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Cup Final Report Tues 16th March

The long awaited final took place last night at Glastonbury. This is the third time I remember us being in the final and having lost the previous two matches, surely this time we'd prevail!

As I was away skiing last week, MikeRich organised the team. He did a perfect job, and we were able to put out or strongest team - MikeRed, Mark, MikeRich, Nick, Dave, Jorge, Stan and Alex.

We arrived at Glastonbury and thankfully we were in the 'prestigious' main arena, rather than the dimly lit skittle alley / kiddie bouncy play room etc.. All the tables were nicely set out and we glanced around to see who was playing. Sportingly, Matthew Turner GM wasn't playing, although we were told he'd "fill in" if some other players "couldn't make it". Hmm... I'd have put £10 on <insert any random name here> not making it, and MT having to step in. But twas not so.

However, there were 4 miffies on the first four boards, followed by the best 4 Glastos on the remaining 4. Grading-wise it was extremely close with only a 4 point difference between the aggregated 8 boards!

I lost the toss, and fortunately found I was white on four. Funny how that keeps happening..

Anyway, on to the games....

A Conway 1 v P Moody 0
Alex was first to finish. From a c3 sicilian, Alex managed to get a commanding rook on the 7th and then forced a pawn through to the 8th, thereby winning a rook and the game! Congratulations! Taunton lead 1 - 0.

N Wilson 0 v M Owens 1
Taunton's lead was short lived. I made a big fat ugly mistake and lost a piece in a way even a beginner would be ashamed of. Yuk.

M Hassal 0.5 v H Streeter 0.5
Mark played a solid game and always looked like he would be at least drawing.

S Wojick 0.5 v I Holle 0.5
Stan played really well to draw here. Ian has had a good season, previously drawing with both me and DaveL, so Stan's was a good result!

At the halfway point, things were level. The remaining games were too close to call at this point, although Glastonbury had the bottom board advantage - should scores be level, they'd win on board count.

J Pineda-Langford 0 v T Wallis 1
Jorge was playing well and looked to have a good position. But suddenly in the late middle game he went astray and was caught in a mating trap.

M Richardt 0.5 v S Soni 0.5
I thought Mike might have been able to win this at one time. He, as black, had white cramped with a pawn on e3 stopping white's normal development. But by late middle game, both players were in time trouble, and after some exchanges, the game fizzled out to a drawn.

D Littlejohns 0.5 v A Bamford 0.5
Dave was always a bit cramped as black, but was holding solidly. Near the end, Tony offered him a draw, which I ordered, nay commanded, Dave to refuse. He did, but a few moves later a draw was the only option in a simple pawn chained end-game.

M Redman 0.5 v R Cummings 0.5
Mike was black in a sicilian and played sharp. But RC is a strong player and won a pawn in the middle game, displacing his queen slightly. Mike tried a flashy attack, but everything was swapped off and although whites pawns were largely isolated, after more swapping, a draw was agreed.

Final score - Glastonbury win 4.5 v 3.5. Taunton are yet again the bridesmaid and never the bride. Yah boo sucks!

Man of the match is Alex, due to his good (and Taunton's only) win!

Nick

Division 1

Division 1 Overview
We have a very strong Division one team, boosted by a few new key players. Our team is easily the strongest in the division, and we should be favourites for the title, given our full strength team. This is reflected by the fact that Dave Littlejohns now just barely scrapes into the team at board 6 whereas a couple of years ago he was our treasured star player!

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Yeovil v Taunton 04-03

Ok, we travelled to Yeovil last night for an away match. I'd tried to drum up support by frequently mentioning the game is being held "in a pub!" - you see to me this conjures images of crackling fires and beer delivered to the playing tables by buxom wenches... I think my imagination is stuck in late victorian times... Anyway, turns out it was in a cramped, dark, dingy skittle alley, but more of this later.

I was struggling to get a good team out. Both MikeRs couldn't play, followed by no Martin, Alex, Robin or Stan - yes the team of players who couldn't play was starting to look stronger than the one that did play!

Luckily Mike Richardt had a change of plans and could play. So the final team was a respectable - MarkH, MikeR, NickW, DaveL, JorgeP, VicM.

On arrival at Yeovil, we notice Krisy wasn't there - even though MikeRed hadn't turned up, has his reputation preceded him? (to those not getting the subtlety here, Mike had crushed Krisy 3 times and we jokingly assumed he didn't want any more beatings - although to be fair, Krisy has not been well, so our fishwifery gossiping is probably just that)

We eventually found the new pub, and by a tedious stumbling elimination of various rooms and bars we eventually found the skittle alley round the back. Dark, cramped and dingy, but it did have a Kareoke machine with a selection of pirate '80s CDs, so not all bad then...

On to the games. I decided we should stick to the rules and play our team in strict grading order. Now lets see... we are away.. so white on evens.. , I'm on 3, hey, I have white - fancy that. What good luck!

On to the games, yet again I forgot to take a copy of the score-sheet, so I've only got a vague recollection of last night's evens (it was held in a pub after-all...)

Board 6 - Vic McAndrew v small child
This board probably had the greatest age difference in the league. Vic keeps on beating me in casual club games, so I keep picking him for the team, only for him to make a slip and lose. Surely tonight would be different? No. He made a slip and lost. MiekR told me his opponent is a very promising junior who recently gave a 2000+ player a hard time, so don't feel bad Vic. Taunton now 0 - 1

Board 5 - Jorge Pineda Langford v N Mills
Jorge threw everything into a kingside attack and although he was an exchange down by mid-game, his strong bishop on d5 looked like it was a good piece. But his attack just needed an extra bit of fire power. I briefly turned away from the game, looked back and to my astonishment, Jorge's king had almost completed a march from g1 to h6! Surely this isn't the extra material the attack needed? Anyway, shortly after, and unsurprisingly, Jorge was mated on h6 or g5 or somewhere similarly inappropriate for a king to be during the middle game. Oh dear. Taunton now 0 - 2

Board 2 - Mike Richardt v Jim Fewkes
Jim is a strong, solid player, so imagine my surprise when I saw him happily advance the pawns in-front of his castled king, chasing Mike's bishop away. His position looked draughty, but it wasn't easy for Mike to nip in behind the mass of pawns. After much swapping, just the mass of pawns and queens were left. Both queens were behind enemy lines. Jim's was potentially threatening mate, but Mike had easy perpetual threats, so the game was drawn. Taunton now 0.5 - 2.5

