Wednesday 2nd February
|
Nomads A |
6½-1½ | SASCA A |
| Paul Cumbers | 1-0 | J.Fryer (W) |
| Chris Shephard | 1-0 | S.Gibbs |
| Mohammad Said | 0-1 | R.Woolham |
| Ken Dewhurst | 1-0 | N.Orrell |
| Stuart Crosthwaite | 1-0 | S.Lee |
| Masrura Khakimova | ½-½ | M.Lau |
| Mursal Mohammad | 1-0 | J.Nicholls |
| Kevin Marshall | 1-0 | P.Prasad |
Captain's Corner
With a weakened team, I was concerned that we might have a tough match on our hands. However, it turned out that SASCA were also missing some key players, so it balanced out. After an hour's play, most of us had only just finished starting, but Kevin and Mursal started finishing! Kevin just kept winning pieces and never looked back. Mursal had the upper hand and suddenly piled up queen and rook down the h-file. The opponent's king was duly smoked out into the middle of the board where it was ruthlessly checkmated. A solid draw by Masrura then put us in a commanding position. Chris and I both forced resignations just before the time control to clinch the match - Chris had built up a nice positional bind and finally broke through by exploiting a pin; my opponent walked into a trap in a difficult position, resulting in the loss of a rook.
Then the fun started...
The three remaining games all went the full distance, which of course means mad time-scrambles! Ken's opponent couldn't handle it and obligingly messed up. Stuart was a rook up, but needed to find a way out of a barrage of queen checks. With both flags hanging, his opponent tried to claim a draw by repetition, but neither player was keeping score so there was no way to verify the claim. After some discussion, the players agreed to play on with John Fryer arbitrating. Eventually the checks dried up and it was all over. A disappointment for the opponent, but Stuart had been playing for the win and it was by no means clear that a threefold repetition had taken place. Meanwhile, a strong disagreement over an alleged touch move violation brought Mohammad's game to a standstill. With the players unable to concur, I stepped in and persuaded Mohammad to back down and resume the game. Unfortunately for Mohammad, his position was beyond repair and curtains followed shortly.All in all, it was a memorable match with an unusual number of time-trouble incidents!
This week's special mention goes to Kevin for once again stepping in at short notice, and also for being the only player with a 100% record for the A-team so far this season!
Paul Cumbers