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Armstrong 2015/16

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    #152
    HaraldSchmidt
    Registered Users Posts: 55 ✭✭HaraldSchmidt


    As is often the case, the result of the Phibsboro-Dublin match bore no relation to the positions on the board half way through the match. I had an optically better position against Kevin Butler, but couldn't see how to improve my position. Martin Schmidt was up a pawn, but his king looked very dodgy, stuck in the center in a queenless middlegame. Eddie O'Connor was 2 pawns down with no compensation. Mark Collins, playing his favourite dragon, had got his rook trapped on b2, and was down an exchange, with a very shaky king. Gerardo Artoli, played with the spirit of Miguel Najdorf, and was attacking with gusto. Trevor looked to be struggling a little bit, with a R+P against B+N. Hannah had cleverly won a pawn, but she had to go on the defensive. Finally, Dave O'Connell had an ok French.

    A little bit later, Kevin had dropped a pawn, trying to exchange pieces and head to a draw. What was worse, was the pawn he lost was the lynch pin of his position. On board 2, Martin had managed to get into an ending, down a couple of pawns, but where his opponent's knight was trapped on h8. It didn't look as if he could win it.

    Board 3, Eddie's position had not improved, and although he fought to the end, the result was never in doubt.

    Board 4, Mark, down a rook, 2 minutes left on his clock, within 2 moves of being mated on h8, sacs a knight to block the h-file temporarily. So, he's now down a rook, with a few tricks, but it shouldn't be enough.

    Board 5, Gerardo smashes through and wins.

    Board 6, Trevor gets down to K+B+N+3P vs K+R+4P all on the kingside, and the players agree a draw.

    Board 7, Hannah, under pressure against her king defends well, and then sees a losing move, understands why it loses, and plays it anyway :-( She loses her queen for a rook, and the result is not in doubt.

    Board 8, somehow Dave wins a queen for 2 rooks, and his opponent allows him to push passed c+d pawns up the board, but in the mean time white gets a pawn on a7. He missed loads of quicker wins, but eventually reels in the point.

    Score is now 3.5-2.5 to Dublin, but it looks as if the result should 4-4.

    The board 2 game ends with a draw, and then all eyes focus on Mark's game. It's a nightmare for a captain. His hand hovers over a piece, and eventually he moves with 5 seconds on his clock. Thankfully, we are playing with 30 second increment. Trying to get out of a pin, white moves his king up the board, and walks into a skewer of his queen for a rook. This is a difficult psychological blow, and white loses on time a few moves later, trying to hold the position.

    End result, 5-3 win to Dublin, and although the defibrilator came close to being used, no heart attacks occurred.


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    #153
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,151 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    St Benildus B 1½-6½ Trinity.

    Could maybe have had another point; I chickened out with a draw when better against 2030 (I thought he had an interesting exchange sac, but he didn't), while we certainly weren't worse well into the ending on 8, and possibly could have still held the draw right at the end when our player over-stepped on time.

    1½ was our minimum target for the match, so we're still alive and kicking, if only just!

    All eyes to Kilkenny v Elm Mount tomorrow now.


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    #154
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    cdeb wrote: »
    St Benildus B 1½-6½ Trinity.

    Could maybe have had another point; I chickened out with a draw when better against 2030 (I thought he had an interesting exchange sac, but he didn't), while we certainly weren't worse well into the ending on 8, and possibly could have still held the draw right at the end when our player over-stepped on time.

    1½ was our minimum target for the match, so we're still alive and kicking, if only just!

    All eyes to Kilkenny v Elm Mount tomorrow now.

    Good win by Benildus top board against Karl yesterday and CDEB's game certainly looked to me as if he stood better (but horrendously complicated with both sides using a lot of time).

    I do have to take issue with the comment on my game: "certainly weren't worse well into the ending."
    Your young player fought hard but it's always hard to defend a position with R and opposite colour Bs with weaknesses in the position and more passively placed pieces, as he had. So I didn't think long before declining his draw offer at move 28. He then made some technical mistakes, typical of juniors, so he was probably lost from about move 35.
    There was certainly no point in the game where White stood better.
    Probably I missed a clearer win somewhere and he may have overlooked one clear draw but time was getting very short then.
    I am told his flag fell about five moves before I noticed which was at move 60.

    On another point, why is the LCU so slow to get the results online? Trinity's previous match played three weeks ago still is not shown.


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    #155
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,151 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    Fair enough on your maybe being a bit better; it is true that he was more restricted than you. Was it really lost from 25 moves out though? I think it was b+d v d+f pawns at the end; you were going to win the d-pawn (or maybe had just taken it) and I presume the b-pawn would have fallen quickly. Your f-pawn was on its own a bit and might have been vulnerable - if it fell, we had the chance of saccing bishop for last pawn to reach R+B v R. But even that's tricky, especially with time low, and obviously it'd leave us with no winning chances, which is hard mentally to play for a while.

