Our club championship took place over two evenings this month. Six 20m+5s games with two trophies up for grabs; the main cup for the overall winner and the ‘patzer’ trophy for the best under 1700 graded player. 18 players turned out over the two evenings and much thanks to Phil for organising us and Peter …
Match Report: MKO Grendel vs Horfield (3 May): It ends with a whimper not a bang
We expected to be outgraded at the top of the board order and have the advantage lower down; the hope was we’d win enough in the bottom half to take the match. This was not how it turned out. First to finish, after only 40 minutes or so, was board 3. Aimee lost a pawn …
Continue reading "Match Report: MKO Grendel vs Horfield (3 May): It ends with a whimper not a bang"
Match Report: Horfield vs Downend (26 April): Not going to Wembley this year
Ah, the Big Cup. Downend, as they always are, were very strong all the way down the boards, but the absence of Stephen give us some hope. The team sheets suggested we’d need to score our points in the top half of the draw and hope to get something from boards 5-8. First to finish …
Continue reading "Match Report: Horfield vs Downend (26 April): Not going to Wembley this year"
Match Reports: MKO games (19 April): One out of two ain’t bad
Two cup matches. Not enough players to win both of them; the joy of arranging fixtures during the Easter break! We only had four against the five of Thornbury but came really close to scoring a remarkable win. Mike J won early against Mike M on board 5. He worked a good positional advantage and …
Continue reading "Match Reports: MKO games (19 April): One out of two ain’t bad"
Match Reports: B, C, D teams (12 April): All white on the night
A splendid final round for the three Horfield teams. Firstly the D team were at Clifton. With Kana unwell we only took three players, but it was enough to secure a draw. Hendrik won very rapidly on board 1; he was already in a strong position when Joel overlooked a one move mate with his …
Continue reading "Match Reports: B, C, D teams (12 April): All white on the night"
Match Report: Bath A vs Horfield A (6 April): A win to finish the season.
Wet in Bath last night (I know, I know). Board 2 finished early. Derek, after the delight of dentistry in the afternoon, got the wrong side of Steve’s very sharp pet line. The pressure of the position and white playing his first 19 moves instantly told and a blunder on move 20 made the position untenable, although …
Continue reading "Match Report: Bath A vs Horfield A (6 April): A win to finish the season."
Match Report: Horfield B vs Horfield C (29 March): Magnificent seven
The derby, a seven-board extravaganza of chess brilliance. On board 1 Rob managed to get a comfortable positional advantage out of the opening against Mike (L) and then won a pawn, he looked very much in control. On board 2 I was playing as a late sub against Mikey and we played the first 12 …
Continue reading "Match Report: Horfield B vs Horfield C (29 March): Magnificent seven"
Match Report: Horfield A vs Grendel A (22 March): Biggest win since….
We expected to out-grade Grendel and we did. To make it harder on themselves they were without Alistair and anyone on boards 5 or 6. Clearly they like a challenge. First to finish was Derek and Mark on board 2. Derek had much the better of the game with the white pieces and comfortably worked …
Continue reading "Match Report: Horfield A vs Grendel A (22 March): Biggest win since…."
Match reports: B and C teams (16 and 17 March): Oops
Hmm. Two matches we expected to be tough turned out to be tough. Firstly on Wednesday we managed to muster three players against a Cabot A side who was going to be higher graded than us. This turned out to be a mistake. Shalome, playing his first league match for us, finished first against the …
Continue reading "Match reports: B and C teams (16 and 17 March): Oops"