The first match of the new half season always seems to involve a visit to the steppes of North Somerset and this was no exception - Clevedon in the Minor Knockout. We were well wrapped up against any heating issues but did not expect an absence of lighting. Fortunately Stuart was able to fix the problem and we started only a few minutes late.
We heard on the day that they were requesting the faster junior playing rate on board 3 and Carolus, being our only junior, was unanimously elected to have this pleasure. There was another minor hiccough when it transpired that Dave had not been kept fully aware of the board order and so didn’t attend! Fortunately Carolus’s dad, Shaun, was on hand to take board five.
The battle of the juniors was the first to finish. Carolus quickly gained an advantage against Toby with a big pawn centre. He used this to give up a bishop for a couple of pawns leaving Black unable to castle and wide open - by move 17 it was mate in four. Never mind Game of the Month, this will be hard to beat for Attacking Game of the Season! Although Carolus was ready to go home now, he had to be patient while his dad was still playing.
Tang, Carolus 1-0 Kattenbelt, Toby
The next two games to finish were Martin, who comfortably held one of our former players, Matthew, on the top board (indeed, he had a slight plus when they shook hands in a pretty blocked position after 24 moves) White, Martin ½-½ Wilson, Matthew; and Dan who outplayed Michael in what at first sight looked like a level ending.
It meant we were 2½-½ up with three games to go and Dan was able to keep anyone who was following at home up to date with photos of the other three positions on WhatsApp.
Geoff Dring v Ian Pickup
Shaun Tang v Jack Lintern
Stuart Iles v Alan Papier
In those three games Alan had a tricky game on the Black side of Stuart’s trademark Polish Opening; I had opted to castle on the opposite side to Geoff so it was a question of whose attack would be more dangerous; and Shaun was demonstrating that he was not just there to avoid a default.
It turned out that Alan had been a bit too aggressive in his attempt to polish off Stuart. He lost a key pawn on the Queen-side and tried a combination that didn’t quite work. A pair of advanced central pawns sealed his fate, so Clevedon would win on board count if they could get a win and a draw from the last two games.
Shaun had a very interesting and complicated game against Jack which nearly put me off concentrating on my own game on the next board. They had also castled on opposite sides but Jack had a knight on a strong outpost on e4, which aided him to win two pawns, forcing Shaun to go for broke by pushing his King-side pawns. Black then made a calamitous miscalculation which allowed Shaun to finish off with unstoppable mating threats.
Tang, Xiaojun 1-0 Lintern, Jack
Geoff’s attack on the Queen-side started before mine really got going. Having consulted the engine, I reckon I dodged a bullet along the way; but I managed to prevent him from doing anything too threatening and, once he slightly ran out of steam, I had a free hand to conduct operations on the other wing. I was able to use the open h file for my heavy pieces to attack and, when all three of them were lined up, he resigned.
So we ran out winners by 4½-1½ and, thankfully, the snow stayed away until we had safely returned home.