A particularly mixed week. In order of glory.
Report from Mike for the B team match vs. University B. The B team are hovering in a congested mid table and were raring to get another win in the books; right from the off we were facing some aggressive play with the centres of most boards being stormed by our opponents. Jeremy was working out how to not get squashed and did well to hang tough, dissolve the centre and keep a fianchettoed bishop on the table – eventually proving to be dominant in the endgame. I ale so faced an immediate e4, d4 and e5 and subsequent reinforcements after playing a rare opening; this one didn’t make the endgame as I managed to accidentally win an unfortunate knight. Brent was facing an onslaught and there were a few dangerous sacrifices in the air, but he carried on defending. Meanwhile, Andy had exchanged a few things on the queenside from a reverse Queens Gambit accepted but hung onto an extra passed b-pawn, and Alan had the clearest advantage with an exchange plus a pawn, and looked certain to win. Mike L had more space but was locked in an intriguing closed middlegame. Alan converted first, then me, then Andy – to make it 3-0. The other 3 boards looked good for us – Mike L had a couple of chances to get a better endgame but his opponent steered it to a drawn one. Jeremy, however, took no chances with the dominant bishop + 6 pawns vs a rook + 3. The bishop was so strong that he could force the swap of all 3 pawns leaving the rook helpless. Brent emerged from the defence and had a centralised queen and a good knight threatening all sorts of mates, but there were two remarkable defensive ideas that were found by his opponent, and a draw was agreed for a 5-1 result. Up the table we climb! Match card here
The C team were also winners. A slightly peculiar match. 2-0 at the start as Downend D only came with four players. Maybe a Helenio Herrera mentality (look it up kids) but draws suited us and the Downend players offered them and we accepted them. Takes the C team top of a very congested division 3. Match card here C team
The E team were out-gunned by University C going down 3-1. A shout-out to Alex who won his first game of the season despite giving away almost 300 rating points. He’d won it, tried to throw it away, and won it again. Maybe it should count as two wins? Match card here
Finally the D team decided to challenge themselves by playing on junior time controls and using only four players against Clifton Juniors. We’ll not talk about this one again.
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 