I arrived just as play was about to start to find I was paired with a friendly opponent in the form of Richard Johnson. We first played each other in 1978 and had had some interesting battles so I was not surprised when after some 20 moves we had a complex French position with both sides trying to obtain an advantage on the kingside. Meanwhile Steve had established some strong looking pawns on a6 and d5, Board 3 had seen a lot of exchanging down a levelish ending after 21 moves, Aron had obtained some pressure against an isolated d-pawn and give the choice after ...e5 between some play on the kingside and a favourable transition to an ending had gone for the latter- a sound matchplay technique as losing it would be very hard, so he was playing for two results.

The action had been on the lowest two boards. Ian had, unusually for him, played a game in which little happened and a draw was soon agreed. Aldrin had launched an attack with the dynamic 10 f5 and after a few iffy defensive moves by his opponent he utilized the pawn thrust g4, which had worked well in earlier matches for Aron, to win a piece for a couple of pawns. He then efficiently exchanged off the remaining heavy pieces to reach an ending in which the extra piece was decisive. An early 1.5-0.5 lead.

My game on Board 2 became more obscure, especially after the mysterious pawn sac on move 24. The explanation was simple, I meant to play h5 but picked up the rook on h8 by mistake. I can’t remember ever making this error before but consoled myself with dreams of a crushing attack down the newly opened h file. Board 1 had gone wrong for us. Alistair hit upon the plan of an assault on Steve’s king with a knight sac on g3. It looked dangerous, but possible to accept this and play moves like Qc2 Kf1 Bf2 Bg1 and Rad1 in some order. This looks scary however and Steve tried an alternative plan, which also probably works if Qc3 is replaced by Qe3 nudging the queen closer to the king (Matthew Sadler has stated that this is often the way Alpha Zero defends) as well as giving the possibility of Qg5 in some lines. Anyway full credit to Alistair for his positive play and the match was level.

I managed to block my position and Richard decided that trying to open the kingside with g4 was too dangerous with all the heavy pieces still on so a draw was agreed and all rested on Boards 3 and 4 as time ran short. Reinhold had successfully obtained some advantage which he let slip by not playing 46 Nc5 which keeps the pressure on and instead going for 46 Nc3 when Black is now in the ascendancy. Wisely he accompanied this move with a draw offer and, with both players down to a minute, this was accepted. Aron had reached a very good rook ending but then went wrong by exchanging rooks when keeping them on gave good winning chances. The pawn ending was tricky late at night but it seems that 45...b5 was better as 46. h4 can be met with ...b4, whilst as played 49 Ke2 seems to win. As played White can win with 55 Ke5 but this could have been avoided with 54...Kc3 55 Ke5 Kd3 attacking the f-pawn from behind. You may wish to check this yourself and correct my analysis if needed. It just shows how tricky even these simple positions can be. As played Aron got back to stop the h-pawn and the match was drawn.