10th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament - History

The Mike Closs Memorial Tournament has built up a significant history since the first event, back in 2010.

The venue for the inaugural event was La Fez in Marske, a Mexican restaurant. I am not sure if it is a comment on the quality of the play, but the la Fez closed down shortly afterwards.

2010

In 2011 we occupied the Cleveland Bay in Eaglescliffe, with another all-star cast of chess stars.

2011

Future Grandmaster and British Champion, Jonathan Hawkins, was the guest of honour and he demonstrated his win over Grandmaster Stuart Conquest.

2011

The magnificent Middlesbrough Reference Library was the venue for the 2012 event, which was the last of the three large-scale tournaments.

2012

From 2013 up until this year the venue has been Marsh Towers.

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

The full stories of our memorial events can be found by clicking on the titles below.


1st Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2010

2nd Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2011

3rd Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2012

4th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2013

5th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2014

6th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2015

7th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2016

8th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2017

9th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament, 2018

10th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament - Try These Gambits

As mentioned yesterday, the theme of the 10th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament will be the Sicilian Defence.

Mike was a great expert on the opening from both sides of the board. As White, he didn’t care which variation he faced. As Black, he favoured the Dragon and Accelerated Fianchetto variations, with the occasional Najdorf thrown in for good measure.

He didn’t always play the main lines as White; sometimes he preferred a Wing Gambit, which he found particularly effective after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 and only then 3 b4.

Mike always liked to attack and was noticeably weaker when forced to defend. Fortunately for him, he usually seized the initiative early in the game and was rarely forced into defensive mode.

Anyone wanting to explore attacking opening lines could take a leaf from Mike’s book and try one or more of the following lines.

1 e4 e6 2 Nf3 d5 3 e5 c5 4 b4
French Wing Gambit

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 b4
Sicilian Wing Gambit

1 e4 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 c3 dxc3 4 Bc4 cxb2 5 Bxb2
Danish Gambit

Mike never had anything particularly explosive against the Caro Kann. He liked the Advance Variation and dabbled with the Exchange Variation too, but generally speaking he didn’t have any particularly notable successes against 1 ...c6. Nor did he have anything especially potent against the rarer defences, such as Alekhine’s Defence. The point was he liked to play the percentage game and saw little need to spend time on openings that were unlikely to occur at club level at the time.

However, put 1 ...c5, 1 ...e5 or 1 ...e6 up against his 1 e4 and he could be absolutely devastating.

Nobody seems to play any of the above gambits any more. Perhaps they are due a revival?

10th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament - The Openings

This year's Mike Closs Memorial Tournament will feature the following set openings.

Mike was an expert on both sides of the Sicilian Defence and this event we will be a celebration of this magnificent opening, utilising five different variations.

The five participants will play each other twice at 10 minute chess (once with each colour). The draw for the openings will be made randomly before the start of each round.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6
Sicilian Najdorf

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e6
Sicilian Scheveningen

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6
Sicilian Dragon

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6
Sicilian Accelerated Fianchetto

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 a6
Sicilian Kan

10th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament - The Players

10th Mike Closs Memorial Tournament will take place next weekend and it is now time to reveal which players will be competing in this year's edition.

David Baillie

David, former County Champion and Redcar's best player for as long as anyone can remember, will continue his unique record of playing in all 10 Mike Closs Memorial events. David is one of only three former winners of the event and recently showed that even Grandmasters aren't immune from his attacking skill.

Richard Harris

Richard Harris, CSC Tutor and the current Durham Player of the Year, will be making his first appearance at this event since 2017. Richard, who seems to play more league games in a year than most people do in a decade, will bring a wealth of experience to the event. Last time, he brought some excellent blueberry muffins with him too. Just saying.

Matt Jackman

Matt, having returned to chess action comparatively recently, has already been stockpiling trophies and titles, including the CCA A Division and B Division titles and the KO Cup. Matt habitually reaches the finals of the main Project 30 events and I am sure it is only a matter time until he wins the Mike Closs Memorial event. Will it be this week?

