Untitled Document

The 4 Nations Chess League

Round 1

Saturday 24th October 2009

Halesowen 2 - 4 Braille Chess Association

1.	Pugh, Glyn D (1978)	1-0	Colin Crouch (m 2346)
2.	Chris Ross (2207)	1-0	Hope, Gary (1938)
3.	Doran, Michael J (1884)	0-1	Tyson Mordue (f 2286)
4.	William Armstrong (1966)	1/2-1/2	Lee, Darren (1890)
5.	Asbury, Jon (1786)	1/2-1/2	Stephen Burnell ( 1952)
6.	Stephen Hilton (1891)	0-1	Peck, Windsor (1856)

Report

Tyson Mordue (match captain) writes:

Three points from the first four matches is a solid enough start for the team. However, losses for both Colin and Chris led to the match results being in doubt for a long time and we could quite easily have ended up with any number of match points from zero to four this weekend!

In Round 1 we were paired with a dogged and complete Halesowen side. This was a repeat of last season's Round 1 pairing when a BCA side without its Olympiad players struggled to beat a four-man Halesowen team 3½-2½.

We were definitely struggling this time although we got off to a good start. My opponent recalled playing me in the Bristol League when he was a student many years ago. This probably wasn't a good memory as he played slowly and without a plan before needlessly sacrificing a Pawn on move 18, and then blundering a whole Bishop with check two moves later. However, Colin Crouch had blundered a Bishop for some Pawns after being falling into a tempting trap. Despite some heroic resistance Colin had to concede after the time-control which they reached well ahead of schedule. This was Colin's first defeat for the BCA in the 4NCL but we have every confidence that he will bounce back.

At that point our best position seemed to be with Chris, as Bill and Steve Burnell were both under pressure and Steve Hilton was a piece down after sacrificing unsoundly upon reaching a good attacking position. Bill in his turn sacrificed an Exchange to open up his opponent's Kingside and seemed to have some chances. Steve was struggling in an inferior ending after most of the pieces came off just after the opening.

Lady Luck smiled upon us in a big way when a clearly nervous Windsor Peck completely lost the thread after exchanging Queens against Steve Hilton. A needless expedition with his King allowed Steve to get some Pawns for his Bishop and then Black's flag fell at move 38. Suddenly we were 2-1 up, not down, and with Chris playing well we hoped for a half-point from Steve Burnell or Bill to sneak up to 3½ points.

Steve had been defending with a Knight against Bishop in a wide-open endgame. He was handicapped by having doubled Pawns in his own Pawn majority. Shortly before the time-control, however, his opponent inexplicably undoubled them and Steve was quickly able to force a draw. Bill's sacrifice had proved too strong for his opponent who seemed on the verge of resigning at the time-control. Bill later admitted missing a win but the draw agreed on move 44 was enough to put us on the verge of victory at 3-2.

Chris had been massing on the Kingside after a typical Ruy Lopez middle-game. A mass liquidation ended Chris's attacking hopes but the Bishop endgame he ended up with was much more to his taste. A few errors by a time-troubled opponent meant Chris was winning by the time they reached the first time-control. The Bishop ending briefly became a Pawn ending before it moved on to a Queen ending but one where Chris had two extra Pawns. He also had the benefit of reading my observations, published on the user-group at least twice, of how to win Queen and Pawn v Queen and displayed excellent technique. Although the game went on for another thirty moves or so the result was never in doubt. The final score was 4-2 and it looks like we have played our "Get Out Of Jail Free" card early on.

Round 2 was against stronger opposition Sussex Smart Controls and accordingly tougher, even though they had lost badly in Round 1. At this point I should explain that the pairings for Round 2 had been pre-determined before the weekend and not drawn after Round 1.

This was a very tight match throughout and there was little to separate the teams after some very tense openings. The first result became apparent when Timothy Woods, the opposition board six, sacrificed to get at Steve Hilton's uncastled King in a Sicilian Najdorf. Steve did manage to castle eventually but by then his opponent had two advanced connected passed Pawns for the Exchange and all the momentum. After the exchange of Queens Steve elected to give up a Bishop for the Pawns but the endgame was clearly lost.

I was startled when Woods offered a draw - agreed to with alacrity by Steve - and afterwards claimed the position was technically too difficult for him. If I'd been his team captain I'd have taken him aside and given him a good technical telling-off! Anyway, 1½ points from two lost positions for our Scottish-based player.

The second result was a complete shock. Chris had a typical IQP position from the Black side of a 2 c3 Sicilian. His opponent, David Oates, speculatively sacrificed a Pawn and then an Exchange for attacking chances. Somewhere in a mass of complications Chris missed his way and ended up a piece down with no play. As I play the same line the game was the discussion of a long phone conversation between Chris and I that evening, and we concluded that no matter how good a player one is sometimes you simply have to calculate your way out of trouble, no matter how deep you have to go. I should add that Chris is currently moving house and, from bitter personal experience, I know house-moving and chess don't mix.

The remaining games were still closely contested. Colin showed he was over the previous day by smartly sacrificing a Knight on f7. His young opponent George Salimbeni, who debuted in the British Championship with Chris at Torquay this summer, coolly declined and forced Colin into some exchanges. Our IM retained the advantage though.

My opponent followed in the same vein as the previous one had. Slow, unadventurous and planless chess even to the extent of deliberately not playing his thematic central break because he was worried about the position for my two Bishops. At one point he even lost six tempi by undoing the two piece manoeuvres he had just instigated!! By the time he had to do something active he had no time to think about it. I already had a clear positional advantage when he blundered a Pawn during his rush to the time-control. The shattering of his Pawn structure and the subsequent invasion of my Rook left the final result in little doubt.

Around this time Steve Burnell, despite a momentary and amusing hiccup in the opening, had dominated his opponent and was three Pawns up in a opposite-coloured Bishop ending. Unfortunately he failed to realise that some measure of technique was needed, tried the straightforward path and ended up in a drawn position. Finally Steve was forced to agree a draw shortly after my opponent had conceded when my Rook became a Pawn-eating Pacman.

With the score at 2-2 we still had Colin and Bill playing. Bill had been under pressure since mishandling the opening. Despite a spirited rearguard action he had blundered an important Pawn. However, Colin had his opponent's central Pawns under siege and the winning breakthrough came immediately after the time-control. A finely-controlled game by Colin and a good recovery from his loss of the day before. Shortly afterwards Bill made a desperate Rook sacrifice which was coolly refuted by his opponent David Fryer. The final score was 3-3.

As I said earlier this is a good, solid start. With our top three players we have we stand a chance against any team in the division. However, we need a little more consistency and a touch more ruthlessness in winning positions from the lower boards, although we can't complain at the luck we had on board six this weekend!