Board 1 - Mark Hassall v Andrew Footner
Footner played the centre-counter and tried to play sharp. But Mark calmly swapped everything off, knowing his endgame knight was going to be stronger than Footner's bishop. Mark pressed ahead in the endgame and suddenly it was over with Mark winning. Good game! Taunton now 1.5 - 2.5

Board 4 - Dave Littlejohns v small child's Dad.
Dave's opponent played a very odd opening. I've got no idea if it has a name, but there were random pawns pushed forwards by a square or so, and somehow a knight was on h2. Dave, as black, constructed a caro-caan shell like pawn structure and then suddenly his opponent's briliiance struck us! In playing this odd opening, Dave played e6-e5, forcing him to attack, forcing him out of his comfort zone. Dave's caro-caan shell was ripped open and the juicy fleshy innards were now exposed for attack. Again, we were stunned at the psychological brilliance employed to open up Dave like that. However, maybe Dave is a fierce attacking animal after-all, as his e6-e5 advance lead to a winning a piece down said e-file. Round about now, Dave claimed the win, noticing his opponent's clock had fallen. There was some disagreement as they were playing on a replacement clock (Dave's clock had stopped earlier, so they used a new one, with adjusted times). I'm still unclear what Dave's opponent's argument was as you'd assume they'd both been happy with the clock when the replacement was started to be used. Anyway, Footner stepped in, did the right thing, and Dave was adjudged the winner. Form the position, he'd have won anyway, being a piece up. Taunton now 2.5 - 2.5

So, all on the final game - my game.. arrgh, not again!

Board 3 - Nick Wilson v Roger Knight
I was white and played the Evans Gambit. Everyone knows the evans is unsound, but very few actually can prove this over the board (including me!). And if black doesn't know what he is doing, he can get into a lot of trouble very quickly. Sure enough, after about 15 moves, I had a lovely position and cashed in with winning an exchange. But, after that, my pieces weren't very coordinated, and Roger played well. Then I made a mistake, effectively losing a peice. At a key moment, Roger was considering a (flashy) key move, that he thankfully didn't play. but even so, going into the endgame, I was 2R + 3P v RNB + 7P and in a worse position. Then I noticed on the Yeovil scoresheets that move 35 (the time control) wasn't halfway down the right side like on normal scoresheets, but was infact near the bottom of the right page! (dim lights, a small font on the scoresheet and my aged eyes are to blame..). So suddenly, not only was my position crap, but I had to make nearly 20 moves in under 15 mins (when I had thought it was less than 10 moves...). His N+B had my king tied up and was picking off what few pawns I had left. I swapped my R for the B+N+P to ease the pressure, but this just left me with a still lost looking R+2P v R+6P. I could see a glimmer of a draw chance, but realistically I knew I should lose. Then I was told of the 2.5 v 2.5 scoreline. Aw crap! I wanted to be the heroic captain, winning the final game for the team, not losing pathetically to a lower rated player, and therefore losing the match. Anyway, I played on. The only plusses for me was a good king position and 3 of his (many) pawns were isolated. I kept on hassling him with my rook, and suddenly he got a bit flustered partly to my threats, partly to being short on time and also because of the kerfuffle going on next to us regarding the on-going squabbles about Dave's clock. Suddenly I had a passed pawn racing up the board and in his dying minutes he offered me a draw. I accepted. The final position was definately double edged. I think he'd have to give up his rook for my pawn, but then I'd have to do the same for his best passer, while my king mopped up the other pawns.

So, final score - Taunton 3 - 3. A tough draw, but a fair result.

Man of the match is Mark for his calm, controlled win!

Ok - a quick reminder - Mon 15th at Glastonbury is the Somerset Cup Final! I am away next week, but back in time for the final, so please can you let MikeRichardt know if you are available to play?

Thanks,

Nick

CUP MATCH YEOVIL V TAUNTON 16-02

Last night we played Yeovil in the Somerset Cup semi final. I don't recall Taunton winning this in the last 20 years, but I do know of at least 3 occasions where we have reached the final only to lose - the most recent time being against Yeovil, so beating them tonight would help put that right.

This is an 8 man team and we were almost at full strength - only Mark Hassall couldn't make it - he was in Cyprus, and couldn't make it (we'll forgive him on this occasion!). A few others, namely, JohnW, and Alex/Martin postponed previously arranged club champ games to be in the match - thank you.

Prior to the match, our team was - Mike Redman, Mike Richardt, Dave, Nick, Jorge, John Wilkinson, Stan and Alex.

So, going in to the match I thought we had a good chance of winning due to our strong team. But half an hour before the start, near disaster struck - Stan arrived early to help set everything up, only to find the school in darkness and completely locked up with no access to the playing room. After a few frantic phonecalls, we soon found out it was half term (hence the school lockdown..).

What to do? Yeovil would already be on their way, so there was no point contacting them. I quickly thought it might be possible to move some tables around in my house to make space and play there, but I only have 2 or 3 chess sets, and even fewer clocks. Damn these 8 man teams! If Yeovil turned up to a locked venue, they would be in their rights to claim the win by default.. (and faced with such mighty opposition, who could blame them...)

Fortunately, Stan saved the day by finding the Taunton School Janitor and he persuaded him to unlock our part of the school to let the game go ahead! Huge thanks Stan!

A few hasty hand-written signs and occasional foot patrols guided and rounded everyone up, and by 7.30 miraculously everyone was in and the match could start!

Yeovil turned up with a full team, but Kryszywotsit wasn't there.

Anyway, both teams missing one strong player - things seem fair and balanced.

As Captain I have to be firm and take many tough decisions which a weaker man might stumble at. One such example isn't when I had a choice of Alex and Martin for our final board. I'd picked Alex (purely on grade - they are very similar otherwise), but others were suggesting Martin's recent good run of form should put him in, in place of Alex. So like a moist bit of tissue paper, I folded and switched Alex and Martin...

Board colour is chosen by toss in these matches and I can't recall the details, but Taunton somehow ended up with White on evens. Wait a minute... I'm on board 4... - excellent, I have white. Glad that all worked out!

So, on to the games, which finished in this order -

Board 6. Martin v S Gray 1 - 0
I'd barely sat down to play before this game was over, it was so quick. In a sicilian, Black played a couple of slightly weak moves which Martin pounced on, saccing a piece to gain an advantage and suddenly Black was mated in the opening.

