Somerset Knockout Competition

The gradings suggested that Taunton would win 2 ½ to 1 ½ but you will have to read on to discover the actual result.

Ioannis on Board 1 unexpectedly lost following a slight miscalculation (blunder?), whilst Richard on Board 2 duly won against his lower graded opponent. Even though you outrank your opponent you still have to play well to win. Well done, Richard.

On Board 4 Mike Ward was easily beaten by an opponent who outgraded him quite significantly so no real shame in losing that one Mike.

On Board 3, Phil who was playing with the Black pieces made a poor start but recovered to finish in an end game with a Rook and Bishop versus White’s Rook.

At one point there seemed to be loads of pawns but the next time I looked they had all gone. I thought this was going to be a draw and we would lose but he played very well and his opponent resigned before an inevitable mate.

2-2 was the final result. Well done everyone. It is great to be back playing OTB matches against other clubs.

And good luck to our Bishops who visit Weston Super Mare on Thursday.

Beware decommissioned oil rigs!

BISHOPS TEAM FIXTURES:

(Captain – David Graham)

KNIGHTS TEAM FIXTURES:

(Captain – Chris Greenaway)

Joshua Acibar, in his first match for the club. played, as usual, at lightning speed but unfortunately also lost at lightning speed.

Niall won a protracted and fairly close game thanks to a superior pawn count.

Richard won, fortuitously I thought, in a close game when his opponent, playing too quickly, was obliged to continue a move having touched his piece, a rook. Richard was able to fork the King and Rook leaving him a bishop up.

Fernando lost a close game agin showing the advantage of a superior number of pawns.

Arnold, playuing against a much higher rated player fought for and got a draw in a position I thought was lost. Well done Arno;d.

Mike’s game I didn’t see much of and he lost graciously.

Well done Sedgemoor. 3½ v 2½

Afterwards he said he could have won, but we all say that don’t we? In this case though I think he could have. Anyway, I was pleased with a draw after our last outing to Weston ended in a 3-1 defeat against the Weston Bishops team  and a 1.5 to 2.5 defeat when the Weston Knights visited Taunton in September.

DG.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Be7 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 Bg4 7.Qb3 Bh5 8.d4 h6 9.Be3 a6 10.Nbd2 Nf6 11.Nh4 O-O
12.Nf5 b5 13.Bd3 Re8 14.f4 Ng4 15.fe5 de5 16.Nf3 Ne3 17.Ne3 ed4 18.cd4 Nd4 19.Nd4 Qd4 20.Kh1 Qe3
21.Ra-e1 Qd4 22.a3 Ra-d8 23.Bb1 Bd6 24.Ba2 Qe5 25.g3 Bg6 26.Rf2 Qd4 27.Rfe2 Re4 28.Rd1 Qe5 29.Re4 Qe4+
30.Kg1 Re8 31.Kf1 Qh1+ 32.Kf2 Qh2+ 33.Kf1 Bg3 34.Qf3 Bd3+ 35.Rd3 Re1# [/pgn]

1.e4 c5 2.b4 cb4 3.d4 e6 4.c4 bc3 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qa4 Nf6 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bb2 0-0 9.Bd3 d6 10.Qc2 Nc6
11.a3 e5 12.de5 de5 13.Rd1 Qa5 14.0-0 Bg4 15.Nd5 Bf3 16.gf3 h6 17.Ne7+ Ne7 18.Kh1 Ra-c8 19.Qe2 Ng6
20.Bc1 Nh5 21.f4 Nf4 22.Qg4 Rc1 23.Rc1 Nd3 24.Rb1 b5 25.Rb3 Nh-f4 26.Qh4 Qa4 27.Rc3 Qe4+ 28.f3 Qe2
29.Qg3 Qf1+ 30.Resigns[/pgn]

Arnold had kindly agreed to be our top board and he was evenly matched with Ollie Isaac. David (100) was playing Malcolm Dinham (106) so fairly even there too. Both Mike Ward and Vic were outgraded by 20 points or so (against John Parsons and A Keen) but I was quietly confident. Last year we came away with a victory against similar grades.

David finished first; an absolute disaster. How can anyone allow an h7 mate after 17 moves. Well you’re just going to have to guess because I’m too embarrassed to put the game up on the website.

Mike succumbed to a mass of pawns (and pieces) bearing down on his King which had nowhere to go but into danger.

Vic looked to have a reasonable chance and his opponent’s King was well exposed, but after Queens were exchanged he was playing with 2 Rooks against 2 Rooks and a Knight. And then that nasty Knight was threatening to fork Rooks and the King and he bravely capitulated.

Arnold finished last and it was an evenly and fiercely fought contest. It eventually came down to a Rook and pawn ending, an isolated white pawn on a5 which black had to defend with his Rook allowing Arnold to win a pawn on the other side of the board and leaving him, eventually, with King and Pawn against King. No slipping up and allowing a stalemate and Black resigned. Well played, Arnold.

A disappointing 3-1 loss. Damp squibs and other firework metaphors are wholly inappropriate. Hope springs eternal though, so we’re back in December against Wellington.