Thursday 16th March
|
Nomads I |
4½-1½ | Barnby Dun Bishops |
| Paul Cumbers | 1-0 | J.Burnett (b) |
| Chris Shephard | 1-0 | N.Lowther |
| Prasun Chakravorty | 1-0 | R.Murray |
| Jeremy Hamm | 0-1 | W.J.Smith |
| Mohammad Said | 1-0 | P.Catt |
| Stuart Crosthwaite | ½-½ | M.Simmonds |
Wednesday 15th February
|
Nomads I |
4-2 | Worksop |
| Paul Cumbers (w) | 0-1 | J.Davis |
| Chris Shephard | 1-0 | O.Graham |
| Prasun Chakravorty | 1-0 | P.J.Beckett |
| Jeremy Hamm | 1-0 | P.Griffiths |
| Mohammad Said | 1-0 | M.Alvin |
| Stuart Crosthwaite | 0-1 | P.Herring |
Wednesday 12th October
| Nomads I | 3½-2½ | Ecclesall I |
| Paul Cumbers | 0-1 | D.Adams |
| Chris Shephard | ½-½ | P.Hempson |
| Prasun Chakravorty | ½-½ | C.Marley |
| Jeremy Hamm | ½-½ | P.Szalapaj |
| Mohammad Said | 1-0 | K.McIntosh |
| Stuart Crosthwaite | 1-0 | K.Norbury |
Captain's Corner
My maths teacher once told me that there are 60 minutes in a
second. I think he got it wrong - I'm convinced there are 60 seconds in an hour!
That's certainly how things felt in my game. Overall, we were expecting a tough
match with the strength of the two teams being very similar. It all came down to
the last game! With the score at 2½-all, Stuart needed a win for us to proceed
to round 2 (a draw would mean a loss on board count). Everyone crowded round for
an exciting finish. With the pressure on, Stuart held his nerve brilliantly to
take us through to the next round. Great stuff! (By the way, this week's wooden
spoon prize goes to yours truly for being the only loser).
Meanwhile, rumours were spreading of a
spectacular game from Mohammad. And what
a game! A pawn sacrifice in the opening gave Mohammad a lead in development with
the opponent's king a long way from getting castled to safety. However, it
looked like Black's strong pawn centre would weather the storm to leave White a
pawn down for less than nothing. But after 17 moves, all of White's pieces were
perfectly placed for a bone-crunching breakthrough. (Note that 17...exf3 would
have run into 18.Nxd5 with devastating threats of Nb6 and Nc7+). Any delay, and
Black would consolidate. It was now or never. Bang crash wallop! The violence
culminated with White's 21st move which has to be seen to be believed - both
rooks are left en prise!! But Black has no answer - if his queen runs away on
move 22,
then 23.Bxc6+ (double check!) is crushing. Instead, swapping the rooks off for
the queen did nothing to curb White's aggression, and Black found himself unable
to fend off nasty mating threats from White's queen and two bishops. Mohammad's
28.Kxf2 added a touch of humour, setting up a seemingly deadly pin on his own
queen! (Black was desperately hoping for 28.Kh1 Bd4, with grovelling chances).
Of course the piece doing the pinning was itself pinned, so there was time for
the king to casually saunter off-line, leaving no good way for Black to prevent
mate on g7.
Paul Cumbers.