Thanks to my near photographic chess memory, I give you the moves here -

1 e4 c5
2 Nf3 Nc6
3 d4 cxd4
4 Nxd4 Nf6
5 Nc3 a6?
6 Nxc6! bxc6
7 e5 Ng8
8 Bc4 d5
9 Nxd5!? cxd5
10 Bxd5 Qa5+ (Rb8? then Bxf7+! wins the queen)
11 c3 Rb8?? (if Ra7 then 12 Bxf7+! Kxf7 13 Qh5+ g6 e6+ wins the queen OR 12 Bxf7+ Kxf7 13 Qh5+ Ke6 14 Qh3+ Kf7 15 Qxc8 Qxe5 16 Be3 small advantage white)
12 Bc6+ Resigns

Ok, ok, not from my memory, but an email from Martin! But what a great win.

Taunton 1 - 0 up. But that being the bottom board now meant if the match was drawn, Yeovil would win due to board count.

Board 2. Mike Richardt v D Freeman 1 - 0
Mike was ahead after the opening with a good positional advantage in a QP opening. In the middle game taking advantage of Black's pinned rook on e6, he unleashed a sacrificial combination on f6 (whilst the pinned e6 rook looked on helplessly), and Mike ended up with a huge material advantage. Black soon resigned. Great game, and now Taunton 2 - 0!

Board 3. J Fewkes v Dave Littlejohns 0 - 1
Both of these players have a reputation for, ahem, 'solid' chess. So after the first two sacrificial games, nothing superficially exciting was expected here. But I was so wrong. There was drama after all - white had doubled isolated pawns on the d file! And then Dave rushed in and blocked them with his knight on d6 and maintained the pressure with his unblemished pawn structure. Wow! Who needs sacs for fun exciting chess? Anyway, faced with such a aggressive positional and theoretical onslaught, white understandably crumbled, lost an exchange, lost some or all of his isolated pawns and then lost the game!

Board 1. A Footner v Mike Redman 0.5 - 0.5
These two players are strong, aggressive and should produce fireworks but this was a damp squib of a game. Footner tried to claim (while smiling) lots was going on that "under 180 graded players wouldn't understand". All I saw was Queens off early in the opening. Simple pawn structure. Minor pieces making minor threats. Yawn. Draw.

Board 4. Nick Wilson v C Winch 1 - 0
I played the Sicilian Grand Prix attack - a flashy brilliant opening which always leads to quick wins. Er, so long as black doesn't play d5 at some point, which then leaves white equal at best. So having taken this gamble I found myself struggling for equality after, sure enough, black had played d5. D'oh! Anyway, we castled opposite, with me attacking down the g file and black counter attacking down the d file. It was a very sharp position, but after I was forced to make an exchange sac, black was opened up and after a further knight sac everything was simplified to being a won R+N+5P v R+3P ending. Black played on for a few moves, but resigned later.

Taunton now win, with an unbeatable 4.5 lead!

The remaining games were -

Board 5 R Knight v Jorge Pineda Langford 1 - 0
Jorge was black to a Kings Gambit accepted as soon got into trouble. By the mid game, he'd lost a rook due to a Queen fork. Jorge, being Jorge, carried on, trying to hustle something from the game, with dangerous looking threats to White's king. But a rook advantage is near impossible to overcome and sure enough White won through,

Board 7. A Ruston v Stan Wojcik 0.5 - 0.5
Having already saved the match earlier, Stan now turned to the board. In the opening he lost a pawn and my mid game he was an exchange down. It looked bleak, but Stan fought on and managed to win a piece back. With the main match now over and won, he agreed a draw, but from post match analysis, it was clear he had sufficient for the win. Good game.

Board 6. John Wilkinson v N Mills 1 - 0
This was a strange game. Black got into trouble with his entire Q-side pinned down due to a white pawn on d6. Black eventually developed on the K side instead. By the later middle game. white had good pressure and managed to break though with his rooks and checkmated the black king in the corner.

Final score - Taunton win 6 - 2. A resounding victory!

Man of the match? There were several contenders, including my own game. But everyone loves a sacrificial miniature, and so the award goes to Martin!

But well played everyone and thanks again to Stan for saving the day early on.

I'll send details of the final as soon as I have it.

Nick

Glastonbury v Taunton Mon 18-01

Things are very close at the top of Division 1 right now and every match is vitally important as the title chase goes right down to the wire. Anyway, this is the return leg of the Taunton - Glastonbury match. On the first leg, avid readers will remember how our initial early season confidence was blown away with a 0.5 - 5.5 thrashing by an out-graded Glastonbury. We needed revenge not just for that score line, but also to keep our title ambitions on track.

Teamwise, we were at full strength for the first time - Mike Redman, Mark Hassall, Mike Richardt, Nick Wilson, Dave Littlejohns and Jorge Pineda-Landford. Yet again we knew we'd outgrade our opponents - so we can talk the talk but can we walk the walk?

Partly due to the never-ending, constant whining of "... I can't believe Nick is higher rated than me.. " (from someone nameless), and because this season I've got a horrendous 0/3 record in the lower Div2, I decided the swap myself and Dave in the board order (and being captain I selfishly stomped my feet and wanted White anyway...).

Glastonbury turned up with the usual combination of a GM, a few Miffies, and some Glasto regulars. But to our relief, the talented Rhys Cummings wasn't there. Also, somewhat sportingly, Matthew Turner didn't play, but instead did the usual GM party trick of wandering up to any given board in play, telepathically saying "Ah ha..", and then wandering away, immediately making the participants feeling insecure that they have missed something in minutes' thought that the GM spots instinctively (Yes, the scars of my missed win he found last year run deep...).

Ok, on to the games. They finished in this order -

Board 6. George Galliano v Jorge Pineda-Langford 1/2 - 1/2
This was the closest game on paper with just a few points between them. However, Jorge, as we know, like a blindfolded hunter with an uzi on full auto, will occasionally bring down large prey (.. cough.. Mike... cough..), so anything was possible here. After a while, Jorge managed to create some unusual piece positions - as black, pawns on a6,b5,c6 and c7, rook on a7, bishop on a8... White should have kept this all penned in (a knight hopping into c5 would have down well, but he plonked it on a5 instead). Eventually everything was swapped off, and white seemed to have won endgame - with a strong central king, advanced pawn and 7th rank rook, keeping black's king on the 8th. And yet in this position Jorge was brimming with confidence for the win. Therefore, and somewhat confusingly/charitably he offered his opponent a draw, which was accepted. Sure enough right after, Matthew wandered over and showed White where the win was, but Jorge was still unconvinced and argued the game was his to be won. It later turned out Jorge didn't know who Matthew Turner, GM, was...