    I would have thought we were better early on when you had doubled f-pawns and an isolated h-pawn; I didn't see you had much to balance that weakness at all tbh?

    Apparently the flag fell when he took on h2, which was a few moves before it was called alright.

    I wonder has either captain neglected to submit the Trinity v Kilkenny result? That's usually the issue - so not an LCU issue at all.


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    #156
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    For the first 12 moves (played very quickly on both sides) we followed a game in the Scotch by my opponent's father against me about three years ago but apparently he didn't know that! As it was the only advance information I had about your lad, I varied at move 11, having prepared the ...h6 move that accepts the broken kingside pawns in return for the B pair and lines for the rooks.

    There are hundreds of database games with it. Players like Grischuk have used it successfully as Black. The main issue is whether you are happy with a short draw or (as in this case with a big rating difference) Black wants to keep winning chances. At one point I failed to take full advantage of White's overoptimistic play and ended up with opposite coloured bishops after all. So he should have been able to draw but his pawn moves on the kingside enabled me to dissolve the doubled pawn and create entry squares.

    I haven't had time to analyse the ending yet. But probably I missed some moment when I could have advanced my K and/or f-pawn while his R was away on the queenside.

    Towards the end it did get very random as my time also declined and it just became blitz. When it became clear that I couldn't queen the h-pawn and he stopped my mating idea, I switched to the queenside to try and get split passed pawns (f- and c-) which would win if the rooks came off.

    Anyway my opponent is obviously a talented young man and probably would have saved the game against somebody with less experience of endgames. He should be able to learn from it if he can decipher his scoresheet.


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    #157
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    Round 8 has been completed with (according to the ICU ticker) Gonzaga 6 Dun Laoghaire 2 and Balbriggan 5 Bray/Greystones 3.

    The round 9 match Kilkenny-Elm Mount was also due to be played last Saturday but the result isn't up on the ICU ticker yet (noon Monday).

    Excluding that, the positions so far are (all after 8 rounds except where stated):

    Gonzaga 52, Trinity 44 (after NINE rounds), Benildus A 41.5, Elm Mount 35, Bray/Greystones 33, Dublin and Balbriggan 32, Benildus B 27 (after NINE rounds), Dun Laoghaire 26.5, Phibsboro 25, Kilkenny 22.5, Curragh 20.5.

    With two round 10 games due to be played the same date as Gonzaga-Benildus A round nine (19 March), the picture will remain confused for a good while longer.
    Dun Laoghaire play Phibsboro next in an important clash for the relegation stakes. Both teams are likely to overtake Benildus B.

    Can we please have a more logical fixture list next season? IMHO it never made sense to have only five rounds before Christmas with Easter being so early.


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    #158
    sinbad68
    Registered Users Posts: 398 ✭✭sinbad68


    Tim Harding wrote: »
    On another point, why is the LCU so slow to get the results online? Trinity's previous match played three weeks ago still is not shown.

    When it comes to League table updates , kilkenny & Dublin university are the slowest results to come out and it is not just this season but same story in previous seasons with these two teams and one has to assume that the delayed reporting is due to Laziness of their respective captains, It doesn't take two minutes to submit results online on Leinsterchess.com with team players names and scores all listed there and they way it looks there, it may be possible for anyone from the a team to submit results? . If One was to have a sinister mind he could assume that the delay by these two teams was to prevent their future opponents from seeing what their board arrangement & score was in the previous round and form a strategy !.

    The long delay in LCU posting results & update is the result of lack of planning & structure with results being submitted by teams and pubslished in a willy-nilly fashion .LCU executive should have a discussion about this. A simple rule of asking captains to submit results within 24 hours of a match on weekdays & same day on Saturday or face point deduction or a small fine ( threat of a stick is more effective than carrots in case of laziness ) and LCU updating result once weekly on Sunday would solve problem. LCU executive in general lack initiative and are low energy people.

    In Armstrong,The two clubs ( Benildus B & Phibsboro ) were the WORST in terms of strategy this season and I commented months ago about these two teams strategy ( under Armstrong & O'Hanlon Threads) will explain later ......


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    #159
    pawntof4
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭pawntof4


    sinbad68 wrote: »
    LCU executive in general lack initiative and are low energy people.

    You sound like the Donald.... what are your views on walls?


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    #160
    EnPassant
    Registered Users Posts: 273 ✭✭EnPassant


    Kilkenny 3.5 Elm Mount 4.5


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    #161
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    EnPassant wrote: »
    Kilkenny 3.5 Elm Mount 4.5

    Thanks, so here are the revised standings in the Armstrong at the end of February. These are all after 8 rounds except where stated):

    Gonzaga 52, Trinity 44 (after NINE rounds), Benildus A 41.5, Elm Mount 39.5 (after NINE rounds), Bray/Greystones 33, Dublin and Balbriggan 32, Benildus B 27 (after NINE rounds), Dun Laoghaire 26.5, Kilkenny 26 (after NINE rounds), Phibsboro 25, Curragh 20.5.

