Three matches this week.
First up on Tuesday the A team had the pleasure of hosting Downend A. The first result of the night was board 3 which was drawn by 8pm. Steve (M) played quickly and aggressively taking Steve (D) out of his opening preparation on move 9. The approach might have paid dividends but white misplayed his 14th move and decided to offer a draw. Excitingly, apart from the very last move, the game followed Sax-Korchnoi, (Candidates 1991: draw in 16 moves)…
The night looked good when Matias won very well against Aron on board 1. Matias took Aron out of his book very early and after 7 moves white had spent 35 minutes of frowning concentration. Black produced a knight sac of g2 which Aron couldn’t accept and then with white pieces on the wrong side of the board Matias’s queen and bishops proved far too dynamic. A splendid win in 24 moves. We stayed ahead with a draw on board 4. Phil was happy to blockade Max’s IQP with a knight on d4 and was briefly dreaming of a personal Downend hattrick following wins against Oscar G and Mike A. However too many pieces came off and the knight ending was eventually agreed drawn after 24 moves where the evaluation was never more than +/-0.5.
The match was levelled on board 5 with Nigel overcoming John. It started well for black and by move 18, there was a position with chances for both sides but maybe both players were running out of ideas to make something of the game. John decided to make a cheeky draw offer to see how Nigel was feeling. Unfortunately, the move black made with the offer turned out to be a blunder which eventually lost material. John battled on and managed to get two rooks for queen, but his rook and bishop were never going to hold off Nigel’s queen on a very open board.
Then as the clock ticked on Downend took the lead with a win on board 6. Jeremy was playing his first competitive gave since 2007 [editors note: ‘what’s he been doing?’ ‘ah, funny you should ask but he’s been working for a chess book company https://forwardchess.com/blog/author-of-the-month-jacob-aagaard/’] and was up against Peter, an old Clevedon team-mate. Initial pressure for black dissipated and by move 20 white was better with his pieces coming to life. Then somewhat anti-climatically Jeremy, short on time, blundered into a simple two-move mate. The rust showing.
3-2 down and just board 2 left. Peter was in a strong position and a pawn up. However there were lots of pieces left and both players were on the increment. Peter, mindful of the match situation refused a draw and played on for the win but time ran out in a +3 position to give Downend the match win.
| 1 | Matias Candelario (2137) | 1 | Aron Saunders (2232) | 0 |
| 2 | Peter Kirby (2014) | 0 | Oscar Garcia (2164) | 1 |
| 3 | Steve Dilleigh (2015) | .5 | Steve Meek (2117) | .5 |
| 4 | Phil Nendick (2013) | .5 | Max Walker (2055) | .5 |
| 5 | John Richards (1885) | 0 | Nigel Hosken (2079) | 1 |
| 6 | Jeremy Hart (UNG) | 0 | Peter Chaplin (2006) | 1 |
| Horfield A | 2 | Downend A | 4 |
Also on Tuesday Hanham came to visit with five players putting us 1-0 up immediately (probably my best performance of the season). It turned out to be a comfortable evening for us and took the C team’s unbeaten run to four matches. James was level with Tiiu in an endgame of queen and knight vs queen and bishop but overlooked a queen check forking king and knight. Fortunately, he was able to create a passed pawn and in time trouble white had to give up the bishop to stop the pawn, leaving a drawn ending. Alan continued to build on his strong start to the season winning in 21 moves against Phil. White had built a winning position after 15 moves and a blunder under pressure from black settled the game. Piotr was, not unusually, last to finish and won a good endgame. It was a pair of rooks and opposite coloured bishops with Matt having an extra pawn. However Black’s pieces were active and coordinated and pressure forced white into a passive position where he ended up blundering a rook to a discovered check. On board 4 Harry got his first half point of the season. The game moved towards queens and a pair of knights for white vs a pair of bishops for black. White won a pawn but the position simplified into queen and pawn endgame and there was no way to make the pawn count and a draw was agreed. Jack had a solid win on board 5 against Adrian. After building an advantage he let it slip but not so much to be a problem and in the endgame he used his bishop to dominate white’s knight on an open board and showing good technique drove his passed pawn home.
5-1. An authoritative win.
| 1 | James Facey (1745) | .5 | Tiiu Loog (1676) | .5 |
| 2 | Alan Clarke (1795) | 1 | Phil Lawson (1531) | 0 |
| 3 | Piotr Zielinski (1576) | 1 | Matt Howells (1483) | 0 |
| 4 | Harry Duckworth (1492) | .5 | Barry Davies (1483) | .5 |
| 5 | Jack Knipe (1629) | 1 | Adrian Catchpole (UNG) | 0 |
| 6 | Peter Marks (1757) | 1 | Default | 0 |
| Horfield C | 5 | Hanham A | 1 |
Finally the B team strolled down to play the University A team on a frosty night. We even had a fan with us but sadly not six players.
The first result was on board 1 where James was able to hold Derek’s kingside attack and create a myriad of threats on the queenside. The position was absurdly complicated but black always seemed to have some form of control and in the end with white’s attack becalmed black reached a position where the gain of match-winning material was inevitable. Peter pulled a point back on board 3 with a very good win against Justin. The game started slowly with a queen exchange on move 13, but quickly heated up to the chaotic position below with Black to move (PIC 2).
White is attacking the knight on b4 which wants to stay on that square so that d5 is attacked when the centre is dissolved, and black has threats along the h6-d2 diagonal to white’s king. In the game Black blundered a piece with exf4, Bxf4 fxe4, Rxc8 (intermezzo pinning the rook on f8) Rxc8, axb4.
One possible continuation went exf4, Bxf4 fxe4, Rxc8 Bxc8, Be3 Nxd5, Bc4 and the position below is reached with Black to move.
Peter had analysed Be6, Nxe6 Bxe3+ but wasn’t sure as it was too complicated but thought it would be good for White. As it happens the engine finds the remarkable variation Be6, Nxe6 Nxe3 !! and black wins by ignoring the threat to the rook and a discovered check from the Bishop on c4, by creating his own discovered check! A discovered check from white by moving the knight, can be met by Nxc4 and a discovered check from black.
Shortly afterwards the University had with an easy win for Jonas on board 5 to make it 3-1. Inept opening positional play from white, followed by a sequence of black making obvious natural moves and white being constantly surprised by them. I do need to work on actual thinking rather than just startled blinking. Judd did a great job of holding on for a draw against a much higher rated opponent. Black’s opening went wrong and he blundered a pawn on move 7. White had a pawn advantage and black had no developed pieces and an exposed king. Ulugbek possibly believed the game was won and it would play itself but advanced his pawns onto squares that allowed Judd to set up an excellent blockade and hold the position. Great scrabbling.
Finally Phil took Zachary the distance but in the end white’s pressure told and pawn advances on the kingside backed by a heavy battalion of pieces left Phil out of time and out of shape and the game and match was done.
| 1 | James Clarke (2076) | 1 | Derek Pugh (2107) | 0 |
| 2 | Zachary Lee (2239) | 1 | Phil Nendick (2013) | 0 |
| 3 | Justin Kleidermacher (2186) | 0 | Peter Kirby (2014) | 1 |
| 4 | Ulugbek Nozimov (1994) | .5 | Judd Chidwick (1707) | .5 |
| 5 | Joans Zurba (1752) | 1 | Peter Marks (1757) | 0 |
| 6 | Indura Sapuarachchige (2012) | 1 | Default | 0 |
| Downend A | 4.5 | Horfield B | 1.5 |
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 