As far as the league situation was concerned, neither this set-back, nor our recent loss against Division 1's second bottom team, Warwick University B, made the slightest difference, as we were guaranteed to finish third whether we took four points or none. Its been an almost unmitigated disaster since Christmas - when we led the league with a 100% score from 4 matches - with just one win and one draw from six further games. Warwick Uni A took home the title for the umpteenth time, but only 1 point clear of Nuneaton, who certainly gave them a good run for their money. Congratulations to both, who were clearly the strongest and most consistent teams in Division 1 this season.
We got off to a flyer on Wednesday night when I won quite quickly against my young opponent, James Brown, on Board 1. After a trendy, theoretical line in the Caro Kann we both played a couple of sub-optimal moves and I then sacked a knight for what I thought was a winning attack against his king. As indeed it turned out to be, as he played all the moves I expected and it ended with me winning the Black queen. But - you guessed it - the silicon monster spotted an inspired defence that neither of us saw, which would have held the position to a probable draw. Chess is a difficult game! And it was soon 2-0 to us as Phil got revenge for his earlier loss against Abbie Stevens on Board 4. After a rather strange opening where Abbie rather neglected her king safety, Phil forked a loose rook on a1 and a mate threat on f2, so that the Loose Piece did indeed have to Drop Off - LPDO! Phil wasn't the most efficient after that, but with an extra rook the win was never in doubt.
But there the good news ends. because despite being better on both the remaining boards, we managed to lose them both. Mike unfortunately not only missed a win, but then had a rush of blood to the head and sacked an exchange against Harvey Monroe on Board 2, only to find that when he won it back he would be a pawn down. Except that he then blundered and made it two pawns. And then he blundered a third pawn and despite some White inaccuracies in the rook ending, there was no way that 3 extra pawns weren't going to win.
It was even more tragic watching Paul lose on Board 3 against Andy Johnson. He was playing a very nice controlled game and won a pawn. But he started taking ages to play his moves and then allowed an onslaught against his slightly open king, when he just needed to regroup and defend for a couple of moves. Andy finished things off very nicely to deliver checkmate.
So two points that should have been ours went to Daventry and a probable 4-0 win became a 2-2 draw. Hey ho, that's the way the cookie sometimes crumbles.
Its only while writing this report, though, that it suddenly struck me that this was almost certainly the oldest Kenilworth team I have ever played in. I was - strange but actually true! - the youngest player in the team, which I seriously doubt has ever happened before. Not a good luck for our demographic and our reputation as the home of young talent!!
I couldn't think of a song that referenced 1,038, so another number will have to step in and take its place. I bet you're all expecting The Proclaimers now, but you're wrong! 500 is such a mundane number compared to 20,000,000. And just for the hell of it, we'll double that up to 40,000,000 by having two versions of the song. As a nod to populism, we'll kick off with Robert Palmer and Jools Holland and then move on to the original by Lowell George of Little Feat. Both great, but when push comes to shove, I know which one I'm voting for!
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