Two matches scheduled in the MKO but only one played as Keynsham couldn’t raise a team giving us our first match win of the season. The match score against Clevedon was comprehensive but the balance of play was closer than it looks and it was only in the last 15 minutes of the evening that match was decided.
On board 4 Jack, making his return for us, got into trouble out of the opening and never really recovered. He felt the need to give up a piece for pawn to relieve the pressure of a mating attack and whilst he battled hard Geoff was too experienced to make a mess of the position and it was first blood to the visitors. On the other boards it looked pretty even apart from on board 5 where Alex had found himself in a fair amount of bother with his king still centralised and a frightening hole on f7.
The game on board 1 had barely troubled the evaluation swingometer, probably not moving beyond +/- .5. Peter and Matt kept each other honest enough through to an endgame where it became clear nothing much was going to happen, and after a short attempt at an opposition dance a draw was agreed. On board 6 Graham was an outside pawn up against David but he had a backward pawn that needed protecting to stop black’s rooks infiltrating meaning he wasn’t able to support the extra pawn and the game ended in another draw. On board 2 Paul had adopted a sharp opening but Joaquim had worked his way into a pretty even position although black had more activity and the question was whether white could coordinate his cramped pieces to properly equalise. On board 4 Brian had a queenside pawn advantage but the isolated h pawn was also a target and the position was complicated with most of the pieces still on the board, it looked like it could go either way. On 5 Alex looked lost at 8.00, at 9.00 but by 10.00 he had managed to untangle, exchange queens, and all of a sudden had a bit more freedom and was targeting Ben’s kingside pawns.
Past 10.15 and three games still in play. Board 2 finished next. Paul had taken control of the f file and Joaquim was just clinging on, black found a bishop sacrifice to remove cover around the white king and with Joaquim’s pieces still in each other’s way Paul was able to use queen and rook to create enough threats to win queen for rook and the game. Ben came unstuck on board 3 in time pressure as Brian was able to create a passed pawn on the c file and Ben was a tempi or two too slow to hold the position and that game went to the visitors as well. Finally not even any consolation on board 5. Alex had turned the game around and was a rook and pawn vs knight up but in time trouble lost his rook to a knight fork and Ben was able to shepherd one of his pawns to promotion.
Credit to the sea-siders for winning the close games and just being better. But at least we beat Keynsham.
| 1 | Peter Marks (1745) | .5 | Matt Wilson (1910) | .5 |
| 2 | Joaquim Luque (1634) | 0 | Paul Spiller (1961) | 1 |
| 3 | Ben Learoyd (1744P) | 0 | Brian Crewe (1625) | 1 |
| 4 | Jack Knipe (1832P) | 0 | Geoff Dring (1579) | 1 |
| 5 | Alex Dunn (1559) | 0 | Ben Searle (1443) | 1 |
| 6 | Graham Strickland (1463) | .5 | David Wilson (1321) | .5 |
| Horfield 1 | 1 | Clevedon 1 | 5 |
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 