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23.4.13 - City 1 vs. Witney 1
1 Manley, Jon
P (192) 0-1 Harvey, Marcus (223)
2 Hayward,
Philip (180) ½-½ Richmond, Peter (197)
3 Brown,
Matthew (180) 1-0 Girdlestone, Paul (189)
4 Terry, Sean
(165) 1-0 Truran,
Michael (189)
5 Dixon, Leif
(167) ½-½ Headlong,
Timothy (186)
6 Biswas, Karl
(149) ½-½ Hackett, Dave G
(183)
3½-2½
Played on 22 Apr.
Not with a bang but a whimper
...
- Mike.
21.3.13 - Cowley 2 vs. Witney 1
1 O'Reilly,
Gerard (198) 0-1 Harvey, Marcus
(223)
2 Lang,
Heather LE (179) 1-0 Richmond, Peter
(197)
3 Nandi, Robin
J (177) 0-1 Truran,
Michael (189)
4 Burrows,
Nick (161) 0-1
Hackett, Dave G (183)
5 Mate, Maria
(146) ½-½
Edwards, Derek F (139)
6 Keeling,
David (144) 0-1 Asenov,
Pavel (127)
1½-4½
Played on 18 Mar.
Avid readers of the intrepid
Witney 1 correspondents' reports from far-flung
climes (oh all right then, Banbury and Didcot)
will know that in our last missive we
exuberantly claimed the Division 1 title. As it
turns out, the reversal of one of City 1's two
match point defaults (for reasons unknown, but I
suspect an Oxfordshire Chess Association website
software error) cast us all into a slough of
despond for a couple of weeks as we realised we
not only had to not lose to Cowley 2 but also
avoid losing to City 1 by 5½-½ in the final
match of the season.
As it transpires, our fears
proved groundless (OK, that's enough heavy
irony). Undeterred by an intermittent heating
system and the raucous tones of the philately
club auctioneer from the next room (well, at
least it wasn't bingo), the Witney Massive, for
the first time this season comprising players
from three separate Witney teams (big thanks to
Derek and Pavel for going above and beyond) did
the business against a resilient Cowley 2 team
keen to secure second place in the league.
Unusually, my game was the first to finish as
Robin (unacquainted with the 4. Bf4 line in the
Queens Indian which Tony Miles was playing
probably before he was born, but which was all
the rage when I was in my prime back in the
early '80s) opened up the centre just a bit too
early, lost a pawn and then dropped a piece in
trying for compensation). So I was left in the
unaccustomed role of prowling around looking at
the games, tutting at moves I wouldn't have
played and generally fretting. I need not have
worried. Pavel rose to the occasion
magnificently, crashing through on the queen's
side and the centre while making light of
David's king's side attack, and Marcus saw off
Gerard in the style we have become accustomed to
- playing good moves fast, getting his opponent
in time pressure and ruthlessly exploiting time
trouble errors. Marcus seemed very pleased when
I compared his style to that of a junior Magnus
Carlsen, but to be fair I don't think the
comparison was unjustified. So the title was
secure and I could stop prowling, tutting and
fretting.
Derek fought back well
against Maria after being in trouble early on,
and generously offered a draw to secure the
match win when he could easily have played on
for the full point. So not just a match draw but
a match win - well done Derek. After that,
everything else was going to be a bonus - which
Dave duly provided. My assumption when
spectating was that Dave had jettisoned too many
pawns in a complex Kings Indian Defence in which
he had some king's side threats but a
non-existent queen's side. What did I know? As
Dave ably demonstrated afterwards, he had it
(mostly) under control and Nick was swept away
in a tactical avalanche which reminded me of
some of Dave's games when he was a young lad.
(We've been friends for over thirty years now,
and he's still denying having lost to me when I
was at Oriel College. Note to self - make sure
to dig out the game and post it on the Witney CC
website). Peter's was the last game to finish -
Heather grabbed one hot pawn too many and found
herself 'rebus in angustis' (as they say in
Warrington), but Peter missed a win (ably
demonstrated later on by Cowley stalwart Will
Burt) and Heather competently converted in
Peter's time trouble. To be fair, Heather had
also missed a win earlier, so on balance it
seemed fair enough.
So off to the Prince of Wales
after the match to celebrate the title. Will and
Heather bought the drinks, maybe as an
inducement for us to see off City 1 and help
Cowley 2 finish second. Or maybe they just
wanted to congratulate us on the title. On
balance, I err towards the second view.
