The new league season kicked off for KCC last night as the C and D teams met in a Division 2 encounter. I'm not sure if this is the first time ever that our C and D teams have been in the same division (probably not), but I'm pretty sure its the first time its happened since I joined the club, and it must almost certainly be the first time its ever occurred in Division 2.
On paper there really wasn't much to choose between the teams, with the C team's grading edge being compensated by the more youthful nature of the D team. (And yes, I do realise that Phil was in the D team!)
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| Kenilworth D v Kenilworth C - left-right, Dhairya, Phil, Ben, Keatan, Mike, Bernard, Harry, George |
There was a very dramatic start to the match when Dhairya trapped George's queen in very short order to give the D team a surprise early lead. George's head was already clearly in University mode - even though he's not starting for more than a week yet! - as he failed to notice that his queen on h5 was going to be trapped by Black's Bg4. And it was! A painful way for George to lose his 100% record for the club, but an excellent start to the season for Dhairya.
C team captain Harry immediately came to his side's rescue, though, downing Phil in very clinical style, and making it 2-0 to the Black pieces. If the position I later saw on the board was the actual game, then the decisive blow had been a Qb6+ move by Black, which was picking up a loose bishop on b2. Ouch!
But after this early exchange of wins, the match was very much in the balance. I stayed away, but my spies told me it was all to play for. Keatan and Mike were equalish on Board 1, but Keatan was burning the clock. On Board 2, Bernard C had sacrificed a pawn against Ben for considerable compensation in the form of very active pieces. This could go either way. But then the match situation clarified, as time pressure reared its ugly head. Keatan blundered badly against Mike in a difficult position and lost two whole pieces, which immediately decided the outcome, even though the game continued for several more moves. This put the C team 2-1 ahead, but Ben was defending heroically on the remaining board, and despite his clock running dangerously low, he was able to give back a pawn to get all the major pieces off and establish a drawn position. Unfortunately, this couldn't save the match for the underdogs, but it did mean that the C team had only won by the narrowest possible margin.
An excellent match, played in an excellent spirit with no quarter asked or given, which confirmed that both these teams are going to be very competitive in Division 2 this season - especially when thinking of those who were missing from last night's battle, such as Billy, Katya, Bernard R and Rhys to name just four!
Its another local derby next week, when the A and B teams have their by now traditional early season dust-up, and looking at the two teams intended line-ups, I'm predicting another close match, as there is very little between the two teams on paper, which reflects the number of strong players the club can currently boast. A win for the underdogs is definitely not out of the question!
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