Board 3. Mike Richardt v Tim Wallis 1 - 0
A re-run of Mike's game from last year and he wanted revenge. I should just cut'n'paste Mike's match reports. Yet again, Mike's opening knowledge handed him a very strong advantage and the game was pretty much decided before the middle game got underway - Mike was an exchange up and probably a pawn or two as well. In the resulting open middle game, his opponent shuffled around, tried a few tricks, but Mike's overwhelming positional and material advantage meant only one result was coming. A good win for us.

Board 2. Megan Owens v Mark Hassall 1 - 0
This game seemed evenly matched, with both players having solid positions in the early middle game. I thought Mark had a slight edge with some active central pawns, but suddenly he was a Q for R down. I didn't see how it happened, but this cost him the game.

Board 1. Mike Redman v Sharan Soni 1 - 0
This was a fun game - a Ruy Lopez burst open with Mike saccing a knight on f7. It looked like a fast clear win, with Mike's Queen rushing in to black's now empty kingside. But it was a very complicated position, especially with black having a worrying pawn on c3 and white never quite having time to deal with that whilst also keeping his attack going. In the end, it was black's handling of his exposed king that caused his downfall. Fearing being mated, he avoided the sharpest lines of counterplay and ended up a piece down in a lost endgame. Mike says Rybka will be the final judge on the position, but I say its all about the board on the night - a clear win for Mike.

Board 5. Nick Wilson v Dave Wood 1 - 0
Having dropped myself a board, I felt I had to win. Predictably once the opening was over, all my pieces rushed over for a kingside attack. But I wasn't convinced by it initially. Dave had too many defenders and no real weaknesses for me to attack. But he was under pressure, with plenty of traps to avoid. Eventually, as pieces were gradually swapped off, I managed to win a pawn from the attack, but I wasn't sure it'd be enough. Into the early endgame, in a Q+N v Q+N position, he made a costly slip, allowing me to force a mate. At the time I felt lucky, but maybe my extra (passed) pawn would have been enough anyway.

Board 4. Ian Holle v Dave Littlejohns 1/2 - 1/2
Everyone tonight had played to character (MikeRed flashy attack, MikeRich superior opening knowledge giving victory, Mark strong solid position, Nick speculative throw everything to kingside attack, and Jorge get lucky). Would Dave complete the set and play the most boring, dull game ever seen, gradually grinding down his opponent? He didn't disappoint. This game was boring, dull, monotonous, repetitive,unrelieved, unvaried, uneventful; characterless, colorless, lifeless,insipid, uninteresting, unexciting, uninspiring, flat, bland, dry, stale,tired, lackluster, stodgy, dreary, mundane, monochrome; mind-numbing, soul-destroying, wearisome, tiring, tiresome, irksome,trying, frustrating, not up to much, humdrum, ho-hum, blah, dullsville (thank you, Thesaurus!). But Dave pressed on, gradually swapping everything off. In a R+4P v R+4P endgame he gradually and skilfully built pressure. Suddenly there was a win to to found. Bit unfortunately, he didn't find it and with the match already decided, the game was agreed a draw. Dave missing the win was understandable as both players were very short of time and also had to put up with the noise of Jorge choosing a new ring tone on his iPhone, so concentration wasn't easy...

Final result Taunton win 4 -2. Yay!

Man of the match is a close result, but i think Mike Richardt gets it for winning in the most unarguable, risk free way! Well played!

Nick

Match 3 Tue Dec 1 v Yeovil

This is a crunch match - Yeovil are strong favourites for the Div 1 title and taking points off them would give us a real boost in our own title aspirations. Also, a victory tonight would mean Taunton would join Frome at the top of the division - just in time for our next Div1 match.... against Frome! Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Yet again we still weren't able to put out our strongest team, with Mark Hassall being unavailable. Our team was, Mike Red, Mike Rich, Nick, Chris, Dave and Stan, so almost full strength, but as we found with our Glastonbury match, its all about the results on the night.

A hour before the match started, Andrew Footner from Yeovil called to say they had no board 6 - fantastic! Taunton lead 1-0 and the match hasn't even started!

From looking at the team sheets, most boards were evenly matched, apart from Dave on 5 being 30 points higher than his opponent (although he's lost to players way weaker than that before...!). So as usual, we started with confidence.

Board 6. Stan Wojcik v DEFAULT 1 - 0
Thank you Stan for coming and sorry you didn't get a game. Taunton 1- 0.

Board 4. Chris Price v J Fewkes 0-1
I missed the opening, but by the middle game the position was open with plenty of tactical shots looming for both sides. When I looked again a few moments later, nearly everything had been swapped off, but Chris was a pawn down. It looked like it might be a long, tough one to draw for Chris, but in fact suddenly it was over and Chris had lost. I should pay more attention, but I didn't see what happened. It must've been a tactic, bank rank or blatant cheating, as the extra pawn wasn't going to queen itself that quick! Anyway, scores now level at 1-1.

Board 1. P Krzyzanowski v Mike Redman 0 - 1
Mike has a good record against Krzy and I know would love to crush him quickly. And that is exactly what happened. A very double edged queens pawn game, with Mike continually pressing for space and initiative on the queenside as black. Tactics flowed and although Mike played a clearly winning line, he missed (albeit by about a second!) a flashy rook sac than would have won the game on the spot. Still, the chosen line was more flashy than most manage, and ended him being up a Q v R+N in an open position. He won shortly after. Score now 2-1 to Taunton.

Board 2. A Footner v Mike Richardt 1 - 0
This started as most of Mike's games - opponent out of book about 15 moves before Mike's knowledge would've run out! To make matters worse for Mike's opponent, he was playing the Chigorin - the very line Mike plays as black, and he's gone wrong by move 4. Surely only a matter of time before this slip turns into a winning position for Mike. The crunch came in the early middle game, prior to both sides' castling. Mike won a knight for two pawns, but in doing so exposed his king to an attack which looked superficially tricky. But everything seemed held, and suddenly Mike had threats of his own against black's now castled king. A nice tactic brought more material for Mike (now three minor pieces up for a rook). It looked winning. But he was horribly short on time, and his king was still exposed. Eventually in severe time pressure, the right moves weren't found and Footner won through. A real shame. I await the after match Rybka analysis showing the killing moves Mike had no time to find. Score now 2-2.

