Three matches during the week; two draws and a loss.
Firstly the B team drew away against the unbeaten Grendel.
Andy took on Dave on board 1. White had allowed black to exchange his dark-squared bishop for the white knight on c3, which enabled black to set up a dark-squared blockade. Dave had much the better play with Andy on the defensive for most of the game but accurate chess meant Dave was unable to find a way through and a draw was agreed. On board 2 Mike lost out to Jerry, however we were better on the middle boards; Brent spotted a winning tactic against Alistair on board 3 with only seconds left on the clock. On 4 Rob gained a slight advantage into the middle game against Richard then decided upon a speculative bishop sacrifice (which the computer later confirmed was winning, just not quite in the way Rob played it). Luckily for us, white didn’t find the best defence and black regained the piece and went into an ending two pawns up which was enough to win.
On another night we might have won on the bottom two boards. But we didn’t. John went an exchange up, then two up but with both his rooks slightly misplaced and Tom’s pawns marching down the board supported by bishops he had problems and John found the wrong solution unfortunately. Finally, Nigel drew on board 6 meaning a share of the match spoils. He was at the end a whole piece up but with only a minute left against over 20 minutes, and with Andrew’s rooks potentially active and devasting he pragmatically decided a loss was as likely as a win so offered the draw. So nothing really changes in the league; ourselves, Grendel, and South Bristol are chasing second behind an increasingly dominant Bath B. Match card here
On Tuesday our D team were away to Yate who had a strong team out. We lost on boards 3 and 4 with Jacob tasting defeat for the first time in the league on 3. He’d engaged in an opposite-side castling pawn race which as it turned out was comfortably better for Chris and a few gamblers shots came to nothing. Mike’s difficult season continued on 4; he was about even into the middle game but then allowed the game to simplify down to a losing endgame as Kevin’s pawns were just that bit better. Piotr drew solidly on board 2 against James and his extra 100 rating points leaving Duncan to finish off the match with another draw on board 1. Ben, making his first appearance for Yate B this season, had the better of the opening and middle game but towards the end Duncan had a superior position with winning chances but very little time. In the end once pieces were exchanged down a drawn endgame was the conclusion. Good work Yate; the result leaves us still in second but 5 points behind the leaders University C who are our next opponents. Match card here
Also on Tuesday the F team played their second match of the season drawing with UWE B. Ryan was under the pump for the whole game against Theo, probably should of lost but a blunder from white secured us the point. On board two Ash kept plugging away against James and came up trumps with another point. On board 3 Siobhan missed a chance to secure a draw by repetition and after that Izzy’s pieces proved to be much more dynamic. Finally, on 4 Martin lost a game he was ahead in, behind in, level in, ahead in, etc. All learning! Match card here.
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 