Match Reports: Horfield B vs North Bristol A (Tuesday) and North Bristol C vs Horfield C (Thursday)

A week of two matches against North Bristol. We had very much half-term availability this week meaning the players we had available for the B and C teams were our only choices resulting in a much stronger team on Thursday than on Tuesday. Considering the Tuesday fixture was against North Bristol’s A team and the Thursday match against their C team it felt we were a little back to front. However it turned out pretty well for us.

The first result of the Tuesday night was Patrick beating Kana on board 3; Kana was material down early and the game went the way it was always going to go. Board 2 finished next where Alex (K) won the exchange then secured his white bishop into the gaping holes in Alex (D)’s stonewall-ish pawn structure and black comfortably won the ‘Battle of the Alexes’. On board one Miguel and I played an even opening and middle game but Miguel over-pressed in the rook and pawn ending possibly thinking his position was better than it was which allowed me to capitalise on my queenside pawn majority and secure the point. Finally on board 4 Remi, making his debut for us, secured a hard-fought win against Rob. Remi secured a central passed pawn but his queenside was dangerously under-developed. However the passed pawn (shunted up to the 7^th) required Rob’s attention and allowed Remi to develop his pieces and in a knight and pawn ending he had a bit too much and won out nicely. An encouraging debut and it allowed us to share the points. We did well to win the close games and get something from the match.

The Thursday night game was the first 100% result I can remember from any of our teams since I joined the club. We had the stronger players and made it count. Nigel was miles ahead after the opening but David battled gamely and it took Nigel 56 moves to finally checkmate his opponent. James had much the better of his game against Pete and his proactive chess continued to force white to find good defensive solutions until Pete cracked and resigned with the certain loss of a rook two moves away. On boards three and four the games were quite balanced but Piotr and Mike did enough to win through and secure a clean sweep. Well done us.