- Mike.
06.3.13 - Witney 1 vs. Didcot 1
1 Marcus
Harvey (223) 1-0 Andreji
Olehnovics (-)
2 Paul
Girdlestone (189) 0-1 Nick Gough (178)
3 Tim Headlong
(186) 1-0 Bernard
Cooper (156)
4 Dave Hackett
(183) ½-½ Andy
Robins (155)
5 Mark Hannon
(182) 0-1
Martin Sheridan (146)
6 Pavel Asenov
(127) 1-0 Robert
Jacobs (139)
3½-2½
- played on 05 Mar.
Pressed into being captain
for the night, the burden was given extra
significance with the knowledge in the morning
that University 1 had defaulted against Cowley 2
which meant a win in the evening would secure
the title.
Mr T wanted me not to tell
the players before the match so I was the only
one in the venue who knew what was at stake. The
match started well as Pavel showed his true
potential with a quick fire win in less than 40
minutes – 1-0 Witney.
The Marcus mean machine
continued to show no sign of stopping as he put
away a good opponent to make it 2-0.
For the next hour the match
flowed along the lines of my game. I had got
myself into a good position only to start to
drift and lose my way. I lost a pawn (20 years
ago it would be a sacrifice!) but my comfort was
that my opponent was starting to get into time
trouble in a position which I had still had a
slight edge despite the loss of the pawn. I
glanced over to Tim's position and noticed he
was the extra pawn up. To my shock he offered
Bernard a draw which I found out later was in a
lost position. To his credit Bernard turned it
down and went for the win. A few minutes later
my opponent also offered me a draw to which I
probably played my best move of the match by
deciding to take 5 minutes to think about it as
I thought I needed to secure the win. It is easy
to take time when you are ahead on the clock! As
I was trying to work out the complications in my
position there was gasp from Bernard who had
just blundered and resigned immediately. Tim
apologised and not for the first time this
season Tim won when it seemed he was on the
brink of losing. My draw offer was still on the
table by which time I had convinced myself that
I was winning. Then I started hearing voices. Mr
T huffing, puffing and moaning that I had not
accepted the draw to secure the title. I
continued to look at the position but these
voices were getting louder and louder! Worried
about the effect it would have on our friendship
should I continue and lose I decided to accept
the draw to secure the title. Andy and I went
through the position after and we both agreed I
had good winning chances.
I went over to see what was
happening on board 5 and noticed that Mark had
less than 40 seconds left on his clock in a
promising position which needed accurate play.
Unfortunately for Mark the clock was not helping
and his promising position was starting to fade
into a tricky ending in which he was probably
worse. When he was down to 7 seconds and his
opponent still had 13 minutes he decided to
resign.
Paul on board 2 was the
exchange down but did have compensation in a
very delicate position. Both players had less
than 3 minutes and Nick showed good endgame
technique with a powerful rook against an
overworked bishop. Both players created passed
pawns but Nick’s rook was able to cut off Paul's
advance pawn when the bishop could not stop
Nick's h-pawn. Paul resigned with less than 2
minutes left. Paul later confessed that he had
turned down a draw which seemed to be the theme
of the evening.
Three draws offered but only
one was accepted but it turned out to be the
most important one! I think the captain would be
proud of me!
- Dave
13.2.13 - Witney 1 vs. Cowley 1
1 Wells, Peter
(225) 1-0
Starkie, Ray J (187)
2 Harvey,
Marcus (223) 1-0 Burt,
William (174)
3 Richmond,
Peter (197) 1-0 Nixon, Rod
(174)
4 Truran,
Michael (189) 1-0 Rasell,
Geoff C (151)
5 Headlong,
Timothy (186) 1-0 Robson, David W (143)
6 Hackett,
Dave G (183) 1-0 Keeling,
David (144)
6-0
- played on 11 Feb.
Our first league whitewash
for many a long year! And a generally bad
evening for Cowley CC, with Cowley 2 also losing
1½-4½ against City 1. Cowley 1 were missing
their top board, new recruit Endre Ambrus (who
has yet to drop a half point for them and has an
impressive FIDE 2324 rating - well, impressive
compared with mine), so all their players having
to move up a board seemed to have a big effect.
I would like to say that the result flattered us
(and it probably did), but on the other hand
from what I saw of the games we never stood
worse in any of them. Marcus and Dave both
pulled off sharp wins which I am hoping to see
published on the Witney website soon (gents, if
you could send me your fine efforts I would be
eternally in your debt).
