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Division 2,
Third Weekend, Staverton Park, 23rd-24th Feb
2013
by John Carleton
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De Vere
Staverton Park |
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The 4NCL at
Staverton Park continued the
progress through the season with
rounds 5 and 6 of divisions 1 and 2
and the corresponding rounds for
division three North at Wychwood
Park [near Crewe] and division 3
South at Daventry Court Hotel. This
extra information should be viewed
in the context of public service
provision and not as a
result of another tough weekend
in pool A of division 2 that saw the
Spirit of Atticus team propelled
into another second half of the
season in the relegation pool of
division 2.
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John Carleton |
Saturday saw us
paired against an Anglian Avengers
team who can rightly boast a team of
experience blended with youthful
talent. We, as ever, leaned heavily
towards the experienced end of the
market. The action was not slow in
warming up particularly from where I
was seated. My game was relatively
quiet but each side of me the action
was ferocious as the two Lancashire
players in the Atticus squad charged
into battle with the white pieces.
Because of their residency and solid
styles Martin Mitchell and Nick
Ivell are known as the Blackpool
Rocks [Blackpool Rockers when they
let their hair down] but they were
certainly quick out of the blocks in
round 5. Nick on board 1 obtained a
slight edge in a very open position
and his young opponent was soon
feeling the heat.
Martin's game was
a reminder that we are fortunate to
still have a number of excellent
chess columns in our daily press,
none better, I would suggest, than
Jon Speelman's in the Independent.
Only the day before this match Jon
had written [with reference to the
game Grischuk v Kamsky, won by
Grischuk, at the 2013 Aeroflot
Open], "The Exchange Slav is often
far from harmless. Having played
5...Qb6 [after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6
3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4] perhaps
7.... Qxb2 [after a further 6.e3 Nc6
7.Bd3] ... was consistent". On
board 3 Martin and opponent Shaun
Munson briskly played the Exchange
Slav until Shaun played 10...Qxb2,
perhaps determined not to make the
same mistake as Kamsky, but after
Martin's reply, plunged into an
hour's thought since the loss of a
rook seemed inevitable.
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The
Moorings, Crick, Northamptonshire |
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It was not all good
news for Atticus: Steve Connor on
board 7 had dropped a pawn and his
prospects looked bleak; Dave Latham
on board 4 had slipped into a
passive position and soon he too
shed material. Sheila on board 5 had
got caught in a dangerous opening
variation and her position became
very loose as she strove to stay in
the game. Andy on board 6 emerged
with a slight disadvantage from the
opening; his opponent Philip Tozer
eventually engineered a break in the
centre which threatened a decisive
incursion as his bishops came to
life. Board 8 saw Peter Ackley
equalise with the black pieces and
when he made a thematic exchange
sacrifice only a victory or a draw
seemed plausible results.
And so the battles
came to a head: Martin duly won, a
rook up in the semi-ending with mate
coming next move, some 25 moves
having been played since the rook's
doom was apparent and 19 moves after
the exchange of queens. Nick won in
good style keeping control as the
the tactics flowed. Steve, Andy and
Sheila battled gamely but fell to
defeat. Having equalised from the
opening I drifted and was roundly
outplayed by Edmund Player; with
both of us ending extremely short of
time there was, from where I was
sitting, more than an element of
farce about the decision to declare
that I had forfeited on time.
Nonetheless, on chess merits I have
no complaints that the result was
the right one. Dave Latham was the
last to throw in the towel after a
tough struggle. Peter played well,
kept control and made it eight
decisive games in the match with
Anglian Avengers winners 5-3.
The vagaries of the
Atticus squad rotation system saw
Entertainment Secretary Dave
Robertson at home in Liverpool
whilst the team, taking advantage of
his customary in-depth planning, set
out to The Moorings in Crick.
