13 July 2019
It was John Grasham’s birthday today.
And he was playing for Yorkshire – against Worcestershire in the English Counties U140s Championship Final at Kettering.
John won his game.
Yorkshire crushed Worcestershire and won the U140s trophy by 10½ to 5½.
A dream birthday indeed.
John’s game is now enshrined among our Best Games and you can play through it here: John Grasham v Giles Stanton.
John was also among the winners at the Alf Newman Memorial Quickplay Tournament at Louth on 29 June. Here he is (centre) with other prizewinners:
While we’re here we’d like to mention a noteworthy game by another Limewood member.
Steve Hodgson (grade 72) was playing an opponent more than twice his grade (Mark Harris, 154) in the Alwoodley summer knockout tournament on 10 July.
At move 25 Steve had a commanding lead – mate in 12 according to Lichess. He lost the lead but regained much of the ground. Then at move 35, with the game dead level per Lichess he made an unforced blunder………
It could so easily have been one of our star games of the year. But it is a worthy inclusion in our list of Instructive Games. You can play through it here: Steve Hodgson v Mark Harris