c team

Nomads C	4-2	Aughton B
Graham Harrison (b)	1-0	J Primrose
Ian Barwick	1-0	P Connolly
Kev Marshall	0-1	J Reynold
Peter Carden	1-0	P Higgins
Paul Bailey	1-0	I Barker
R Shaw	0-1	S Whitaker

Fantastic, 100% and never in any doubt! (Or should that be always in doubt? - Depends who you ask I suppose.) Another exciting finish to delight the faithful and strain the nerves of the doubters.

As usual everything hinged on the last game to finish which in this case was Graham's game. With the match score level at 2½-2½ we needed a win secure our 100% season. No one had any interest in a draw and Graham knew it.

Due to a cock up in the double booking department the match was being played to the accompaniment of the most diabolical karaoke singing ever known. Just imagine the worst karaoke you have ever heard, crank the volume up, add some freaky pitch bending special effects, throw in the odd squeal of feedback and an MC with a crackly mic exclaiming that: "That was brilliant duck, have another go!" and you're still not close. But at least it was the same for both sides. Then again, perhaps it was a fiendish plan and Aughton had been preparing for weeks at a high altitude karaoke training camp. The pressure was leading to paranoid delusions.

Anyway, back on the chess board Graham was trailing by a pawn but had strong pressure with his doubled rooks on the open h file and the possibility of creating a monster passed pawn on the g file. The g pawn could then support the invasion of his rooks down the h file. The drawbacks to this were that it cost him another pawn in the centre and this left his king without cover.

A fascinating position if you have time to study it but, given the situation on the clocks and the pressure of being watched by your whole team who will lynch you if you wreck their 100% season in the very last minute, few people would relish being in Graham's seat.

Needless to say that after some more manoeuvring Graham's rooks did come thundering down the h file, catching his opponent's Queen in a pin against the King along the second rank.

And there was much rejoicing!

Captain Fantastic

Clay Cross B (H)

Nomads C	5-1	Clay Cross B
Graham Harrison (w)	½-½	B Lever
Ian Barwick	½-½	B Redhead
Kev Marshall	1-0	C Redhead
Peter Carden	1-0	D Wright
Paul Bailey	1-0	T Pacitto
Bill Pettigrew	1-0	D Fault

This win by the C Team completed a hat trick of Nomads victories over Clay Cross teams within the space of one week. Following on from the Richardson Cup second team beating Clay Cross A to win the Plate, and Nomads B beating Clay Cross A in the league.

It was a relatively comfortable match for us after the nailbiting finishes to the last few games. Kevin won his game in only 13 moves, his opponent made it easy it must be said, but it was undeniably a pretty finish. Peter and Paul both won easily enough as well.

Ian and Graham both drew after going behind in their games. Graham's finish being particularly interesting as he sacrificed the exchange (when already a piece down), leaving himself a Rook down but with two connected passed pawns. His opponent couldn't stop the pawns and was forced to resort to perpetual check.

Wombwell (A)

Nomads C	3½-2½	Wombwell
Graham Harrison (w)	1-0	R Desmedt
Ian Barwick	0-1	M Lindley
Azmiddin Mohammed	1-0	D Hatfield
Paul Bailey	1-0	B Brian
Robert Shaw	½-½	B England
Gordon Shaw	0-1	G Thickett

The C Team carried on their 100% record under the leadership of Captain Fantastic by winning at Wombwell this week. Yet again it could not have been closer, just how I like it - got to keep them on their toes you know.

We started the match by going 2 - 0 down again with losses by me (oops, that's two in a row) and Gordon making his first appearance for the team.

Robert steadied the ship a little, holding his opponent to a draw in a King and Pawn ending. He was a pawn down and his opponent could have won if he had more time on the clock but with only a few seconds left he offered a draw which Robert accepted.

A few minutes later Paul had won his game and so had Graham to level the match score and it was Azmiddin's turn to save the day and win the deciding game. He was a pawn up but with two Rooks and a Knight each still on the board there was plenty of play left in the game and not much time on the clock - he's as bad as his brother for running out of time. In the end he played it really well, winning a second pawn, exchanging some pieces and soon it was all over.

