When Is 2.5 ≠ 2.5?

When it's a Leamington League Cup match, of course. As then we need a tie break to see who has actually won. And, as I'm sure you are familiar with, Rule 22 says "In Team Knock-Out Cups, if the matches are drawn the result shall be decided by board elimination." For which we have very good reason to be thankful, as it enabled us to scrape over the line against Olton in our first round Open KO Cup match this week. It really shouldn't have been necessary, since we had a clear rating advantage on every board, and at various stages of the evening it looked like it was going to finish about 4-1 to us. But there's many a slip twixt cup and lip!

We had a very strong team out, but the expected flow of points just didn't happen. Javi was the first to finish, on Board 2 against Mark Cundy, but after a lot of opening theory had been put on the board, it turned out White had precisely no advantage, and when it came down to opposite bishops and hardly any pawns on the board, a draw was inevitable. Quite a bit later Jude followed suit, but after a very much more exciting game against Alan Lloyd on top board. Jude won (or Alan sacked) a pawn and sometime later Alan sacked a piece. I gave up looking at the position as it was too difficult for my brain, but - possibly the least likely outcome after all these complications - it ended as a draw. So Olton had done a good job of neutralising us on the top two boards, but there was nothing to worry about, as we had a 2-300 point rating edge on the other three, so the match was surely a foregone conclusion, right? Wrong!

But it all happened in a bit of a haze as far as I was concerned, since I was far too occupied with my own game against Richard Reynolds on Board 3 to see what happened on the other two boards. All of a sudden, though, I looked around the room and discovered mine was the only game still in progress. What had happened? Well, first Joshua had contrived to lose on Board 5 against Richard Liszewski, having seemingly been virtually winning from a very early stage of the game. Super-spectator Paul Lam subsequently rattled off a few lines which would have been a big improvement on Joshua's play - and I have such confidence in Paul's analysis that I christened him LamFish - KCC's human answer to StockFish! This could have been a total disaster, but for the fact that Bruce rose to the occasion and struck back with a win against Rob Reynolds on Board 4. I last noticed this game sometime after 22.00, when it had been in progress for over two and a half hours - and just a single pawn exchange had occurred. I thought Bruce might be better, but with30 pieces/pawns on the board who can tell what's going to happen? Thankfully what happened was that Bruce sacked a piece for two pawns and a massive pawn roller supported by a strong bishop pair. He was winning, but then he messed it up, only for Rob to return the favour and Bruce was able to bring home the full point which we - ultimately - seriously needed.

So now I knew that I only needed a draw to win the match for us on tie break. I had been better for the whole game and as we descended into mutual time trouble my advantage got bigger and bigger. But I missed an elementary winning line and both players were floundering around in a bit of a daze when news of the other games was finally conveyed to me. I immediately set about swapping off as many pieces as possible to avoid any major accidents, and eventually we came down to a rook and pawn ending - and Richard immediately blundered a pawn away to give me another winning position. But - quite in character - I eschewed this latest opportunity and simplified further, when a little thought would have enabled me to win a second pawn, as Javi pointed out to me as soon as I had agreed the draw (still a pawn up and still with a possible winning plan that I could have tried, risk-free). But I had had enough! Another massive disappointment for me, though, having failed to win from a queen for 2 minor pieces advantage against Richard just a couple of months ago in the Phil Holt Memorial Team Tournament. I dare not look to see how many rating points those two games have cost me!

Well, a happy ending, of sorts, but without Bruce's win on Board 4 we would have been sunk. All credit to Olton for a massive team effort, which just came up short. And all credit to the Leamington League for their inspired adoption of Rule 22. Jimi Hendrix once sang that "If 6 turned out to be 9, I don't mind", but you'll notice Jimi very pointedly did not say anything about numbers 4 and 5. As it transpired in this match, I would definitely have minded if 4 had turned out to be 5! 

Up for the Cup!

 Last year we entered the U8750 Cup as the defending champions, only to fall at the very first hurdle. Returning to Banbury, a week on from our triumph in the League, we made it through to the next round but it was a tougher evening than the final score suggested. It is fair to say that on a rainswept night, there was more than a storm or two raging at the board...

All the early action was on Board 4. Banbury's Chris Evans looked very keen to avenge his loss against Katya in last week's League game, and launched a brutal assault on Bernard Roger's kingside, straight out of the gate. Chris threw his pieces forward with the force of a hurricane, leaving Bernard desperately trying to batten down the hatches. Bernard put up a good fight, but for the second week in a row Chris was the first to finish. Unfortunately, this time he had put Banbury 1-0 up.

