Horfield B 2 – Bath A 4
(1) Paul Helbig (183) ½-½ David Buckley (210)
(2) Mike Harris (185) 0-1 Roy Phillips (204)
(3) Peter Kirby (181) 1-0 Adam Musson (183)
(4) John Richards (167) ½-½ Andrew Gregory (160)
(5) Roger Pearce (138) 0-1 Horia Bogdan (178)
(6) Jon Fisher (154) 0-1 Christian Brown (144)
Horfield B were black on odd boards
I hate to say it, but yet again we were unlucky.
Peter had the result of the night with a quick win after driving the white king to an exposed position.
Musson v Kirby. Black to play (answer at the end)
I took an early draw, mainly because I was defending and couldn’t see if I could do much unless my opponent over-pressed. (Also, it was a bonus for me that I got to see the second half of Spurs beating Man City).
Jon was the unluckiest of the night. He did everything right and was a bishop up, but he has a bad back injury and on strong painkillers which will have taken its toll. I know from experience it can be like playing in a fog. He fell for a tactic, which David Buckley remarked later is one of those that is so easy to miss. I didn’t see Roger’s game, which finished whilst I was in the pub (sorry Roger).
Paul ended up in a rook and 2 versus rook and 3 ending on top board. Fortunately, one of the drawable kind.
Which leaves Mike, who had a good position against Roy Phillips but came unstuck in mutual time pressure.
Luckily, only pride was at stake. We finish 8th, but we would still have been 8th if we won.
Review of the season
Perhaps we had more than our fair share of luck last season. This season, the luck was evening out as there were a few matches we could have won but things just didn’t go our way,
It’s been a difficult season all round. We lost Chris Jones early on and for a time we were effectively running on a four man squad. Fortunately, we acquired Paul Helbig and Dominic Tunks, but we still clocked up 24 playing-ups (excluding Paul and Dom) and 1 default, and used 18 players in total. I had the full team out on just two occasions.
Compare that with last season, when we had 15 play-ups and used 11 players in total.
Last season we won 9 and drew 2 and finished fourth. This season we managed to win just 6, Downend A and Horfield A being the most notable scalps. Our other 4 wins were over the two teams below us: University A and our own C team. Special thanks go to super subs Patryk Krzyzanowski and Prakash Chatterjee, who scored 63% and 67% respectively.
John Richards
Answer: 1 …. Nxd5. If 2,Nxd5 or cxd5, then 2…. Qg5+. Best is 2.Ke2, but then Black has 2…Qg5 setting up numerous threats (Qe3+, Nf4+, Qxg2+).
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 