A phrase which could have been uttered by either Kenilworth A or Solihull A last night, since it was our third meeting in the space of 33 days - our two league matches (one rearranged from before Christmas) having sandwiched a KO Cup semi-final. Whereas the first two encounters were of considerable competitive significance, the same could not really be said about the latest encounter - we had the Division 1 title already secured, and Solihull were sitting very comfortably in 3rd = position. So nothing really at stake, except a bit of pride and local bragging rights.
Lacking the services of both Jude and Javier, the Kenilworth match captain (that would be me) sprang a massive shock by turning the clock back a year (decade?) or two and naming the seldom seen Andy B on Board 1, where he faced one of the toughest tasks in the Leamington League - Black against Don Mason. He gave it a good shot and was one move away from securing excellent dynamic compensation for a pawn lost on b7, but after choosing the wrong square on the e file for his queen, Don showed excellent tactical control to reach a position with rook and bishop plus a couple of kingside pawns each - but with White having an extra monster pawn on c6. This proved irrelevant, though when Andy allowed his rook to be pinned against his king by Don's bishop, and it was 1-0 to Solihull. This was a good game by both players. But especially by Don.
Except it wasn't 1-0 to Solihull really, because we were already 2-0 up by that point. Andrew continued his impressive return to league action with a fascinating win against Ray Carpenter on Board 3. After a highly irregular opening, Ray fell into a cunning trap when he took a pawn that was so hot it was positively on fire. To his horror Ray found he could not maintain protection of his knight on e5 and Andrew duly annexed the piece and won not too long afterwards. Meanwhile Joshua was trying to push Tony Sadler's patent rope-a-dope/hedgehog type set-up off the board with a massive central and kingside pawn push. With his pieces flooding in behind this avalanche (is that a mixed metaphor?) and Tony's time disappearing down a black hole, there was only going to be one result.
Which left me in play against Neil Clarke on Board 2 as the last, and match deciding, game. Neil made an error in the opening and I immediately got what should have been a decisive advantage. But I made the mistake of threatening mate in one and although I won a pawn, I suddenly had to face a terrible attack down the h file and along the a8-h1 diagonal. It looked like curtains for a good few moves, but somehow my defences held, albeit with several inaccuracies from both players. Then with both of us in time trouble the smoke finally cleared and Neil was faced with the choice of being a piece down with no play, or a rook down with chances for a perpetual. He went for the second option, but after running away from a series of checks my king made it to safety on a2 and he had to resign. 3-1 to us in the end, but it could so easily have been 2-2.
It turned out to be a bad night in Kenilworth for Solihull, as while the two clubs' A teams were locking horns in the Committee Room, our D team was taking on Solihull C in a Division 3 match in the bar. Roy had assembled a rather useful side (understatement!) containing just the three juniors - Katya, Dhairya and Keatan - plus that wizened old veteran Harry on top board. Solihull made the mistake of having only 1 junior in their team, who drew against Harry, while our three all won in good style. This included a first Kenilworth win for Dhairya, making him the sixth junior to register a first win for us this season - following the examples of Katya, Keatan, Gregory, Lionel and George. When we throw the comparative veterans Jude and Billy into the equation that makes an amazing 8 juniors to have won for the club in 2022-23. Truly remarkable and a big thank you to Paul who has been so instrumental in this process. But an even bigger thank you to all the juniors for being such strong players at such young ages and for being an absolute credit to their parents and coach(es). And now a credit to KCC as well, of course!
After all these matches against Solihull A in such a short space of time, there are some very "familiar faces" amongst their players. Which just happened to remind me of a line from this week's song! Alright, the actual phrase in the song is "familiar places", but let's not start splitting hairs! Just enjoy another timeless rock 'n roll classic - and marvel as black and white becomes colour!
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