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!
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