Board 5. N Mills v Dave Littlejohns 0 - 1
This game is classic Dave territory. From a slight edge after the opening Dave forced the win of one pawn. Then another. Then he slooooowly ground out the win in the endgame. From the few glances I had of his game, there didn't seem to be any risk to his position at all. A good win, no doubt spurred on by the fear of the severe ribbing he'd had got in this match report had he drawn or lost to someone so much lower rated than him! Score now 3 - 2 to Taunton.

So Taunton need just a draw to win the match -

Board 3. D Freeman v Nick Wilson 1/2 - 1/2
Last time I played this chap, I won quickly with my (flawed) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nd4 line. So of course I played it again this time! Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, my opponent now knows a good line against it, so I had to change plans quick as 3. ... Nd4 is a waste of time if white plays correctly. So instead, and spurred on by a rare endgame victory last week, I decided to swap everything off, and keep a knight for the endgame. But once in the endgame, whilst I was busy attacking his pawns and trying to build initiative for my knight, I overlooked some counterplay he had (naively, I'd assumed he'd have to respond to my threats and hadn't even considered his move). Suddenly I was to lose a pawn and it looked like my position would crumble with it. But I did have an advantage on the clock, and some feeble threats, and I think these are the only reasons why I didn't lose. Had my opponent more time, he'd should have won - I gave him plenty of chances! So yes, I lucked a draw after my mistake, and with it Taunton won the match!

Player of the match must be Mike Redman with his flashy win.

But congratulations everyone - we now top the table with Frome, whom we meet on Mon Dec 14th (at Glastonbury). I'll hassle people next week regarding the team, but its a vital match!

Nick

Match 2. Thus Nov 5th v Sedgemoor

Sedgemoor have Ben Edgell, one of the leagues top players, and a new guy (forgot his name) who is similarly rated. Beyond this, they have several medium strong players always ready to fill the other boards. So whilst we would outgrade them overall, this could have been a close match. We were nearly full strength, with just Mike Redman not playing (work commitments) and Jorge, fresh off the plane from Mexico, sporting a new tan, filling in on board 6. When we arrived, we found Sedgemoor didn't have their two top players (yippee!) and suddenly we were dreaming of 6-0 scores (oh no - here we go again...)

The issue of ungraded players also reared its head. I chose to put our mystery ungraded player, Chris, on board 1 (after all he beat me, just(!), last week, so of course that is sufficient qualification!). Sedgemoor put their ungraded, but suspiciously good-chess-player look-a-like on board 6.

Board 6. Jorge v mystery ungraded player. Lost. Score 0-1.
Jorge played fast, as usual. Soon he was in a tactically complex middle game position, and his opponent pounced, playing well and confidently. Jorge lost material and despite trying, failed to swindle his opponent in time trouble. After the game I casually asked the guy what his chess history was. "Er.. I was rated about 2105 15 years ago.". Wow! Thank you Sedgemoor. He'd have given any of us a tough time, so glad has was wasted on not playing one of our stronger players!

Board 3. Mike Richardt. Won. Score 1-1.
Mike played well and won with a nice king-side attack. This game was won in the opening with Mike's knowledge and his opponent's inaccuracies handing Mike an advantage that grew into a mating sacrificial attack. Well played, and first first win of the season!

Board 4. Nick Wilson. Won. Score 2-1.
I should have won quicker - by move 10, my opponent, as white, had tripled pawns on the g file, his king on f2 and no dark bishop. I rushed to open things up and stupidly let him simplify, albeit to an as good as lost for him endgame. And then I screwed up again with a simple slip, almost leaving the game drawn. But for once, I played the remaining endgame well, and forced the win.

Board 5. Dave Littlejohns. Won. Score 3-1.
Dave ground out the win. He had good pressure on c6, with doubled rooks and a key e5 knight bearing down on it. However, his opponent had pressure on a weak f2, so Dave had to be careful. At this point, his opponent said "Draw?". The room hushed... but Dave fought his demons, turned down the draw(!), and went on to (belatedly) sac a rook twice to win the game.

The match now hinged on the top two boards. We had an edge in both at that point, but nothing looked certain.

Board 2. Mark Hassall v Chris McKinley. Draw. Score 3.5 - 1.5
Mark definitely had the edge here, and were he playing on a longer time control I think he would have pressed for the win. Near the end the position was R+N+Ps each, and it would have been terrible to miss a fork somewhere. Chris can be a tricky player in positions like these, so on balance, a safe draw, giving us the match, was a good result.

Board 1. Chris Price v Nevile Senior. Draw. Score 4-2
I thought Chris played well during the opening and middle game. He had a clear advantage which was turned to a P plus in the endgame. In addition, Neville was in his usual time trouble. But once the time control was met, Chris wasn't 100% accurate with his rook in a R+4P v R+3P ending and had to accept a drawn position or risk all by sending his K to the aid of his passed pawn (at the expense of his other pawns). He took the risk, but it seemed a step too far - with time, I think Black would possibly win. Fortunately, both players were down to the last minutes on the clock and agreed a draw.

So final result, Taunton won 4 -2. A good result.

Match 1. Tues Oct 20th. Home v Glastonbury

We approached this match full of confidence. However we were down a couple of players - Chris (playing a club champ game instead - these things can be played out of club hours don'tcha know?!) and Dave (drizzle prevented attendance). Despite this, we were still confident. New member Vic Andrews and Martin filled in at boards 5&6.

When Glastonbury arrived, we heard they were a few players down too, due to them having the sniffles, or Swine Flu or something. This meant GM Matthew Turner would be playing for them. On occasions like this I really need Taunton resident Mikey Adams's phone number so he can hot foot it over and kick some GM-ass... Anyway, I told MikeRed the news, and far from him whimpering and cowering the corner, he was bullish - 'bring it on!'. Hope he brought his slingshot and some stones...

(This match report is very late, so I can't exactly remember the finishing order of the games, but it was something like this - )

Board 6. Vic Andrews Lost. Score 0-1.
Vic, returning to the club after many years was drafted in at the last minute. He played well, but his opponent took advantage of a couple of slips and soon, Vic was material down, losing shortly after.

Board 5. Martin Worrall Lost. Score 0-2.
Martin, also drafted in at the very last minute to fill in for Dave was black in a Sicilian, lost material in the middle game and lost.

