We had eight players at the Blitz to play eleven rounds of 5+3. 79 players and a really good event put on by Igor. Thank you Igor. Usual mix of blunders, overlooked ideas and the occasional bit of cleverness. Callum was our best scoring player with 7/11 with Phil and Rob on 6.5. Mike and …
Match Report: Horfield A vs University A (2 February): Very much in the title race
We lost the home fixture 4-2 so were hoping for a better result this time to keep us in the title race. Two draws first on boards 4 and 5. On 5 Peter was sharp out of the opening against Ian and obtained a slight advantage. Opposite side castling was followed by a pawn storm on …
Match Report: Horfield B vs University B (26 January): Top, unbeaten, maybe a touch lucky
A top of the table clash against the students. Win the match and clear daylight at the top of the table. We’ll come back to the top match as it was the last to finish but will take them in order for boards 2 to 5. On Board 2 John and Sam had a bit …
Match reports: C team beats Hanham and D team loses to Grendel B (24 January)
Our rearranged fixture from December against Hanham was played last night and saw the uptick in the C team’s results continue. In the battle of the Kirks on board 6 James, playing his first game after a short break, gave Richard absolutely nothing. White accurately piled on the pressure, kept black’s king in the centre, …
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Match Reports: A and C teams in action
It was very cold on Monday on the hillside above Clevedon, coats, gloves, visible breathing, so in an impressive display of hardiness 12 brave chess-players battled out a drawn match in division 1. Callum on Board 1 and Steve on board 4 started proceedings with draws. Steve had the advantage of the bishop pair into …
Match Reports: Two MKO matches: Neither glorious.
Two cup games during the week. Meh. Firstly Horfield 2 on Wednesday. In the last round we’d managed to squeeze past Cabot with only four players. This time we had a full team so that was a plus. But as it turned out there wasn't a lot else to be delighted by. Dave and I …
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Match Report: Horfield B vs North Bristol A (5 January): Marching on
The unbeaten B team travelled to North Bristol for their first match after Christmas. Being top athletes I was confident they wouldn’t be affected by a surfeit of mince pies and lampreys. Games began apart from board two where John found his focus drifting to other things until Debs arrived just before the cut off. …
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Match Report: Horfield D vs Downend E (3 January): Still unbeaten
A new year, teeming rain, but everyone arrived on time in reasonable spirits. Downend brought a large team of support staff whom joined us for a couple of hours of friendly chess whilst the combatants duked it out upstairs. Boards three and four were played to junior time limits. On three Graham won a bishop …
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Match Report: Horfield B vs South Bristol A (6 December): Honours even
A hard fought match. South Bristol came with a really strong team but generously chose to give us a time advantage on boards 2 and 4 as Richard and Tony both arrived after eight. Being reasonable sorts we consented to games being played; after all if you’ve turned up to play chess you might as …
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