Match Report: MKO vs Cabot (28 September)

The second of our MKO games this week. We took four players with us, which many would say is a high-risk strategy. I knew about one default before the match and had let Alastair know, the second not. As it happened one of Cabot’s players failed to show making the deficit slightly more manageable.

Pleasingly the boards finished in reverse order so like a chart count-down this is what happened:

On board four I comfortably won through against Mike. We were done by 8.30. Mike had allowed me control of the c file and I was able to pin a knight in front of his queen and win the piece and a pawn. From that point it was straightforward and the match was level. On board three Nigel had developed a reasonable centre and space advantage but Oleksii was accurate in his defence and a clogged board resulted in a draw. Match still level. Moving up the boards the game on two was a lovely thing. Rob had given up a pawn early for activity and then Alastair had castled long to create an unbalanced position with chances probably quite equal. White pinned black’s knight in front of the queen and then attacked it with a pawn however a tactical sequence including a check to gain a tempo allowed black to give up his queen for rook and two pieces. Now with Alastair’s king exposed on h1 Rob was able to use his extra minor pieces to win through. 3-2 to Horfield but a win on board one for Cabot would win the match on board count. In the final match playing Mike had won a piece for pawn early in the game but his king was denuded of cover and John had potential opportunities. However white was careful in defence around his monarch and exchanged a pair of rooks to relieve some of the threat and black was left with, at best, a series of checks which would secure the draw but couldn’t force the win. Whether Mike could have won was academic as not losing was his focus and a draw was agreed and the match decided.

So two MKO matches, two wins, no games lost. That is a satisfying week for Horfield.