Club Venue: Ducklington Village Hall, OX29 7UX

Witney 3, 2011/12

26 Apr 2012

Last week saw Witney 3 play their last match of the season with all pressure off due to finally escaping relegation.

And so, with a carefree attitude we took on the runaway divisional leaders.

It was all fairly close with most of the exchanges being even with a couple of matches playing fairly quickly.

Bob was an early finisher although I didn’t see much of it and Ian and I weren’t too far behind.

Ian had a good win and for the second match in a row I managed to squeeze a draw from a lost position.

I didn’t see Alan crumble to a loss or Richard losing his but we were left tied with one match left.

Ben, in a tight position, worked a flank open and positioned his rook and queen on it before sending both pieces towards his opponents king.

With his opponents king running around his queen was attacked but found Rc1 which killed the game off and a victory in our last match.

If only we’d played like that earlier in the season!

- Roger

p.s. Attached are my last two games where my opponents demonstrated 1. How not to win when 6 pawns to 2 up in the ending and 2. How not to win when you go a Queen for Rook exchange up :-)

03 Apr 2012

Witney 3 went into tonight’s match requiring at least a draw to avoid relegation.

The night started well Richard aggressively attacking his opponent until he could take no more ... 1-0. All the other boards were about even except Alan had gone the exchange up.

Next to finish was Mark who had managed to work his opponent into a dangerous mating position and despite throwing pieces in the way he eventually caved in ... 2-0.

Up on top board, playing for the first time for a while, Ben had stifled his position and agreed a draw ... 2½-½ only a draw to go as I dropped the first of many pawns.

Bob had managed to get an odd exchange of queen for a piece and rook but slowly lost his extra piece and it was only a matter of time before he was beaten ... 2½-1½

Alan, after a promising start, found himself loosing pawns and then the game all too swiftly ... 2½-2½

So it was down to me, with king, rook and 2 pawns against king, rook and 6 pawns ... not looking good!

My opponent first threw away one pawn defending the back rank mate and then started looking at his clock ... less than 10 minutes ... I had 55!

First he offered a pawn exchange which quickly looked to lose a pawn after check, he defended with his rook losing another pawn. He skewered my king and remaining pawn but I soon took another of his pawns followed by a quick exchange. We were now down to King and Rook against King, Rook and one pawn. I offered the draw which was accepted due to lack of time ... 3-3.

So another match of dubious play but we secured the point needed and we avoided relegation.

Hopefully we’ll play a lot better next year!

- Roger

21 Mar 2012

It’s been a while since my last report and there hasn’t been much to report other than Witney 3 lost again! Our run of form has put us into a do or die situation but everything is still in our own hands, we can avoid relegation.

Last night saw us take on our rivals for relegation and a win was the minimum requirement and it proved that we like to give Mike Truran kittens whenever he watches.

The night started off well enough with most of the matches being fairly even, although I was determined to give my opponent a positional edge!

With just about 2 hours played, did I really manage that long? My opponent decided give me a piece which I duly accepted and then proceeded to gain his final minor piece for a pawn and he resigned shortly after.

Within moments Bob had agreed a draw, a game I saw very little but the outcome did appear to be fair. 1½ – ½ and we’re off to a good start.

Alan had slowly contrived to get into a poor position and the exchange down when his opponent decided to give the game away as Alan swindled himself another win, see below! 2½-½ it’s been a while since we last had this position with 6 opponents.

The three remaining games all went to the wire.

Matt slowly manoeuvred himself into a tight corner leaving his opponent with most of the moves and with time nearly up resigned. 2½-1½

Ian, had worked his position nicely and was material up and was the main cause for Mike’s attempt at kittens as the clocks slowly drifted to zero. Ian had about 8 minutes to his opponents 1 min 30 sec, he decided not to go for the two move mate but bring his king into being attacked. Then a few moves later he decided to double defend instead of going for the now mate in 4! Each and every move TN’d Mike and he lost all hope of predicting Ian’s moves :-). It wasn’t long before Ian’s opponents clock fell and his dogged defence won through. 3½-1½.

Match won but we needed at least 4 points to keep our destiny firmly in our hands.

Richard played his usual game of expansive decisiveness and was fast running out of options and pieces. Fortunately his opponent was running out of time. With less than 30 seconds left on his opponents clock they queened a pawn and went looking for mate. This may have been achieved with 2 or more minutes on the clock as Richard had enough material to keep hiding and eventually his opponents clock fell, Richard had used his clock much better as he finished with 7 seconds on his clock! 4½-1½.

One lesson to be learnt from Richards opponent at the end. If he had taken Richards two remaining pawns, easily achieved in the position, Richard would have been left with insufficient material to mate. When the clock fell, Richard would not have been able to claim the win and it would have been drawn! Lucky for Richard that he went for the mate :-)

Next up is Cowley Workers after Bicester 2 have played their last game and we will know exactly what is required.

