Post by jocls on Dec 10, 2013 21:06:52 GMT
In this first-round match of the Paul Watson Knockout Trophy our average grade was 149.5 and our visitors' was 147, so under the new tie-break system, whereby the lower-graded team wins, we had to score at least 2½ points. Haywards Heath won the toss, which put more pressure on us, although Bob Elliston on board 1 overcame the disadvantages of having Black and a 14-point lower grade than their captain, Jeffrey Boardman. Conrado Quintos was lucky to be offered a draw in a materially inferior position. The bottom two boards were the last to finish and from them we therefore needed a win or two draws. Unfortunately, both players sacrificed a piece and had apparently winning attacks thwarted.
The scores:
1. Bob Elliston 175 (B) 1-0 Jeffrey Boardman 189
2. Conrado Quintos 155 ½-½ Graham Ewens 150
3. Derek Cosens 139 0-1 Roland Rattray 125
4. Mason Woodhams 129 0-1 David Curtis 124
On board 1 Bob played a quiet defence to Jeffrey's 1. e4. Both players had still not castled after 10 moves. The exchange of knight for bishop left Bob with the bishop pair. Suddenly, Jeffrey started to shake his head on the realisation that he had allowed a Black pawn to fork his knight and bishop. He moved a5, attacking Black's queen on b6 but he lost a piece for two pawns. Still neither side had castled after 22 moves. Jeffrey by this stage had only 23 minutes to make 13 moves, against Bob's 39. Jeffrey managed something of a fight-back, reaching a position where he had two rooks, a knight and four pawns against two rooks, a bishop and five pawns. Bob's rooks were still not developed, but his extra pawn was on c2 defended by the bishop on f5. He finally castled, his king looking far safer than Jeffrey's on b2. Jeffrey posted a rook behind the dangerous passed pawn, but to no avail, as Bob still queened the pawn, resulting in the loss of Jeffrey's knight. The remaining black rook dominated the c-file and Jeffrey resigned with checkmate threatened.
Conrado seemed to establish a quite strong-looking set-up early on, with a knight on e4 and a bishop on f4, but multiple exchanges produced a position where he had queen, rook, bishop and six pawns versus queen rook, knight and six pawns. Conrado won a pawn but then suffered the loss of his queen for the white rook and knight. Graham's king, however, was very exposed on c2 and Conrado's rook and bishop were becoming a nuisance, so Graham offered a draw on move 37, which Conrado declined. The white queen captured both the black a- and b-pawns, but Graham's f2 pawn was en prise to the black rook and the h2 pawn was also vulnerable. Graham again offered a draw on his 46th move and Conrado this time accepted, perhaps realising this was a game he should have lost.
On board 3, Roland played a Closed Sicilian. Derek played e5 on move 7 and castled long on his 15th move. He gave up his f-pawn "for strategic reasons", but Roland's queen looked dangerous on g4 on the open diagonal, pointing towards the black king. Derek worked up a dangerous attack on the kingside, with rooks on h8 and h6, attacking the white pawn on h5. The pawn was captured following a knight manoeuvre and then Derek sacrificed his bishop with the idea of diverting the white queen and creating what looked like a mating attack, but his calculation had overlooked that the white king had a bolt hole of one square. Derek had a passed pawn but the extra white piece resulted in that falling, and when Derek's extra pawn was captured by the marauding white knight, his position was beginning to look grim. Roland cannily gave back the extra piece, leaving himself with king and five pawns against king and three. Only the white b-pawn could move, the central pawns being locked, but that was enough, as its king shepherded it towards the queening square. Derek's king being helpless to prevent its advance, he was forced to resign.
Mason played a London System and had a game he would perhaps like to forget, missing, as he later admitted, so many ways of winning. He early pushed all his queenside pawns to the fourth rank, but David sensibly locked the position with c5, leaving all the advanced pawns on white squares. David then rather surprisingly captured the knight on c3 with his fianchettoed bishop, resulting in his king looking rather exposed. Mason's position was very promising, as David's queen's rook and bishop were not in play. Perhaps David's decision to advance his kingside pawns led Mason to sacrifice his other knight, with a view to further exposing the black king, and to move his queen to g4 with a bishop on h5. But he had not reckoned with the stubborn resistance of the two black knights replacing the f- and g-pawns in front of the king. They frustrated the attack and then David suddenly advanced one of them and managed to force the exchange of queens and thereby snuff out the attack. His queen's bishop returned from b7 to c8 with a threat of attacking the weak white queenside pawns. Although the remaining bishops were of opposite colour, Mason's was of course unable to offer any protection to the pawns. However, David did not move his bishop to c1, which seemed the obvious move, and Mason prevented that incursion by moving his king to d2. He then offered a draw, which, unsurprisingly, was declined. David then captured a kingside pawn, leaving White a whole piece down and very short of time. David started to advance his passed pawn and Mason was powerless to prevent the black king from shielding it to the queening square. He therefore resigned.
