Division 2 finale

The final two games in Division 2 ended “peacefully” but not without some drama.

Michael Joseph appeared to be “all over” John Harbour in the opening but, as often occurs, John found only moves to extricate himself into a level ending which swung in his favour before a three-fold repetition brought proceedings to a close.

Chris Hill and Steve Pike played a lively QGC (Cambridge Springs) with Chris castling long to keep things tasty.  After twenty moves, they reached the following position.

   [SetUp "1"]  [FEN "2r2rk1/pp1b2p1/1q3n1p/3Ppp2/4p2P/P1N1P3/1PQRBPP1/1K5R w - - 0 21"]  [PlyCount "11"]   21. Ka2 {White would like to play Qb3 and simplify things. It  doesn't seem particularly important yet but the kings now face each other on  a2-g8 diagonal.} Nxd5 $6 {after about 5 minutes thought, I decided it was  "worth a shot"} 22. Qb3 ({Clearly} 22. Nxd5 Rxc2 23. Nxb6 Rxd2 24. Bc4+ {isn't  going to cut it}) ({but} 22. Rxd5! Be6 23. Rhd1 Rfd8 {which I had "planned", is  winningly well met by} 24. Bc4! {look at that diagonal now!} Rxc4  25. Rxd8+ {using Black's own pieces to break the pin})  22... Qxb3+ 23. Kxb3   

With both players missing the pin-breaking resource, Black was a solid pawn up which was enough for the draw required for promotion to Division 1.  With Michael not winning, a win for Chris here would have seen him back in the top flight – by such small margins ….!?

Congratulations to Ravi for winning the time and material handicap tournament and Peter Gill for controlling it at a whisper!