THERE are a lot of chess players in Bermuda but it’s not that often that you find a chess player who is also a bridge player. I really don’t know anything about bridge at all. Trying to find out about the game is probably as hard as it is to play it.

Well, Phil Shadick (pictured) is very skilled in both chess and bridge. While writing this column I just remembered that there is a shop on Euston Road in London, which bears the same name: “Chess & Bridge.”

I cannot tell you about Shadick’s bridge skills, but I can let you know about his involvement in chess. From the early age of five Phil’s father taught him to play.

From there he played in school in Kent until he joined a local club at the age of 13. His first Chess Olympiad was in 1990 in Novi Sad followed by Moscow in 1994.

Shadick has also played in most of the tournaments that have taken place in our local club. The tournament that he is in at the moment is the Bermuda FIDE Rated Tournament.

As I said in the beginning there are a lot of players in Bermuda who know the game, but most of them do not have a rating.

This tournament is just the starting place. Shadick is the highest ranked of the six rated players competing in this tournament. This week’s game is from the Bermuda Championship 2006.

Shadick is playing white and Alexis Jennings is playing black.

Look at Diagram 1. Black to move — analyse very carefully what it is you can do here.

Well, if you thought of moving the knight from f6 to threaten the queen on h4, that is just what Jennings did as you can see in Diagram 2.

But Shadick gets in a counter-threat, checkmate or a rook. As it is Shadick wins two free pieces, as you can see in Diagram 3. In Diagram 4 move 26, Jennings resigned.

White: Phil Shadick

Black: Alexis Jennings

Bermuda Chess Championship

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd8 4. d4 e6 5. Nf3 Bb4 6. Bc4 a6 7. 0-0 h6 8. Qd3 Nf6 9. Bd2 b6 10. Rfe1 0-0 11. Rad1 Bb7 12. Ne5 Bc8 13. Qg3 Kh8 14. Qh4 Be7 15. Bd3 Ng8 16. Qe4 Nf6 17. Qxa8 Bd6 18. Qxb8 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Nd5 20. Qa8 Qd7 21. Bxa6 Nxc3 22. Bxc3 Qa4 23. Bb7 Qxa8 24. Bxa8 Ba6 25. Bc6 g6 26. Rd7

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