Following the excitement of last week's A v B match, on Monday the C and D teams battled it out, in a contest that proved to be every bit as dramatic. These intra-club affairs always take a fair amount of organisation, and myself, Harry, and Mark had spent quite a while sorting the line-ups. With Mike, Michal, Andy and Bernard Rogers all unavailable, Dhairya and Paul Badger both stepped up to represent the C team. I was delighted that Phil came out of retirement to help the D team, and we were also delighted to call Dylan up again.
Bernard Charnley was the only one of the eight of us, who also played in the A v B match. It speaks both to the strength and depth we have in the club (and the excellence of Rhys, who made a welcome return to the club on Board 1 for the D team) that having won his match against the A team, Bernard would be defeated by his D team opponent. Rhys and Bernard were actually the first to finish. I didn't see as much of this one as I would have liked, but Rhys appeared to pick up a pawn and then played with a lot of control and skill to bring home the full point. A terrific effort, and we are so pleased to have him as a part of our squad for the season ahead.
Dhairya finished moments later with a good win against Phil on Board 3. Dhairya broke through very convincingly on the kingside, and while Phil had castled queenside, Dhairya's pieces found more than enough material to feast on. A very good game, as Dhairya bounced back in style from his Banbury reversal. I guess with myself and Dhairya both having played 21 rated games over the weekend at the Warwickshire Rapid and Blitz the pair of us were well practised!
With the match at 1-1, I would not have wanted to wager a penny on the final outcome. I was playing against Harry in the battle of the captains on Board 2. Very early in the game, Harry missed a trick and I picked up the exchange. However, as we agreed afterwards, I should have spent more time thinking about whether this was really the best approach. I ended up behind in development, and my reluctance to castle due to Harry's light square pressure on the a8 - h1 diagonal simply gave me other problems to deal with. In truth, a game that I thought I was winning comfortably at 7.45 became harder and harder over the next couple of hours, as Harry's pieces swarmed and his bishop pair combined well with his knight and queen. We both missed chances, but ultimately, when well below 5 minutes on my clock, I managed to find a resource that turned the tables and gave me a mating attack. Neither of us will see this as being amongst our finest games, but for all its rawness and imperfections, it was a pretty exhilarating way to spend the evening!
My win guaranteed that at 2-1 the D team were at least good for a point. On Board 4, Dylan was playing a terrific game against Paul. While down a pawn, Paul had doubled pawns to contend with as well as a formidable looking passed pawn. Frankly, I thought Dylan was winning at this point, but it was all very complicated and I might be wrong. Either way, it just shows how well Dylan is developing that he was giving Paul such a strong game. Both players queened, but neither new monarch survived. At the death, heartbreakingly for Dylan, he missed a chance to force a draw with a king move, instead pushing his a pawn which proved to be the losing blow. A shame, but it doesn't detract from how well Dylan had played, and for that reason I'm giving him my player of the night award.
So 2 - 2, which felt like a very fair result. Both teams are in good shape for the season ahead. I'll try not to think about the fact that we have to do it all again in January - at least for a little while!
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