My view from Board 3 was certainly not the best at this stage of the proceedings. Keaton's position against Nathan Manley on Board 2 was also pretty dreadful. He was down material and I feared we were on the brink of going 2-0 down. But as they say, it's often darkest just before the dawn, and if the sun did not exactly start to shine, this is when everything started to change.

Firstly Solomon who was making a welcome appearance on Board 5, steadied our nerves a bit by bringing home the full point against Richard Meakins. I didn't see a huge amount of this one, but Solomon always looked very comfortable to me, and while credit is due to Richard for a good effort against a stronger opponent, Solomon had got the job done with something to spare. So 1-1.

On Board 3, I was up against Mal Waddall for the second week in a row, with the same colours. I switched openings from my improvised efforts last week which had secured a great position and ultimately the win, and went for something more tried and tested. Predictably, I got a lot less from it and soon we were in a very tight game, which always looked destined to go to the wire, as it ultimately did.

Meanwhile, our debutant Paul Badger was giving Paul Rowan the run around on Board 1, with a terrific looking kingside attack, albeit Paul Rowan was defending doggedly. So my guess as to the final match score at this stage was that we would likely draw 2.5-2.5, with us going through on board count (so no margin), but then lightning struck! 

Nathan had been drifting into time trouble, and while he still had much the better position, it was clear that the strength of Keaton's resistance was beginning to tell. Nathan had four minutes left to Keaton's forty-four, and just seemed to be losing the thread, when astonishingly he dropped his queen to a knight fork and immediately resigned. I doubt Keaton will see this as having been one of his better games, but he showed real strength of character. It was clear that his practical match play and never say die attitude had won us the point.

As a captain, I was delighted that we were now 2-1 up and that thanks to Paul, we were also clearly winning on Board 1. However, as a player, I now had to resist Mal. He had clearly realised that he was going to have to win our game to give Banbury any chance. Just as earlier in the week against Coventry, I found myself in a minor pieces endgame, but this one was a lot more active. At one point I thought I was better, at another Mal managed to get his knight onto a killer square and I clearly wasn't. Somehow I brought things back to equality, and reached a moment where I might have actually been ahead again. (While we both thought so at the time, subsequent analysis showed that it was not clear cut.) Mal had 4 minutes left, I had 20 seconds and happily took the draw he offered. So 2.5-1.5.

But we weren't quite done. Paul Badger needed at least a draw. Up the exchange and with a lot of play, it seemed like he was very close, but Paul Rowan is a real fighter. As the clocks ticked down, Paul Rowan generated some counterplay with a passed pawn that reached the second rank. At all times Paul Badger was better, but playing on embers it was easy to envisage a mistake being made. Paul Rowan eschewed a perpetual check that would have cost Banbury the match, but the reality was that he did not have anything better and Paul Badger did not give him another chance to split the point - forcing resignation in the final seconds. An amazing debut performance! 

So, a tense and stormy night. I didn't feel the same euphoria as last week, when driving home on soaking wet roads. More a sense of relief that we'd got the job done. Now we can plan for the next round. With the squad we've got, we're certainly going to give reclaiming the Cup a good go!

Scapa Flow Comes to Kenilworth

In June 1919, a German Captain (alright, he was an Admiral actually, but let's not get bogged down by details) gave the order to scuttle the entire German fleet that had been detained in Scapa Flow since the end of WW1. In October 2023, a Kenilworth Captain, rather less deliberately, sank his own team and brought the club's unbeaten record for the season to a shuddering end. 

Yes, by losing to Georgs Vikanis - with White - in just 24 moves, I more or less instantly condemned Kenilworth A to defeat against Banbury A. Woe is me. Especially as I subsequently discovered, thanks to our good friends Mr Stockfish and Mr Fritz, that just when I essentially self destructed, I had a very strong continuation that would have left me at least equal, and probably better. Unfortunately, chess is a difficult game and this encounter had been on a knife edge ever since I grabbed a pawn at the expense of allowing a Black knight to get to e3. With Black's queen's bishop and rook seemingly incarcerated on their starting squares I couldn't see how the remainder of the Black pieces could do me significant damage. And I was almost right, even though the whole game was extremely difficult and tense and I was clearly having to fight hard to contain the very dangerous Black initiative. In the end it was all too much for me, and Georgs finished brilliantly, after what had been a terrific game by him.

This debacle was soon followed by a draw on Board 3, where Bruce and Danut Joian repeated moves in a position where Bruce was a pawn down and left with little choice but to gratefully take the chance to get half a point. Things hadn't looked entirely convincing for us on Board 4, either, where Andrew was taking on Gary Jackson's Dragon in some mainline theory. I missed almost the entire game but despite some apparently dodgy moments, Andrew eventually came through to win and tie the match score.

