Wednesday 19th January

Captain's Corner

Having only managed a 4-4 draw against Phoenix at the beginning of the season, we were looking to set the record straight. We did it in style! After a draw from Masrura, we then raced to victory with wins from Ken (against an ex-teammate - that'll teach him to join another club!), Stuart (on the Black side of a King's Gambit in which Stuart made 2...exf4! look like the start of a pawn-storming kingside attack), Chris (a 1-pawn advantage is all it takes), and myself (a queenside pawn majority wins the day). The remaining 3 games went to the wire. Jon was a pawn up in a tricky queen and pawn ending, but to no avail. Jeremy duly converted a winning rook and pawn ending (so they're not all drawn!). Mohammad - well what can I say! He ran out of pawns, leaving his opponent with 4 seemingly unstoppable passers. A piece sac for 2 of them looked like desperation, but then in the time scramble the opponent mistimed the final advance. Suddenly all the pawns disappeared, leaving a drawn position of B+K v K! Quite a Houdini act.

Paul Cumbers