Match Report: Horfield D vs Yate B (6 December): Cruising

I like the Jackson social club, good parking, quiet and spacious playing area, well priced bar. So was more than happy to act as a sub for Alex’s D team.

Board one finished first. James hadn’t been able to free his position out of the opening and struggled to find good squares for his pieces. I was allowed to exchange a set of minor pieces resulting in James’s queenside pawns being broken apart which gave me clear targets to build a plan around. Black looked for counterplay down the f file but white was able to pin his rooks to his king and the g7 pawn. With the black queen and knight on the wrong side of the board my bishop was able to came over onto g6 and the mate was straightforward. Board four was next to finish. Harry had equalised early and William’s pawns looked over-extended. White looked for play down the a file but black secured the position and then turn his attention to dominating in the centre of the board with an excellent knight outpost. A timely b pawn advance created passed pawns which finished off the game. Nicely done by Harry and 2-0 up.

On board three Joaquim had won the exchange and was in control of the centre of the board and Alex had a stranglehold over the white squares and looked very comfortable against Olly on board two. Joaquim didn’t look like losing the advantage and eased through, Alex brought his positional skills to the fore and made it a clean sweep. Excellent play from both against higher rated opponents.

The D team marches on into Christmas with 5 wins and 2 draws from 7 matches and very much top of the league.