Rotherham (H)

Nomads C	4-2	Rotherham
Graham Harrison (w)	½-½	C Willey
Ian Barwick	0-1	P Rodgers
Kevin Marshall	½-½	J Baker
Peter Carden	1-0	C Whitehouse
Paul Bailey	1-0	R Scott
Bill Pettigrew	1-0	H Dickinson

Champions... Champions... We are the Champions! Victory against Rotherham on Wednesday night secured the division 3 championship for the Nomads C Team, with three games to spare. But it was actually a very close match and quite tense as we had to fight hard to maintain our 100% record and secure the title. The match got off to a bad start when I lost quickly on board 2, it was all deliberate of course (like the magical mystery tour last week) to stretch the team and give the other players a sense of achievement. It was almost two hours later when Bill levelled the score in yet another game where he finished off with a fine tactical flourish that caught his opponent by complete surprise. On the remaining boards we seemed to be better on two and worse on two, but any of them could still go either way. At this point everyone started looking round at everyone else's games, frantically trying to work out if they could afford to offer a draw. But it was all too close to call so everyone played on. As all the clocks ticked on towards zero the excitement mounted and the quality of play plummeted. Only Peter making his C Team debut looked comfortable a pawn ahead with a dominating position that he converted to a win. Paul was also a pawn up, then he wasn't, then he was again, then two pawns up and cruising. Suddenly we were 3 -1 ahead, needing only a draw in either of the last two games. In both cases we were behind on the board but ahead on the clock. Kevin's King had somehow survived being chased round the centre of the board by a Queen and two Rooks but it was still dangerously exposed, and after chasing it around some more with no decisive outcome, his opponent was forced to offer a draw as his flag was about to fall. Given the match situation Kevin was happy to accept the draw even though he would almost certainly have won on time if he had played on. Graham had played a fascinating game that culminated in him abandoning his kingside pawns pawns to their fate, while he concentrated all his forces on helping his outside passed pawn to advance. And although Graham ended up with only a Rook against a Rook and three connected passed pawns, his opponent only had about 30 seconds left on the clock (an interesting material/time imbalance). Graham then launched a barrage of checks, picking off the occasional loose pawn, and generally running his opponent out of time. The last pawn finally promoted and was exchanged off for Graham's Rook, leaving King and Rook v King when the flag fell and the game was declared drawn. Final score 4-2.

Sheffield Deaf (A)

Nomads C	5-1	Sheffield Deaf
Graham Harrison (w)	0-1	P Sharpe
Ian Barwick	1-0	S Gibson
Kevin Marshall	1-0	D Whiston
Paul Bailey	1-0	M Simmons
R Shaw	1-0	C Grant
Oliver Phipps	1-0	A Brown

Captain's Corner

Another triumph of planning and organisation by everyone's favourite captain saw the C Team turning up at the wrong venue for their game against Sheffield Deaf. After a drink in the pub next door, a few phone calls and a quick dash across town, we finally turned up at the right venue just before 8pm and settled down to play.

Kevin's game on board 3 was the first to finish and It was a typical example of the infamous "Kevin Marshall Attack". Starting with a Knight exchange on f6 that disrupted the pawns around the enemy King, Kevin followed up with his Queen, two Bishops and remaining Knight all zeroing in on the unhappy monarch. Checkmate in only 17 moves.

Robert on board 5 and Oliver on board 6 were both soon a piece ahead, and with Ian's opponent not turning up (hence the longer than usual match report) it was all going rosy. When Paul on board 4 joined the piece up club shortly afterwards it was only Graham on board 1 who was making hard work of things.

To be fair I should point out that Graham's opponent was clearly a much tougher customer than the other Sheffield Deaf players, but it's more enjoyable just to poke fun at him.

After going ahead Oliver never looked back and quickly added more enemy material to his collection, before pushing his e pawn through to finish his opponent off. Paul also comfortably converted his material advantage into a win.

Robert's opponent fought back however, pushing his central pawns aggressively and the game reached an interesting ending. Robert having two Knights and a few pawns whilst his opponent had a Rook and more pawns. Robert looked to be struggling to hold back the tide of pawns at one point, but in the end the two Knights were just too tricky for his bamboozled his opponent and Robert won.

That just left Graham to round the evening off by getting his Queen trapped, giving us all something to laugh about on the way home, and nicely distracting attention away from the balls up at the start of the evening. Well done Graham.

Ecclesall C (H)

Nomads C	3½-2½	Ecclesall C
Graham Harrison (B)	0-1	P Hoare
Ian Barwick	1-0	P Cooper
Kevin Marshall	1-0	R Swindell
Paul Bailey	1-0	E Carnie
W Pettigrew	1-0	M Howarth
Oliver Phipps	½-½	W Beet

The C team moved two more points clear at the top of division 3 by beating second place team Ecclesall C. And a very convincing win it was too. Graham on board one was the only one to lose his game, making an uncharacteristic blunder near the end. This was certainly due to him having been busy calculating his grade for the year so far, which is something the Gods of Fate frown upon.