Marcus's win can be replayed here.
Peter R had a complicated
tussle with Rod, but always looked to have seen
a bit deeper into the position and finished
plenty of material up after refuting Rod's
attack. I had nagging pressure throughout
against Geoff's Dutch Stonewall, but probably
missed a couple of better options which allowed
Geoff to cling on; just when he was in sight of
a draw, however, Geoff panicked needlessly,
sacrificing a piece to push a passed pawn which
got to the seventh rank but (unfortunately for
Geoff) no further. Ray played well against Peter
W, but missed a tactical point in the middle
game which left his king side bearing a
remarkable resemblance to Swiss cheese. Various
of Ray's pieces dropped off, and Ray resigned
like the gentleman he is on the basis that
Peter's minute and a half or so left on the
clock was going to be ample time to polish him
off. Tim was the last to finish, grinding David
down in a rook and pawn ending with an excellent
display of how to make bricks without straw.
With a game point advantage
which now stands at +17 over University 1 in
second place, I am going to be mightily annoyed
if they somehow scramble level with us on match
points and sneak the title on head-to-head
results. But I warbled on about that for quite
enough time (and probably bored most of you
rigid) in my previous report. And if that did
happen, to be fair we would only have ourselves
to blame.
So onwards and (hopefully)
upwards, with City 1 in the Frank Wood Shield
semi-final our next target. A Witney 1 v Witney
2 final is still on the cards!
- Mike.
05.2.13 -
Banbury 1 vs. Witney 1
1 Portman,
Carl (175) 0-1 Harvey,
Marcus (223)
2 Vikanis,
Georgs (175) ½-½ Richmond, Peter
(197)
3 Jackson,
Gary C (171) ½-½ Truran, Michael
(189)
4 Staples,
Neil (167) 0-1 Headlong,
Timothy (186)
5 Manley,
Nathan J (162) 0-1 Hackett, Dave G (183)
6 Martin, Nick
(135) 0-1 Bourne,
Johnathan (169)
1-5
- played on 05 Feb.
Shivering in a deserted car
park on a cold, rainy and windy February evening
in the middle of Banbury wondering whether it's
free parking or not and where the hell Banbury
CC's new venue is - welcome to God's own
country. Arriving at the venue two minutes
before kick-off after numerous wrong turns in
Banbury's notorious traffic system, we
anticipated a tough match against a solid team
of 160+ players all the way down, and so it
proved - although to be fair we never looked
worse in any of the games. After the downbeat
start to the evening, Marcus introduced a
much-needed note of levity to proceedings by
opening 1. g4, inducing mirth and incredulity
among the assembled populace in equal measure.
But as Marcus himself said, there are no bad
White openings (not strictly true Marcus - I
challenge even you to play 1. f3 and get a
decent position).
Dave was first to finish,
carrying out a sprightly kings side attack
which
you can play through here. His admission
afterwards that he hadn't seen the mate until he
got there in no way took the gloss off a fine
win. Peter R's manful attempts to complicate
matters just failed to break down Georg's stout
defence, but in the other games the Witney
players all enjoyed pleasant edges, with
everyone but yours truly converting in due
course - and I was a bit unlucky after nursing a
positional edge most of the way through until
Gary found a clever way to unravel. Even then I
missed a few better continuations that might
have brought home the full point. Hey ho. Moral
of story - don't run short of time after
thinking unnecessarily about obvious moves
earlier on.
Then back out into a cold,
rainy and windy February evening for the cold,
rainy and windy drive home. And we had even
missed last orders. Local league chess just
doesn't get any better than this.
- Mike.
03.2.13 -
Witney 1 vs. OxUni1
1
Wells, Peter (234) 0-1
Schmidt, Jan (-)
2 Harvey,
Marcus (213) ½-½ Chiu, Howard (-)
3 Richmond,
Peter (200) 1-0 Pranjal (-)
4 Truran,
Michael (189) 1-0 Yu, Jeffrey (172)
5 Hackett,
Dave G (189) 1-0 Lawrence, David (167)
6 (-)
1-0 _default (-)
4½-1½
- played on 28 Jan.
