We always knew that our matches against Warwick University were going to be amongst our most challenging. Still, buoyed by back to back victories and playing a strong but not at full strength Uni team, I thought we might be in with a shout. As it turned out, the upset never really looked on.
I had my usual battle with the Warwick Parking App, which can be trickier than the chess when you are in a rush, but that was the most dramatic part of my night. I was the first to finish, after a couple of hours, with a draw on Board 3 against Pitor Arp. The game had its moments but came down to a knight and pawns (him) v bishop and the same number of pawns (me) ending. His knight was well placed and he had the slightly better prospects of creating a passed pawn, but it felt like I had everything covered. The beauty of playing a University Student is that they are able to immediately analyse proceedings on their phone. Fritz's verdict? A final evaluation of + 0.0.
While I was never going to get more, I already knew that it was unlikely to be enough. Dhairya (Board 2 v Ben Fernhead) and Dave (Board 1 v Damirali Magzumov) went down to defeat practically simultaneously. All credit to Dhairya, who having been caught in an opening trap, then proceeded to bravely defend an excruciating looking position for far longer than seemed possible. It wasn't to be, but he showed excellent fighting qualities. I didn't see as much of Dave's game, but it appeared more double-edged, before his opponent seemed to get the better of proceedings. Playing Board 1 in Division 1 is always a tough gig, and Dave, like Dhairya, had made a good fight of it.
Last week I thought Dan would draw, and he won. This week, I thought he would win and he drew. It made no difference to the match result, but was another great example of Dan's growing strength. I thought he completely bossed the game, and was a pawn up in the ending. However, with no increment and short of time, it was a perfectly reasonable shout to split the point.
So 1 - 3 to Warwick Uni. No reason for us to launch any celebratory fireworks. Equally though, our survival hopes have far from gone up in smoke. If we keep performing as we have been, I am sure we will be fine.
Onwards!
