Wiseman-Hurley Open 2025 - Round 2 Report

Details: Written by: Sanjoy Banerjee; Category: Uncategorised; Published: 21 June 2025

	Round 2
1.	Alfie Melia (1)	1-0	Benjamin Ellington (1)
2.	Shay Hanlon (1)	½-½	Komronbek Bakhtiyorov (1)
3.	Joel Bartlett (1)	1-0	Phil Ramsey (1)
4.	Graham AG Williamson (1)	0-1	Paul R Evans (1)
5.	Luke Boumphrey (1)	½-½	Joel Ofeni (1)
6.	Mike J Coffey (1)	1-0	Brian R Ewart (1)
7.	Reece Kercher (½)	0-1	Andrew Savage (1)
8.	Keiron Williams (½)	0-1	Ben Wilson (1)
9.	Mark S Wadsworth (½)	1-0	Rob Black (½)
10.	Callum McShane (½)	0-1	Joe W Butterworth (½)
11.	Steven Philp (0)	0-1	Kamal Gardi (0)
12.	Peter Mellor (0)	1-0	Ian Nicholson (0)
13.	Rob Old (0)	0-1	Sanjoy K Banerjee (0)
14.	John Gillett (0)	1-0	Henry Atkinson (0)
15.	Xenia Hanganu (0)	0-1	Daniel Westhead (0)
16.	Nathan Haddy (0)	0-1	Brian Butterworth (0)

	Byes in this round
	Nodirabegim Bakhtiyorova (½)	½
	Michael Sutton (0)	½
	James Lee (½)	½
	Tom EC Webb (0)	½

Please note: Full details of the tournament and updates are now published at Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Wiseman-Hurley Open 2025

If Round 1 is an opportunity for the less storied players to upset the apple-cart, the second round suggested a much closer set of games, which promised much and did not fail to deliver.

On top board, Alfie kept his perfect record intact with an aggressive line in the Caro which may have caused Ben to reflect on his opening choice. Yet already on board two, the first surprise of the night was registered as some decent prep by Shay Hanlon kept Komronbek penned-in and a truce was declared.

On the second table, Joel Bartlett and Paul Evans showed their prowess, joining Alfie on a perfect 2.0/2.0, yet the match of the round featured Joel Ofeni with the black pieces in a back and forth tussle with Luke Boumphrey, which kept spectators captivated throughout the evening, until finally devolving into rook and knight versus rook, where young tyro Joel - with only a handful of classical over the board games under his belt - showed perfect drawing technique. A mere 108 moves, and with still enough vim and vigour to conduct a thorough post-mortem with his opponent. A full analysis of the game is presented below, with annotations by Luke himself.

Three more players joined the leaders with a perfect score, Andrew Savage perhaps the most resourceful after a calamitous opening blunder parted him from one of his rooks with little or no compensation. Mike Coffey continues to stalk like a hunter in the long grass, and Ben Wilson doubled-down on his epic victory in round 1, and is rewarded with a place on board two (court number 1?) in the next round.

The remaining boards went with the form book, save for wins for Kamal Gardi and Daniel Westhead, with the Atticus Knights flexing their muscle everywhere you cared to look.

Rob Old on board 13 was unlucky in his game, where some excellent prep should have seen him over the line, but was unable to make good on his advantage and ultimately succumbed under severe time pressure.

Round 3 will take place this Monday (23rd June) and throws up some intriguing ties (details in the link), but the highlight for me was the overspill into the main bar downstairs where new members and club stalwarts exchanged pawns, pieces, smiles, anecdotes and a beer or three.

