Pain On The Road

 Kenilworth C wrapped up what has been a disappointing week for the club, with a narrow defeat away to Banbury B last night. On paper we probably had the edge, but that counted for little when the action got underway.

Andy got us off to a decent start, with a very solid draw against Nathan Manley on Board 1. If this game was relatively sedate, it is fair to say that the other three were anything but... Paul and Michal both seemed to be losing (against Mal Waddell and Francesco Poderico respectively). Meanwhile, I was winning, but battling against the clock and some resolute defending on the part of Nick Martin.

Eventually Michal seemed to stabilise proceedings on Board 3, and I had some hope that he might scrape a draw, but the improving Francesco held his nerve to put us 0.5 - 1.5 down going into the final 10 minutes of the match.

At this point I had two minutes on my clock to Nick's eight. After two and a half hours of having the better position I still did, but I was continuing to struggle to find the decisive blow. Nick offered me a draw and I was tempted, especially as I suspected Paul was going to lose. But, this is the new look positive me (to a point!) so I decided to play on. GM Ben Finegold once said that the secret to chess is to play as if you never want the game to end, and there must be something in that. Yet it was ultimately a Garry Kasparov observation that most resonated. Namely, that it is easier to attack than it is to defend, and if a defender has to continually find saving moves the pressure often tells eventually. So it was here. The difference on our clocks diminished rapidly, and Nick finally missed a defence which enabled me to break through - and sportingly Nick allowed me to play a nice finish through to checkmate.

Yet while this was a decent effort for me personally, sadly it wasn't enough. Paul's game had been completely wild from the opening salvos. Frankly I had no idea what was going on (beyond thinking that I much preferred Mal's position, which was the correct assessment.) Paul ended up two pawns down in an endgame, and Mal converted comfortably enough. So 1.5 - 2.5. 

Unfortunately, this means that the promotion chase is no longer in our own hands. Yet perhaps the great thing about chess is that however badly a game or a match goes, a shot at redemption is never very far away. The C team are in action against Rugby next week, and we also have a big U8750 semi final, as we continue our defence of that title.  Looking further ahead there are still a handful of  League games left, so it's all to play for. We'll dust ourselves off and go again...