Board 1. Mike Redman (v GM Matthew Turner) Lost. Score 0-3.
Mike is some 50+ rating points behind Matthew. Statistically this means a near 100% loss expectation, and this bore out. However the game looked, on casual glance, double-edged with Matthew Turner's king exposed, and Mike's Queen getting in there. But the GM had everything covered, along with some deadly threats of his own waiting for when Mike's checks ran out. On later analysis of the game, Mike felt 11. ... Nd7 was the losing move. Life is tough when an innocent 11. ... Nd7 loses you a game!

Board 2. Mark Hassall Lost. Score 0-4.
Mark (white) was playing junior Rhys Cummings. I hate playing juniors myself - they are either annoyingly strong (as Rhys is), or just annoying (rustling sweet papers, fidgeting etc...). Rhys initiated an early Queen exchange in the Sicilian and suddenly the position looked very plain and boring. Unfortunately, each time I glanced at the game, Rhys seemed to be gradually gaining space and pinning Mark all over the place. Eventually Mark had to resign with pins and threats everywhere.

Board 3. Mike Richardt Lost. Score. 0-5.
I missed most of this game, but Mike was material down (after what I thought had been a promising opening). Time pressure made matters worse, not to mention seeing the team crumble around him.

Board 4. Nick Wilson. Drew. Score 0.5 - 5.5.
I was white. Opponent played Scandinavian which I turned into a Blackmar Diemer (sp?). Easy I thought. Chuck everything to the king side. Sac. Sac. Mate. But twas not to be, as my opponent played well and through a combination of swapping off all my good pieces and leaving his own on good squares, he had a definite edge by mid game. Luckily I turned it into a B+B v R end game, which I thought I could win. But I couldn't find a way past the pawn chains and so the game was drawn (not, may I add, in shock and to prevent a whitewash as libellously reported on the Glastonbury website(!), but merely because I couldn't force anything more).

So final result, Taunton lost 0.5 - 5.5. A shocking result.
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Somerset Cup Quarter Final. Sedgemoor v Taunton 26/11/09

The Somerset Cup is an 8-board knockout competition. I can't remember Taunton ever winning it, although we've got to the finals at least 3 times in the last ten years only to stumble and fall at the last hurdle. But this year we should have a good chance (provided we can get a full strength team out)..

This first round match v Sedgemoor would always look to be close. The match was re-arranged from the previous Thursday due to most of our team not being able to make it then. Despite this, I knew Mike Redman still wouldn't be available (work commitments). Up until 24hrs before I thought we still had a good team, but suddenly both Alex and Chris pulled out at very short notice (arrgh!) - both with work commitments. Luckily Stan Wojcik managed to rearrange his schedule (huge thanks Stan!) and could step in. Mike Ward, ever reliable, thankfully stepped in at board 8, in a cunning tactical master stroke (more on this later).

So, the board order was this -

1. B Edgell 183 v M Hassall 180
2. P Hatchett 181 v M Richardt 175
3. N Senior 161 v N Wilson 169
4. C McKinley 151 v D Littlejohns 167
5. J Wood u/g v J Pineda-Langford 132
6. S Green 145 v M Worral 126
7. A Byrne 114 v S Wojcik u/g
8. I Chacon 119 v M Ward 91

We won the toss and our inept captain chose white on evens. After a few minute's confusion he realised that 1,3,5 & 7 are in fact, odd numbers, and red-faced explained to everyone we he'd tried to do.. So Taunton were white on 1,3,5 &7.

The grades are close, but you'd feel Sedgemoor had the overall edge - particularly when you know their u/g player (the suspiciously good chess player look-alike) was rated 2105 a while back.

On to the match - the games finished in his order -

Board 1. M Hassall v B. Edgell 1/2 - 1/2
Missed the opening, but it looked like a Ruy Lopez exchange with Queens off quickly, and an open position with minor pieces hopping around everywhere. "Hmm.. interesting I thought.. How will Mark manoeuvre to press for an advantage..? What will Ben reply with? Who has got the greater fighting spirit? Who is going to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and wrestle a win out of it...? Who...". Uh? My thoughts were snapped out by the words "Draw?" from one of the player, and suddenly it was over.

Board 2. P Hatchett 181 v M Richard 1/2 -1/2
Hearing that board 1 had agreed a draw was all the encouragement they needed, and so they also quickly agreed a draw. Cowards! On later analysis, Mike said Rybka put him 0.2 of a pawn up! And he agreed a draw!!?? Karpov won world championships grinding out advantages like that!

Board 8. I Chacon v M Ward 1 - 0
Mike fell victim to a king side attack, leaving his king vulnerable whilst his pieces were trapped behind a long pawn chain somewhere else a long way away. To be fair, there is a near 30 point grading difference between him and his opponent. However, this loss did have one advantage - should the final scores be level, the board count rule would mean Taunton would win, as this board 8 result would be removed as a tie-breaker.

Board 7. S Wojick v A Byrne 1/2 -1/2
Stan played the opening very well and quickly got an advantage. It looked like it might be enough for a win (and apparently in after game analysis was so), but he was never in trouble and agreed a draw.

Board 5. J Pineda-Langford v J Wood v 0 - 1
This was exactly the same pairing as played in the recent Div 1 match. Jorge lost that one and wanted revenge. So this time Jorge played really well and used all his ability to reduce his opponent to just a few minutes on the clock, whereas Jorge had nearly a whole hour left. Good stuff and a clear advantage to Jorge! Unfortunately, Jorge's opponent just made the time control. Oh, did I mention his opponent also had an overwhelming positional and material advantage on board? Well, he did, and quickly won. Depressingly, Jorge had earlier refused to enter into a bet with me, so not only did we lose this game, I missed out on a few quid...

So at this point Sedgemoor lead 3.5 - 1.5
It looked highly unlikely we'd get the 2.5 out of 3 we needed in the remaining games.

Board 6. S Green v M Worrall 1/2 - 1/2
This was a very odd game. I glanced over after the opening and Martin had his king on d7, his queen somewhere out and exposed on the king side, and his minor pieces still at home. Worse, his opponent was at least one pawn up, but had a huge mass of central pawns edging towards Martin's king (e.g. e4, d4, d5, and probably f4 and c4 etc... - there were pawns everywhere, and all white!). But somehow, Martin swapped everything off and using the pawns as a defensive shield(!), managed to get into an end game only a pawn down, but with a very active position and chances of queening a passed pawn. In the position where a draw was agreed I think if anything, Martin had the edge, but good to get a draw against someone rated much higher, and after having been in such a previously dangerous position.

