One way of summarizing how this match went was
provided from an expected source. I had (foolishly it turns out) parked my car
underneath a tree outside of Fircroft. When I
returned to it after the match I found it had been covered in bird excrement in
such copious amounts that I assume that the bird in question had a serious bout
of avian dysentery! Surveying the car, I thought “Yeah, that
just about sums it up”.
Anyway, enough of the bird-crap, let’s talk
about the positives:
Chris Briscoe got a very solid draw against IM Colin
Crouch on Board 1. Rob Harrison, who stepped in quite late in the day, also did
well to get a draw with the Black pieces on Board 8.
Of the five losses we incurred I think it’s
fair to say that all of us got caught out relatively early in the opening and spent
most of the session on the defensive. However, everyone fought really hard and
I can’t ask any more than that at the end of the day. The Harrow guys played really well and were
very tough opposition on the night.
Last, and definitely not least, is Nick’s win
on Board 3. This game was sufficiently interesting and contained a nice mating finish
that I have decided to dedicate the rest of this report to it.
Comments are by myself and the silicon beasty. We join it after Black's 9th move.
