Post by Nick on Oct 6, 2011 9:27:36 GMT
Our first match of the season was played in unseasonably warm sunshine at The Hall School near Swiss Cottage. It proved to be both a terrific day and a terrific venue.
We were playing Herts, a team we beat last year, though a look through the team list beforehand showed that they outgraded us on all but two boards. Nevertheless, it felt like a competitive match.
The early pace-setters were David Razzell and Michael Price. Michael looked to have had an overwhelming position within ten moves when his opponent seemed to have got his move order mixed up in a classical Caro-Kann and allowed his king to be brutally exposed. Shedding material, the Herts player's king lacked cover and was mated in clinical fashion. David played the black side of a Ruy Lopez and he too won within 20 moves after sacrificing a piece to drag his opponent's king into the open. The Herts player resigned before the coup de grace. Richard Thursby was our next winner. Most of the play seemed to take place on the queenside, where the Herts player's was defending against a strong initiative. Richard then transferred attackers over to the kingside where he provoked weaknesses against an almost undefended king. This was too much to withstand and the Herts player soon subsided. The final three wins took place in the closing minutes of the match. I didn't see much of Richard Dunn's game, but it seemed to be complex, roughly level, middlegame which, the next time I looked, had morphed into an endgame where Richard had a few extra pawns which he duly converted. After various transport problems Greg Breed arrived flushed and proceeded to crack out a dozen moves of a Meran in double-quick time. He then converted his theoretical knowledge into a horrible middlegame where his opponent possessed 2 passed pawns on the queenside, although his king was stuck awkwardly in the centre. Naturally Greg took his usual approach to mix things up, and, though his opponent sidestepped most of the pitfalls, he eventually he stepped on one and Greg crashed through. He converted as smoothly as anyone can with about 30 seconds on the clock. In contrast Ray Harper won much more serenely in the last game to finish. Ray carefully nursed a pawn advantage into the endgame and, ended up with R+P vs. R. It was surely a theoretical win, but with tiny amounts of time remaining, could easily have gone wrong. Happily for Ray, the Herts player was focused on the promotion of the pawn and missed a mate in 1.
So, overall, we won 9-7. A most entertaining match. I'd like to thank everyone for playing and helping with setting up/ putting away. I'd also especially like to thank the new U140 captain, Angela Eyton, for organising the venue and the school's headmaster for providing it.
We were playing Herts, a team we beat last year, though a look through the team list beforehand showed that they outgraded us on all but two boards. Nevertheless, it felt like a competitive match.
The early pace-setters were David Razzell and Michael Price. Michael looked to have had an overwhelming position within ten moves when his opponent seemed to have got his move order mixed up in a classical Caro-Kann and allowed his king to be brutally exposed. Shedding material, the Herts player's king lacked cover and was mated in clinical fashion. David played the black side of a Ruy Lopez and he too won within 20 moves after sacrificing a piece to drag his opponent's king into the open. The Herts player resigned before the coup de grace. Richard Thursby was our next winner. Most of the play seemed to take place on the queenside, where the Herts player's was defending against a strong initiative. Richard then transferred attackers over to the kingside where he provoked weaknesses against an almost undefended king. This was too much to withstand and the Herts player soon subsided. The final three wins took place in the closing minutes of the match. I didn't see much of Richard Dunn's game, but it seemed to be complex, roughly level, middlegame which, the next time I looked, had morphed into an endgame where Richard had a few extra pawns which he duly converted. After various transport problems Greg Breed arrived flushed and proceeded to crack out a dozen moves of a Meran in double-quick time. He then converted his theoretical knowledge into a horrible middlegame where his opponent possessed 2 passed pawns on the queenside, although his king was stuck awkwardly in the centre. Naturally Greg took his usual approach to mix things up, and, though his opponent sidestepped most of the pitfalls, he eventually he stepped on one and Greg crashed through. He converted as smoothly as anyone can with about 30 seconds on the clock. In contrast Ray Harper won much more serenely in the last game to finish. Ray carefully nursed a pawn advantage into the endgame and, ended up with R+P vs. R. It was surely a theoretical win, but with tiny amounts of time remaining, could easily have gone wrong. Happily for Ray, the Herts player was focused on the promotion of the pawn and missed a mate in 1.
So, overall, we won 9-7. A most entertaining match. I'd like to thank everyone for playing and helping with setting up/ putting away. I'd also especially like to thank the new U140 captain, Angela Eyton, for organising the venue and the school's headmaster for providing it.