Spinning Around

"Spinning around, spinning around

I'm spinning around, move out of my way

I know you're feeling me 'cause you like it like this."

                                                 Kylie Minogue 

Mark often likes to make musical references in his posts, and I am sure he would heartly approve of a bit of Kylie. Either way, when Kenilworth C played Kenilworth D last week, it seemed like the only appropriate song.

I had started the season as D team captain, but was now C team captain, yet was playing for the D team. Harry had been C team captain before moving up to be B team captain, and was lining up for the Cs. Bernard who had always been in the D team was now the D team skipper. We had agreed in advance that I would sort both teams and we ended up with strong line-ups, all be it with the forementioned musical chairs. 

These matches have been close in the past, but not last week. On Board 1 Dave and Dhairya played out the most interesting game of the night. The endgame went to the wire, where Dave's experience ultimately told, but it was still another good effort on Dhairya's part.

I made a Horlicks of Board 2 against Michal - getting the opening all wrong and lost heavily. I didn't see much of Bernard's game on Board 3 against Harry, but Bernard spared the D team's blushes by holding the draw and avoiding the whitewash. On Board 4 Rhys seemed to march his pawns up the board in a very nice line against Dylan, to bring the C team home with a 3.5 - 0.5 victory. 

It was hard to know who to route for, and I'm sure many others felt the same, given the number of us who play for both teams. Absolutely a case of spinning around!

Then last night the D team were back in action against Banbury B, where we managed a 2-2 draw. On the one hand, we are higher up the table than them. On the other, with Paul and Rhys unavailable we weren't at full strength. It still amazes me that our depth as a club means our D team can still play Banbury B on even terms, but this was by no means the first time that we've got something from games against Banbury.

It was lovely to see Carl Portman back in action for Banbury on Board 1 against Dhairya. In some ways this game had echoes of Dhairya's game against Dave Ireland the previous week, in that it was very very tight. This time though, Dhairya's defences were rock solid and he held the draw.

I also drew on Board 2 against Nathan Manley. I had slightly the better of it, but we both ran short of time (especially me) and chickened out. Analysing afterwards, most lines led to a draw. I might perhaps have been braver a little earlier in the proceedings, but it felt like a fair result.

On Board 4, Nick Martin seemed to drag Dylan's king into the middle of the board straight out of the opening. I don't know how this came about, but I expected Dylan to lose very quickly. To his credit, he survived the middle game, but ended up material down in an endgame, which made it 2-1 Banbury.

So all eyes were on Bernard. Having not been happy with his play and performances before Christmas, Bernard is playing like a new man in 2025! He followed up his excellent effort in the D v C match by beating Mal Waddell in brilliant fashion. The game was wildly complicated and it looked like Mal was winning, when Bernard unleashed a series of tactical blows (that he had calculated more accurately than this spectator!) Fritz showed that Mal potentially did have a defence but it was a very difficult one for a human to find, and Bernard brought home the victory in glorious style to secure us a useful point. 

So two very interesting matches. Lots more to play for, given the C team are top of the table and the D team are in third. Picking our teams can be challenging, but we'll keep things spinning, and hopefully the C team will maintain our title challenge in the weeks ahead.