Gerry’s report on last night’s action.
Board 1 Giuseppe Valerio 0-1 John Harbour
Board 2 Gerry Nolan ½-½ Qais Karimi
Board 3 Peter Gill ½-½ Ben Cox
Board 4 Nigel Staddon 1-0 Jeremy Burrows
Board 5 Peter Housden 0-1 Tony Lawrence game added
I had been a bit concerned that the C team was challenging for promotion this season, but fortunately last night’s result has put paid to that idea. On paper, this was the lowest graded team we’ve played all season, but for the second time in two matches the D team showed that gradings mean nothing!
Nigel finished first, with a nice win. He had been up for some time by a Queen for two Bishops and ended resistance with an overpowering mating attack.
I finished next. I had the advantage for a large part of the game, but at a crucial point I was over-optimistic, when I should have been more cautious and the game fizzled out to a draw.
Peter G finished next. After a solid game, both sides were unable to make any progress and a draw was agreed.
Peter H had a curious game. Tony was aggressive and had an interesting-looking attack, which Peter fended off. Then it seemed that Peter had the advantage, but in a complex position, Tony stayed resolute and ended up a Bishop to the good, in a King and Pawn endgame. It was not sustainable and Peter resigned, giving Tony a good win.
So the match was looking drawn, with just Board 1 remaining. Giuseppe played a curious opening defence, involving many early Pawn moves and few pieces. The end product was Rook and Pawn ending with a supported central passed pawn for John and a Queenside majority for Giuseppe, but unfortunately his King was a bystander and the Pawn advance by John, plus almost no time for Giuseppe, resulted in a well-deserved win for John.
Overall, a fair result for the D team and it’s good to see some of the lower-rated players benefiting from experience of their games in Division 2 of the league.