Only eight showed up tonight, and thus witnessed history being made with a player achieving checkmate on the board in a Flood Cup game but still failing to win. James created history in another way by avoiding defeat in a Flood Cup game for the first time. Attendees tonight were: Stuart, James, Andrew, Ray, Shane, Phil, Mick and Harvey.
Flood Cup
Round 4 result:
James Hiller ½ Stuart Wilson ½
Tonight’s game between James and Stuart was certainly one of the more remarkable games played at The Gap Chess Club, even for James whose standard of remarkableness is quite high. During the game both players moved their queens to squares that led to their capture with no compensation (a la the “Willcock gambit”) – Stuart first at move 10, and James at move 40. Prior to James’ move 40 blunder he was leading by Q+R+N against a lone rook. Hence the shock to those in Room D6 when James and Stuart left the tournament room (Room D5) to inform the DOP that the game had ended in an agreed draw.
However the greatest astonishment was left to when the scoresheets were reconstructed for post-match analysis. It turned out that James had achieved checkmate at move 22. Both players were unaware of this and Stuart avoided losing the game by unknowingly making an illegal move. Even then, a simple QxR would have been checkmate again. However James captured the rook with his bishop, and then Stuart moved his knight to the f7 square where his rook had been, thus making the game ‘legal’ again. James has never beaten Stuart in a tournament game, and won’t come any closer than tonight, but at least achieved his first ever draw against Stuart and avoided loss in a Flood Cup game for the first time.
In case anyone think James and Stuart’s play was subject to time pressure, both players had more than one hour on the clock for the whole of the game.
Flood Cup: Current standings
All players to play 7 games
|
No. |
NAME |
POINTS |
PLAYED |
|
1 |
Phillip Kirkman |
3½ |
4 |
|
2 |
Tony Howes |
3½ |
4 |
|
3 |
Debbie Jenkins |
3 |
4 |
|
4 |
Garvin Gray |
3 |
4 |
|
5 |
Andrew Robinson |
2½ |
4 |
|
6 |
Gabriel Boross |
2½ |
4 |
|
7 |
Brian Willcock |
2½ |
4 |
|
8 |
Ray Adams |
2 |
4 |
|
9 |
Harvey Quaresmini |
2 |
4 |
|
10 |
Mick Waters |
2 |
4 |
|
11 |
Marty Chadwick |
1 |
4 |
|
12 |
Mark Taylor |
1 |
4 |
|
13 |
Shane Martin |
1 |
4 |
|
14 |
James Hiller |
1 |
4 |
|
15 |
Stuart Wilson |
½ |
4 |
|
16 |
Peter Hiller |
0 |
2 |
|
17 |
Cameron De Vere |
0 |
1 |
Flood Cup 2005 results in detail
Standings (from Swissperfect)
Place Name Feder Rtg Loc Score Buch. M-Buch. 1 Kirkman, Phillip QLD 1552 3.5 10.5 5.0 2 Howes, Tony QLD 1527 3.5 8.0 4.0 3 Jenkins, Deborah QLD 1360 3 7.5 4.0 4 Gray, Garvin QLD 1188 3 6.0 3.0 5 Boross, Gabriel QLD 1418 2.5 9.5 4.5 6 Robinson, Andrew J QLD 1596 2.5 8.5 4.5 7 Willcock, Brian QLD 1246 2.5 7.5 3.5 8 Adams, Ray QLD 1468 2 9.5 5.0 9 Waters, Mick QLD 1290 2 7.5 3.5 10 Quaresmini, Harvey A QLD 1525 2 6.5 3.0 11 Martin, Shane QLD 1 9.0 4.5 12 Taylor, Mark QLD 1 8.5 4.5 13 Chadwick, Marty QLD 1048 1 7.5 3.5 14 Hiller, James QLD 619 1 6.0 3.5 15 Wilson, Stuart QLD 882 0.5 7.5 3.5 16 Hiller, Peter QLD 1159 0 3.5 3.5 17 De Vere, Cameron QLD 0 2.0 2.0
Quote of the night
At the start of the game:
“I’ve started the clock on you” – Stuart. “Excuse me?” – James
“I’ve started the clock on you” – Stuart repeated. “I’m not sure what you mean by that.” – James
Then after the game:
“I snatched a draw from the jaws of victory” – James
“What is wrong with these people? There’s definitely mental deficiency there somewhere” – Phil K
“I played too conservatively. I got frustrated.” – James
“There nothing wrong with the first 3 moves” – Ray stated positively, and in a loud voice during the post-match analysis
“I think we both played sloppily tonight” – James trying for the ‘understatement of the year’ award
“That’s mate” – Ray informed James when they reached move 22 during the post-match analysis
“…and I didn’t even…” – James