The D team played on Monday away to Clevedon. A very satisfactory result and the team now has three wins out of three. Board one was first to finish. Ben had traded down to a winning endgame a pawn up however Alex was able to exploit the black king being stuck on the back rank and forked king and rook after sacrificing his rook for knight; a full piece up and the full point secured. Joaquim on board four, lucky to have still have his queen after Mavin missed a chance to trap it as early as move nine, won through comfortably enough. Graham then won on board three against David to secure the match; he set up a nice checkmate after winning a rook with a knight fork. Three-nil up and the match won. Finally Harry was the exchange down in an end game with three pawns each. It was possible he could have carried on to try and get a draw but at 3-0 up an early night seemed to suit everyone.
| 1 | Ben McGurrell (1659) | 0 | Alex Dunn (1540) | 1 |
| 2 | Mike Dean (1395) | 1 | Harry Duckworth (1435) | 0 |
| 3 | David Wilson (1322) | 0 | Graham Strickland (1443) | 1 |
| 4 | Mavin Kashyap (1240) | 0 | Joaquim Luque (1779) | 1 |
| Clevedon C | 1 | Horfield D | 3 |
The B team were at home against a Thornbury team two short of a full compliment. So 2-0 up before a piece had been moved. The score soon ticked over to 3-1 as early draws on boards three and six were agreed. On board two John dropped his a pawn in the early middle game against Mike. However he had compensation and with black not being in a position to accept a draw with the score being what it was the game continued. On move 44 white won the pawn back and a draw was proffered. Mike, short of time and with no advantage accepted and the match was won.
So just the one game left on Board five where James and Hayden were playing as wild a game as you’d want to see. In, what I am told, is a known position black exchanged a piece for three pawns and with white’s king on g1 and rook on h1 it looked advantage to black. However what followed wasn’t necessarily a known continuation as white was able to promote his h pawn netting a rook in the process. Into the ending white had two rooks and bishop vs a knight and bishop but the straw for black to clutch at was his mass of central pawns. It looked lost but as James got his space invader pawns rolling Hayden struggled to contain them; firstly he missed a chance to pick up one of the pawns then gave up a bishop for one and his remaining rook for another leaving James a full bishop up and a straightforward mopping up exercise to win through. James noted his heart rate at certain points was in the ‘vigorous exercise’ zone; who says chess isn’t a sport?
Match result 4.5-1.5 and an undefeated team on the night.
| 1 | Phil Nendick (1993) | 1 | Default | 0 |
| 2 | John Richards (1950) | .5 | Michael Townsend (1822) | .5 |
| 3 | Mike Levene (1922) | .5 | Mike Minshall (1471) | .5 |
| 4 | Judd Chidwick (1860) | 1 | Default | 0 |
| 5 | James Facey (1700) | 1 | Hayden Griffiths (UNG) | 0 |
| 6 | Piotr Zielinski (1623) | .5 | Richard Usherwood (1457) | .5 |
| Horfield B | 4.5 | Thornbury | 1.5 |
Two matches. Two wins. Both teams top of their respective tables. Such riches.
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 