The B Team set out on its first away jaunt of the season to Milton Keynes in fine spirits after a good start to the season. Richard and Joe joined the happy gang whilst Steve continued to sun himself in Australia and Chris fought the removal men.
After a quiet start (2 French Defences – Joe and Richard), a Dutch Defence (Alex), a Modern Opening (Nick) and a King’s Indian (Marc), all the games seemed to be evenly poised. After a couple of hours play, Richard was first to finish, agreeing a draw in a tight tactical game of relatively few chances. Meanwhile, Joe was building up a good attack and Marc, through some clever tactics, had won a queen for a knight and rook. On the top two boards Alex was in typical trouble finding all his pawns on white squares trapping his bishop, while Nick, whilst having an edge in terms of space, seemed to have a level position.
Marc’s game was second to finish. Having built up a clear advantage he made a blunder which left him on the brink of defeat, but he managed to force a perpetual check and rescue a draw. A short time later, Joe crashed through with his attack to win his game in fine style, giving the team a narrow lead.
This left the top two boards remaining. Nick had simplified his game to a rook and pawn ending against Richard Freeman and defended coolly under pressure as Richard’s queenside pair of passed pawns advanced while his kingside duo were further down the board. However, having forced rooks off the game ended with a draw as neither king could support their pawns without letting their opponent queen.
On Board 1 Alex was fighting a rear guard action, having sacrificed a rook for pawn and bishop. Having managed to set up a fortress of sorts, with less than a minute left he chose the wrong moment to advance his king. His opponent then proceeded to win all his remaining material and queen a pawn (well push a pawn to the 8th and then not bother to replace it, having only 10 seconds left…). Fortunately, a diplomatic incident was averted as Alex won the race on time by 2 seconds and was 2 moves from being mated, so a draw.
The result 3-2 to the B Team.
This means that at Christmas the B Team are top of the league (hopefully shown below!) which must be a first. A fine effort so far from all squad members and replacements.
Alex