I took some risks in a drawish rook ending and managed to get a win. My opponent certainly could have punished me for it, but that would have involved him making the psychological switch from a defensive frame of mind to one of active counterplay, and having twice offered a draw he just wasn't prepared for making that switch.

Paul won a good game, getting a strong attack on the enemy king after castling on opposite sides. In the end he just posed his opponent too many problems to solve and he walked blindly into a mating trap.

Bill also won a good attacking game. After drifting into a level and symmetrical position Bill decided to unbalance things with a speculative exchange sacrifice. His opponent must have thought he was doing well for a short time, but within five or six moves Bill had whipped an unstoppable attack on the King.

Worksop B (A)

Nomads C	3½-2½	Worksop B
Graham Harrison (B)	½-½	P Herring
Ian Barwick	1-0	M Clark
Kevin Marshall	0-1	D Fidler
Paul Bailey	1-0	A Smith
Robert Shaw	0-1	S Turner
Oliver Phipps	1-0	T England

Robert overlooked a pawn fork was a queen down fairly early on. 0-1. I sprung a devastating C Team tactic on my opponent and then hacked away primitively at f7. 1-1. This gave me a chance to watch the match develop. Graham's pieces were strewn about the board but somehow co-ordinated. This was a constant source of frustration to White. Graham retained a slight edge but maybe slipped up on a couple of occasions and had to settle for a draw when both sides queened. 1½-1½. Ian had a strong positional advantage and, although it took another hour or and another 20 or 30 moves of patient manoeuvring, having seen this several times before, it was no surprise when he broke through in the ending to win. 2½-1½. Kev's game featured pins, counter pins, forks, discovered attacks, and pieces left en prise, but, in the end, his opponent won queen for rook with a mating threat. A bishop covered Kev's attempt to regain the material with sac and a knight fork. 2½-2½. It was all down to Board 6. Oliver was a pawn up but allowed Black to set up a fortress. Oliver managed to break through and then left a rook en prise to run a pawn. Black thought for a long time but eventually declined and in turn gave up his own rook for the promoted pawn hoping to use the time to queen. This turned out to be crucial as, having used his time to work through the problems he'd been set during the game, Black's flag fell. And Oliver didn't notice. Iron self discipline meant we resisted the temptation to stand around asking each other loudly, "What time is it?", "Goodness me is that the time?" Another 3 or 4 moves later Oliver did notice the clocks and claimed the win which, over the course of the game, he deserved. 3½-2½. A very close call.

Barnsley B (H)

Nomads C	4½-1½	Barnsley B
Graham Harrison	1-0	C Burke
Ian Barwick	1-0	V Shaposhnikov
K Marshall	1-0	T Perry
Paul Bailey	½-½	R Burton
W Pettigrew	1-0	R Merc
O Phipps	0-1	T Leon

Apologies to regular readers of these reports but I seem to have missed this one out. It was so long ago that I forget what happened now. No doubt we won in spectacular style and Ian's game was the most spectacular of all, with no mistakes whatsoever. Paul was lucky to scrape a draw I would imagine. And another new star of the future probably made their debut and won in style. If anyone has evidence to the contrary you know what you can do with it.

Clay Cross B (A)

Nomads C	5½-½	Clay Cross
Graham Harrison	1-0	Mick Robinson
Ian Barwick	1-0	Stan Kirby
Azmiddin Mohammed	1-0	Brian Redhead
Kevin Marshall	1-0	Peter Illingworth
Paul Bailey	½-½	Cuthbert Redhead
Robert Shaw	1-0	Tony Pacatto

The most difficult thing about this match was finding six eligible players and getting them to Clay Cross from their various locations around Sheffield. Having finally made all the necessary arrangements late Monday night (or so I thought) all seemed set for the following day. Then at the very last minute* Kevin phoned to tell me that Mursal is now registered for the B Team. Happily Azmiddin was persuaded that chess is more important than his A levels and so he agreed to play after all. Safe in the knowledge that we were not going to forfeit the match by playing an ineligible player on board one the rest of the night went off smoothly.

Robert and his opponent reached the 30 move time control in world record time, possibly even before some games had started. Robert went on to win his third game in a row for the C Team. My game wasn't very exciting but I enjoyed getting revenge on a player who beat me last year.

