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!
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