Another Intra-club Encounter

Seven days on from the C v D match, this week it was the turn of the A and B teams to go head to head as both kicked off their Division 1 programmes. I find it hard to imagine that there has ever been a stronger Kenilworth B team than the one to take to the battlefield yesterday, but equally, the A team was pretty meaty too, and the spectators (Harry and, at times, our E team players Steph, Solomon and Rhys, who were simultaneously beating Stratford D 3-0 next door) were provided with a rich evening's entertainment from a full-on encounter.

When Worlds Collide! The heavyweight Kenilworth A v B match - (left-right}: Andy, Mark, Javi, Jude, Andrew, Josh, Mike, Bernard

It was well after 22.00 that the first game finished, and uncharacteristically it was my game on Board 3 against Mike. We both got our move orders wrong in the opening, but it seemed to affect Mike more and he soon had to give up an exchange for a pawn to avoid a total calamity. He was on the verge of establishing a fortress to keep one of my rooks out of the Black position, but time trouble meant it was very difficult to find the precise defence needed, and when both rooks broke through to the Black king it was mate.

Shortly afterwards, a very eventful game on Board 4 between Bernard C and Andy finished in a draw -  result which seemed the least likely outcome for most of the evening! Bernard gave up his fianchettoed bishop for a knight on c6, which left Andy's pawn structure in ruins, but also Bernard's king rather devoid of defenders. But even though Andy got a very dangerous kingside attack going, that I felt was bound to win material, Bernard defended resolutely and suddenly was 2 pawns up and seemingly winning. Quite what then happened I'm not sure, but at least one of Bernard's extra pawns was very weak, and opposite bishops were also involved. A close escape for both players I reckon, so a draw must have been a fair result.

But this was to be as good as it got for the B team, as two further wins followed for the A team, but in very contrasting styles. On top board, Jude and Andrew had a real heavyweight encounter, which probably featured some rather good chess. Completely to my surprise, Andrew played something which looked distinctly like main line theory and a big battle ensued. At one point Jude had sacrificed a pawn to get a monster knight on d5 with lots of tactical threats. I missed much of the action, but later I did see that Jude had two bishops for a rook and pawn (maybe even 2?) but how he eventually won totally escaped me. But win he did, as did Javi against Joshua on Board 2, though Josh must have antagonised the chess gods something wicked to have lost this game. It looked like he was all over Javi, with the Black queen on the verge of being trapped for some time, but somehow it refused to die. Josh tells me he was more than +4 at one point, but when the great scorer in the sky came to write down the result at the end of the evening it was 1-0 to Javi. A very fortunate escape. Funny how strong players get all the luck, isn't it?

No time for either side to rest on their laurels/lick their wounds (delete as applicable), as they are both back in action next week. Its all go in the Leamington League!

Bit of a novelty for this week's music, as I'm not sure I like this song at all. But since it's titled Springsteen, it simply demands to be played anyway! And a 10 point bonus to anyone who's ever heard of Eric Church.