Match Reports: C and E teams draw

Two home matches this week. Two draws.

The C team were up against North Bristol. By 8.30 we were 2-0 up and set fair. James and Joe had won on boards 4 and 6 respectively, James finishing off his game with a nice little tactic based on a pin that forced mate in 1. Then from there the evening didn’t turn out entirely as we would have wanted. Nigel had been at least level throughout his game against Richard on board 1 but in time trouble tried for counterplay and got into trouble and dropped a piece and lost the game. Judd came up short against James on board 2. Alan won his match on board 3 but Graham lost his on board 5 after being unable to stop Mike’s passed pawn progressing to make the match 3-3.

1	Nigel Pollett (1735)	0	Richard Millener (1771)	1
2	Judd Chidwick (1723)	0	James Nigham (1637)	1
3	Alan Clarke (1740)	1	Jonathan Penn (1663)	0
4	James Facey (1722)	1	Vijay Dontu (1771)	0
5	Graham Strickland (1464)	0	Michael Stinchcombe (1375)	1
6	Joe Fearnhead (1305)	1	Tony Golding (1369)	0
	Horfield C	3	North Bristol	3

The battle of the E teams was also a draw. Alex had the pleasure on board 2 of playing under junior time controls and found the speed Carolus played at somewhat unsettling. However the game was drawn. Kana won his game to take his season’s score to 5 out of 6. However Scott fell to his first loss of the season on board 1 against league stalwart Alan. White gained an advantage out of the opening on the c file and a strong bishop on a3 stopping Scott castling however after a period of positional jockeying black was able to force white to give up the exchange and it seemed quite even (although black’s king was pretty vulnerable). Scott’s attempts to simplify allowed Alan to activate his queen and bishop which were too strong and resulted in the loss of his rook and the game.

Finally board 3 saw Mike and John mainly play it safe, exchanging down into an equal pawn and minor piece endgame which was very much drawn, and to avoid loss by gross blunder the players agreed the draw to bring an end to the evenings entertainment.

1	Scott White (1586)	0	Alan Papier (1658)	1
2	Alex Dunn (1536)	.5	Carolus Tang (1393)	.5
3	Mike Jennings (1489)	.5	John Stubbs (1299)	.5
4	Kana Balasubramaniam (1370)	1	Sam March (UNG)	0
	Horfield E	2	Downend E	2