Score now Sedgemoor lead 4 - 2. We had to win the last two games...

Board 4. C.McKinley - Dave LittleJohns 0 - 1
What is it with our players copying each other?? First the top two boards lemmingly agree draws and now boards 4 and 6 both perform kamikaze to king moves. Martin with his Kd7 and now Dave doing a Ke7 both in the late opening/early middle game. Anyway, and unsuprisingly with this exposed kings, Dave got into some trouble, losing a pawn and spending 8 moves between moves 16 and 30 shuffling his king around. But he did have a resourceful queen guarding from afar (probably too embarrased to be seen near her aimlessly wandering king..). When the dust settled, Dave was a pawn down in an opposite bishop and heavy piece ending. Surely a draw. But suddenly it was over. Dave made a simple threat on f2 (forking king and rook). Chris defended correctly with his queen, and then promptly forgot and moved the queen away a move or so later. Game over, and win to Dave.

Score now Sedgemoor lead 4-3.

Board 3. N Wilson v N Senior 1 - 0
In Nevile's French I played the line where the dark bishops come off and the black kings knight is displaced to d7. So, as any reader of these match reports will know, I waited for my usual tactics - rush out my pieces, don't worry about a pawn or two, wait for him to castle king side and then rush in for the kill. But unfortunately he didn't castle for ages. Of course, eventually he did, but to a draughty queenside. There was a bunch of swappings and suddenly in a B+Ps v N+Ps endgame I was lucky to find my knight on d6 forking pretty much everything. So it hopped about grabbing pawns while his light squared bishop whooshed through all the gaps my dark squared pawns had left. Nevile resigned when his last pawn fell, and I still had four left...

Final score 4-4 and Taunton win due to the board count rule!

Player of the match, I think, goes to Martin who managed to get a better part of a draw against a stronger player and also managed to avoid losing in what must've been a clearly lost with best play position much earlier in the game. But everyone played their part - Mike and Mark neutralising their top players, Stan coming in at the last minute and grabbing a valuable draw, Jorge taking a bullet from their 2105 player, Dave flukeing a win, me lucking a win and Mike Ward, tactically losing so we won on board count!

Match Reports - Division 2

Taunton v Chard/Ilminster 09-03

Taunton v Wellington 24-02

Sorry for the lateness of the report, please blame the Winter Olympics, and my chosen profession of very unsocial hours.

'Twas the night before Christmas....hang on that's a different report.

'Twas the night before the big game when all through the club not a piece was stirring, not even a pawn.
That was probably because we'd all packed up and gone home. It had gone 10.30, when the jangle of the caretakers keys can be heard as they ring down the corridors.
The big decision had been made, it was a tough call but it was decided: Stan would drive and pick up Mike and Vic, and I would pick up Robin, while Mike R would make his own way. Oh yes and having two ungraded players, and another two on the same grade means I can tinker a little with board order.

Wellington have excellent playing conditions (please take note Glastonbury....) and it's a pleasure to play there. Taunton so far were on 1 win 2 draws and 2 losses. A second win on the trot would give us a boost up the league.
So-in Nick Wilson style-here is the order they finished. (Sorry if I have some of the Wellington names wrong I gave the match sheet straight to Mike Ward and didn't make a note of them)

Vic McAndrew v Erwin Stahlberg
'Stahlberg' a good old fashioned Somerset name there. The night before, Vic had played a long play game against the very sharp and underrated John Wilkinson. John won in the end but we went through the game and Vic played an excellent opening with Black and could, and perhaps should have had John all tired up and losing pieces if not the game soon after the opening. That's a good enough reason to put ungraded Vic on board 6 where he would play black. You'll notice I'm padding out this report with the previous nights game as I didn't see any of this one so I cannot say anything about it. Afterwards Vic said his opponent played a standard opening while he played a non standard one. Erwin who is nearly 20 years older than his grade of 68 lost. 1-0 to Taunton.

Martin W v Chris Barratt
I had played Chris when they can to us last year and I won in a Caro-Kahn advance opening, with white. Should white play the same line? Will black play an improvement? Whose preparation is superior? Who will blink first? These thoughts go through the minds of all Grandmasters before a big game. But perhaps not for Wellington vs Taunton at the adult learning centre, however I did take a peak at our previous game and looked at the first 10 moves.
Another Caro-Kahn Advance but Chris changed his defence on move 6. This was one of those games where I gave away a pawn to open lines on the king side. In the end he had his King, 2 knights, a Rook and 3 pawns all crushed into the king-side corner and held there by just 3 of my advanced pawns backed up by a Rook on the h file. I moved my king to allow my other rook over and Chris resigned. A little premature perhaps (19 moves) but if I can force a resignation everytime I play King e1-d2 then I'll be a grandmaster by this time next year.
2-0 to Taunton

Robin v Nick Fawcett (not sure if this is the correct opponent)
Less than a minute after I had finished then Robins game also concluded. His pressure onto whites Kingside was solid but not quite pushing through so it quickly switched to a pawn storm on the queen side backed up with Rooks on the 'a' file. Robins pawns seem to steamroller through whites defence with ease. Robin is on a 100% record so far. Four wins from four games. Well played Robin.
3-0 to Taunton

Mike Richardt v Chris Price
Mike saw the match score of 3-0 and knew a draw would win it for us, so on his next move he offered a draw which Chris accepted. Mike gave me a quick assessment of the key moves and the end position, which I did my best to remember. Chris left his score sheet behind so I liberated it and put the moves into Pocket Fritz. All I can say is that the computers assessment of the moves and position matched Mikes instant whispered verbal assessment. Mike (white) was 1.6 pawns up according to Fritz. Mike could have pushed for the win but there was no need too and perhaps Chris suspected he was behind so agreed a draw.
Well played Mike 'Pocket Fritz' Richardt
3.5-0.5 to Taunton

A hush descended over the venue after these 4 games-that were all concluded in a short space of time-had finished. The remaining two were going to take a little longer. No early bath tonight. What seemed like an age later...

