It's hard to argue with the accuracy of Roy's description (see immediately preceding Blog post) of Kenilworth's 3.5-1.5 win over Shirley in the final of the Leamington League Open KO Cup, though I think I prefer my more specific summary to his!
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| The victorious KCC teams, pre-match: (L-R; Keatan, Javi, Mark, Roy, Jude, Patrick, Josh, Andrew, Katya) Memo to Keatan - Bruce Springsteen is the Boss, not you! |
This was our 3rd successive win in this competition, and our 9th in total. We fielded a strong team, and while Shirley also mobilised all their eligible troops we held a rating advantage on every board and started as favourites. Now my reporting on the action from this match is going to be rather vague, as basically I saw nothing of what happened. I only got up from my own board once all evening and I was also the last to finish, so most of what follows is hearsay. Inadmissable in a court of law, but quite acceptable in the KCC Blog!
Having won the toss (at least I did something right that night!), we had three White games, but it was our two games with Black which finished first - both in our favour. Andrew P was sat right next to me, so I was able to hear quite clearly when a rather shell-shocked Dave Thomas said, "Oh, is that mate?" It certainly was, and I'm pretty sure that before Dave's final move there had been no mate in one available, though my undercover informant (who we will refer to as JP to preserve his anonymity) tells me that Andrew was winning anyway. Almost immediately Javi won against Marcus Walsh on Board 2 after a game where there may have been a decisive check delivered on f2 by a Black knight. At least that's what I think JP said! Shortly after Jude (who seemed to have no idea of why he was present and what the occasion was!) drew against Phil Purcell on Board 1, having been better and probably winning according to Deep Throat/JP.
This meant that we were 2.5-0.5 ahead, and already assured of victory, as even if Shirley won both the remaining boards, they would then lose on tie break by the elimination of the Board 5 result. But in fact, we won another point on that board after Joshua's pawn sac in the opening against Darren Whitmore eventually paid dividends and he ended up a decisive pawn ahead in a knight endgame. Which left me in play against Jonathan Dale, in a game I shall try to expunge from my memory forever. First I had a tremendous position from the opening. Then I hit on totally the wrong plan and went from much better to worse to lost as I got completely outplayed. But I got very lucky as my opponent missed some decisive moves that would have ended the game on the spot and from nowhere I got doubled rooks on the 7th and an attack which looked certain to deliver mate. But then I experienced a very strange - and I hope not to be repeated - meltdown when one of my dominant rooks was attacked and, in time trouble, I picked up the rook that hadn't been attacked and put it on the square I meant to move the other rook to. Total disaster, and a virtually instant loss. My first of the season in the Leamington League, too. Still, the team won, he said through gritted teeth, which is the only thing that really matters.
Which brought a very successful season to a close, as we gathered our fourth and fifth trophies on the night. Many thanks and congratulations to everyone who has contributed to these victories and to making the club the terrific chess community it has become.
No particular reason for our finishing song. except that it's just pure musical magic. You people are so lucky to have me choosing this stuff for you!
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