I Guess it Doesn't Matter Anymore

Or at least so I thought before during and immediately after our final Coventry League match of the season against Warwick Uni B last night. Until Paul told me that if Warwick Uni A had lost against Nuneaton A in their final match, we could have overtaken them and won the Division 1 title for the second time in our history. Regrettably, though, it subsequently transpired that Nuneaton could not even muster 4 players for their match, let alone inflict a defeat on the University A team, and so the title eluded us again and we had to be satisfied with 2nd place, two points adrift but 4 pts clear of 3rd place Coventry A.

So in the end I was right, and last night's match really didn't matter anymore. Which was a shame, as we rounded off the season with a 4-0 victory, though the match seemed a lot harder work than the final score line implied.

Keatan, sporting some natty new Isle of Wight Open merch, was tghe last to arrive and the first to finish on Board 1, winning with the Black pieces. I missed the denouement, but previously I had seen that the position was getting quite tactical and the White queen was running short of squares. But who knows what actually happened? Only Keatan, I imagine!

Paul followed soon after, crashing through to victory with a kingside pawn storm that was not to be denied. I was the next point on the score card after an absolute rollercoaster of a game, where I built up a +5 advantage; gave it away; got a completely winning position again but gave that away too, and finally clinched the point after getting my third winning position of the evening. It was all very exciting - just not very good! And then Mike completed the clean sweep though not before failing to take a whole rook with check, which would have left him a rook and bishop up. As it was, one extra piece was enough and the win soon followed.

So that's the Coventry League season over for another year, except for the small matter of the KO Cup Final next week against Division 2 team Rugby A, when we will have to try and overcome the handicap disadvantage, which means we need to win 3-1 to annex the trophy.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to guess what our song is going to be this week.