    There are two matches this coming Saturday:
    Dublin v Balbriggan and Bray/Greystones v Curragh

    Dun Laoghaire v Phibsboro is on Wednesday 9 March
    but Gonzaga don't play Benildus A until the 19th.


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    #162
    prey
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭prey


    The updated official Armstrong table paints a very different picture -Gonzaga flirting with the dropzone and Trinity doomed on zero


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    #163
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    prey wrote: »
    The updated official Armstrong table paints a very different picture -Gonzaga flirting with the dropzone and Trinity doomed on zero

    This sort of thing happens every March when ICU/LCU chase unpaid registration fees. Trinity usually have to wait to get the money from a central societies' fund.
    Usually after a few days everyone gets their points back so in the meantime refer to my earlier posting for the true situation!

    I am a bit surprised, though, that it's zero since I paid my own ICU fee back in August.

    I don't know about Gonzaga and the other clubs.

    It would certainly upset the applecart if Gonzaga and Trinity had to play the Heidenfeld next year!


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    #164
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,151 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    If one player in a match hasn't paid fees, the team lose all their points for that match.

    So your own paid-up status can't affect what another player has/hasn't done


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    #165
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    cdeb wrote: »
    If one player in a match hasn't paid fees, the team lose all their points for that match.

    So your own paid-up status can't affect what another player has/hasn't done

    That's what I suspected. I have already emailed our captain to get him on the case.


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    #166
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    Our captain says he will sort this out tomorrow. Meanwhile, I see there has been a similar massacre in other divisions.


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    #167
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    Updating my posting of 1 March with the latest result, Dublin 3 Balbriggan 5. The other Saturday result, Bray/Greystones v Curragh, is not on the ICU ticker yet:

    These are all after 8 rounds except where stated):

    Gonzaga 52, Trinity 44 (after NINE rounds), Benildus A 41.5, Elm Mount 39.5 (after NINE rounds), Balbriggan 37 (after 9 rounds), Dublin 35 (after 9 rounds), Bray/Greystones 33, Benildus B 27 (after NINE rounds), Dun Laoghaire 26.5, Kilkenny 26 (after NINE rounds), Phibsboro 25, Curragh 20.5.

    Trinity now have their registration sorted and are shown as top of the Armstrong currently on the LCU website.
    Gonzaga are still showing -25 and Phibsboro -7.5 but presumably they will get these points back eventually.

    Dun Laoghaire v Phibsboro is on Wednesday 9 March
    but Gonzaga don't play Benildus A until the 19th.


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    #168
    L1m1tless
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 2,164 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1m1tless


    Curragh Bray match postponed due to blitz champs


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    #169
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,151 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    ICU ticker reporting Dún Laoghaire 4-4 Phibsboro.

    Huge result for them. Puts them two points clear of Benildus B, with games against Gonzaga and St Benildus A to come.

    All set for a nail-biting finish to the season.


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    #170
    sinbad68
    Registered Users Posts: 398 ✭✭sinbad68


    cdeb wrote: »
    ICU ticker reporting Dún Laoghaire 4-4 Phibsboro.

    Huge result for them. Puts them two points clear of Benildus B, with games against Gonzaga and St Benildus A to come.

    All set for a nail-biting finish to the season.
    Phibsboro Have only themselves to blame for being deeply mired in this relegation battle. Several months ago I warned them that they were playing the same dangerous game played by rathmines in previous seasons.

    sinbad68 wrote: »
    Phibsboro have surprisingly done well with their weak armstrong team this season but are playing a dangerous game, instead of putting all their effort into their armstrong team , they have split their strength and is not easy to see if their armstrong team is stronger than their heidenfeld !
    http://leinsterchess.com/lcu1516/div1/match23.htm
    http://leinsterchess.com/lcu1516/div2/match30.htm

    It's the same dangerous game played By Rathmines in the past and they paid a big price for it.

    Instead of giving Armstrong team top priority , they split their strength and tried to fight on two fronts with under strength teams and survive in both divisions
    Look at their Armstrong team matches

    http://leinsterchess.com/lcu1516/div1/team12.htm

    several times they played sub-1000 rated players and used a bunch of 1400's in Armstrong and only against relegation rivals they brought a decent team ( 1659 rated on bottom board in AWAY game against Kilkenny ! ), instead of importing 2 or 3 of their 1600 rated players from heidenfeld in early season. TERRIBLE strategy indeed.Importance of Having a team in Armstrong can Not be compared with having one in heidenfeld, simply put they are different leagues. Phibsboro have finally woken up and will throw their best into Armstrong now, but will it be enough ?.Another club with TERRIBLE strategy is Benildus, will explain later


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    #171
    L1m1tless
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 2,164 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1m1tless


    Bray 4.5 Curragh 3.5


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    #172
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,151 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    Solid result.