Mike Ward v David Smith (not sure if this is the correct opponent)
Mike had a very interesting game with knights hoping all over the place and lots of pressure against blacks isolated pawns and queen. Somehow black survived and it came down to Mikes advanced pawns and a knight against blacks hardly moved pawns and a knight. Classic endgame situation and it's not easy to calculate all the possibilities of various pawn pushes after 2.5 hours effort. Perhaps Mike could have brought his king into play sooner to support the pawns but that would mean neglecting knight moves. Still, a good effort to reach such a strong position, and as with many chess players, including myself, it's that killer tactical blow that often eludes us at the end. Mike resigned.
3.5-1.5 to Taunton

Stan Worcik vs P Dobber
I'm glad I wasn't playing this game, I think I would have cracked under the slow pressure from Piet Dobber whose presence is a little intimidating!!
I only saw the endgame but Stan was a pawn down, and a passed pawn at that. There seemed to be little happening as both sides Rook and king just seemed to shuffle back and forth looking for the smallest opportunity. A small king move error from Piet meant Stan won his pawn back and the tension was lifted. With everything locked up in the middle and whites only bargaining chip (the pawn) lost, they agreed a draw.
This was a great hold by Stan against grade 159 Piet. Ok it wouldn't have changed the match result but it will do Stans grade no harm.
4-2 to Taunton


So our second win this season. Well done everybody.
Game of the match? Well, I guess my 19 move win was pretty good and Stans draw deserves a nod, but I'll give it to Robin for his 4th straight win with a queenside steamrollering pawn storm.


Next Match: Home against Chard/Illminster on 9th March.

Martin Worrall

Taunton v Yeovil 09-02

Martin stepped aside for last night's match and I became a temporary Div2 captain. So here is the match report!

Div 2 Home v Yeovil.

Div2 is supposed to be a medium strength league, but there is the proviso of having one player above 165 on the team. So this means any match often has a mini Div 1 affair on the top board between whichever 165+ players have been plucked to play, whilst the <165ers battle it out lower down.

I drew the short straw (or should I say, "was privileged to represent the team") and was board 1 for this match. I assumed I'd be playing Kysrxynksiysiknskyysky and actually looked at a Tchigorin opening book to try and improve on my 0/2 record with it.

But when I turned up, Andrew Footner was their board 1, along with what looked like far too few players. Yes, on counting, and re-counting, Yeovil only had 4, but the other 2 were - "On their way". Later I was told they - "Didn't know which school the match was in".

Hmm.. might take them a while to work their way through the various educational facilities in Taunton.

So being the sporting chaps we are, we promptly started their clocks and quickly scanned the rule books to see how soon we could claim the win - I thought there was some 15min rule, but apparently the official rules state the flag must fall - i.e. 75 mins.. (This is great news for the future - Jorge could turn up over an hour late for a game and still have plenty of time to swindle a win...)

Anyway, on to the games - they finished in this order -

(I apologise in advance for only knowing the names of 2 Yeovil guys..)

Board 6. Robin v some Yeovil guy
Robin is a 150+ player, currently rated in the 120s due to what must be a near 100% loss record involving a knight fork somewhere. I've lost count of the number of winning positions he's had, only to be undone by a pesky knight fork.

So I wandered over to his board. Yet again, he had a strong position. But what's this? I scanned the board.... surely not.... HIS OPPONENT HAD NO KNIGHTS!! He's swapped them off. Now the risk to Robin was gone, I knew it was only a matter of time.

Sure enough, a few mins later Robin had won - and what irony - with a killer KNIGHT fork!

This was the first game to finish. The next two, on boards 4 & 5 featured a huge amount of suspense... the clocks were ticking away, beads of sweat appeared on John and Jerry's brow... would their opponents turn up...?? tick tick tick..... and ...... No. We won by default

Board 4 & 5 Yeovil default.
Sorry Jerry and John - thank you for coming and sorry you didn't get a game (although glad you killed the time playing each other!)

So now the score was 3 - 0

Board 2 Stan v D Freeman
Stan is returning to his full strength. Freeman is a good player and threw everything in a kingside attack. But Stan calmly held everything and then took a draw for the team - securing the match win! Thanks Stan!

Board 3 Alex v some other Yeovil guy
Alex was black in a tedious looking game. He tried to liven it up a bit, but after white found a way to swap everything off, he found himself a pawn down in the endgame. It looked like he could hold the draw, especially due to his clock advantage. But suddenly it was over.... arrgghh not a knight fork... and Alex was lost.

Board 1 Nick v Andrew Footner
Andrew is a strong, sharp player and I enjoy playing him. So with this respect in mind I bashed out the "Oh my God!" (tm) opening. Quite why he didn't walk out in digust that I should attempt such a cheap trick, I don't know. Even more so, he didn't play the best defence and soon I thought I had some good initiative for my sacc'ed pawn. But even though I tried to play sharp, I was too cautious on a couple of moves and soon found myself in a poor late middle game. Fortunately, Andrew simplified to what he thought was a winning endgame. But he'd underestimated my drawing chances via a perpetual. In wasting time avoiding that, he suddenly found himself on possibly the worse side of a R+B+P v R+4P ending. He offered a draw and I accepted. In hindsight I should have played on, but I felt lucky to get the draw after the bad middle game, and also the janitor was pacey and jangling his keys... So a draw it was.

Taunton win 4 - 2.

Man of match goes to Robin for his win!

Nick

Taunton v Yeovil, Oct 14th

It was the first Div 2 match last night, away at Yeovil. (The actual first one was postponed)
On paper they are pretty strong and we didn't have our strongest team out, I was fearing a 5-1 or at best 4-2 loss. We were out graded by an average of 15 points on every board.

We went down 3-0 after about one and a half hours, and my game was looking not great. Robin had a very complex game with a fierce attack against his king on the long diagonal. I didn't see much of Mike Redmans game against Patryk Krzyzanowski (grade 186), but I believe he was a pawn up through most of the game.
Robins opponents attack fizzled out and robin -playing black- came through to win the exchange and trap the white king on the back rank with his two rooks. 3-1. Mike Redman was still a pawn up in the endgame and with a time advantage (i'm told) I got the signal of a win for Mike, 3-2.
I managed to give my opponent double doubled pawns!! which became impossible to defend. He went for tactical complications but my 3 pawns -in a line- with Rook back up, against one of his sets of doubled pawns resulted in a passed pawn for me which he had to sacrifice his rook to stop. He soon resigned a Rook, Bishop and 4 pawns against Bishop and 3 pawns ending, 3-3. Drawn match.
Frankly after going 3-0 down, and then ending 3-3 it felt like a win!
Of course if the games finished in a different order it wouldn't have been as tense or exciting but it must have been sickening for Yeovil to go 3-0 up against a lower graded team and end up with a draw.
The rematch at taunton is in February.