Banbury were clearly treating the game seriously, as they - almost invariably when we are the opponents - got IM James Jackson to make one of his infrequent appearances, and packed the team with 2000+ players. But thankfully two teams can play at that game, so while we can't yet field an IM, we were also able to field a team that, on paper, looked more than equipped to give them a run for their money. I say on paper, since while Andrew and myself have been quite respectable Board 1s for the club in seasons not too long past , our recent form was pretty discouraging. Indeed, having me in the team, even on Board 4, could have been seen as tantamount to a default, given my record of 0/3 this season, and no win since last May. But who knows - maybe the old magic could make a timely reappearance to back up the very strong presence of Jude and Javier on the top two boards? Anyway, all was set for a meaty encounter.
Given my recent efforts, I didn't spend much time spectating the other boards, but what I did see had me moderately encouraged for most of the evening. Jude and James Jackson had a real heavyweight clash on top board, which I am clearly not remotely qualified to assess. Jude went for the jugular and sacrificed a pawn right out of the opening, getting lots of compensation against Black's fractured pawn structure. But James is not an IM for nothing, and somehow held his position together while gradually extricating himself from passivity. I missed the end, but the IM prevailed and it was 1-0 to the home side. But fear not, as things were not going at all badly on the other three boards.
I was next to finish, my game against Tom Day ending in bizarre fashion when he played the move Qxa5 (a pawn) only to resign instantly as he realised that the pawn was defended by my queen. I was two passed pawns up at the time, so I was winning anyway, but with a queen and rook each and time trouble very firmly on the agenda, there was still every chance I would manage to screw things up, so this was a very welcome development.
By this time Andrew had won an exchange for a pawn against Sean Gordon on Board 3, after playing what I thought was a splendidly controlled opening and middle game. But the ending of rook v knight proved to be very difficult. The White rook simply couldn't get in behind the Black pawns and for all the world it looked as though Black had established a fortress. But as Magnus famously told us, you shouldn't always believe in fortresses. managing to avoid any treacherous knight forks, despite being well under a minute on the clock (as were both players) Andrew somehow magicked a position where he was able to give back the exchange to set up a winning king and pawn ending. 2-1 to us, and both the recent basket cases had managed to win!
Which left Javi on Board 2 against Georgs Vikanis. Javi seemed to play an excellent game against some rather unorthodox opening play by Georgs, and by the time my game had finished he had a clearly advantageous position with two rooks and same colour bishops each. But whereas Javi had most of the board to play in, Georgs was stuck on the back two ranks with his bishop looking particularly woeful behind a wall of its own colour pawns. But all the same, I couldn't see how Javi was going to engineer a breakthrough - especially as he had well under a minute on the clock. And was continuing to write down the moves as well!! But he showed great determination and imagination to set up a position where he was able to sac his bishop for a pawn - and it couldn't be taken due to a back rank mate which had appeared from nowhere. This proved a decisive breakthrough, and after some more accurate play (during which he finally stopped recording the moves!) he then started collecting White's queenside pawns as well to force an excellent win, and clinch the match 3-1.
This was a terrific team performance and it returned us to the top of the table - albeit only on game points - and is hopefully a sign that the big red Kenilworth mean machine is finally back in full working order. And it will need to be, as things are very close in the battle for the title, which looks set to be a three way fight for the rest of the season. And things are very close at the bottom of the table too, with just two points covering the other 5 clubs. So the B team could do with getting its collective finger out and winning a game or two to ensure safety. It would be a complete disaster if the administrative cock-up which turned a 3.5-0.5 win over Shirley A into a 0-4 defeat proved decisive.
Hope you like the choice of music to celebrate this important Kenilworth A victory. Not one of my all time favourites, but a pleasant enough little ditty by one of England's under-rated musical giants. And hopefully an apt sentiment for the rest of the season.
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