Keeping up our promotion challenge requires us to keep winning matches. So a match against Stratford is likely to be tough one as they generally have strength in depth in their regular team.
First to finish was Phil who was playing Colin Searle in a dutch defence. The game simplified into an ending where Phil had more space but could not utilise it in any useful way. Draw agreed.
Dave was playing David Gardiner in a London System game. White chose a sharp line but black defended adequately. The position looked balanced but then white managed to lose his bishop after it became trapped. White played on in an attempt to obtain a perpetual check but black managed to get his king into safety. White resigned when the queens were forced off.
Mike was playing Richard McNally with the black pieces. Having missed an opportunity to reach equality, black played an unfavourable ending in a blocked up position. White progressed the position and looked to have winning chances but some careless play in time trouble saw him fall into a trap which left him two pawns down and lost.
Ben had an extra pawn for most of the game against Richard Dobedoe. Unfortunately, he swapped off into an rook and pawn ending that turned to be surprising difficult to win. With both players down to their last few minutes, White lost his extra pawn and the ending looked even. Fortunately, at that point, Stratford lost on board 1 and the match was lost and so Richard agreed to a draw rather than risk a time scramble.
No comments:
Post a Comment