BY the time you read this column the first Annual Rapid Cup tournament will be finished. My Tuesday deadline was the same day as the last round. Therefore I cannot give results of round five and six. But I can, however, give you the standings up to Tuesday which saw Sami Lill a half-point clear of Nigel Chudleigh and Gary Cooper.

Sami Lill 3 pts

Nigel Chudleigh and Gary Cooper 2|0xbd|

Michael Webb and Brian Davis 2

Kennedy Simmons and Larry Ebbin 1

Alvin Amore 0

There are a lot of members who have not taken part in this tournament, perhaps because it was a speed tournament — think fast and play fast.

One player the speed of 30 minutes does not bother is Gary Cooper (pictured),>who has been present for every round.

I have seen Cooper from week to week (on the night of play) give some players a lesson or two on some opening, attack or defence. He is always willing to teach a player something new.

The mark ‘?’ to a chess player means a bad move. To the regular reader it’s the end of a question. I had just lost to Cooper in round 4 and went over the game to be sure our notation was right. He made me realise I was making some bad moves.

On Tuesday, January 23, we played round three and four and Cooper was paired with Michael Webb. And Webb was about to get a lesson. Webb is playing white and Cooper is playing black.

In diagram one, move 20. Bxe4 Cooper gets a free knight. If Webb’s pawn on d3 captured the bishop on e4 then Cooper gets a rook for a bishop, which is a big material advantage.

In diagram two, white is to move but what would you do if you were in Webb’s place — attack or defend?

If you look at diagram three Cooper is attacking Webb’s queen. This is what most chess players don’t like to do — have their queen on the run. And in diagram four you can see that your strongest piece is about to be lost and there is no way out. Webb resigned.

White: Michael Webb

Black: Gary Cooper

Bermuda 1st Annual Rapid CB>

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 a6 4. a3 Nc6 5. Bc4 e6 6. d3 Nf6 7. Bg5 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Re1 Qc7 10. h3 b5 11. Ba2 Bb7 12. Qd2 Rac8 13. Rad1 Nd4 14. Re3 Nxf3+ 15. Rxf3 d5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. Bxe7 Nxe7 18. Ne4 Ng6 19. Rg3 Rcd8 20. Qc3 Bxe4 21. h4 Rd4 22. h5 Nf4 23. Re1 Nxh5 24. dxe4 Nxg3 25. fxg3 Qe5 26. Qf3 Rd2 27. Bb1 Qd4+ 28. Kh1 Rf2 29. Qh5 Rf6 30. c3 Qf2

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