- Roger

17 Nov 2011

Witney 3’s second away match ended with their second away loss but not out played.

The night started with an early finish for Helen who, after losing a piece early on, was finished off efficiently by her opponent (0-1).

My opponent succumbed to a diversionary move from my queen losing a central pawn and then proceeded into a 5 move combo resulting in me going the exchange up. I soon had half his pawns before he started to counter attack but whilst giving up a piece in an attempt to get a perpetual, resigned when I completed the blocking of his checks (see below) (1-1)

Matt soon followed after having taken a pawn in the centre of the board found his position collapse and his opponent took full advantage (1-2).

Tim had an almost blocking pawn pattern but with a vital spare pawn on one side. This made all the difference when his opponent couldn’t defend both edges of the board and resigned as Tim was two moves from promoting a pawn (2-2).

With the match finely balanced Bob had got into a pawn a rook ending with an extra pawn. Unfortunately he couldn’t convert this advantage as his opponent confidently marched his pawn to promotion and there was no way back (2-3).

Jon, outgraded by 40 points on board 3, put up a decent battle before eventually going down. After both players had castled queenside, he looked to have a powerful three-pronged attack with queen, rook and knight. But he was unable to force a breakthrough (and was left wondering all night whether a knight sacrifice might just have done the trick). Queens were exchanged and that led to an exciting end game in which both players had strong back rank attacks with doubled-up rooks and in each case a solitary pawn defending an exposed king. However, the Banbury player defended a tricky position very well to prevail as Jon ran out of time in a by-then lost position (2-4).

Again we lost but with a bit more luck could have drawn or even won the match.

- Roger

14 Nov 2011

In the first away fixture of the season Witney 3 suffered their first loss after a promising start.

My match finished very early. I had a below par position when my opponent tried to squeeze the little room I already had. Fortunately for me it left him suitably exposed and with poor decision making I soon had taken his two central pawns and was bearing down on his Rook through his knight. He resigned whilst I was plotting my next incisive move and we were only at move 16! (1-0)

As I checked the other games it became clear that we were on for an iffy night, Matt was in a tight battle, Mark was equal, Ian had a slightly better position, Jon was looking worse and Bob had an exchange up but for a very poor position.

Mark and Jon were first to finish, with Jon’s position slowly worsening his opponent got his queen in where it hurts and it was all over. Mark had transferred his game into who could get the back rank mate first and with a subtle combo lost it to his opponent. (1-2)

Bob had somehow managed to extract himself from a very poor position to a 2 rook vs rook and bishop with two passed pawns ending and he was getting the better of his opponent. With his opponent less than 15 minutes to go and Bob with over an hour maybe a slower approach to the end could have been better as Bob soon undone his good work losing the exchange and a pawn was promoted. 1-3. Matt had managed to grind out his position and was nicely positioned when his opponent decided enough was enough. (2-3)

Ian was left with the match well positioned but alas he was not. He was down to rook and knight against a queen and a broken zigzag pawn line of defence. There was one pawn short of being able to stop the queen or the force of pawns with the king and he soon lost most of his pawns before the end was made. (2-4)

Although we were out graded on the top 5 boards we gave a good account and with a bit of luck may have got a draw.

- Roger

21 Oct 2011

Witney 3 started their campaign snatching a victory from what looked like defeat at the hands of Oxford University 2.

After swiftly going a pawn up in the opening I soon managed to get my knight in a tangle and lost my bishop trying to recover. Reeling from side to side over the next few moves I was dealt a swift KO from my opponent. Not a good start following an undefeated year! (0-1).

Matt was soon to follow after his opponent played a known but unpractised opening for Matt and found himself ground out to a loss (0-2).

Mark tied himself up with a tricky ending of Pawns and minor pieces and quickly agreed a draw (½-2½).

At this stage Alan was in a tight position, Ian despite being a piece and a pawn up in the opening , had lost his advantage and was doing his best to let his opponent’s queen and rook get behind him and Jon was looking like he was going nowhere and getting ½ from the three games was looking our best result.

Alan carried on and as his clock ticked down, his opponent a good 30 minutes ahead, he managed to wrangle free and a couple of iffy moves from his opponent and checkmate was achieved (1½-2½).

Meanwhile, Ian had wriggled free, swapped the queens off and was pawns up with a rook each. Taking the first opportunity to remove the rooks Ian formally proceeded to force a pawn past his opponents king and with under a minute left on his clock his opponent threw the towel in (2½-2½).

Jon had also cleared the debris from the board and was several pawns to the good and being very careful not to stalemate his opponent, finished him off efficiently (3½-2½).

An incredible comeback from an almost lost position and Witney 3 continues from where we left off in Division 4.

- Roger

© SC

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