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 Wanstead & Woodford CC

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Simuls perhaps don't have the popularity they used to.
After all, once upon a time, we had no GMs in this country, so a visit from a real live GM from overseas, was something special. Now, English GMs are two a penny, who needs to play one?

Well, those who took part in this display will be able to answer that. We have had nothing but positive reactions from those who took part in this event; they all enjoyed the experience and we generated valuable publicity in the local press. The turn out, though lower than hoped for, was at least sufficient for us to cover our costs.

The event was a triumph for our Publicity Officer, Philip Staniland, who was able to secure a generous donation from a local company, DaBora Conway, and suggested that this could be used to stage a GM simul - believe it or not, our first, at the start of our 66th season! We selected Peter Wells from the ECF Player's Panel and the event was arranged for 22nd September. Peter said he was prepared to take on up to 30 players, so we drew up plans to hold the event in the Boaden Hall at Wanstead House, rather than our normal Club room.

The uptake, as said, was disappointing: 16 acceptances at £5.00 for Club members and only one taker from outsiders when places were put on offer for £10.00 a board. Shell CC had to cancel their last such venture in 2005, and the GM they had lined up - none other than John Nunn - expressed the view that maybe the days of the GM simul had gone. At least we escaped that fate, but the turnout was low enough so that when Wanstead House made an error with the hall booking, we were able to switch back to Roding Room, without too much strain on space requirements. We had two late entries and one 'no show' so 17 players lined up to try their luck; not enough to challenge a GM worth his salt, but enough to create a spectacle.

Philip was also able to engage the interest of a couple of local newspapers and one of them sent along a photographer. We wrote a brief report and got some column inches. We also provided our own pictures for the paper that had not sent a 'snappie-chappie'; all good publicity.

Read a sample here: News link

Peter Wells proved an excellent choice to give the exhibition; friendly, approachable, with a ready humour and a generosity of spirit which led him instantly to decline to accept an opponent's resignation until the game was genuinely lost. He even took a book-signing in his stride on his first-move circuit!

We were also impressed with Peter's speed of play. One recalls GM simuls of yesteryear that stretched into the small hours of the morning! While the low number of boards obviated this risk, Peter's pace was of a high order, maintaining something like 10 seconds a move on average for a good while, until later when one or two more difficult positions required a little more thought.

The display started at 7.30 pm, PW starting at the usual allegro for the early moves, but in fact he kept up a good pace all evening, which is the point with a relatively small number of opponents: the club players get less time to plot their moves. The first result, a win for Peter Wells, came after barely 35 minutes play, but, with the second result not until 1 hour 25 minutes into the display, the Club was putting up stiffer resistance than the early result indicated! The next results were recorded at 9.00, 9.12 and 9.20, all wins to the GM. In fact, at one point, it looked as though he would win them all!

There were only two or three games which delayed him more than a few seconds a move, despite our having several of our first team players on duty: Gerry Hayes, Larry Marden, David Spearman (Club Champion), and Ian Hunnable; all lost. After two hours play, the games still in progress, eight of them, had made 34 moves each.  Impressive.

The Club’s blushes were ultimately saved when the sole visitor in the line-up, Ron Adams from Bishop’s Stortford achieved a draw. Two W&WCC members then also achieved draws, Joe Rosenberg and Charlton Siddo.

One by one the other players crumbled until Peter Nickals was left as last man standing, but facing a losing position. After a few more moves, playing the Grandmaster on a one-to-one basis, at 10.06 pm, Peter Nickals at last fell.

The Grandmaster had won 14 games and drawn three, in 2 hours 36 minutes. By my observation, he was at no time in danger of losing any of the games. Larry Marden's game was probably the pick of the evening.