Clash of the Titans! However,
for what was potentially the title decider
University 1 handicapped themselves from the off
by defaulting a board. I commented in an earlier
email to the Witney 1 players that the
University 1 team tends, like fine wines, not to
travel well. Unlike fine wines, however, on this
occasion they also found themselves a bottle
short of a half-case. OK, enough of the vinous
allusions and on to the play. Tim kindly stepped
down, chauffering duties from Swindon and a hard
day at work all proving too much, so it was left
to him to perform the nail-chewing kibbitzer
duties so ably discharged by me in our previous
match. All of the games were gritty and hard
fought, and most went down to the wire. Marcus
finished first, playing so fast that Howard,
although better for much of the game, ran
himself too short of time to take advantage.
Peter R finished next.
Conversation in the pub
afterwards: Mike to Peter: "So your inspired
Petrosian-like sacrifice of the exchange was
actually a one-move blunder?" Pete to Mike:
"Absolutely." Be that as it may, the
sacrifice/blunder gave him so much play that on
balance his opponent may have regretted
accepting it, and after he gave back the
exchange to gain some space (intentionally) and
then jettisoned a pawn (unintentionally), Peter
wrapped up efficiently, his queen sacrifice to
force home a passed pawn earning much admiration
from the assembled throng. Both Dave's and my
games went down to the last three minutes. Dave
coped efficiently with a line in the Kings
Indian Defence which he had clearly never seen
before, so well done Dave for over the board
improvisation. Dave's growing initiative was
matched only by his opponent's wish to throw as
much material at him as he could, and although
Dave maybe missed more efficient ways to wrap
up, in the end an extra piece proved more than
enough. I had a plus from an early stage against
Jeffrey in an Exchange Queens Gambit Declined, a
variation I have played for around eight decades
and so feel vaguely at home with. With the match
score significantly in our favour and Dave on
the point of winning I (rather astutely, though
I say it myself) offered Jeffrey a draw. To his
credit, Jeffrey turned down the grading points
on offer in favour of playing on for the team,
but in a somewhat worse position his efforts to
complicate matters merely rebounded on him.
Peter W's was the last game to finish, with
Peter losing on time when a piece and assorted
pawns up and with opponent having around five
seconds on his clock himself - but by that stage
the match result was done and dusted.
I just want to comment on the
result of Peter's game in a little more detail.
Quite apart from the sympathy one feels for
Peter at what was essentially a random outcome
to a game played in a pretty logical and
sensible way by both players, the following
points are maybe pertinent:
-
It's not just Peter's
game that was spoilt by the OCA's perverse
refusal to adopt incremental time controls
for those clubs with digital clocks.
Countless games have been ruined by one
player simply running out of time before
reaping the due rewards of previous good
play. Incremental time controls would go a
long way to solving the problem, with still
enough time to get down to the pub for all
but a handful of games.
-
The OCA's current
tie-break method for teams tied on match
points is head-to-head results - so given
that Peter did not draw, or indeed win as
his play deserved, should University 1
finish tied on match points with us they
will win the title, having won 5:1 in their
home match against us. It seems bizarre to
me that the outcome of the league title can
be decided by a five second episode in a
single game rather than by overall
consistent performance over the course of a
season (and we currently have a nine point
game points advantage over University 1).
Anyway, not that I'm
ranting...... Witney 1 will endeavour to ensure
that it doesn't come to that by winning all its
remaining matches and staying two match points
ahead of University 1!
- Mike.
13.12.12 -
Witney 1 vs. Cowley 2
1 Harvey,
Marcus (213) 1-0
O'Reilly, Gerard (201)
2 Girdlestone,
Paul (194) ½-½ Nandi, Robin J (166)
3 Richmond,
Peter (200) ½-½ Burrows, Nick
( )
4 Hackett,
Dave G (189) 1-0 Shiner, David
( )
5 Truran,
Michael (189) 1-0 Keeling,
David (141)
6 Gentry, Alan
(161) 1-0
Robson, David W (141)
5-1
- played on 03 Dec.
In the end a comprehensive
enough win, but as so often the ravages of the
Oxfordshire Leagues' unforgiving time control
had a part to play. The sooner incremental time
controls are introduced the better! I won
quickly after my opponent blundered a piece when
a knight sac instead would have left him some
chances, as did Dave when Black allowed a knight
irruption (a word I've been wanting to use in
one of my reports for some time now) on e6.