Royce Parker

Royce, legendary captain of the highly successful Redcar B team, will be making his debut in the Mike Closs Memorial series. His highly original style of play will definitely bring something new to the event. For some reason I don't have a photograph of Royce in front of a chess board; looking at that dish, it appears to be more on the cheese board side of things. Will tournament success be on the menu at this event?

Me

I will be trying my best to keep those four fine players in order and stop them drinking all of my tea. I also need to try and stop them taking the title from me. There could be trouble brewing.

Counterfest, Stockton-on-Tees

Counterfest
Arc, Stockton-on-Tees
14.9.2019

Counterfest, the festival of top tribute acts, returned to Stockton-on-Tees for its eighth year.

The music was spread across several local venues, namely: The Georgian Theatre, KU, The Storytellers, The Green Room and Arc. One ticket granted access to all venues and acts, granting music fans an excellent choice of entertainment, as depicted below.

I spent the entire Saturday evening at Arc, where I saw The Straits UK, UK Blondie UK and Aladdinsane.

A sizeable crowd packed into Arc, and there was more than a little ebb and flow throughout the evening as people dashed between the venues to catch their favourite acts.

All three acts provide ample entertainment and stuck to exactly what tribute acts ought to do: minimal chat, maximum music and a sackful of hot songs.

I enjoyed them all and UK Blondie were the pick of the bunch.

It is great for Stockton to unite their top music venues for such a festival and we are looking forward to the next event in this fine series.

.

The Goldhawks - Tommy - at the Darlington Hippodrome

The Goldhawks

Tommy - The Album - LIVE!

Darlington Hippodrome

7 September 2019

It was back in April when I became acquainted with the music of The Goldhawks. Back then, they delivered an excellent rendition of Quadrophenia and I was already to experience their take on Tommy.

I didn't have too long to wait - and it was even at the same venue. Between times, I had already been to see The Who at Wembley Stadium, where they had played parts of both classic albums.

The Hippodrome wasn't sold out; in fact the audience was noticeably smaller than in April. I am sure that was no reflection on the prowess of The Goldhawks but perhaps having two shows at the same venue with relatively little time between them was a shade ambitious. The general public may have assumed it was the same show (not everyone is an aficionado).

Tommy is better-known but harder to play than Quadrophenia, due to the extraordinary amount of words. This led to a couple of slips, but certainly nothing serious.

There was a short interval after Tommy and then the band returned to run through some high-tempo hits, which eventually brought everyone to their feet for a rousing finale.

It proved to be a very enjoyable evening. Fans of The Who need to see The Goldhawks in action as soon as possible.

A third show is soon to be added to their repertoire, with Then and Now, a greatest hits showcase, set to hit the stage in Spring 2020. The Goldhawks are definitely ambitious.  Before then, I already have plans to see their Quadrophenia show for a second time.

Follow the news and tour dates over at the official Goldhawks website.

Martha Reeves and The Vandellas at Arc

Martha Reeves and The Vandellas

Arc, Stockton-on-Tees

22 August 2019

This year's 'no holds barred' year of gigs continued with another expedition into soul territory, as a follow-up to my recent evening with Gladys Knight in Birmingham.

Martha (who had just turned 78 in July), together with sisters Lois and Delphine, went through the card and delivered exactly what one expect: an evening of soul, rock and roll and rhythm and blues, with all of the classic songs present and correct. These included Come and Get These Memories, Jimmy Mack, Heat Wave and, of course, Dancing in the Street. Martha prefaced the latter with a list of some of the people who had performed cover versions before going on to say she likes to come over to England just to remind everyone whose song it really is.

Opinions and reviews vary regarding the quality of Martha's voice, but she was on great form at Arc and made a strong connection with the very appreciative audience.

.

It was certainly a packed Arc and as the temperature continued to rise the arrival of Heat Wave was most apt.

The evening was very entertaining, yet Martha's wistful moments when she spoke of those who are no longer with us (Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin et al) counterpointed the good times with a poignant reminder that nothing lasts forever. The trick is to catch such legends while you can.