We kicked off 2017 by hosting Coventry A in the Divisional Cup last night and escaped with a point by the skin of our teeth. Not a bad effort when you consider that they averaged 163 to our 145 on the night, but I've gone to greater lengths than Carl did in his game against Tony Sadler (see Mark's previous column) to burn my score sheet, as my win wasn't really one for the album...
Dave Ireland and Carl played out an interesting game on top Board. A lot of material seemed to come off quite early and the endgame looked pretty level. Both players worked hard to make something of it, but not to be and a draw was agreed. Dave has caused us a few problems this season so a good result for Carl with Black.
On Board three, Dave Shurrock's game with Ed Goodwin saw a London. Dave came out with quite a good position and felt both sides perhaps missed opportunities in the middle game. A draw was agreed on move 41 in an ending where neither side had any real prospects of victory.
In a clear breach of protocol, Coventry fielded an actual player against Roy, who had seen his previous two opponents in the competition fail to turn up. An interesting game, but Roy was a pawn down in the ending and couldn't hold on.
So, we were 1 - 2 down. I was up against Bernard for the second time in a few weeks, after a pretty epic struggle before Christmas that had ended in a draw. I was definitely better out of the opening (probably significantly) but I played too slowly and Bernard came right back into the game. I ended up giving up the exchange to keep my attack going (frankly with few other palatable options) but Bernard defended comfortably and completely turned the tables. His previously passive white squared Bishop became a monster and all my pieces swarming around his King were completely un-coordinated and unable to land any meaningful blows. At the same time, my own King was becoming increasingly uncomfortable and the whole thing looked like it was falling apart.
The pressure continued to tell and I went from the exchange down to a Bishop and Pawn down, with my Queen and Rook against Bernard's Queen, Rook and Bishop, which were very close to forming a perfect mating net. I had a few checks and tried to force a draw by repetition but it looked like a long shot. My quickly (and rightly) rejected offer of a draw proved as much. But - I managed to force Bernard's king to march towards the Queen side, where I could then check it with my Rook, to get my two major pieces suddenly on the attack. If I ran out of checks I would be mated immediately and I was shaking like a leaf. Neither of us had any time left and what happened next was just a product of lack of time and the pressure of the situation rather than any great skill on my part. Instead of blocking my Rook check with his Bishop, Bernard moved his King to the B file and suddenly I had him. I forced his King to the A file and when he blocked my Queen check with his Queen I was able to force his King away from the defence of his Queen with a combination of Pawn and Rook checks. With the Queen about to drop, Bernard resigned.
Not something you would want to happen to a fellow Kenilworth player (even one in Coventry colours for the evening) so apologies Bernard...
As Mark said in his previous post, Chess is rather difficult, particularly for humans. A computer would have made a lot more of my early advantage just as it would have done likewise in relation to Bernard's super good later position. But hey, no computer gets to experience the roller-coaster of emotion that the rest of us do (for good or ill!) many of the times that we play.
Here's to all our teams having a great 2017!
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