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Division 3n, Weekend 1, Cedar Court Hotel,
Wakefield, 14-15
Nov 2015
by Andy
Mort
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Cedar Court Hotel, Wakefield |
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Promotion to Division 1 for the
A Team having gone to our organising supremo’s
head in the aftermath of celebrations, he
decreed that we enter an additional C team in a
league that is immeasurably tougher than when we
made our debut here some years ago.
A late withdrawal due to illness
left us scratching around to fill final places
for this first weekend, but thanks to the
sterling efforts of dedicated players, we
avoided defaults.
In Round 1, the B Team was
paired with the newly joined Scottish team,
Alba, arguably the most powerful outfit in the
room. Though comfortably defeated in the end, we
performed very creditably, only going under at
the very end of a long session. Roy and Dave
Latham never looked particularly troubled on the
top two boards, and secured two draws. John,
typically, became embroiled in a complex
struggle in which both sides exchanged blows
before his opponent’s passed c pawn proved
decisive. It looked as if Steve’s opponent had
only the tiniest of edges throughout the game,
but he managed to extract the full point
following a long rook endgame. Dave Phillips
also fought well with two bishops v rook and
pawns, but his opponent’s control of a key file
led to his undoing.
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The Ocean Suite
at the Cedar Court Hotel is ideal
for eight, 6-board matches |
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Showing typical stamina and
determination (and possibly to try and outlast
our C Team Marathon Man), Robbo skilfully
defended a difficult rook endgame to garner
another half point. When he showed us the game
afterwards (demonstrating his sophisticated
bishop manoeuvre which the spectators dismissed
as “aimless shuffling”), it looked as if he
might have missed a couple of chances in the
middle-game.
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Spirit of Atticus B&C (Round 1) |
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Out-rating a (nevertheless very
solid) Bradford B team in Round 2, we were
expected to emerge as winners, and so the 3-3
draw was disappointing. Comfortable white wins
came from Colm and Dave Latham – the latter
currently in tremendous form – and draws from
John and Dave Phillips after long complex games,
but we went down on the other two boards, Mike
Johnson carelessly dropping a pawn in a
defensible ending, and Robbo, possibly exhausted
from his marathon of the day before, missing a
fairly standard trick in a Maroczy Bind and
narrowly failing to defend the ultimate rook
ending.
In Round 1, like the B Team, the
C Team was drawn against tough opponents in
Broadland, and with a weakened team the odds
were in our opponents’ favour. We did duly lose
1-5, but not without a fight. On Board 6,
Keith’s position was always cramped, and his
weak c pawn fell in the endgame, enabling his
opponent to force his own c pawn home. On Board
5, Dave Stuttard, the wildest of wild-cards,
sacrificed a pawn in the opening without having
much compensatory development, found a tactic
which looked as if he might suddenly be winning,
but then went down in flames.
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Cedar Court Pool |
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Facing a slow Queen’s Pawn
opening, I sacrificed a pawn temporarily to
become active, created a number of tactical
threats which my opponent successfully
parried, and peace was declared once the
minor pieces had been eliminated. The middle
game that Mike Mc Donagh reached from a
Botvinnik System was complex and difficult
to assess, but a sequence of exchanges left
his opponent with a passed central pawn
which settled the issue.
On Board 2, Colm’s activity in a
Queen’s Pawn Tarrasch kept him in the game for a
long time, but his opponent’s two bishops on an
open board led to his ultimate downfall. Not
unusually, this left Mike Johnson still playing
on Board 1, massively out-rated by possibly the
strongest player in the room, a Belgian I.M. A
pawn down in an endgame facing the bishop pair,
Mike boldly advanced his king and centralised
his knights to good effect, and then eliminated
enough pawns to draw the endgame. A tremendous
result, and if he can repeat such a feat we’ll
happily eat at supper-time again.
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Spirit of
Atticus B&C (Round 2) |
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Our experience on Sunday was
parallel to the B Team’s – a disappointing draw
against a weakened Jorvik team. On Board 6,
Keith scored his first win for the club in a
minor piece ending in which he developed a
decisive pin. Steve Lloyd on Board 5 lost a
piece in the middle-game and swiftly went
downhill. Not for the first time, I failed to
capitalise on a promising position with White
and could only draw following my opponent’s
resilient defence.
On Board 1, Tony stoutly
defended a Sicilian against an experienced 4NCL
practitioner, only to lose on time whilst being
‘squeezed’ in a queen and pawn ending. Steve
Connor, meanwhile, was creating a novelty in The
Exchange Caro-Kann, advancing his king to e2 in
line with established chess principles - but
seeming to have forgotten that the ending is not
normally reached in ten moves.
It looked as if
his opponent could have caused a lot of problems
with an early central pawn advance, but Steve
found a resource in an unusual knight move to
win the exchange and convert his advantage after
his opponent lost the tactical thread.
At this point, I have to confess
that I was unable to understand Mike McDonagh’s
messy game on the limited amount I saw. To give
you a flavour, when the draw was agreed, he had
queen and 4 pawns v rook and pawn about to
queen, but had to take perpetual check.
Another good weekend socially –
I hope the newcomers agree - with the food
and wine being served in the hotel restaurant by
young, enthusiastic and pleasant staff which
made for an enjoyable evening for all.
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