    Don't think Curragh are entirely out of this yet.


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    #173
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    cdeb wrote: »
    Solid result.

    Don't think Curragh are entirely out of this yet.

    Maybe, but they need to win one of their last two matches (Dublin and Dun Laoghaire) and could well lose both.

    Phibsboro cannot feel secure because they still have to play Gonzaga and Benildus A, both of which they could lose heavily, giving hope to the three teams below.

    Benildus B won't find Elm Mount easy but their last round match with Kilkenny is likely to decide one of the relegation places unless the result is close and both teams can overhaul Phibsboro.

    As has already been pointed out, Benildus A can do their B team a big favour with heavy wins in the last two rounds against Kilkenny and Phibsboro, but it's likely that Kilkenny will field their titled players to help beat the drop.

    Latest totals, assuming all clubs eventually get their registration penalties back, are as follows:

    Gonzaga 52, Trinity 44, Benildus A 41.5, Elm Mount 39.5, Bray/Greystones 37.5, Balbriggan 37, Dublin 35, Dun Laoghaire 30.5, Phibsboro 29, Benildus B 27, Kilkenny 26, Curragh 24.

    All after nine rounds except for Gonzaga and Benildus A who play their round nine match next Saturday. The title will probably be decided in round 10 with runner-up going down to the last few games on the final day.

    It looks like Blanchardstown are sure to come up for next season but the Heidenfeld runner-up is not so clear; do Elm Mount really want to have two teams in the Armstrong again?


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    #174
    sinbad68
    Registered Users Posts: 398 ✭✭sinbad68


    Tim Harding wrote: »
    It looks like Blanchardstown are sure to come up for next season but the Heidenfeld runner-up is not so clear; do Elm Mount really want to have two teams in the Armstrong again?

    It is very clear that Blanchardstwon & Rathmines B will be promoted to Armstrong.


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    #175
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    sinbad68 wrote: »
    It is very clear that Blanchardstown & Rathmines B will be promoted to Armstrong.

    Ah yes, I see now that Rathmines B are -40 but when they get those points back, they will be second with two fairly easy matches to finish. It's good that one of the founder clubs of the Armstrong should get back up - but why did they call their strongest team the B?


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    #176
    sinbad68
    Registered Users Posts: 398 ✭✭sinbad68


    Tim Harding wrote: »
    . It's good that one of the founder clubs of the Armstrong should get back up - but why did they call their strongest team the B?
    The fixtures and the letter after team name ( if club has more than one team in the division) is decided by LCU. It is then for the club to decide which players to put in each team.Usually clubs put their best players in the A team but it's not necessary, As regarding Rathmines, IMO their A team had better fixtures than B team this season, ( playing Home to Ballinasloe as opposed to Away ), which makes the decision of choosing B team as the best team a bit odd.


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    #177
    macelligott
    Registered Users Posts: 382 ✭✭macelligott


    sinbad68 wrote: »
    The fixtures and the letter after team name ( if club has more than one team in the division) is decided by LCU. It is then for the club to decide which players to put in each team.Usually clubs put their best players in the A team but it's not necessary, As regarding Rathmines, IMO their A team had better fixtures than B team this season, ( playing Home to Ballinasloe as opposed to Away ), which makes the decision of choosing B team as the best team a bit odd.
    The Rathmines "A" team's home matche were set as Monday while the "B" were set for Thursday. I presume the stronger players in the club preferred to play home matches on Thursdays. Hence, the "B" team became their stronger team.


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    #178
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,151 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    Tim Harding wrote: »
    Maybe, but they need to win one of their last two matches (Dublin and Dun Laoghaire) and could well lose both.
    Course they could - but Dún Laoghaire just drew with Phibsboro, and a repeat against Curragh could make it very interesting on the last day.


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    #179
    Rathminor
    Registered Users Posts: 290 ✭✭Rathminor


    Tim/Gerry,
    Yes - the reason our "B" team is actually our main team is indeed down to the fact that their home games are set for Thursday night, which suits most of our stronger players as opposed to the "A" and "C" squads who are down to play home matches on Monday nights.
    It is something we had not considered prior to the original set of fixtures being released last September.


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    #180
    L1m1tless
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 2,164 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1m1tless


    Curragh 4.5 Dublin 3.5


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    #181
    cdeb
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,151 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


    Hm.

    Rumours of Curragh's demise were very much exaggerated! Even 3½ against Dún Laoghaire in the final round would make it very difficult for two teams to catch them.


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