Grendel had already notified us that they were going to be a player short a few days before the match so we started a game up.
Prakash’s queen side opened up quickly before any of his King side pieces had developed, which initially caused him a few problems. He managed to even up after various exchanges and was left with just rooks against rooks and a draw was agreed. Nigel’s game was all about a fight over a central black pawn that black managed to secure and in a very even position a draw was agreed.
John’s game looked level but then somehow he drifted imperceptibly into a hopeless position. Jon’s game was also evenly balanced before the queens came off and a queen side pawn managed to open up a path for jon’s rooks to double up and break through. His opponent dropped a pawn to one of the rooks and quickly resigned.
It was then left to Brent to win the match and half a point was all that was required. He had a pair of rooks against a rook and bishop but with less than 5 minutes on the clock each it was always going to be a tricky ending. Brent dropped a pawn and then decided to offer the draw rather than risk the rook sacrifice that could have won or lost him the game. The draw was accepted and the match was ours. 3.5-2.5.
A good way to end the season and secure 4th place in the division.
Horfield C vs. Grendal
(1) John Richards 0 – 1 Alistair Gilbert
(2) Jon Fisher 1 – 0 Richard Johnson
(3) Brent Perrin 0.5 – 0.5 Roger Hardy
(4) Nigel Pollett 0.5 – 0.5 Patrick Flexman
(5) Prakash Chatterjee 0.5 – 0.5 Ken Moore
(6) Graham Strickland 1 – 0 DEFAULT
HORFIELD C 4 – 2 GRENDAL
NB: Horfield C were black on boards 1, 3 and 5.
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 