Giant killer teams strike in Knockout

SOME of the region’s top teams have been knocked out of the Northumberland Summer Cup and Plate competitions, which are now in full swing.

The competitions are played on a rating handicap system, which means lower-rated teams gain extra game points in a match against a higher-rated team.

For example, an open team would need to win 4-0 against a minor or novice team.

The system leads to lopsided games, shock upsets and random match results.

Gosforth D played the role of giantkiller to

perfection against Forest Hall A, the 2021-22 League Division One champions.

The higher-rated Forest Hall A team was without captain Tim Wall but should still have carried the day.

A single draw from four games would have been enough for Gosforth D to win but Martin Beardsley drew against Forest Hall board one Andy Burnett, Bob Heyman drew against Nathan Ekanem and Paul Costello drew against Ravi Wariyar.

The only Forest Hall A player to win was Zheming Zhang. Final score (with handicap): Gosforth D 5-2.5 Forest Hall A.

Morpeth A (classed as a major team) drew 2-2 with Gosforth A (classed as an open team), meaning Morpeth went through comfortably

3.5-2 with a 1.5 points start. Mike McBeth on board two and Murray Pollock on board four won their games for Gosforth but Roger Coathup on board one and Alan Welsh on board three won for Morpeth.

The Jesmond v Tynemouth match was even closer, with a 2-2 tie only being broken in Tynemouth’s favour because they had the lower-rated team.

The semi-final pairings are:

Cup:

Tynemouth v Morpeth A

Gosforth D v Forest Hall B

Plate:

Gosforth C v Gateshead A

Alnwick v Forest Hall C

The major and minor tournaments at the

Northumbria Masters Congress at St Mary’s Catholic School in Newcastle will now take place over seven rounds on three and a half days (Friday, August 26 to Monday, August 29), not the nine rounds over four and a half days as originally planned.

This is to help players avoid clashes with work or school commitments on Tuesday, August 30.

The other tournaments, the Masters Open, Challengers and title norm tournaments, will go ahead as originally planned over nine rounds from August 26-30.

Full details from the organiser Tim Wall at timpeterwall@gmail.com.

This week’s puzzles are taken from the current World Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India.

Puzzle A: How did White (to play) exploit the position of the Black king here?

Puzzle C: How did White (to play) counter Black’s threats to his queen and bishop here?

Puzzle D: How did Black (to play) force their opponent to resign here?

Puzzle B: How did Black (to play) break through here?