Ben Grafts - But No Toffee Apple

It was off to the Races last night with a good strong B team against University C but like the horses we caught a cold!

I stood aside - Ben (1) Andy Ward (2) Jude (3) and William (4).

Off to a flying, start. Ben, Andy and Jude all with very strong positions. It seemed to me that Ben's and Andy's games might be over before move 25 had been reached. Ben had what seemed to be a crushing attack against S. Bott - but, to recall Mr Lam's phrase, 'LOOKS good but IS it?' Well I thought it both looked good and was good. Although Black did have counter chances neither I nor Ben thought he had time to get going before Ben finished him off. Not so. Blam! Blam! Blam! by Black. Game over.

Andy had the same kind of situation - an apparently crushing attack - but he says he forgot his opponent (P. Pikmets) could castle! He lost a pawn and then another - but at the classic cost of tempi. Cleverly allowing himself to be 'saddled' with double isolated pawns on d4 and d5 Andy kept White's king at bay and ended up a pawn, White promoted to a queen first followed by Andy also promoting on the next move but the many checks by White could not stop Andy slowly pushing his pawn. Game over.

But first to finish was William who played very solidly but lost a few tempi in the opening and got squashed with resultant limited options. Going an exchange down Will battled manfully on and although the outcome was probably clear, he made his opponent (N Izzah) work hard for her eventual win.

But once again, possibly the most impressive performance was by Jude as White against J Alisen. In the face of Jude churning out one of his by now standard Londons Black played a queenside fianchetto. It is a tribute to Jude's understanding that now 'out of book' he was able to play solidly. Achieving a solid unremovable 'Octopus' knight (see Lam) on e5 Jude relentlessly limited his opponents options. Foreseeing well in advance the possibility of a draw by repetition Jude took the appropriate action the efficacy of which his opponent did not see and sacrificed a whole rook in the expectation of a draw - but Jude's king scuttled away to safety after which an immediate # was forced.

This makes it  nine wins out of eleven in the Cov. League, if I am not mistaken, for the young man! Not that the green eyed monster comes into it but I understand that the revised grading list now puts him a point lower than on first show - which means he is no longer graded higher then his captain!!!

So 2-2. Compared to the opening promise, a cold was caught but not flu! The draw was a very helpful addition to our position in the table.