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The Northern 4NCL
2nd Weekend, 15th-16th Jan 2011 by John
Carleton
It was a big sporting weekend in Crewe with
Port Vale the visitors to Gresty Road on
Saturday to play the Alex [The match of hate as
it is known locally since Stoke's fairly
recently acquired lofty status]. Fortunately,
two of our stars [heading for the other major
sporting event in Crewe] Andy and Mike managed
to elude the police cordon at Crewe Station and
joined their colleagues at the second superb
venue for the fledgling 4NCL Northern League.
This time we knew a bit more about our opponents
and were expecting a tough match against fellow
100% scorers Cheddleton 2 in our Saturday
fixture. We were not to be disappointed in this
expectation.
The match soon settled into a series of
headlong collisions with quarter neither being
given nor expected with the possible exception
of board 6. Andy approached me fairly early on
saying that the positions were going to be
pretty drawish and would a draw be O.K. Trying
to fathom where three and a half points might
come from was proving quite taxing so I was
agreeable to reducing that problem to trying to
work out from where a further three points might
come. So as anticipated, this game was agreed
drawn quite early in the proceedings. Meanwhile
in my game we were trying to recall some heavy
Nimzo theory which was taking quite a bit of
time. You may be surprised that I needed quite
so much time since I had actually played the
variation before [unlike my opponent];
this should not connected in any way to my
having a deteriorating memory but at the moment
I can't quite recollect why I took so long.
Meanwhile board 2 was rapidly turning into
a Dutch Defence tribute afternoon. Peter, with
scarcely a glance to the queenside, took on the
mantle of the Ginger GM and overwhelmed his
opponent's king's defences; a smooth Atticus
victory with a snappy finish.
On board 3 Dave Robertson had started slowly
but his opponent lost time when he had prospects
of a promising initiative. Dave needed no
further invitation and soon whipped up a
ferocious attack which ensnared the black
king. Many people were worried whether, playing
board 4, Dave Stuttard, with his somewhat
idiosyncratic style, would be ready for
the generous time allowance and positional
emphasis of the 4NCL. Of course they should have
been worried whether the 4NCL would be ready for
Dave. Suffice it to say that on this occasion
even his captain was more than a
little concerned that he might not have quite
enough for the two pieces sacrificed.
In addition Mike on board 5 had been under
pressure, was forced to jettison a pawn and
although he was fighting back, the match,
despite our two fine wins, could depend on board
1. This had progressed to an ending where I had
the notional advantage of two pieces against
rook and pawn and could play on for a long time
but was having trouble coming up with winning
ideas. My plans for an early trip to the bar
seemed in jeopardy when Mike lost on time with a
move to make to the time control in a drawn
ending. At this point Dave Stuttard's opponent
was forced to resign [obviously, oh ye of little
faith!] so peace negotiations swiftly
followed in my game to wrap up a satisfying 4-2
win.
And so, pausing for a only few drinks at the
golf club bar, the team embarked on our
traditional in-depth post match debriefing
session before heading into Crewe town centre
for a meal. Robbo's researches had indicated
that Giovanni's offered a particularly
interesting selection of wines and so even the
traditional beer drinkers decided this was the
opportunity to broaden their horizons and to
embrace the produce of the grape. As a result of
this pioneering decision it was felt by many
that the conversation reached new heights,
although recollection of said discussions proved
somewhat elusive on Sunday.
The dawn of a new day saw us move up from the
competition's 5th highest rated team on Saturday
to the 4th highest team on Sunday so we felt we
must have had a good evening. We were however
wary of Jorvik, who had looked in good
shape in the previous round. Our wariness had
grown to real concern quite early in the round 4
encounter with our opponents looking more
comfortable overall. Jos Wooley had a small
opening edge against me. On board 2, Peter was
our brightest starter, looking very comfortable
as he built up big pressure on the black
centre. Dave on board 3, with a willing partner
from Jorvik [Richard Mounce], embarked on some
hot Najdorf theory which had the non-aficionados
amongst us bemused. Dave Stuttard on board 4
appeared very relaxed as he lost/sacrificed a
pawn in the opening, swapped queens and then
converted the material situation to an exchange
deficit. There was some concern in the Atticus
camp that this game might not last too long.
Mike was under big pressure on board 5 but was
digging in and showing real determination. Andy
on board 6 had realised that we required a win
and, accepting a potentially loose position, had
grabbed space and was generating some
initiative.
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The
well appointed playing room at
Wychwood Park, an ideal setting for
rounds 3 & 4. |
All the games came to a head with the
approach of the time control: board 3, after
some startling adventures fizzled out to a draw.
Andy made his space count on board 6, gathering
material as his opponent attempted to break out.
Jos outplayed me in the crisis position I had
provoked which meant the match was all square.
Mike liberated his position and even grabbed a
pawn but was content to agree a draw as matters
were changing on board 4. Dave had won back the
exchange for a [weak] pawn which duly dropped
off. Thereafter, he gave a text book
demonstration of play with two bishops against
bishop and knight and once again delivered the
full point. This enabled Peter to agree the draw
in what was surely a winning ending [but posing
real problems of coordination] to bring victory
by the narrowest margin.
Another weekend of tough chess thus saw us
sitting proudly at the top of the division, but
with nearly every match close and unpredictable
we look forward to more uncompromising battles
in the forthcoming rounds.
• Rd3
results •
Rd4
results
•
Spirit of Atticus team page
• Northern
league Table •
Games in PGN
This report can also be seen
here.
Additional reports
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