[Event "Board 5: Luke S Boumphrey v Joel Ofeni"] [Site ""] [Result "½-½"] [UTCDate "2025.06.16"] [UTCTime "18:30:00"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B23"] [Opening "Sicilian Defence: Grand Prix Attack, Schofman Variation"] [Annotator "Luke Boumphrey"] {I have tried to explain this game without the use of a chess engine. When I went over it with an engine after my annotations I found many more mistakes than the obvious ones .In other words I played an awful game but my opponent despite his age and experience played a remarkably mature game} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. f5 Nge7 7. fxe6 dxe6 8. O-O O-O 9. d3 { All this is theory known to me.} h6 $5 {but i havent seen this before. |I thought the idea was to stop a minor piece going to g5 but Joel had another reason.} 10. Qe1 {with the strong threat of Qh4} g5 $1 {When he played this I assumed it was bad because he is making a lot of pawn moves in the area I was attacking.But it turns out he is attacking me !} 11. h4 $2 {It is my turn to play pawn moves in front of my king but it is the wrong idea.Much better was Qg3} g4 12. Nh2 h5 13. Bg5 f6 14. Be3 Nd4 {I was still overconfident and didnt see the danger. Black is better. What follows is one of the worst moves I have ever made I need to take the knight or guard c2. I also want to free f1 for my knight or Queen so} 15. Rf2 $4 {I realised this lost about 5 seconds after I made it. All to do now is pray.} Ng6 $4 {Joel continues with his plan without loooking at the board. g3 is winning and I am close to resignation. My position is still bad though.} 16. Rd2 {g3 was unappealing after ne5 my f3 square is very weak} Kh7 17. Nf1 f5 {The right plan I think} 18. Bg5 $6 { this loses a pawn or 2 but without the engine I cant find a defence.} Bf6 19. Nb5 Bxg5 20. hxg5 Nxb5 21. Bxb5 Qd4+ $6 {The wrong idea. After the game Joel said he expected the g pawn to drop anyway and he wanted another one.However Qxg5 followed by f4 looks crushi.ng} 22. Rf2 Qxb2 $6 {It is not too late to play f4.} 23. Rb1 Qe5 $2 24. exf5 Rxf5 {if e x f5 I have Re2 followed by B e8 which looks like I have the initiative.} 25. Qxe5 {With the queens off the f pawn gone and a lead in development ( ! ) I had hopes of getting a result despite being a pawn down} Nxe5 26. Ng3 Rxf2 27. Kxf2 {Amazingly it is difficult to find a good move for black,After kg6 to guard the h pawn and hit the g pawn white plays Ne4 with the threat of Be8+. I am interested if the computer can find a defence for black because I cant.} a6 28. Be8 $1 h4 29. Rh1 h3 {I now thought I had a clear plus but it is my turn to pawn grab .} 30. gxh3 $2 {To my mind N e4 wins. But I now have an advantage.} Kg7 31. h4 Bd7 32. Bxd7 Nxd7 33. Ne4 c4 34. Kg3 cxd3 35. cxd3 Rf8 36. d4 {material is level but white is close to winning I think.the h and g pawns are very strong.} e5 37. d5 Rf4 $1 {Joel defends well.} 38. Re1 Kg6 39. Nd6 Kh5 40. Re3 b5 41. Ne8 b4 42. Ng7+ Kg6 43. Ne6 Rc4 44. Re2 {Rc3 is threatened} Kh5 45. Ng7+ Kg6 46. Ne8 Rd4 $2 47. Nc7 $2 {Rc2 is very strong but I had an aberation} a5 48. h5+ $4 {I had planned this thinking after the king takes the g pawn I thought the rook drops to a knight fork. But it is an absolute howler maybe worse than my earlier blunder for of course} Kxh5 {wins a pawn and I am clearly worse again.} 49. Rh2+ Kg6 50. Ne6 Rxd5 51. Kxg4 Kf7 52. Nd8+ Ke7 53. Nc6+ Ke8 $2 {kd6 was clearly better} 54. g6 $1 {suddenly the black king is in trouble.} Kf8 $2 { i must confess I thought I was winning but I make the wrong move according to my computer. Rf2+ Kg7 Ne7 Nf6+Rxf6 kxf6 Nxd5 kxg6 is a forcing line which is not that hard to calculate but difficult to assess. White is a piece for 2 pawns up but only has 1 pawn . If he can hold on to that pawn he wins if not he draws.} 55. Kf5 $2 e4+ 56. Kxe4 Nf6+ 57. Kf4 Rc5 58. Nd4 Nh5+ 59. Kf3 Rd5 60. Ne6+ Ke7 $1 {the only move I had hoped for kg8 when rc2 wins on the spot,} 61. g7 Kf7 62. Rg2 Nf6 63. Nf4 Rc5 64. Nd3 Rd5 65. Nf4 Rc5 66. Rg6 Rc3+ 67. Ke2 Ra3 68. Rxf6+ {now if the king takes the rook white wins but of course he takes te g pawn.} Kxg7 69. Rb6 Rxa2+ 70. Kd3 {My opponent now offered a draw. As Rook and Knight vs Rook is a text book draw the position is drawn .but defending is tricky. So i decided to play on.} a4 71. Rxb4 a3 72. Ra4 Rf2 73. Ke3 Ra2 74. Ne2 Ra1 75. Nc3 Kf6 76. Ra5 Re1+ 77. Kd2 Re5 78. Rxa3 Kf5 79. Ra4 Re8 80. Kd3 Re7 81. Ra5+ Re5 82. Ra4 Re8 83. Ne4 Rd8+ 84. Ke3 Rd5 85. Nc3 Rd6 86. Ne2 {despite my best efforts Joel has avoided knight forks and his king is in the centre.I tried for another 20 moves but I could make no progress. I played one of my worst games ever but my opponent who is only 14 played a very strong game for his age and rating, particularly in the opening he outplayed me. For someone who has only played 7 over the board games his game against me was exceptional.} 1/2-1/2

