The last two Tuesdays have seen us in Coventry League Division 1 action against Warwick University's top two teams. We definitely didn't come away from these two encounters with First Class Honours, but I guess we just about scraped a 2.2. Not all bad, though, considering we had to play both matches without Jude.
First up were Warwick Uni B, who we just about despatched by the minimum score of 2.5-1.5. In the KCC archives, this match will chiefly be remembered for the brutally successful Board 1 debut of (possibly) our first ever Spanish member, Javier Valdepenas. Within about 10 moves he was a rook up, and the game was already effectively over. A very fast start to what I hope will be an enjoyable Kenilworth playing career. Mike doubled our lead after a strange game, where both queens ended up on very weird squares - Mike's on g2 (where it went via b3, c2, f5 and h3 - and Black's on h6. Mike annexed Black's IQP and invaded on the 8th rank for a decisive win. So far, so straightforward, but on the two remaining boards, matters were anything but simple.
First, Ben managed to lose. He seemed to be doing well immediately out of the opening, but then it all went pear shaped. His queen side pieces got stuck and his king started to look very lonely on the king side. When he had to play Rh8 to stop White playing Rh7 mate it was clear he wasn't hanging on much longer. Which was what I was doing on Board 2, against a ludicrously under-rated player sporting the delightful name of F.Roth. His play was anything but superficial, and after winning a pawn by seeing more than me, he engineered a very favourable queen and minor piece ending. Under clock pressure I went totally haywire and allowed a passed pawn to queen - only being able to eliminate it by giving up a piece by a massive stroke of luck. When the queens were immediately swapped off, I had four pawns against a bishop and three. It was hopelessly lost and for several moves in a row, White just had to give a check and the game would have ben over. But he didn't, and with me now ahead on the clock, and the match being played without any increment, I very luckily established a position where I could force off the last White pawn. So, a draw, you say? Well. yes ....... except that by now White had only 4 seconds on his clock, while I had a minute or so. He could not physically have eliminated both my remaining pawns in the time available, let alone queened and mated me, but .......... I really couldn't bring myself to do it, and offered a draw to win the match. Am I going soft in my old age? Doing the decent thing cost me 7 rating points, but at least I can live with myself.
This week the opposition ratcheted up a notch, as we faced the University A team, and they chose this week to turn out there strongest team of the season so far. We had the same four players back in action, but there was to be no happy result this time around. Javier was again first to finish, but not in a good way, as he was outplayed by Viktor Stoyanov in a Spanish - ironic or what?? I followed suit, losing against A. Cont after an interesting game where I was fine or better until very near the end. Even after dropping a pawn I should have held easily, but time trouble derailed me and I blundered fatally in what had already become a lost position.
Ben had a strange game on Board 4 against Tom Brown in which absolutely no pawns were exchanged. And with all the heavy pieces and two sets of minor pieces still on, the board was very crowded, and totally blocked, when a draw was agreed. Which Mike took as the signal to offer another draw to Ivan Nikolov in a very interesting position, which might have been winning for him. He was an exchange down, but had a massive passed pawn on c7 and a firmly entrenched knight on d5. Black certainly wasn't doing anything but hanging on, but any win for Mike was far from straightforward.
Bizarrely, this heavy defeat took us back to the top of the table, since Nuneaton A didn't play, and our 1 game point put us half a game point ahead of them. But we have played a game more. And University A are back in the title reckoning, too. The Uni A - Nuneaton A match on February 28th will be pivotal. We have to hope that Uni A will field an equally strong team in that match as they did against us.
Apropos of feeling a bit sore about last night's result, I should probably throw in a bit more misery by mentioning a heavy home defeat for the C team in the Leamington League against Olton B on Monday, which leaves them rooted to the bottom of the Division 2 table. Time for an injection of youth into the team, I think!
We stay with the academic theme for this week's musical number. "Two degrees in bebop, a PhD in swing; He's a master of rhythm, he's a rock and roll king." Yes, once again, it's the brilliant Little Feat.
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