Peter wasn't feeling well and
took a relatively quick draw, leaving us two
ahead with well over an hour of the match still
to go. Although Marcus won smoothly, converting
a persistent edge into a rook ending in which a
monster passed pawn on b3 condemned Gerard to
complete passivity, the final two boards to
finish were both affected by the clock. Robin,
with a clearly won position against Paul but
with only 30 seconds or so left, felt obliged to
offer a draw, while Dave Robson after
sacrificing a piece (to be fair somewhat
involuntarily) for a big attack lost his way in
time trouble and lost on time after missing a
nice tactic by Alan. Post mortem analysis showed
a win for White even against best play, so Alan
was able to go home with his positional
judgement vindicated. Happily neither game
affected the match result, but to my mind it's
not a good way to finish a game after three
hours' hard work.
So that's it until the New
Year. Witney 1 will finish 2012 perched
(somewhat precariously it has to be said) at the
top of the table, but at least our fate remains
in our own hands.
- Mike.
22.11.12 -
Didcot 1 vs. Witney 1
1 Gough,
Nicholas L (183) 0-1 Harvey, Marcus
(213)
2 Olehnovics,
Andrejs (-) ½-½ Richmond, Peter
(200)
3 Cooper,
Bernard D (155) ½-½ Hackett, Dave G
(189)
4 Sheridan,
Martin (143) 0-1 Headlong,
Timothy (187)
5 Jacobs,
Robert B (129) 0-1 Bourne,
Johnathan (-)
6 Reynolds,
Gary (127) 0-1
Gentry, Alan (161)
1-5
- played on 21 Nov.
An excellent result against
Didcot 1 on Wednesday evening. As I wasn't
present (Alan ably taking over as captain in my
absence), I can't report on proceedings in any
detail other than to say that: (a) Dave was
obviously in the slough of despond following
Chelsea's capitulation the previous evening; (b)
congratulations to Johnathan on his first game
(and win) for Witney 1; and (c) my absence
clearly has a positive effect on the team's
performance - perhaps I should do it more often.
- Mike.
08.11.12 -
Witney 1 vs. Banbury 1
1 Richmond,
Peter (200) 1-0 Vikanis,
Georgs (184)
2 Hackett,
Dave G (189) 1-0
Jackson, Gary C (171)
3 Truran,
Michael (189) 1-0
Portman, Carl (168)
4 Headlong,
Timothy (187) ½-½ Manley, Nathan J
(156)
5 Gentry, Alan
(161) 0-1
Trewhela, Paul ( )
6 Searle,
Howard AJ (151) 1-0 Poderico,
Francesco (137)
4½-1½
- played on 05 Nov.
So a return to winning ways
after a couple of serious wobbles over the last
couple of matches, but the result was much
closer than the score suggests. After an hour or
so Peter had a big edge, but Alan had got
himself into a terrible tangle and looked
completely lost, none of Dave, Tim and Howard
with the white pieces had any demonstrable
advantage, and my position was complex and
unclear. Thereafter things took a decided turn
for the better; Peter converted his advantage
smoothly into a winning endgame, and although
Tim's game rapidly petered out to a draw
Francesco stumbled into a very nasty pin which
cost him a piece, Howard mopping up
convincingly. So two up with three to play, with
Alan fighting back against Paul's uncertain play
and Dave having all the pressure against Gary.
Even though Alan blundered
just when he looked on the verge of a great
recovery, my strongly centralised major pieces
against Carl persuaded Gary to decline Dave's
draw offer - an unfortunate decision as he
subsequently overpressed. So two up and the
match was won. Carl battled manfully to generate
a kings side demonstration in the face of my own
dangerous attack, but both the position and the
clock was against him and (despite a valiant
effort on my part to drop a rook) once all the
major pieces came off a simple pawn ending
resulted.
So our season now takes a
two-week break, interrupted by next Monday's
simultaneous display by GM Peter Wells. If you
would like to come along, please let me know as
soon as possible.
- Mike.
03.11.12 -
Oxford Uni 1 vs. Witney 1
1 Panjwani,
Raja (-) 1-0 Harvey,
Marcus (213)
2 Schmidt, Jan
(-) 1-0
Richmond, Peter (200)
3 Smith, Chris
(183) ½-½ Hackett, Dave
G (189)
4 Chiu, Howard
(-) 1-0
Truran, Michael (189)
5 Panayotov,
Ivo (157) 1-0 Hannon, Mark (184)
6 Lawrence,
David (-) ½-½ Edwards, Derek F
(141)
5-1
- played on 01 Nov.
Humph. I could dwell on Witney 1's worst
defeat that I can remember, but going to bed
instead sounds like a much better idea - MT.
