It has become a familiar refrain in Division 2 reports: yet again, Downend found ourselves heavily out-graded in our match against Horfield.
However, hot off the back of our victory against front-runners South Bristol A, the C team were in the mood to slay some giants, and we came ready to fight.
Alan’s game on Board 4 against Mike Levene was the first to finish. At the time of writing I don’t have his scoresheet to hand, but in the moments I looked across from my vantage point on Board 3, I thought they had an equal-ish position, with Alan’s side of the board easier to play. His opponent, clearly had similar views and was content to take the draw. ½-½ and a great result by Alan against an opponent rated a mere 200 points above him!
Next was Elmira, who had a very standard-looking Exchange Caro until she cracked out 6. Be6!? It’s in the book, apparently. Your correspondent, whose Caro-Kann knowledge is limited to dodgy transpositions from the English, is in no position to comment.
The important thing is that Elmira knew what she was doing, at least up until move 19 when she went for a complicated tactic: …Nf3?!
The points in favour of this manoeuvre were two: it opened up multiple attacks on White’s minor pieces, and it was extremely pretty. The point against it was that it unfortunately didn’t work; a variation involving a Knight fork four moves later meant White could leave the sequence with either a passed pawn or an exchange.
Fortunately, Elmira’s opponent John Richards (only 170 points higher rated this time…) didn’t spot this either and after a few tricky moves, she was back in business. The game ended in a draw, but not before White also blundered, giving Elmira the opportunity to create a potentially decisive passed pawn of her own. But when the draw offer’s on the table, I don’t think anyone can blame her for taking it. 1-1
Keith’s game on Board 2 against Andy Hill was always going to be a slog. By his own account, he had played Andy earlier in the season and been treated to a 20-move theoretical opening lesson in the Winawer, so this time opted for the Exchange French instead. It was looking reasonably satisfactory until Keith’s Ne2 allowed Black to play …Bxf3, leaving White with the Bishop pair but doubled pawns.
To give Keith his due, this may have been a strategic decision to give himself attacking opportunities in the middle game against a stronger player (200 points higher - and yes, I will continue to carp about rating gaps for the rest of this report).
He duly pursued this strategy, loading up the cannon with a Rook on g1 and Queen on g2, ready to blast the crown off the Black King. Ultimately, though, he ran into issues with his own King safety that slowed the attack and then meant that a series of tactics never quite worked out for him. 1-2
Which brings us to Muggins’ game against Brent Perrin. Knowing the line a bit, I got a nice, fat time advantage while Brent ruminated on move 4, presumably trying to understand what kind of reprobate prepares anti-anti-Sicilians for Division 2 of local league chess. I was wearing jeans, too.
On move 21 I made what I consider to be a deft psychological ploy and offered Brent a draw, knowing that if he refused he would be compelled to try and press for a win. You might look at that decision, and the accompanying …Rg5?!, as a sign that I hadn’t the foggiest what to do next. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.
In the event, Brent refused, but his dwindling clock resources meant I was able to bag a pawn and then, despite bungling a Knight fork, calculate that I could allow it and still win the resulting end game of Bishop and three pawns vs Rook and one. 2-2 - and yes, he was 200 points higher rated.
It was at this point that, as acting captain, I dared to dream of the WhatsApp message I would send to Grant if we won. Alexis was looking good on Board 6, and Steve had an exchange, although low time, on board one. I’m not saying it was already in my drafts, but surely a draw at least was on the cards?
Alas it was not to be. First Alexis, who had successfully infiltrated the Black position, succumbed after a series of trades left Nigel Pollett with an outside passed pawn that was going to roll all the way down to a1. It was really quite bad luck for Alexis, who I suspect had Nigel’s number for most of the game. 2-3
Which left us watching Steve and pinning our hopes on him. As mentioned, he had the exchange, but a worse pawn structure and not much thinking time to unpin it. He battled gamely on for a number of moves, but ultimately was denied through accurate play by Mike Harris, who is - you guessed it - 200 points higher rated. Steve’s clock ticked down to 0, and it was 2-4.
Honestly, it could have gone either way. Well played everyone, including Horfield - the giants we didn’t quite slay.
Tom Ash