GM Clock Simultaneous at Bury Chess Club - Keith Arkell, 29 April 2003

Last Edited: Friday May 2, 2003 5:16 PM

Mick Norris reports: Last night a unique event took place at Bury Chess Club, when the Bury team, with one invited guest, played a 15 board match.

Although 15 players playing in the same team is itself unique in the nearly 50 year history of the club, the surprise to most people will be that the opposition consisted of just one man.

Grandmaster Keith Arkell took on the Bury team, playing simultaneously on all 15 boards. Just in case that was not difficult enough, Keith offered to play with a clock on each board.

Over three hours Keith had no time to pause and rest, and little time to think. Incredibly in the circumstances, he did not lose a game.

Twelve of the Bury team were defeated, including the board three who managed the not inconsiderable feat of losing on time, albeit in a lost position. Bury's bottom board was perhaps the best performance of the night, missing a chance to win a queen in a mating attack before succumbing to defeat.

On board one, invited guest Ian Pendlebury from Urmston managed to defend a difficult position for over two hours, before drawing an opposite colour bishop ending from two passed pawns down.

On board nine, Lee Baron from the third team sacrificed a piece in an attack before obtaining a perpetual check. Another excellent performance from Bury's most attacking player.

Last to finish, board five and second team captain John Grindrod was unable to convert a small advantage into a win and had to settle for a draw.

Final score - Keith Arkell 13½ Bury 1½, an improvement for Keith on his result from a couple of years ago when he won only 7½ to 1½ due to being over-generous with his time allocation for the home team.

Keith represents Numerica 3Cs in the British league 4NCL and Bury in the Manchester and District Chess League.

Mick Norris (1925) - Keith Arkell (2533)
Clock simul Bury v Arkell, 29 April 2003
1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 Nc3 Nc6 4 e3 g6 5 d4 cxd4 6 exd4 d5 7 cxd5 Nxd5 8 Bc4 Nxc3 9 bxc3 Bg7 10 0-0 0-0 11 Rb1 b6 12 Ba3 Na5 13 Bd3 Be6 14 Qe2 Re8 15 Bb5 Bd7 16 Bb4 Bxb5 17 Qxb5 Nb7 18 Ne5 Nd6 19 Qd5 Qc7 20 Bxd6 exd6 21 Nf3 Rac8 22 Rbc1 Qc6 23 Qb3 d5 24 Rfe1 Bf6 25 Rxe8+ Rxe8 26 Re1 Rxe1+ 27 Nxe1 b5 28 Nd3 a5 29 Nf4 Bxd4 30 Nxd5 Kg7 31 Kf1 Be5 32 h3 a4 33 Qd1 Qc4+ 34 Kg1 Qxa2 35 f4 Qb3 36 Qd2 a3 37 fxe5 a2 38 Kh2 a1Q 39 Ne7 Qe6 [39 ..Qaxc3?? 40 Nf5+ gxf5 41 Qg5+ Kf8 42 Qd8+ Kg7 43 Qg5+ Kh8 44 Qd8+ Kg7 45 Qg5+ draw; 39 ..Qbxc3 40 Nf5+ draw] 40 Qd8 Qxe5+ White lost on time

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