O-O or Nc6
11 Draw offered by White - declined as Black had travelled too far to accept such an early offer
12…If exf5 13. Bg5 Qg4 14. Qxg4 fxg4 15. a3 so Black plays to keep the Queens on
14 Draw again offered by White. I knew it was just 3 moves on from initial offer, but 30 minutes had passed, and the position is definitely in White's favour. Black has castled long, and dreams of 'shock and awe' tactics involving a mating attack. Also psychologically difficult for Black to accept offer from such a lowly graded player, so once again Black declined
15…Kb8 is too passive; better is ...c6 16. Nc3 Rf8 17. Qe2 Bd6
16…Black threatens mate
18 Obviously hxg4 is greedy, ...hxg4 19 f4 Bc5+
18 Qd3 played to prevent c6, i.e. 19.hxg4 hxg4 20. Qg3+ Also frees up the Rook on a1
21 Qg3 forces the exchange of Queens
23 Black offers a draw. First things first - will the result of my game affect the match? We had by now already lost on Board 6, and we didn't look like winning on Boards 1-4, so no. Positionally I am 2 pawns up (one doubled) and have the 2 Bishops. However it is not often that an International Master offers a draw! Lastly as I was under no time pressure, decided to play on