Grendel A vs Downend B was this week's match we travelled to Grendel's new venue ,the Eastfield Inn, which was a nice venue with easy parking. We played in the pub conservatory, which was great apart from the heavy wind and rain bashing against the glass.
On board 1 I faced Alistair Gilbert and we had a Caro Kan, Flohr variation appear on the board. I had a nice opening and a pair of bishops so was well within my right to decline Alistair's draw offer so all was to play for. On board 2 we had Richard Johnson against Andrew Cooper in an Alekhine. Andrew knows these positions well and quickly played the opening moves allowing a queen exchange and a couple of minor pieces to be swapped off before offering a quick draw which was accepted 0.5-0.5.
On board 3 Oliver Stubbs was playing Mark Furneval and a Pirc was reached via transposition. Oli allowed black the freeing b5 break and then proceeded to attack it with the standard a4 and c3 and had a nice space advantage out of the opening. Board 4 was Patrick Flexman against Mike Brigden which started out as an exchange French but Patrick then played c4 to at least give the game some life. Mike continued to develop pieces but then realized he had blundered a piece to a mate threat on h7 costing him a whole bishop! Mike played some moves to mix things up which seemed to work as Patrick very kindly blundered a knight back so all was to play for in an exciting game.
Board 5 was Andrew Munn against Will Robinson in a closed Sicilian. White started off decently but then played some artificial moves allowing black to claim an advantage with a slight initiative playing against white's isolated pawn and misplaced pieces. Board 6 was Roger Hardy against Ian Pickup in an exchange Grunfeld where white played the trendy Bd2 in order to capture on c3 with the bishop. Black developed naturally getting his pieces out and attacking the centre with c5 before white played a mistake, taking on c5 giving away his nice centre and giving black a nice game. Ian was happy with a draw after repeating twice in the position 0.5-0.5.
Back on board 1 black had mustered up some threats against my king which I was finding awkward. I missed a quiet queen move which would of given me an excellent position and instead felt I had to give up my bishop pair for one of the threatening knights so losing most of my advantage. Rather annoyed at myself I offered a draw which was accepted 0.5-0.5. Board 4 Patrick against Mike had a few more twists and turns as Mike got his pieces active and was causing white some headaches, however as the position opened up more and more, whites bishop pair started to look more menacing and Mike found himself in a mating net which cost him a knight to get out of. The rest was comfortable for Patrick 1-0. Board 5 Andrew against Will also had twists and turns as Will couldn't resist unsoundly sacrificing a knight to try and expose Andrew's king. Wins were missed by both sides as time trouble played it's part in the blitz finish which saw Andrew with 2 minor pieces against Wills active rook. A draw was finally agreed when neither side had any real winning chances.
Finally we had Oli's game on board 3 which he needed to win in order to draw the match. Oli had maintained a space advantage throughout and was prodding away at black's pawns looking for a mistake to pounce on. As the time dwindled away on both clocks, a couple of things were missed which would of given Oli the win and we were all expecting a draw to be the result. However, through sheer determination Oli was trying everything to win in a knight and pawn vs bishop endgame. He eventually managed to queen his last pawn forcing his opponents resignation and giving us a drawn match. In an extremely tough match we finished all square 3-3.