But ....... Banbury had come with a very strong side - and had somehow coaxed IM James Jackson to the board for the first time in more than 3 years. He was doubtless expecting to face Jude on Board 1, but our man had succumbed to covid and it was very fortunate for us that Javier was available as a late substitute to at least ensure we had someone who could put up a serious fight. And he played an excellent game and looked to be at least equal for the entire evening, until, after having to play on the increment for about 30 moves in a double rook, then single rook, ending, he made a fatal mistake and allowed the White king to make a decisive entry into his position at around move 80. A great shame after playing a very strong game.

And so the Captain had indeed scuttled his own team and cost it the match. Sigh. But at least it provided an excuse to give everyone a history lesson!

With some prescience, though, the Captain had already rested himself from the team for the following night's Coventry League encounter with Coventry A. When you are fighting on so many fronts, you need a bit of squad rotation to keep things fresh, as Pep, Jurgen and I have all discovered. And happily, it turned out to be an inspired decision, because we were able to secure a 3-1 win, which temporarily puts us top of the league, thanks to a very strong looking Warwick Uni A having a bye this week.

Ben was first to finish, drawing very comfortably - and probably from a position of slight advantage - against Ed Goodwin on Board 4. As it could well have taken 50 moves to make any progress at all in the triple minor piece ending, though, there was plenty of scope for things to go wrong, and a draw looked like a sensible decision from a match perspective. Because Bruce had been winning against Joshua Pink (opposition players must be named in full - we can't get over familiar with these people, after all!) straight out of the opening. After first going a pawn up, he converted that to an exchange, and while his technique may not have been Capablanca-like in its precision, it was good enough to eventually bring home the full point.

And this was followed moments later by another full point from Mike, against Jonathan Fowler - even though this had seemed highly unlikely for much of an eventful evening. To begin with, it looked like the Curse of Donnelly had struck again, as Jonathan was nowhere to be seen. Eventually he arrived - at 19.59, 1 minute before default time. Talk about cutting things fine! This must have discombobulated Mike, as within a few moves his position looked like a car wreck - white pawns had got to d5 and e6 and while these were cleared away a White knight jumped into e6. For reasons that were too deep for me, Mike decided to give up an exchange and play on rook for knight down. But while my back was turned - alright, I was watching the England - Italy match on TV (though I managed to miss two of the goals by foolishly going off to watch the chess) - Mike got his exchange back, and established a totally drawn position. But Jonathan declined Mike's draw offer and kept playing - only to somehow blunder a piece and give the game away. Which meant the match was ours!

I was expecting another full point on Board 1, where Javier had been slowly outplaying Francis Sagyaman with the Black pieces. But despite whizzing through the opening at the speed of light, he still managed to get himself into some serious time trouble while searching for a way to make his advantage count. He won a pawn, but Francis found an excellent response which unleashed his queen to harry the Black minor pieces, while also threatening perpetual checks against the Black king. Which is what happened, and so for the second night running the clock had cost Javi half a point. I think he is definitely spending too much time in Paul's company - how else to explain this time trouble addiction?!

At least the Coventry League team lifted my sinking spirits (another Scapa Flow reference!) a bit, but what I could really do with after Monday night's cold bath (yet another water-based remark! How do I do it?) is a good friend to put an arm around my shoulder and cheer me up. Someone like Clarence Clemons, for instance!

You Can't Win Anything With Kids

Well, so said the football commentator Alan Hansen, as he opined sceptically on Manchester United's young, new look team. A group which happened to contain the then relatively unknown Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, and some bloke called David Beckham. Fortunately, at Kenilworth, we've always been a much better judge of youthful talent than many a football pundit! Katya and Keatan both fully justified their positions on the top two boards, in what turned out to be a fantastic victory last night, against a very strong Banbury B. 

The evening started a little more eventfully than I would have liked, with some debate as to where Banbury were actually playing their home matches this season. A few phone calls later, it was clear that it is indeed the Hanwell Fields Community Centre, but it transpired there was no great rush. As is probably written into the Banbury constitution, the person with the key to the centre did not turn up until 7.30, and we did not get underway until about 7.45.

