Richard McMaster at the Ulster Championship in December 1990
A Letter from Norfolk
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Richard McMaster at the Ulster Championship in December 1990 |
Richard McMaster first came to prominence as part of the very strong Antrim Grammar School Chess Club of the mid to late 1980s. In recent years he was a member of Fisherwick Chess Club. In the first half of the year 2000 he had a string of five successive tournament victories in the Ulster Open, the City of Belfast Championship, the Fisherwick Club Tournament, the McMaster Masters Rapidplay (a double-round event he organised featuring seven of Ulster's best players) and the Belfast Civic Festival. Unfortunately for Ulster chess he shortly afterwards went to live in England. The good news is that Richard is still an active chess player as can be seen from his report below.
I am now living in Norfolk playing for a small club in the first division of the Norwich League. The League here is about the same strength as the Belfast League and I give below a game from last season. (We are halfway or so through this season and I've only won one game and it wasn't very memorable!) I have also included some other wins one of which is against one Brian Kelly!
McMaster,R - Moore,S [D39] Norwich League, January 2001
[Annotations by McMaster]
A smooth win
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Bb4?!
I think Black should settle for 5...Be7 with an equal game.
6.e4 h6 7.Bxf6
Simplifying into a slightly better game.
7...Qxf6 8.Bxc4
8.Qa4+ Nc6 9.d5 fails to 9...Bxc3.
8...c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.Nb5!
Black is now in trouble.
10...Qe7 11.Qxd4 0-0 12.e5 a6 13.Nd6 Rd8
14.Rfd1 is also good but I was conscious of ending up with a weak pawn on d6.
14.Nxc8 Rxc8 15.Qe4 Nc6 16.a3
Covering b4.
16...Bc5 17.Bd3 g6 18.h4 h5 19.Qf4
Getting a knight on e4.
19...Rd8 20.Rad1 Nd4 21.Ng5 Kg7 22.Ne4 Rac8 23.Nf6
23...Qf8?
This loses. Black should have played ...Nf5 at some point although it is probably not playable now because of 24.Qg5.
24.Nxh5+! Kg8
Black on playing 23...Qf8 had only seen 24...gxh5 25.Qf6+? Kg8 26. Qg5+ Qg7 winning for Black and missed 25.Qg5+! Kh8 26.Qxh5+ and the mate on h7. The game didn't last much longer.
25.Nf6+ Kg7 26.h5 Qh8 27.hxg6 fxg6 28.Qe4 Nf5 29.Qxb7+ Be7? 30.Bxf5 gxf5 31.Qxe7+ Kg6 32.Rxd8 Rxd8 33.Qxe6 1-0
McMaster,R - Blades,N [A52] Hitchin, December 2001
[Annotations by McMaster]
A quick kill.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Be2 Ngxe5 7.0-0 0-0 8.Nc3 Re8 9.Ne4!?
Transferring pieces to the Kingside and getting ready, if it's needed, for b3 and Bb2.
9...Nxf3+ 10.Bxf3 Bf8 11.Bd2
11.b3 may run into problems after 11...g6.
11...Ne5 12.Be2 Qh4!?
12...Nxc4 13.Bxc4 Rxe4 14.Qb3 is unclear.
13.Nc3
Not 13.Ng3 because of 13...Nxc4 14.Qa4 b5!
13...Bd6?
Better is 13...d5! to get some play e.g. 14.Nxd5 Bd6, but not now 13...Nxc4 because of 14.Qa4! when 14...b5 allows 15.Nxb5 and 14...d5? allows 15.Qxe8.
14.g3 Qh3 15.f4 Nc6 16.Nb5 Bc5?
The last chance was 16...Qh6 but even here White is better.
17.Bg4 Qh6 18.Nxc7 Bxe3+ 19.Bxe3 Rxe3 20.Nxa8 Qg6 21.Qd2 Rd3 22.Qe2
and the game finished...
22...h5 23.Bxh5 Rxg3+ 24.hxg3 Qxg3+ 25.Qg2 Qe3+ 26.Kh1 1-0
There is a nice mate here after 26...d5 27.Rae1 Qd4 28.Re8+ Kh7 29. Bg6!! fxg6 (or 29...Kh6 30.Rh8 mate) 30.Qh2+ Bh3 31.Qxh3
Cutmore,M - McMaster,R [A82] Bury, November 2001
[Annotations by McMaster]
1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g4?!
I don't rate the Staunton Gambit at all but this attempt to blow Black away just isn't going to work.
4...h6 5.f4 d5 6.Be2 g6
To give the knight a square on h5 if necessary.
7.Be3 c6
I was reluctant to play 7...Nc6 because it is difficult to develop the Queenside. The move played makes this easier.
8.h3
8.h4?! fails to 8...Be6 and 9...Qd7.
8...e6 9.Qd2 Na6!?
I didn't like blocking the c8-h3 diagonal because of complications after f5!?
10.Bxa6 bxa6 11.Nge2 Bd6 12.0-0-0 Qb6 13.Na4 Qb4 14.Nec3
14.Qxb4 Bxb4 leaves Black a pawn up and a useful Bishop pair.
14...Rb8
15.g5
Not 15.a3?? Qxa3!! winning after 16.bxa3 Bxa3+ 17.Nb2 Bxb2+ 18.Kb1 Bxc3+ and 19...Bxd2.
15...Nd7 16.gxh6 Nb6 17.Qg2
17.a3 is playable now in as much as the Queen sac is no longer on - 17...Qxa3 18.bxa3 Bxa3 19.Kb1! - but 17... Qa5 keeps Black's attack on the White King going.
17...Nxa4 18.Qxg6+ Kd8 19.Nxa4 Qxa4 20.Qf6+ Kc7 21.Qxh8 Qxa2!
...and White has no defence, e.g. 22.b3 Rxb3 23.axb3 Ba3 mate. The game finished...
22.Kd2 Bb4+ 23.Ke2 Qc4+ 24.Kf2 Qxc2+ 25.Kg3 Qe2! 26.Qg7+ Bd7 27.Bc1 Bf8 28.Qg4 Rb3+! 0-1
It is mate after 29.Kh4 Be7+ 30.Kh5 Be8 or the White Queen is lost.
McMaster,R - Kelly,B [D84] Belfast, 1990
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 0-0 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.Bxc7 Nc6 9.Ne2 b6 10.Nc3 Qd7 11.Bg3 Bb7 12.Be2 Rac8 13.0-0 e5 14.d5 Ne7 15.e4 f5 16.f3 f4 17.Bf2 g5 18.Qb3 Kh8 19.a4 h5 20.a5
20...Rf6 21.axb6 axb6 22.Bxb6 Rg8 23.Rfc1 Nc8 24.Ba5 Nd6 25.Nb5 Ne8 26.Nc7 Nd6 27.Ne6 Bc8 28.Rc7 Qe8 29.Nxg7 Rxg7 30.Rxg7 Kxg7 31.Bb4 g4 32.Bxd6 Rxd6 33.Ra7+ Kh6 34.Qb8 Rd8 35.Qb6+ 1-0