It’s all good practice…

 

 

Board	Mushrooms	Grade			Battersea	Grade
1	I Snape	198	1	0	Richard Edwards	175
2	RHarris	177	1	0	Dan Staples	162
3	W Linton	182	1	0	Paul Stokes	162
4	D Wilson	164	0	1	Tim Wells	153
5	P Durrant	164	1	0	Emil Todorow	152
6	R Nash	146	0	1	Andrew Palmer	145
7	J Tivillier	154	1	0	Bill Drennan	140
8	J Rios	155	1	0	David Wigg	144
9	T Liu	146	0	1	Arnold Hunt	134
10	G Havard	142	1	0	Pete Saberton	116
Final score			7	3

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I think everyone who played last Thursday would acknowledge that this was not our finest hour –either as a team or individually. The best thing you can say about this match is that at one stage we were 6-0 down but did manage at least to save face by pulling in the some points towards the end.

 

Andy undoubtedly had the best game –showing that greater rook activity in an ending is often worth more than a pawn. Arnold’s game eventually stumbled to its correct conclusion after the players noticed that Arnold’s opponent’s clock had stopped for a cumulative fifteen minutes, giving his opponent an enormous advantage in a rapidplay finish. It should be noted however, that his opponent was most sporting at the finish when Arnold forgot to press his clock. Tim’s opponent conceded a bishop ending that was arguably drawable, but I’m not so sure. David was, I thought, unfortunate to lose from one of his classic bricked-up positions. My game was again Dragon theory to move 17, when I sacked a pawn for open lines on the queenside, only to make a crass blunder a few moves later -the Dragon is fun to play but one slip and you’re down in the bar buying a pint. Dan similarly threw away a win in the ending under time pressure. Emil and Pete also suffered fatal loss of material. Paul had one of those nightmarishly passive positions that we all get from time to time. Bill’s game just drifted against him.

 

This is one perhaps best forgotten but thanks to everyone who played, particularly to Pete and Arnold who stepped in at short notice, without whom we would have had two defaults.

 

 

 

 

Richard Edwards

24^th January 2010