Andrej Stancak Leaving Party at Zorbas June 23rd at 19h30

Details: Written by: Steve Burge; Category: Club News; Published: 02 June 2023

If you would still like to come to Andrejs leaving party and are not on the Club Whatsapp site please contact Steve Burge or a committee member asap. Seats need to be booked in advance please do not turn up on the night unless you have booked your place. Unfortunately Zorbas no longer allow customers to bring along their own wine and pay a corkage fee.

Seats have been reserved for the following members.

Andrej Stancak,Giovanni Sala,Tom Bimpson,Natasha May,Chris Wentworth, Dave James,Tom Webb, Sanjoy Banerjee, Steve Philp,Steve Burge,Steve Kee,Mark Wadsworth,Brian Ewart,Dave Stuttard,Ben Ellington.

Wiseman-Hurley Open 2023

Details: Written by: Sanjoy Banerjee; Category: Atticus Open Championship; Published: 29 May 2023

Join our Open 2023 now! Total Prize Fund £320 guaranteed.

The Jim Wiseman and Dave Hurley Open 2023

19/06/2023 - 21/08/2023

Participants:	Open to all
Entry Fee:	£10 (players must be registered with the ECF)
Registration:	Register with Sanjoy Banerjee (email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Registration ends on Monday, 19/06/2023, 7.00 p.m. Registration is completed after paying the fee.
Venue:	The Cross Keys, 13 Earle Street, Liverpool L3 9NS
Tournament Mode:	9 rounds swiss system computer-pairing via Swiss Manager (14.0.0.19)
Rounds	Round 1: 19/06/2023, 7.30 p.m. Round 2: 26/06/2023, 7.30 p.m. Round 3: 03/07/2023, 7.30 p.m. Round 4: 10/07/2023, 7.30 p.m. Round 5: 17/07/2023, 7.30 p.m. --- No fixtures Monday 24/07/2023 --- Round 6: 31/07/2023, 7.30 p.m. Round 7: 07/08/2023, 7.30 p.m. Round 8: 14/08/2023, 7.30 p.m. Round 9: 21/08/2023, 7.30 p.m.
Time Control:	80 minutes (each) + 10 second increment after each move
Grading:	This tournament will be reported for grading
Prizes	Winner: £100 2nd: £60 3rd: £40 Grading: 2 x £40 Best Game: £40 (To be judged by the tournament panel) Players may only win one prize
Tournament Controller:	Sanjoy Banerjee
FAQ:	1. What happens in the event of a dispute? The decision of the tournament controller Sanjoy Banerjee will be final. His decision will be made in good faith. 2. Will the club make any profit from this tournament? No 3. I know before entering I will not be able to play every week can I take a bye in advance? Yes to a maximum of three half point byes. There will be no byes allowed in the last round unless notified on entry. 4. When will I know my opponent of the next round? Every Monday, when all matches had been played, latest at 11 p.m., all pairings of the next round will be generated immediately and, of course, we then can tell you who your new opponent is. All pairings will be published on chess-results.com and our website on the following Tuesday. The draw is not final and is often open to change. 5. I cannot play every Monday. Is it nevertheless possible for me to join this tournament? Yes, you can join this tournament. Knowing your opponent one week in advance you may contact him/her to arrange another time and venue to play your game. You would then submit the result by phone or e-mail to the tournament controller. 6. Is there a limit on the number of entrants? Yes unfortunately entry is limited to 32 players and will be allocated on a first come first served basis 7. Any other question? Please ask or email Sanjoy Banerjee at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Snacks and drinks are available at our venue.

