B1 Gerry Nolan ½-½ Peter Clarke
B2 Giuseppe Valerio 1-0 James Alexander
B3 Peter Gill 0-1 Alan Heath
B4 Nigel Staddon 1-0 Rodrigo Fernandez
B5 Peter Housden 0-1 John McKeon
Result 2½ – 2½
The C team secured a good draw against a strong OU team, matching our away match result against the same team last month. All the games were well contested, though I didn’t get to see a lot of the action, as my game was quite a tense affair.
Giuseppe had to contend with a nasty-looking attack while he was pawn grabbing, despite seriously delayed development. However, once he finally got all his pieces out, he was able to fight off the attack and create a good win.
Peter G started with a sound-looking position, but was saddled with a weak pawn that eventually proved his undoing. So the match was even at that point.
Nigel’s game was a an unbalanced one, leading to chances for both sides. In the end, though, Nigel came off best and recorded his third win in a row.
Peter H’s game was interesting. He succeeded in gaining a lot of space on the Kingside and centre, but unfortunately was unable to turn that into a win and his opponent came out better. That meant the match was still level at that point.
So my game would be the decider. I created a lot of pressure throughout and reached a position which I thought would be drawn, but my opponent had other ideas – rightly so, as the game moved on. I had a majestic-looking Knight ensconced on my opponent’s d3, but it achieved nothing and ultimately resulted in the loss of a Pawn. We went into an end-game with Pawns and same-coloured Bishops, but I was convinced it was a draw, despite being a Pawn down. Because of that mindset, I got to a position which offered a clear win for me, but I missed the opportunity, being convinced it was drawn. Hey ho, one should always look at a position without preconceptions! In the end it turned out in fact to be drawn and after 65 moves we called it a day. So a drawn match, but it could have been much better if I’d been more perceptive!