Job Done

So there you have it. The Division 1 season has finally come to an end, with the A team - after already clinching a fourth consecutive title after beating Stratford A on March 25th - playing two competitively meaningless fixtures in the last week. Our star top two boards took a well earned rest, and with the B team's season already concluded there was no problem in still being able to field strong line-ups in each match. Even if they may not have looked that strong with me on Board 1!

Last week we travelled to Solihull, and returned home with 2 more points after a 3-1 win. Bruce and Andy B packed too big a punch for the home team on Boards 3 and 4 and took us most of the way to the winning line. I especially liked Andy's clean transition to a winning bishops of the same colour ending, while Bruce's victory was gained in typically chaotic/creative style. And talking of chaos, we were actually losing on the top two boards for quite some time. I dropped an exchange against Don Mason after overlooking that a tiny little move by him (pawn from f7 to f6) suddenly set up a cheapo that I had seen didn't work the move before. Thankfully I got a pawn in compensation, but I was dead lost nevertheless. But Don got himself into serious time trouble and made a couple of inaccuracies which enabled me to get an equal position. However, I then went wrong again and grabbed a second pawn which gave him the edge again, but as he was down to 20 seconds by this stage - and the correct sequence was not easy to find - he felt obliged to offer a draw. Andrew's game against Ray Carpenter on Board 2 was even more erratic. Andrew was clearly better but completely overlooked a big knight fork, which cost him an exchange. Somehow, though, he fought back so strongly that he ended up in a winning position thanks to a monster passed pawn and a very active king. But just as it looked like he would pull off a win, there was another change of fortune, and Ray somehow salvaged a draw.

And then last night it was off to Olton for the final league match of the season. The team was the same as against Solihull, except that Joshua came in as a replacement for Andy who - of course - could not possibly be available for two matches in a row! And in an uncanny repeat of the previous week, his Board 4 game also came down to a bishops of the same colour ending where he was able to annex some White pawns to achieve victory. A most un-Joshua like sort of game, with scarcely an outrageous move to be seen! Which was not the case in Bruce's win over Richard Reynolds on Board 3, where his pet opening seemed to have somewhat misfired at one point, with the Black position looking preferable to me. But massive confusion inevitably soon took over the board, and while Joshua tells me that Bruce could easily have dropped a piece in the time scramble, what actually happened was that Richard overlooked that Bruce could play the move Qa8 mate! Though by that time Bruce was winning anyway.

Things did not go so well on Board 2, though, where Andrew had a distinct off night against Mark Cundy and came under persistent pressure on the kingside while having little or no counterplay in return. I missed the denouement, but apparently a Black knight dropped off and that was that. Luckily, however, I was playing Alan Lloyd on Board 1, and after achieving a breakthrough win against him last summer in the Phil Holt Memorial Team Tournament (after previously losing 5 and drawing 5 of our first 10 encounters!) the chess gods have clearly decided to balance the score. We had a very exciting game (as I said to him afterwards, "People of our age really shouldn't play that sor of chess!") where it was equal; then I was worse; then I was winning; then it was equal; then I was better; and then I was winning. His resignation looked a bit premature, to me even though I was winning a clear exchange, but I was especially glad to take the point, as a loss would have taken my rating below 2100 for the first time in very many years. And so it was 3-1 again, which meant that we had won every match this season by either 3-1 or 3.5-0.5 ....... except the one we lost to Banbury A! The (almost) final league table really tells the story of the domination of the two Kenilworth teams - and especially of the A team, given its huge game points difference.

As they used to say in 18th century English horse racing circles: "Eclipse first, the rest nowhere."

And talking of which, here is the animal himself, as captured for posterity by George Stubbs.

Regrettably, the A and B teams won't be joined in Division 1 next season by the C team who just missed out on promotion last night, but 2 Kenilworth teams in Division 1 is probably quite enough for the rest of the league.

That just leaves the little matter of 3 Cup Finals for the club to contest. We won 2 of the 3 when we last managed to reach 3 finals in 2022, and 2 out of 2 last year, so there is a chance for history to be made on May 8th. May the force be with us!

So, four consecutive Division 1 titles demands an epic musical contribution. And if this isn't epic then nothing is! But please note the special Club rule that applies here - once you start watching/listening you have to play the WHOLE video. And - you lucky people - that means instead of the 9 minutes 5 seconds of the album cut, you get 11 minutes and 48 seconds on this 1977 live version! And if you don't like the music, you can always enjoy the scenery.