This was a match we should perhaps have won. It was lost through two dubious piece sacrifices and through two attacks being repulsed by stubborn defence.
The scores:
1. Bob Elliston 175 (B) 1-0 Jeffrey Boardman 189
2. Conrado Quintos 155 ½-½ Graham Ewens 150
3. Derek Cosens 139 0-1 Roland Rattray 125
4. Mason Woodhams 129 0-1 David Curtis 124
On board 1 Bob played a quiet defence to Jeffrey's 1. e4. Both players had still not castled after 10 moves. The exchange of knight for bishop left Bob with the bishop pair. Suddenly, Jeffrey started to shake his head on the realisation that he had allowed a Black pawn to fork his knight and bishop. He moved a5, attacking Black's queen on b6 but he lost a piece for two pawns. Still neither side had castled after 22 moves. Jeffrey by this stage had only 23 minutes to make 13 moves, against Bob's 39. Jeffrey managed something of a fight-back, reaching a position where he had two rooks, a knight and four pawns against two rooks, a bishop and five pawns. Bob's rooks were still not developed, but his extra pawn was on c2 defended by the bishop on f5. He finally castled, his king looking far safer than Jeffrey's on b2. Jeffrey posted a rook behind the dangerous passed pawn, but to no avail, as Bob still queened the pawn, resulting in the loss of Jeffrey's knight. The remaining black rook dominated the c-file and Jeffrey resigned with checkmate threatened.
Conrado seemed to establish a quite strong-looking set-up early on, with a knight on e4 and a bishop on f4, but multiple exchanges produced a position where he had queen, rook, bishop and six pawns versus queen rook, knight and six pawns. Conrado won a pawn but then suffered the loss of his queen for the white rook and knight. Graham's king, however, was very exposed on c2 and Conrado's rook and bishop were becoming a nuisance, so Graham offered a draw on move 37, which Conrado declined. The white queen captured both the black a- and b-pawns, but Graham's f2 pawn was en prise to the black rook and the h2 pawn was also vulnerable. Graham again offered a draw on his 46th move and Conrado this time accepted, perhaps realising this was a game he should have lost.
On board 3, Roland played a Closed Sicilian. Derek played e5 on move 7 and castled long on his 15th move. He gave up his f-pawn "for strategic reasons", but Roland's queen looked dangerous on g4 on the open diagonal, pointing towards the black king. Derek worked up a dangerous attack on the kingside, with rooks on h8 and h6, attacking the white pawn on h5. The pawn was captured following a knight manoeuvre and then Derek sacrificed his bishop with the idea of diverting the white queen and creating what looked like a mating attack, but his calculation had overlooked that the white king had a bolt hole of one square. Derek had a passed pawn but the extra white piece resulted in that falling, and when Derek's extra pawn was captured by the marauding white knight, his position was beginning to look grim. Roland cannily gave back the extra piece, leaving himself with king and five pawns against king and three. Only the white b-pawn could move, the central pawns being locked, but that was enough, as its king shepherded it towards the queening square. Derek's king being helpless to prevent its advance, he was forced to resign.
Mason played a London System and had a game he would perhaps like to forget, missing, as he later admitted, so many ways of winning. He early pushed all his queenside pawns to the fourth rank, but David sensibly locked the position with c5, leaving all the advanced pawns on white squares. David then rather surprisingly captured the knight on c3 with his fianchettoed bishop, resulting in his king looking rather exposed. Mason's position was very promising, as David's queen's rook and bishop were not in play. Perhaps David's decision to advance his kingside pawns led Mason to sacrifice his other knight, with a view to further exposing the black king, and to move his queen to g4 with a bishop on h5. But he had not reckoned with the stubborn resistance of the two black knights replacing the f- and g-pawns in front of the king. They frustrated the attack and then David suddenly advanced one of them and managed to force the exchange of queens and thereby snuff out the attack. His queen's bishop returned from b7 to c8 with a threat of attacking the weak white queenside pawns. Although the remaining bishops were of opposite colour, Mason's was of course unable to offer any protection to the pawns. However, David did not move his bishop to c1, which seemed the obvious move, and Mason prevented that incursion by moving his king to d2. He then offered a draw, which, unsurprisingly, was declined. David then captured a kingside pawn, leaving White a whole piece down and very short of time. David started to advance his passed pawn and Mason was powerless to prevent the black king from shielding it to the queening square. He therefore resigned.
This was a match we should perhaps have won. It was lost through two dubious piece sacrifices and through two attacks being repulsed by stubborn defence.