Play these games in DGT Chess Theatre

Peter Wells v Ron Adams [C10]

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.0-0 Ngf6 8.Ned2 Bd5 9.c4 Bxf3 10.Nxf3 c6 11.Re1 Be7 12.Bf4 0-0 13.a3 a5 14.Qc2 Re8 15.Ng5 Nf8 16.Be5 h6 17.Nf3 a4 18.h3 Qa5 19.Re2 Rac8 20.Rae1 Rcd8 21.c5 Rd7 22.Nd2 Nd5 23.Nc4 Qa7 24.Re4 f5 25.R4e2 Red8 26.Bh2 Bf6 27.Ne5 Bxe5 28.Bxe5 Ng6 29.Bd6 Ngf4 30.Rxe6 Nxe6 31.Rxe6 Rxd6 32.Rxd6 Rxd6 33.cxd6 Qxd4 34.Bxf5 Nf6 35.Be6+ Kf8 36.d7 Ke7 ½-½

Peter Wells v Joe Rosenberg [E07]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.d4 c6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.b3 Re8 9.Bb2 Nf8 10.Ne5 Ng6 11.f4 Nd7 12.cxd5 exd5 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 f5 15.Nd2 Nf6 16.Re1 Nd5 17.Qh5 Nxe5 18.fxe5 g6 19.Qe2 Be6 20.Nc4 Rc8 21.Rac1 Kg7 22.Ba3 Bxa3 23.Nxa3 b5 24.Qd2 Qb6 25.Nc2 a6 26.Ne3 Qb7 27.Bxd5 cxd5 28.Ng2 Rxc1 29.Rxc1 Rc8 30.Nf4 Kf7 31.h4 Rxc1+ 32.Qxc1 Qc8 33.Qa3 [JR: Peter Wells could have won a pawn by playing 33.Qxc8 Bxc8 34.Nxd5. My 32 …Qc8 was in fact a blunder which would have given him two connected pass pawns in the centre. It seems that I was let off the hook! Instead of playing 31 … Rxc1+, I believe that I should have played 31 Rc7.] 33...Qc3 34.Qd6 Qxg3+ 35.Ng2 Qc3 36.Qb6 Qa1+ 37.Kh2 Qxa2 38.Qc7+ Ke8 39.Qb8+ Kf7 40.Qc7+ ½-½

Peter Wells v Charlton Siddo [B07]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 Qa5 5.Bd3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e5 Ne8 9.Ne4 f5 10.Nxd6 Nxd6 11.exd6 Bxd6 12.Re1 Qc7 13.Ne5 Nd7 14.Nxd7 Bxd7 15.Qf3 g5 16.h3 Bxf4 17.Bxf4 Qxf4 18.Qxf4 gxf4 19.Re5 f3 20.gxf3 Rf6 21.Kh2 Kf7 22.Rg1 Rg6 23.b4 b5 24.c4 a5 25.cxb5 Rxg1 26.Kxg1 axb4 27.bxc6 Bxc6 28.Bc4 Re8 29.Rxf5+ Kg6 30.Re5 Kf6 31.Kf2 Bd7 32.f4 Rc8 33.Bb3 Rc3 34.Rh5 Kg6 35.Rg5+ Kf6 36.Rg3 Rc8 37.Re3 Kf5 38.Kg3 Rg8+ 39.Kf3 Bc6+ 40.d5 exd5 41.Re5+ Kf6 42.Bxd5 Bxd5+ 43.Rxd5 Ra8 44.Rb5 Rxa2 45.Rxb4 h5 46.Rb5 Ra3+ 47.Kg2 Kg6 48.Rg5+ Kh6 49.h4 Ra2+ 50.Kf3 Ra3+ ½-½

Peter Wells v Larry Marden [A80]

1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bd3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.a3 Bd6 10.Bxd6 Qxd6 11.c4 e5 12.cxd5 Qxd5 13.Nc3 Qa5 14.Bc4 e4 15.Nd4 Qc5 16.Nxc6 Qxc6 17.Qb3 Bd7 18.0-0 Rc8 19.Bf7+ Ke7 20.Rac1 Qd6 21.Rfd1 Qe5 22.Bd5 a5 23.a4 Rhd8 24.Qa3+ Ke8 25.Bxb7 Rc7 26.Ba6 Rb8 27.Bb5 Nd5 28.Rxd5 Qxd5 29.Qe7+ Kxe7 30.Nxd5+ Kd8 31.Nxc7 Rc8 32.Bxd7 Kxd7 33.Kf1 Rxc7 34.Rxc7+ Kxc7 35.Ke2 Kc6 36.Kd2 Kd5 37.Kc3 Kc5 38.h3 g5 39.g3 h5 40.h4 g4 41.b4+ [After 41...axb4 42 Kb3 Black has to back off and allow Kxb4 and White wins with the outside passed pawn.] 1-0

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