Jim Champken vs Jerry Liu
The game was dead-even after the first 6 moves. White had played a queen’s pawn game with all four minor pieces developed by Nd2, Nf3, Bd3 and Bf4. Black had played an Indian Game characterised by e6, Nd7, Nf6, a fianchettoed queen’s bishop and g6, paving the way to fianchetto their king’s bishop.
The battle for central control was intensified by white’s play of 7. e4. Unfortunately, black’s response of 7...d5 was probably their most regrettable, as this allowed white to push their king pawn to e5; a pawn that would prove to be a static thorn in black’s side in terms of its annexation of territory.
Playing with their back to the wall, black did an admirable job of staving off checkmate until move 36. The middlegame saw an attempted bombardment of black’s castled kingside by white’s two remaining minor pieces (a bishop and knight), queen, king’s rook and h-file pawn. White’s four, diagonally connected pawns from b2 to e5 did a job of fencing off the kingside and made it difficult for black to manoeuvre their pieces to thwart white’s attack. However, despite the material force of pressure on black’s kingside, white’s imprecision in its application and some shrewd moves by black gave black a chance of levelling the game. On move 27, white unwittingly opted to trade Knights on g6. If black had recaptured with their f-pawn instead of their h-pawn, it would have been difficult to evaluate which side had the edge in the game. Unfortunately, 27...hxNg6 exposed black’s king to attack via the opened h-file. White managed to force victory in 9 moves from here to end an interesting game that might have panned-out very differently had 8. e5 been prevented.
Geoff Gammon vs Andrew Porton
The game began with an English Opening that saw both side’s kingside bishop fianchettoed by move 6. Supported by their queen on d7, black made an aggressive bid to infiltrate white’s castled kingside with 10...Bh3. When white responded with the recessive 11. Bh1, they found themselves on the back foot. Trading bishops might have been more favourable for white.
By move 16, black had failed to develop upon their marginal advantage and the game appeared evenly poised with both sides enjoying good king safety, mobility of minor pieces and connected rooks that competed for control of the central files.
A pivotal moment in the game came on move 18 when white blundered in capturing the black knight on d4 with Nxd4, allowing black to fork white’s knight and bishop on recapture with 19...d4.
Black offered white a golden opportunity back into the game when they blundered on move 22. White had threatened black’s queen on d7 with 21. Bc6, and black made a flawed attempt to nullify the threat, playing 21...Rc8, to pin white’s bishop against their queen on c2, but failing to evaluate that black’s bishop on h3 would be left hanging if white captured the black queen with 22. BxQd7. White failed to spot the levelling move sequence and from thereon, black made no mistake in forcing victory to put University C 2-0 up on the night.
Stefanos Charakidis vs Rowan Barua
This was a game where two defensively-minded players cancelled each other out. Black played the Sicilian Defence and white responded with the defensive Staunton-Cochrane variation defined by c4 and avoided the pawn-exchange that often occurs on d4, opting instead for the conservative d3. The game felt tense as each player patiently built pressure on the central ranks, as if baiting one another to make the first mistake. The first capture didn’t occur until move 15 when knights were traded on f3. On move 20, black captured white’s bishop on f3, forcing white to recapture with their g-pawn that was protecting their king, doubling their pawns on the f-file in the process. However, there was no obvious way for black to exploit this exposure and it was difficult to evaluate which side (if any) held the advantage. At 2-0 down, perhaps black should have pushed hard for the win to give Downend a chance of drawing the match, but with around 33 minutes remaining on both players’ clocks, black offered the draw and white accepted.
Samy Benkhoucha vs Sebastian Skalski
A match that proved worthy of its top-board billing, was played with few errors by either player and remained intriguing from beginning to end with neither side claiming victory. Opening play followed the Tarrasch Variation of the French Defence that is characterised by white’s defence of their king-pawn by 3.Nd2 and black attacking the centre with 3...c5. When white captured black’s queen-pawn with 4.exd5, black opted to recapture with 4...exd5, opening up a diagonal for their queen’s bishop.
An unorthodox quirk to proceedings was injected by black’s ambitious play of Qb6 on move 6, perhaps seeking to mount pressure on white’s pawn on d4, whilst averting the potential pin of their queen’s knight by Bb5. The ploy seemed to backfire as white checked black with 8. Qe2+, followed by the attacking 9. Ne5. Black found themselves backpedalling with 9. Nd8; a bid to support their bishop on e6 that smacked of desperation and exposed their king to diagonal attack. Had white maintained their authority with 10.Bb5+, black would soon have gone a pawn down and been faced with serious problems trying to achieve king-safety. White instead, let black off the hook when they captured the black bishop on e6 with 10...Nxe6, allowing black to redevelop their queen’s knight on recapture with 10...Nxe6.
By move 13, black seemed to have steadied their ship, having castled and robustly poised with healthy mobility of their 3 remaining minor pieces (2 knights and a bishop) and connected rooks. The middlegame saw frequent piece-exchanges with neither side gaining an edge, leading to a tense rook and 3 pawns-each endgame. As white posed a semblance of authority, checking black with their rook and then capturing a pawn, onlookers mused that white might have just done enough to pave the way to promote one of their pawns. It is a shame that the match was out of reach for Downend at this stage with the score at 2 – 0.5 in University C’s favour, as the game looked set for a grandstand finish. With a king and pawn versus the black king remaining, white may have appeared victorious to the amateur eye, but both players seemed to realise that any attempt by white to promote their pawn was headed for stalemate and a draw was agreed.