Fixtures in Thames Valley Division 1 don’t come any tougher than away to the Champions. Last season we got a 6-2 duffing up in the corresponding fixture. With our normal Boards 1 (Chris) and 3 (Nick) not available the challenge was made even greater. However, a number of our players’ gradings have been on an upward trajectory recently and so we travelled to Ealing in a hopeful frame of mind.

It was no surprise to find us out-graded on every board (their average ECF rating was 192 vs our average of 172). This statistically suggested a 2.5-5.5 scoreline against us. We bettered the rating stats but, regrettably, the match has gone despite a hard and valiant fight by the team.

I am indebted to Mark Josse for providing comments on the individual games which I have supplemented where I can. I regret I spent most of the session trying unsuccessfully to solve the problems at my own board so had little opportunity to browse!

Board 1 Richard McMichael- Mark Josse

Mark’s opponent played 1 b3 and Black played a reversed Sicilian type position, which is typical of this line, and equalized out of the opening fairly easily. The middle game looked like it might be interesting, with the two sides attacking on opposite flanks and maybe a slight initiative for Mark, but the position quickly fizzled out leaving bishops of opposite colours. Whilst this is often a strong attacking force in the middle game both kings were secure and a draw agreed. A solid draw by Mark against a strong player. Well done.

Board 2 Stef Bruzzi – Alan Perkins

This started off as a Sicilian Taimanov system. The middlegame followed with Stef playing on the Kingside and Black on the Queenside targeting the c4 square. A flurry of tactics ensued in amongst which Stef reports that he missed a win. Instead Black ended up the exchange to the good but White had two dangerous pawns on the d and b files which, coupled with the Bishop, meant the endgame would have been a fairly comfortable draw, which was duly agreed. Good effort by Stef, unlucky not to win.

Board 3 Adrian Ociepka – Paul Shepherd

Your captain had Black vs the dangerous Adrian (196) who played a sharp line vs the Modern involving h4 and an early 0-0-0. Black equalized out of the opening and could have got interesting play with …b4 at the right moment. Instead Black played Ne5 prematurely and allowed White a nasty pin. Black missed a chance on the 18^th move to tactically extricate himself and made a serious error on the 19^th move which left White with all the chances. Black was eventually forced to play f6 to ease the pressure from the pin on the Ne5. This left the light squares around the Black King fatally weakened and I resigned with a mating attack about to follow. The opening was fine but insufficient tactical vision led to a disappointing defeat for the skipper.

Board 4 Ian Henderson – John Quinn

Ian as White played down a main line Kings Indian and a full blooded battle ensued  with the usual King vs Queen side play. White seemed to be getting the upper hand positionally, as is the norm for the KID, but the position was unclear with Black having counter play. The position may have been swinging back to Black but, in the end, White had various pieces for the Black Queen, which had to be returned leaving a minor piece ending where White is a pawn up. White had a dangerous Queenside pawn majority which looked like it should give good winning chances. John resigned without resuming. Well played Ian.

Board 5 Veljko Stanisic – Angus James

The opening was a KID and White managed to get in g4 in a favourable way to close the Kingside. In the latter stages Angus had to be precise and placed his Knight and Bishop well to support pawns on e5 and c5 and also combined that with threats to invade on the Kingside. White repelled this fairly well by positioning his pieces around the King and may have had a slight edge. Black did not seem to have any real difficulties and, with both sides unable to improve their positions that much, a draw was agreed. Well played Angus against a much higher graded opponent.  

Board 6 Heiko Cassens – Martin Smith

Quite early in the opening Heiko’s King ended up on d2 with Queens still on which meant he had to conduct a rearguard action. Heiko defended valiantly and entered a double Rook ending a pawn down. Crucially the White King was cut off and a pair of rooks was exchanged. Black had a mobile pawn majority which he pushed. Heiko fought hard and created a passed pawn of his own on the f file but the Black King and pawns were just too strong on the Queenside. Martin avoided a couple of nasty tricks that were set and played the ending well to bring Ealing the full point. Although he went down Heiko never stopped fighting hard right to the end. Unlucky!  

Board 7 David Ebbett – Rob Harrison

Rob as Black came up against the dreaded Slav exchange. White played 7 Ne5, which is probably his strongest move at this point. Black did not seem to have any difficulties entering the middle game but interestingly for this line White castled Queenside and Black Kingside which meant for some fun ahead. For a long time Rob’s position looked good, if not plain better. However, Rob fell into a nasty discovered check and, faced with the loss of his Queen, duly resigned. It seemed Black needed to play ...Qb6 to get out of this prior to the tactic. White would have still had an edge with his strong e pawn and the light square control from a2 to g8 although Black would still have had all to play for with Nc7 to b5 ideas and attack on the white Queenside in return. Bad luck for Rob who played a good game and was up against a much higher graded opponent.

Board 8 Michael Nightingale – Randolf Bruin

Right from the off the tactics fizzed around this game and, after a bright start for White in the opening, where he unseated the Black King to f7, Black fought back and was probably on his way to winning in the late middle game. Michael fought hard and whipped up some Kingside threats with his Queen and Knight whilst Black destroyed White’s  Queenside. Michael played Re3xe5 which left his Queen en prise on h6 to the Black queen at d2. This was overlooked by Black who played ... Be4 and Michael then stole the Black Queen and with it the game! Well done to Michael for continuing to cause his opponent problems which contributed to the swindle and to Randolf for the good spirit in which defeat was accepted. 

Considering that, based on gradings, only our top two boards would have got into the Ealing team, we put up a strong fight and should take confidence in our ability to compete from this into the rest of the season.

Next up for us in this competition is home vs Harrow on October 27^th

Paul Shepherd 5 October 2010