This was a return visit where we had
enjoyed a very well received evening
meal from 3rd division days. The
journey proved eventful, but
sustained by Kendall Mint Cake and
other such Northern delights, the
throng duly arrived. The reports
passed to the skipper [excused to
attend a family reunion bash in
Warwickshire] regarding the
qualities of the restaurant were
more mixed than on our previous
visit, but sustained by the
beverages on offer, the team
returned to Staverton Park mentally
refreshed and ready to rest before
the challenges of the Sunday game.
Round 6 saw us
paired with Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg and
this promised to be a close
encounter. We had welcomed back one
of our leading supporters, Jeannie
Latham, for this weekend after her
leave the previous 4NCL weekend to
improve her Welsh language skills
[with a view to helping us pronounce
our opponents' team name amongst
other things]. She was joined by
Andy Smith so we were geared up to
put on a good show for our
followers.
There was one
relatively quick draw: Peter on
board 8 had won a pawn with some
nimble knight manoeuvring but was
unduly pessimistic, or so it appears
with the advantage of hindsight,
about his ability to hold his pawn
formation intact so made early
peace. All the other games were hard
fought with some extremely
interesting positions arising. Nick
on board 1 against Richard Jones
swapped queens but stood toe to toe
and seemed to be gaining the upper
hand. On board 2 I gained a "nibble"
from the opening with the two
bishops and an unbalanced pawn
formation but opponent Timothy Kett
was patient and seemed on the verge
of equality. Board 3 found Martin
under great pressure but just about
standing firm faced with an
impressive assault all arising from
1.Nc3! [exclamation for the move not
the sentiment of the sentence].
On board 4 Dave
Latham went for a bind but a
sensational break in the centre by
opponent Tom Brown set the ball
rolling for the game of the match.
Tom emerged from the first phase
with an extra "half pawn" but
consistently exploited the hollow-chested
white structure to emerge two pawns
ahead and the win was something of a
formality. Sheila on board 5 had
taken on an apparent weakness in her
pawn structure but soon obtained
balanced chances. She unwisely
headed for an endgame where her
pawns linked up a little better but
also where opponent John Trevelyan's
pawns took on devastating power. The
win for John was never in doubt
thereafter. Andy on board 6 played a
forcing game but was met by opponent
Olivia Smith prepared to meet fire
with fire. Andy won on time in a
much superior position but black
still fighting hard. On board 7
Steve's opponent, junior Alexander
Freeland, played an impressive
positional opening which he was able
to convert into a direct attack on
Steve's king. This in turn saw a
queen ending with extra pawns for
white. Steve fought back however and
Alexander did well to maintain his
composure as the extra pawns dropped
off and was able to force a won king
and pawn ending.
Division 2a
The top boards had
gradually unfolded to our advantage.
Martin, after his opening discomfort
found himself in a long game of
manoeuvres with little direct
contact and approximately equal
prospects but this changed when
opponent Alan Spice maintaining his
creative approach tried to unbalance
matters with an exchange sacrifice.
This turned out to be a bad error of
judgement; Martin remain cool,
swapped queens and the resulting
ending was a trivial win. Your
computer may tell you that Nick was
winning easily when he agreed the
draw. This is not true; his opponent
had muddied the waters by creating a
pawn wedge ready to roll on the
queenside at the cost of a piece.
Nick, although materially up was in
time trouble and acquiesced in a
repetition; even with time it is
difficult to keep control of such a
position. My advantage had endured
into a rook and pawn ending and when
the position broke up it transpired
that the simplified position was a
relatively straightforward win for
me thus confirming the result as a
4-4 draw. At times during the match
we hoped for more but have to
concede that justice was probably
done on the day.
And so we go on to
Hinckley Island for rounds 7 and 8.
Although there is still a round of
qualifying to go we are not destined
for the promotion pool [yes you can
almost hear Mickey, Nigel, Gawain et
al breath a collective sigh of
relief]. It is instead the demotion
pool that beckons, but fear not, we
will be up for the fight.
Chess Photos © Steve
Connor
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Rd5 results •
Rd6 results
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Spirit of Atticus team page
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Division 2a Table •
Games in PGN
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This report is also available here
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Previous Spirit of Atticus
reports
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