With the B team in division 2 this season we’re able to put out strong MKO teams and our hope/expectation is for decent runs this year. We won both matches last night but whilst the scorelines look comfortable the matches had degrees of tension.
Horfield 1 vs South Bristol:
We took an early lead in the match as Joe got the better in the opening against Chris and carried his advantage through to win comfortably. Soon afterwards Piotr and John added to our points tally with a solid draw and a win on boards 4 and 2 respectively. John had to wait till his final match of the season last year to win a game, he is off and running straight away this year! 2.5-0.5 up after three looked good. By 9.30 James got us to three points with a draw against David. He’d had the initiative for most of the game but white was solid and a draw was agreed.
The final two games went the distance. As set out in FIDE rule C 7.14 [I know just showing off] S Bristol would have squeaked it on board count if they’d won on boards 1 and 6 trumping our wins on boards 2 and 5 so there was still match-determining play. Graham was ahead a knight in the endgame but was obviously short of time (it is Graham after all), he kept his nerve, found a knight fork to win Alessandro’s rook, and then mopped up pawns and secured the full point and the match. Shortly afterwards Mike beat Richard in the heavyweight contest on top board. Mike rerouted pieces cleverly and in the endgame forced the exchange of queens leaving him a knight for a pawn up and that was that. Well done chaps. Clifton Bishops next and they also look like a formidable team.
Horfield 2 vs Downend:
We significantly out-graded Downend however it was much closer than the grades would imply. Again we got off to a flying start. Judd won the first point. After an even opening against John, he found better moves in the middle game and eased through. Alan, planning a kingside attack against Greg, got side-tracked by winning a pawn and taking a big positional plus. That was enough for him to switch into pragmatic play and he added another point. Scott drew a drawish draw and we were again 2.5-0.5 up. Downend pulled a point back with a win on board 5 as Nick got the better of Ash leaving just boards 1 and 6 in play.
So as with the match against South Bristol the final games went the distance. This time board 1 finished first. Andy was the exchange down but Keith was playing on the increment and the position was really complicated. Andy managed to get in behind and take a game that looked like it might go the other way. Finally, Ashish secured the final point to give the match result a comprehensive look. Working his way back from a two knights vs rook end game he won a knight then built pressure and with a passed outside pawn won the second knight as well. Credit to Downend; there were moments when the balance of play in the final two games looked as if they could well win both and take the match. Grendel next for Horfield 2; they’ve got a number of players in reserve to strengthen their first-round team.
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 