AGM 2023 Monday May22nd Cross Keys 19h30

Details: Written by: Steve Burge; Category: Club News; Published: 14 May 2023

Please note the Atticus AGM will take place on Monday May 22nd at 19h30. If you wish to raise any issues for discussion please contact Club Secretary Steve Kee in advance.

The MCA AGM will take place at Aigburth on May 24th.

Congratulations to the Atticus KA Cup team lead by Tom Webb who won this years Final.

Cross Keys Upstairs Room Closed Tonight 24/4/23

Details: Written by: Steve Burge; Category: Club News; Published: 24 April 2023

The Cross Keys upstairs room will be unavailable tonight. However Club members will be welcome to play in the downstairs area.

There are no more League matches to be played at Home this season and details of the Summer tournament will be available soon.

Dates for your Diary!

May 2nd Wirral League Cup Final Wrexham v Atticus 19h 30 Captain Sanjoy Banerjee

May 9th John Ripley Cup Final Atticus 2 v Liverpool at Metrocola Hardman ST 19h45 Captain Steve Burge

May 9th Knotty Ash cup Final Atticus v Liverpool at Metrocola Hardman ST 19h45 Captain Tom Webb

Steve Kee becomes Division 1 Player of the Season 19/4/23

Details: Written by: Steve Burge; Category: Club News; Published: 19 April 2023

Another good win last night over Hoylake 6-1 leaves Atticus 2 with a great record of 9/11 wins, in any other season a likely title winning position.

(Liverpool have already clinched the League with a tremendous record of 11/12 )

Steve Kee clinched the Division 1 title of Player of the Season with a win over Bahkti Vasiev, a close affair with Steve finding a nice tactic towards the end. Andrej Stancak last years winner had a tremendous tussle with Mike Stone and also came out on top in the last few minutes. Good wins also for Artur, John and Luke leading to some very good stats for almost all of the players in the team.

Board	Home	Hoylake 1		Atticus 2	Away
1 (B)	2035 (2045)	S Stone, Mike	0 - 1	B Stancak, Andrej	2131 (2101)
2 (W)	1718 (1774)	B Vasiev, Bahkti	0 - 1	S Kee, Steve	2070 (2120)
3 (B)	1835 (1825)	B Stoddart, Adam	0 - 1	S Williams, John P	2031 (2004)
4 (W)	1679 (1697)	B Stoddart, Mike	0 - 1	S Boumphrey, Luke S	2011 (1973)
5 (B)	1571 (1636)	S Tatar, Radu T	1 - 0	B Ewart, Brian R	1841 (1792)
6 (W)	1427 (1396)	S Burgess, Mark	0 - 1	B Hrabchak, Artur	1570 ()
7 (B)	0000 ()	N Default	0 - 1	B Burge, Steve J	1749 (1719)
Total	10265		1 - 6

Here is a recent picture of Steve with possible new Atticus recruit Vasyl Ivanchuk!

Vasyl Ivanchuk

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