Almost Safe
Stephen Berry reports on the recent 4NCL weekend
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Kings Head continued the good work at the
latest 4NCL weekend. It is true that we faced two of the weaker teams of
Division Two, but on our form over the last year or so this was no guarantee
of success. Whatever the opposition, points still have to be scored and
matches won.
On Saturday, we were to play Beeson Gregory III. We feared they would be
strong if their first team turned out the big guns and pushed everyone down
the board order. In the event we outgraded them, but just failed to cash
in. The first three boards and the bottom board were all draws of
varying interest. I was under pressure for twenty five moves against
Bernard Cafferty and glad to draw, whilst Selena managed the same against a
higher-rated opponent. Rick McM's game against Anderton was as wild as
wild can be. See below for game and notes
David Okike played "a critical line against
the Sveshnikov Sicilian" (his words), won his opponent's queen, but left
his pieces undeveloped allowing massive counterplay which swept away his
position. Colin's game was the mystery of the round. Playing a standard
line in his trusty Winawer French, he won a pawn and seemed -- to the innocent
observer -- to have a solid position. Five minutes later Colin (and his
opponent) had disappeared, the pieces were in their start position and the
rumour was that the Kings Head captain had lost. Pressed about this
later Colin confessed to serially blundering but more than that was not to be
ascertained without the use of thumbscrews (not available at the time).
Mercifully, the team's bacon was saved by the two heroes of the weekend, Felix
and Andy. Other than negotiating his habitual time trouble, Andy faced
few difficulties in dismissing tabloid reporter Tim Spanton's rather
unsensational opening. Felix's 3 Nd2 Tarrasch against the French is
turning into a fearsome weapon indeed and he squeezed the life out of poor
David Gunter's position in leisurely fashion. At the end Gunter could
have played on to receive further instruction, but decided the positional
master class had sufficed for that day. So, only 4-4, but it could have
been worse.
On Sunday we faced Witney and Swindon who last year came within an ace of
promotion into Division One. This year they seem to be heading towards
Division Three and Kings Head propelled them further on their way. Again
the first three boards were draws with Rick T disappearing to the bar after
ten minutes or so. Two steady draws with the black pieces for him.
In my game, although not playing the most accurate moves, I reached the
position after White's 27th move with what I took to be a slight advantage on
the board and a considerable advantage on the clock. See game score below
for analysis of this position
Meanwhile, something had gone very wrong with Selena's position and she duly
lost. David Okike seemed to have the worst position I have seen for
quite some time, and mentally I wrote that one off too. But elsewhere,
the news was better. Again both Felix and Andy won rather easily, Felix
refuting a loose Centre Counter and Andy showing that the Grand Prix Attack
can be used to win in the ending. Colin banished his Saturday blues
after he punished White's 17 f3. See below for game score and notes
So KHCC had already clinched the match when Okike after a desperate
rearguard action reached reached move 63 See game score below for
analysis..
Final Result 5-3 to Kings Head. The team now have 7 points, the
number which sufficed to keep us in Division Two last season. One or two
points from the last weekend should see us definitely secure.
Here are some of the games mentioned above, some with annotations by Stephen
Berry. Instructions: Please scroll down this page and click the moves to
replay the game. Variations are shown in green and can also be clicked to see
them on the board. Please note that you can also use the forward and back arrows
on your keyboard to play the moves.
| Nimzovich-Larsen Attack | A01 |
 McMichael R. (2265)
Anderton D. (2230)
4NCL/Div2/BG3-KH (7.2)
Rd07-Birmingham, 2002
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Kwiatkowski F. (2213)
Gunter D. (2140)
4NCL/Div2/BG3-KH (7.4)
Rd07-Birmingham, 2002
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Berry S. (2309)
Headlong T. (2232)
4NCL/Div2/KH-WS (8.1)
Rd08-Birmingham, 2002
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Bourne J. (2008)
Mackenzie C. (2164)
4NCL/Div2/KH-WS (8.4)
Rd08-Birmingham, 2002
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Kwiatkowski F. (2213)
Chapman G. (1984)
4NCL/Div2/KH-WS (8.5)
Rd08-Birmingham, 2002
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Gilfillan A. (2024)
Hunt L. (1752)
4NCL/Div2/KH-WS (8.7)
Rd08-Birmingham, 2002
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Jones N. (1864)
Okike D. (2149)
4NCL/Div2/KH-WS (8.6)
Rd08-Birmingham, 2002
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Cox S. (1504)
Howell S. (1736)
4NCL/Div2/BG3-KH (7.8)
Rd07-Birmingham, 2002
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Spanton T. (2015)
Gilfillan A. (2024)
4NCL/Div2/BG3-KH (7.7)
Rd07-Birmingham, 2002
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Game(s) in PGN