24.10.12 -
Cowley 1 vs. Witney 1
1 Ambrus,
Endre (-)
1-0 Harvey, Marcus (213)
2 Starkie, Ray
J (185) 0-1
Richmond, Peter (200)
3 Burt,
William (176) 1-0
Hackett, Dave G (189)
4 Nixon, Rod
(165)
½-½ Truran, Michael (189)
5
Paxton-Doggett, P. (162) ½-½ Headlong,
Timothy (187)
6 Rasell,
Geoff C (161) 0-1
Hannon, Mark (184)
3-3
- played on 22 Oct.
Oops. And just when it was
going so well. Our long run of match wins
stretching back more than a season came to a
shuddering halt at the hands of a Cowley 1 team
that took its chances, handled the clock better
and was not particularly favoured by luck. The
first two hours and fifty five minutes of the
match saw us stagger into a 2½-½ lead; Peter R
collected substantial amounts of booty when
Ray's pieces got into a tangle on the king's
side, but Mark was lucky both to survive some
hairy moments in the middlegame and to be on the
receiving end of the worst endgame decision
Geoff will make in many years in swapping rooks
off into a lost pawn endgame, while Tim ran
himself too short of time to exploit a couple of
pawns' advantage in a queen endgame.
Buoyed by Marcus' covert
thumbs up regarding his own prospects and
getting slightly nervous regarding my own with
only five or so minutes left on the clock, I
wimped out and took the draw against Rod when I
could have played on with some technical
problems to solve but with a solid extra pawn.
Bad mistake. Marcus, unusually for him, left
himself too short of time to solve the problems
of a knight v bishop ending in which Cowley's
new star recruit Endre Ambrus (current FIDE
rating 2324, best ever FIDE rating 2407)
squeezed out a nice win from a nagging edge,
while Dave, having earlier rather ambitiously
traded a rook and a pawn for two minor pieces,
saw any initiative he might have had evaporate.
With thirty or so seconds left on his clock Dave
turned down the chance to force Will to
checkmate him with B+N+K v K, and even when he
resigned Marcus felt that he had decent drawing
chances. But in truth with so little time left
on his clock he was never going to make it home
in one piece.
So we really only have ourselves to blame
against a team we out-rated heavily on five of
the six boards; in particular our clock
management in four of the games left something
to be desired. That said, it's still early days
in the season, and our destiny is still very
much in our own hands.
- Mike.
16.10.12 -
Witney 1 vs. City 1
1 Wells, Peter (234)
½-½ Manley, Jon P (192)
2 Harvey, Marcus
(213) 1-0 McKenna, Jason
(187)
3 Richmond, Peter
(200) ½-½ Hayward, Philip
(180)
4 Hackett, Dave G
(189) 1-0 Terry, Sean (170)
5 Truran, Michael
(189) 1-0 Dixon, Leif (162)
6 Headlong, Timothy
(187) 1-0 King, Simon E (149)
5-1
- played on 15 Oct.
So the season is underway with a solid result
against a strong City 1 team missing only their
top board Matt Rose and fielding new recruit
Leif Dixon from Cambridge. We didn't look in
much trouble on any of the boards, finally
running out 5-1 winners.
Peter W on top board seemed to have a slight
advantage at various stages of his game, but Jon
'found the right moves at the critical moments'
according to Peter and the game resolved into a
drawn rook ending. The board 2 encounter saw
Marcus Harvey's first run-out for Witney 1 -
welcome Marcus!
In a heavyweight King's Indian-type position
Marcus found a clever way to trade two knights
for a rook and a monster d pawn, and Jason's
time trouble and tangled pieces on the king's
side did the rest. On board 3 Peter R and Philip
played out a complex middle game, trading
heavyweight punches to no great effect, and a
draw always seemed the logical outcome. Dave on
board 4 justified his new grading by duffing up
Sean in a closed Sicilian game in which Sean,
after opening up the centre prematurely,
perished rapidly from a nasty attack of multiple
pins. Leif on board 5 found an interesting way
of losing a pawn on move 6 which I hadn't seen
before (and so was quite pleased to have found
over the board); in time-honoured tradition I
returned it for a big positional advantage and
another monster d pawn which cut White's
position in half. When said pawn got to d2,
forking rook and bishop, Leif decided he had
seen enough. Tim on board 6 won smoothly;
Simon's king's side attack in a King's Indian
defence never got going and Tim swept through on
the queen's side.
A good start to our campaign to retain the
Division 1 title, but of course there will be
many more tough battles to come!
Here
are
the games from this match - with
thanks to Sean Terry, Oxford City.
- Mike.
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