Paul's game could have been very exciting if he had gone through with his idea of sacrificing a knight in return for two outside connected passed pawns. We certainly enjoyed analysing it on Wednesday night. Almost as much as we would have enjoyed taking the mick if he had played it and went on to lose. It will be interesting to see what other people think about it.

We have now reached the halfway point in the season and having played everyone once we are on 8 out of 8. Well done C Team.

Happy Christmas everyone.

*This is a grotesque exaggeration and a transparent attempt to gain sympathy. There were, in fact, fully fifteen minutes before we were all due to meet up and set off. Paul B.

Wombwell (H)

Nomads C	5½-½	Wombwell
Graham Harrison	1-0	M Parsons
Ian Barwick	1-0	B Brian
Paul Bailey	½-½	D Woodhead
Bill Pettigrew	1-0	B England
Les Day	1-0	G Thickett
Robert Shaw	1-0	J Bartle

The C team demonstrated their strength in depth this week by hammering Wombwell despite having two players poached by the A team. The two players on loan to the A team both won their games as well.

Graham's game featured an exciting time scramble at the end, he finally won with only seconds to spare. Bill won a good game having moved up the order to board 4. Les came up trumps again, winning after being drafted in at the last moment for the second week running. And Robert won his second game in a row.

Paul only managed to draw but he did turn up fifteen minutes late in an attempt to ensure he had a good excuse.

Rotherham (A)

Nomads C	3½-2½	Rotherham
Graham Harrison	½-½	C Willey
Ian Barwick	0-1	P Rodgers
Kevin Marshall	½-½	J Baker
Azmiddin Mohammed	½-½	C Whitehouse
Paul Bailey	1-0	H Dickinson
Les Day	1-0	D Campbell

In my game we decided to ignore the time control and play blitz. My opponent lost a pawn which turned into a bishop then a rook and eventually the game. This meant I could watch everyone else suffer. 1-0. Board 6 Les seemed to be in control and although the game lasted another hour or so a win was never in much doubt. 2-0. Azmiddin was playing on Board 4. One day I'll ask Azmiddin to explain his games to me. 2½-½. Board 3. Kev had lined up his King and Queen opposite his opponent's rooks across the middle of an open board, it all looked pretty hopeless. So it was no surprise to find him a piece up ten minutes later, with a rather confused look on his opponent's face. Normal chess order was restored when it turned out that Kev couldn't quite hang on to the piece, and a draw was a fair result. 3-1. Board 2 Ian had been under pressure most of the game but seemed to be able to hold on in an uncomfortable position. However when White exercised his right to recapture the screw tightened and the pressure told when Ian played a combination which lost a piece. 3-2. It was all down to Graham's game. Both teams gathered round to watch. Graham had tried to sac two pawns to win a Queen but his opponent had captured one and then retreated with his prize. For the rest of the game Graham was now relying on the far distant prospect of opposite coloured Bishops to draw. The game progressed with Graham under intense Queenside pressure but as more and more material was exchanged the opposite coloured Bishops loomed larger and larger. There were a couple of shots but Graham defended actively and held on to the draw and a win for the team.

Sheffield Deaf (H)

Nomads C	6-0	Sheffield Deaf
Graham Harrison	1-0	P Sharpe
Ian Barwick	1-0	S Gibson
Azmiddin Mohammed	1-0	M Simmons
Robert Shaw	1-0	F Sherzad
Kevin Marshall	1-0	D Fault
Bill Pettigrew	1-0	D Fault

Our opponents turned up with only four players so we were 2-0 up before we started. Graham's game was another good win for our board one and worth taking a look at. It featured an interesting sequence where he allowed his opponents queen to penetrate to e1 backed up by a rook on e8, which looked good momentarily but didn't actually achieve anything. After chasing the queen back he went on to win in fine style.

I faced a King's Gambit on board 2 and was soon under pressure with his opponent having a serious lead in development. But the game soon turned around when I pinned a knight against the castled king, exploiting the weakened diagonal that was missing a pawn on f2.

I didn't see much of Azmiddin's game which he won on board 3. But Robert recorded his first win for the C Team with a fine game in attacking style, culminating with winning his opponent's queen.

