The Captain bosses the show

It was well overdue.

Captain Chamberlain is a feared over-the-board player, able to better anyone from the club on his day. He is, of course, Gladstone’s favourite son. So it’s been peculiar that he hasn’t been winning more evenings of computational chess. The pundits and newspaper columnists have tended to put it down to the quicker clock times and the unfamiliar nature of screen rather than board pieces.

But quality will out in the end. And it did on 01 July, when the Captain drove through to a clear victory.

Has he now found his rhythm? Will he begin to lay waste to all that go before him? Only time will tell what the Captain has in store for us.

Games of the week

Each week, this journal’s Editorial Committee will present to the Chess Circle two online games from that week’s session that, in their esteemed view, display a particularly lively charm. Perhaps it will be a ferocious attack, or a dogged defence, maybe a catastrophic blunder or simply something that piques the Committee’s interest…

Two from the Great Helsman himself.

First, an aggressive display queen and rook onslaught against Mister Phillips.

And this second, here is the Captain blocking out against the in form Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon). It was this draw and a further one against Mister Bitty that enabled the Captain to prosper. Good match play.