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E team lose 4-2 away to Clifton Juniors

Team E had a memorable away match this evening. At 6.30 pm, Nick was kind enough to pick me up, followed by Shaun and then John, and we set off for Clifton Chess Club. On the way we made some navigational errors and then, after several U-turns and with time running short, we picked up a puncture. Determined to play our fixture, Shaun, John and I set off on foot, leaving Nick with the car. We finally arrived at Clifton at 7.29 pm. Charlie was there with his dad, David. I explained our predicament and David kindly agreed to play Nick's board (board 3).

Board 1. I played the Colle system against Elliot but he found a way to break through and I was eventually down a minor piece in an endgame which he converted into a win.

Board 2. John says: “I faced an English Opening which soon transposed into a QGD. The opening and middle game were even but I was surprised by the difference the junior time control made, with my minutes seemingly disappearing much more quickly than my opponent’s. With an equal but somewhat unclear position I made a waiting move and offered a draw, which proved to be my undoing as I had failed to prevent Henry pushing a doubled rook forward and forcing the capture of a pawn. At a time disadvantage I allowed some exchanges in the hope of simplifying, whereas the engine suggests I would have been more sensible to keep as many pieces on the board as possible. Eventually Henry was able to achieve a standard passed pawn win, after which I was startled to learn that he has a provisional rating of 1861.”

Board 3. David doesn’t usually play other than casual chess but stepped up to cover for Nick and put in a creditable performance.

Board 4. White opened with e4, and Shaun responded with e6, the French. White continued with the exchange variation, which is theoretically very drawish. However White played the position better with more attacking options. Black swapped off pieces leaving both sides with a knight and 6 pawns. Both sides had weak pawns and White had the advantage with his pawns and knight further forward. Running a bit short of time, Black's king was forked with one of the backward pawns. White continued the attack with the extra pawn and successfully reached a zugzwang position, winning a second pawn and Black resigned.

Board 5. Charlie says: “I was under attack from several of my opponent’s pieces and it was looking like I would lose a pawn soon. But I noticed a bishop move that would either be sacrificed so I could take another piece and be up or it would just have me winning a pawn. They took with their rook which was a blunder because it left their queen hanging. The rest of the game was exchanging pieces until my opponent resigned.”

Board 6. Per says: “On board 6 we got stuck into a Caro Kann defence which provided the basis for an evenly matched start to the game. At some point, I won a small advantage but had to work hard to keep this against challenging counterplay. With under five minutes remaining but only half the eventual moves played, I had to stop recording moves. I was relieved to finally find a way to checkmate. We were the last to finish.”

Meanwhile, the AA eventually arrived to assist Nick with his car.

Final result 4-2 to Clifton Juniors.

Gregory Sumner

3 months ago