Ecclesall C (A)

Nomads C	3½-2½	Ecclesall C
Graham Harrison	1-0	P Hoare
Ian Barwick	½-½	R Tranter
Kevin Marshall	0-1	P Cooper
Azmiddin Mohammed	1-0	E Carnie
Paul Bailey	½-½	M Howarth
Dave Norris	½-½	B Beet

Another victory for the C Team but this was our closest match yet. Graham's game on board 1 was evenly balanced until his opponent blundered. Declining the opportunity to exchange queens and head into a drawish ending with opposite coloured bishops he grabbed at a loose pawn on the edge of the board, overlooking that this allowed Graham to trap his queen. Ian thought he was doing well on board 2 when he won a central pawn and broke through into the enemy position, unfortunately he had missed a three piece skewer on the long diagonal that allowed his opponents queen to penetrate to the back rank and force a draw by repetition. Kevin got a strong attack going with the black pieces on board 3 but lost a piece when he missed a defensive backward knight move.

Azmiddin got off to a good start in his game on board 4, his opponent voluntarily entering into a series of exchanges that helped Azmiddin's development and left him with a dominant position. With two bishops and a knight commanding the centre and the queens gone Azmiddin's threats against c7, f7 and g7 soon proved too much for his opponent. Winning one pawn and declining a second that would have helped his opponents rook become active he systematically increased the pressure. It wasn't long before he forced the win of the exchange and his opponent resigned soon after.

Paul's game was notable for the discussion generated by the ending. Material was even but Paul had a strong, supported passed pawn on the sixth rank. Everyone agreed this was a winning advantage and everyone had an opinion as to how he should have proceeded, none of them however was entirely convincing. Moral: Never let a room full of C Team players analyse your game.

Worksop B (H)

Nomads C	4½-1½	Worksop B
Graham Harrison	0-1	Michael Clark
Ian Barwick	1-0	Dave Fidler
Kevin Marshall	1-0	Lucas Louca
Azmiddin Mohammed	½-½	Andrew Smith
Paul Bailey	1-0	Steve Turner
Bill Pettigrew	1-0	Stuart Wood

The match was more or less all over by the time my game finished so I don't know much more than the final scores. My game featured a spectacularly unsound bishop sacrifice that somehow provoked my opponent into a panicky response. An effective tactic on this occasion but not to be recommended for less experienced players, or for that matter, more experienced players.

Barnsley B (A)

Nomads C	4½-1½	Barnsley B
Graham Harrison	1-0	C Burke
Ian Barwick	1-0	E Soar
Azmiddin Mohammed	½-½	R Hall
Paul Bailey	0-1	J Stevens
Dave Norris	1-0	V Shaposhnikov
Eric McKenna	1-0	R Merc

The C team claimed their second scalp of the season travelling away to play newly promoted Barnsley B. First to finish was Eric who described his game as "scrappy, but with a happy ending". Ian's game also finished early with his opponent resigning in a position where many would have fought on. "He was obviously too demoralised by my combined play on both wings to even think of carrying on". New summer signing Graham won a fine game on board one to make it 3 - 0. Choosing to keep his king in the centre and attack on the king side looked risky, but he managed to stay one step ahead of his opponent who always seemed to be one tempo short of embarrassing the exposed king. With Paul losing on board four and Azmiddin running short of time in a level position, all eyes turned to Dave's game, where his opponent was certainly not in the mood to meekly resign, fighting on a knight down. When both players rooks got active and passed pawns appeared on both sides of the board it suddenly looked very unclear. Dave calmly rejected his opponents draw offer at this point, increasing the tension for the spectators. His decision was justified however when he went on to bag the full point. Azmiddin also made it safely to the time control and went on to draw. Final score 4½-1½.

Aughton B (H)

Nomads C	4-2	Aughton B
Graham Harrison (W)	1-0	Patrick Connolly
Ian Barwick	1-0	John Reynolds
Phil Ford	1-0	Peter Higgins
Paul Bailey	1-0	Kevin Randle
Bill Pettigrew	0-1	Ian Barker
Robert Shaw	0-1	Stuart Whittaker

Robert's game seemed to be all over quite quickly. Bill lasted a while longer but pretty soon we were
2-0 down. The crowd were turning to each other and muttering "Oh well there's always next season." However...my opponent got his king stranded in the middle, he gave me the chance to fall for a mate in two (he must have seen me play before) but when I didn't, and was several pieces up he resigned. 1-2. The "Barwick Out" T-shirts were already dropping in price. Ian's opponent got stuck in a very passive endgame position and dropped a couple of pawns. 2-2. Graham pressurised his opponent who seemed to be wriggling free but then blundered, leaving his queen trapped. 3-2. This left Phil's game as the decider. What sounded like a touch move decision led to an overwhelming material advantage and although he only had a couple of minutes left Phil checkmated comfortably. 4-2. Will Kev get back into this winning team? Ian has some tough decisions to make.