When we did start, I spent most of the first 30 minutes watching Katya playing blitz against the equally quick-moving Chris Evans. A very interesting opening and middle game quickly came and went, and then things slowed down half a notch, in a pawn and same coloured bishop ending. Katya had an outside passed pawn and her exceptional technique was plain to see. Chris was left desperately trying to ward off multiple pawns with a bishop that could defend some but not all of the key squares. It was then just a matter of time (and actually not very much time.) Katya had put us 1-0 up well before 9.00! A fantastic achievement. Chris is a very good player, but Katya made it look easy, bringing home the full point on Board 2.

I was on Board 3 against Mal Waddall. We've had many interesting games over the years, but I ranked my defeat against him in a League game last season as one of my most painful, as he just squeezed me out in an endgame that I really should have held. I was determined to redeem myself! I switched to 1.d4 on the spur of the moment and felt pretty comfortable out of the opening. I found a nice tactic, and picked up a pawn. We ended up in an ending of queen, bishop and five (me), versus queen, knight and four (Mal). I tried to force the queens off, but when Mal attempted to avoid the exchange I found another tactic, which was set to pick up a second pawn. The game was lost for Mal at this point, but he blundered and then resigned. So 2-0!

Then the real agony started. Keatan was playing very well on Board 1 against Paul Rowan, but it was extremely hard to judge who was winning. Meanwhile, Phil was up against it on Board 4. Nick Martin had established a Steinitz knight on e6. The stuff of chess player's nightmares the world over. Yet Phil was doggedly trying to shift it, and had the potential to open the Kingside and turn the tables if he could. I paced a lot. I had a nice chat with Nash, telling him with utter confidence that it was going to be a late night... On returning to the playing hall, Keatan's game was over, and a draw had been agreed!

Paul told me that he thought he was winning, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed that Keatan might be better. Keatan was a touch disappointed as he felt the same. It certainly did not look clear cut to me, and while Keatan's will to win shows an excellent attitude, taking the draw was exactly what the team needed to secure a brilliant victory! So all credit to him.

Sadly, Phil lost the battle with Nick's knight shortly afterwards. A tough game, and it's only a matter of time until results start going Phil's way again. Most importantly, we'd got the job done and had beaten one of the strongest teams in the Division. 

I said at the start of the season that I was really excited as to what the D team could achieve this season. With Dhairya (who was unavailable last night, but had an excellent win in our narrow defeat against the C team) also in our squad, we've absolutely got youth on our side. 

And for older hands like me, who have experienced far too many painful nights for both teams and individually, this was one of those that made it all feel worth it! I drove home feeling much as I did on childhood Christmas Days! 

Return of the Twofer!

Not exactly by popular demand, but simply because once the Coventry League starts and I'm often playing on consecutive nights, even I don't have time (or energy!) to write separate match reports. And at least this way you only have to suffer one example of my exquisite musical taste each week, so everyone's a winner. (And that's definitely not a clue to this week's song!)

So, on Monday the A team had its third match of the season, with what looked like a tough encounter away against Shirley A. Shirley hadn't had the best possible start to the season, by somehow losing to their own B team, but they fielded a pretty useful side against us and I expected a very close match. I was wrong!

Crazy things happened right from the start on Board 4, where Josh had Black against Jonathan Dale. He won a couple of pawns very quickly, and then temporarily seemed to have an extra piece as well. He gave back an exchange for a pawn, but the position was very complex, with neither king safe. I may be doing the players a mis-service, but I got the impression that after every move the advantage was possibly changing from one side to the other. Well, chess is a difficult game! Except when you get gifted a rook, which is what happened to Joshua, and it was 1-0 to us. Almost immediately it was 2-0, as Bruce, making his belated Leamington League debut for us on Board 3, was also gifted a full point when Marcus Walsh played a combo which just didn't work and cost him a piece and the game.

Meanwhile, I had survived a slight scare in the opening to get a very good position with Black against Russell James on Board 2. I missed a very strong continuation, but was still clearly better when - as soon as Bruce's game was over - I decided to offer a draw to make sure we clinched the match. Russ had little alternative but to accept, as he was also well behind on the clock. This just left Javi in play, against Phil Purcell on Board 1. Javi was applying some slight, but persistent pressure to the Black position, and eventually the tension was too much for Phil who allowed a Bxf7+ sacrifice which couldn't be taken because of mate. But declining it was not much better, and it was soon an excellent win for Javi, to round out a good evening's work by the team. Though a bit galling that I was the only one not to win, despite having the clearest winning position of everybody for quite a large part of the evening!

Fast forward 24 hours, and it was time for our annual trip to Nuneaton for the first match in our defence of the Coventry League Division 1 title. Arriving slightly later than ideal due to some rather heavy traffic, my rather frazzled mood wasn't improved on discovering that Nuneaton had their strongest possible team out, which meant we were rather up against it.

