Monday did not go well. I had inadvertently set us up on the wrong side of the table, which must have been an omen, as we were a little out of sorts. I did not see much of the Board 1 game between Andy Ward and M.M.Latt, but Andy was ultimately edged out to put us 0-1 down. Paul Badger drew an interesting game against Jonathan Fowler on Board 2, which left us needing 1.5 points from the remaining two games to cling on to a draw.
I blame myself for what happened next. On Board 4 against Dave Filer, who I had a 100% record against going into the match, I completely messed up my opening. Not in the sense of being lost, more just lifeless. Twenty-minutes in, to my horror, I realised that my winning prospects were extremely limited - and I was the Kenilworth player who had the biggest rating gap between myself and my opponent. I tried everything, and we ended up in a double rook, double bishop endgame. Eventually I did make a bit of progress, but as has been my wont since Christmas, ran desperately short of time and ultimately had to bail out with a draw. All credit to Dave though, whose improving rating reflects his improving play.
This left Rhys needing to win on Board 3 against Ed Goodwin. Rhys was slightly better for much of the game, and seemed to be winning towards the end. Yet Ed is a canny opponent and ultimately, Rhys's attempts to go all in (and all credit to him for this as we desperately needed a win) backfired and we ended up going down 1-3.
Disappointing as Coventry now close the gap on us at the top of the table, but plenty of games remain. We have a chance to put things right in the return match in a couple of weeks. It's still all to play for!
So, to Tuesday... I had to drop my other half off on the way to the game. I made the mistake of pointing out that this meant driving via a different route and not being able to follow my normal pre-match routine. As she observed, my previous routine hadn't been all that hot in terms of my results, so maybe this was for the best!
At least on Tuesday I set us up on the correct side of the table, which felt like a better start. Albeit the very fact that Daventry showed up meant that we were in for a tougher night than in the last round against Nuneaton, when we drove to their place but they did not.
Daventry has had a terrific season in Division 2, and while on paper we looked quite a lot stronger, we knew we could not be complacent. Particularly as the handicap system meant they only needed 1.5 on the night to go through.
Having instructed everyone to on no account take early draws, I was momentarily inwardly horrified to see Mike shaking hands with Andy Johnson ten minutes into their Board 2 encounter. It transpired Andy had gone wrong (we've all been there) and Mike had put us 1-0 up. I'm guessing that might well be his quickest ever CDCL victory? A great start to the proceedings!
A couple of hours later, Keatan was next to finish on Board 1 against Harvey Monroe. Keatan always looked in control and his class showed, but credit to Harvey for putting up a good fight.
That left Paul against James Brown (Daventry's new junior) on 3 and me against Abbie Stevens on four. Paul was level, I was winning, but the clocks in both games were a mirror image of each other. We were both running low... [How I keep getting into time trouble when I spend so much of my life playing online Blitz, is a question I really do need to reflect on!]
After the debacle of the previous night, I played a more aggressive opening line than I normally would against Abbie's 1. g6. I took a lot of space, got very active and then struggled to find a breakthrough (hence burning through so much time.) This again has been a feature of my games of late, in that I have frequently been in the better position but not able to close things out. However, ultimately Abbie's entombed light square bishop, weak e6 pawn and opportunities to get at her King started to tell. Despite a really robust defence, I finally picked up a piece, forced the queens off and gave myself an ending that was both routine and more than capable of being executed while under 3 minutes. All credit to Abbie though, as she played very well and they are always good games.
Fortunately my win meant that we were over the line, and Paul's game was a dead rubber. Which was probably just as well. It sounds obvious, but chess is a very hard game to play with no time! Paul missed a drawing resource and James did not need a second invitation to put Daventry on the board. I am sure James has a very bright future ahead of him.
So 3-1 on the night. We'll be up against Rugby in the final! I was quite down after Monday, but perspective is important. All is not lost in the Division 2 battle, and we have a chance for some silverware in the CDCL! The final will be played at a neutral venue, so who knows which side of the table we will be sitting on. Either way, it will be a night to look forward to!
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