So what's wrong with a little bit of self-satisfaction, anyway? Because right now, I've got a lot to be smug about. On Tuesday I beat Dimitar Daskalov of Warwick University A in our final Coventry League Division 1 fixture. He just happens to be graded 225 and, before our game, to have a Cov League record over the last two seasons of Played 22; Won 19; Drawn 3; Lost 0. Paul, twice, and myself, once, have hitherto been the only people able to avoid defeat against him.
On Tuesday against me, though, he had a real off-night, and by making an automatic recapture instead of first prodding my knight away from b5 with a6, he was quickly forced to give up his queen for a rook and bishop. Plus his pieces were hardly able to get off the back rank. Although I made hard work of realising the advantage, I got there in the end. In the process, Dimitar became the strongest player I have ever beaten. That honour previously belonged to an American called Jay Bonin who weighed in at a USCF rating of 2388 when I lowered his colours two days after my 30th birthday in 1984. Given my subsequent steady descent into senility, I had long since abandoned hopes of ever topping that, but a quick calculation converts a 225 ECF grade to an ELO of ........ 2388! But everyone knows ELO ratings are stronger than the same USCF grade, so I am claiming a new personal best, come what may! And there's more, because I see that when Paul beat James Jackson in a Leamington League match against Banbury in 2015 he "only" gained the scalp of a mere 224 rated player! So I am also claiming a new KCC record - at least in the modern era. (Which I define as when I joined the club! It's a bit like the way the Premier League tries to ignore the previous 100+ years of Division 1 football.)
But enough of me (is that possible?), what about the match? Well, we lost 3-1, but that was hardly a surprise (except that it wasn't 4-0), because the record breaking wasn't restricted to me on the evening. University A almost certainly set new records as both the strongest team ever fielded in the Coventry League and the strongest team ever to play against Kenilworth. They managed to get their four top players out on the same evening for the first time this season (in a meaningless match against us! - should we be flattered?) so that they averaged 215, with all four boards over 200. Now that is what you call a strong team!
Mike played a tremendous game against Guy Moss on Board 4, and seemed to have equalised from the opening and well into the middle game. But then a queen and bishop ending arrived in which White's queenside pawn majority suddenly came into play. Material was still level but White got himself a juicy passed pawn on c6 which Mike had to blockade with his queen on c7. The Black king couldn't get round to the c8 square because of a mate trick, and so White was able to march his king all the way from g1 to support the c6 pawn, while Mike was forced to remain passive. The arrival of the king broke the blockade and after a few checks had been avoided by White, the pawn was able to queen, just as Mike was losing on time. A very close run thing, and a draw would have been richly deserved.
Which is more than I can truthfully say about the games on Boards 2 and 3, where Ben and Carl did not do themselves justice against their very strong opponents, played probably their worst games of the season and lost rather disastrously. Enough said.
Nevertheless, this result, and Coventry Academy A's victory over Nuneaton B, ensured that we finished - as exclusively forecast here! - third, for our best placing yet in the Coventry League. That alone would almost be an excuse to justify an end of season social, but as we have secured an actual trophy by winning the Coventry League Divisional Cup, we fortunately already have sufficient cause. Is that another curry I can smell, or perhaps the aroma of an alternative cuisine? The Social Secretary is doubtless already plotting a suitable celebration. I can hardly wait.
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