And things started to go wrong quite quickly, as Bruce played in very optimistic style against Phil Briggs on top board and his position began to unravel from quite early on. Mike drew quite quickly against Paul Davies on Board 3, which meant that our two boards with the White pieces had yielded a solitary half a point. And as things weren't exactly going our way on the two remaining boards, either, it all looked a bit bleak. But cometh the hour, cometh the Kenilworth heroes!

First Keatan, on his Coventry League debut, showed great resilience and fighting spirit to hold a draw against Tony Green, despite being down a queen for rook and minor piece. This kept - just - our heads above water, and meant that everything depended on my game with Maurice Staples. Remarkably we started with exactly the same opening line I had had against Paul Davies (who was sat right next to me last night) in an online league match during Covid - right up to Maurice playing exactly the same bad move (7 c4) which allowed me to play Nd3+ with a big advantage. Which I squandered on the very next move - with exactly the same inaccuracy as I had against Paul! We are supposed to learn from our mistakes, but seemingly that's beyond some of us. The game carried on and it was sort of level and rather tense. But I was conscious that I had to try and win for us to have any chance of saving the match. So with Maurice's clock ticking down, I decided to go for it, and sacked an exchange for two pawns. Unfortunately, White got an active rook on the seventh which might even have given him the advantage. But whether by design or oversight, he allowed me to skewer his rooks, which forced a trade to a rook and opposite bishops ending with me having a single extra pawn. I had to keep the rooks on to have any chance of winning ....... but I couldn't and it looked like a stone cold draw. Which it was until, again under great clock pressure, Maurice blundered his f2 pawn away, and suddenly I was able to create passed pawns on each side of the board, one of which was going to queen. Phew!  To paraphrase Nigel Short, God is not a Nuneatonian!

Which meant that we somehow kept intact the club's unbeaten record against third parties this season - the C team having drawn against Olton B on Monday night. Now its down to the D team to keep the run going against Banbury B tomorrow. Good luck, folks! You don't want to be the first team to let the side down!

Truly, last night we escaped by the skin of our teeth - but somehow we made it out of the darkness. Cue this week's song from Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. Nearly 40 years old, but still packing one hell of a punch. A great song, and a great performance.

A match of two halves

A slightly belated report on recent B team exploits, with the delay in no way caused by how absolutely appalling my game in this match was.

We will start with the better parts though, which were two nice wins by Bernard and Mike. Mike's game was particularly smooth. A late arrival by his opponent left open the possibility for a while that Mike could once again not be required to play a game of chess in one of his appearances (a surprisingly common occurrence these days), but even his eventual arrival at the board didn't seme to improve his opponent's chances very much. A smooth Catalan opening as white, giving his usual opening advantage, the magnitude of which can be judged by the fact that toward the end he was choosing not to win pieces as stronger moves were available.

Bernard's victory seemed somewhat less convincing, at least to everyone other than him. Playing some Dutch looking position as black, he ended up subjected to a kingside pawn storm from Chris Evans, and had to give up the exchange for a pawn to keep things somewhat under control. From both looking during the game, and seeing the post-mortem, I am convinced Bernard was in a lot of trouble most of the way through. However, Bernard seemed to have great confidence in his position and, in a sign that confidence can triumph over objective truth, ended up putting his extra pawn to good use (specifically, the use of becoming a queen) to win the game.

At this stage we were 2-0 up, and you might think the match was looking good, but unfortunately was already pretty much nailed on to be a draw. Not much more needs to be said about my game than to look at my kingside position after around 15 moves.

For various reasons, my bishop was never going to be able to return via f1, leaving me needed to play the moves h4, g5, Bh3, Bg4, Kh2 and Kh3 to have a decent position. Very unsportingly, Nathan did not decide to allow me to play all those moves, and unceremoniously crashed through on the queenside to win the game. That makes it 1 win in my last 12 games now - sigh. Still, I did sor e6/6 to win the unrated season opening Coventry League rapid tournament, proving I can still play chess when it absolutely does not matter.

That left Andy P, also on the black side of a Dutch, and also in trouble. A decent opening had converted into a position where he was down a pawn, with another isolated pawn, less space, and unsafe king and little active prospects. He did have the bishop pair, but in such a way that his opponent's knight was able to dominate both of Andy's bishops. I'm really not sure how it went quite so downhill quite so fast, but it really was rather ugly to behold (even if not as ugly as my position above) so a 2-2 draw in the match was the result.

Not bad, not great, and ceratinly work to do for the players on boards 1 and 2.