For the second MKO tie of the week, the Bishops had to travel across the city to the Bristol Bridge Club, where we faced a Clifton team comprising mainly juniors who required the faster time rate on the clocks.
Three games finished fairly soon, with the points shared. Nigel kept Tarun at bay comfortably enough, to draw, while Charlie got into difficulties against Adam and was unable to hold off his attack. Meanwhile, Tom, guesting on top board, sprang a bit of a surprise on Anay, whose inaccurate fourth move allowed Tom a space advantage and a lead in development, which he exploited to the full. It was plus four on the engine by move 20 and another candidate for Game of the Month.
The other three games looked positive overall because, while Dave, as Black, had suffered a scare with Bxh6 by Rayyan, on which he used up much of his precious limited time confirming that he mustn’t take the bishop, the prospects for Alexis and El were much brighter.
A bit later Dave chose the wrong square for his knight and found himself in a position where White was “better” or “slightly better” for a couple of dozen moves. El was able to take advantage of some oversights by Will and suddenly had a crushing attack which culminated in checkmate on move 23. Alexis dominated his game against Noah and soon had a rook on the seventh rank which led to the gain of material and the clinching point for the match.
Alexis Malibiran v Noah Taylor
It was left to Dave to struggle on, coming down to just one second on the clock, before they arrived at a pawn ending where Rayyan went astray and Dave had enough time with the increment to convert a straightforward win in the end, making the final score 4½-1½.
Mussa, Rayyan 0-1 Tipper, Dave
So we have two teams in the semi-finals and both ties will be at home just after Easter on Wednesday 8th April.