Sheffield Nomads Chess Club

Captain's Corner

We needed to win, we came oh so close. Half a point swing would have saved our season, instead we are relegated by a point. Devastating but I'm still extremely proud of our efforts in our top-flight adventure. Report to follow...

The dust has settled and given us a chance to reflect on our season. Chesterfield duly completed the job of winning the league by defeating Barnsley and so many congratulations to them. This confirms that we are relegated by a single point as we finshed on 12, Ecclesall and Barnsley on 13 - frustratingly close! We have performed above our expectations all season but, even so, there have been perhaps a dozen instances where a seized opportunity would have made all the difference and swung things in our favour. Our last match was no exception.

A brief run down of the games on the night: Haidar, who has been outstanding on the top boards all season, lost a sharp tactical game but cheerfully admitted afterwards that he had missed a chance to win a rook (if only!); I was exceptionally fortunate as Andy Butterworth failed to convert a winning position under increasing time pressure and I had the better of an opposite-coloured bishop and pawn ending by the time his flag fell; Mike played a nice game in which he was always in control and won a piece at the end of the middlegame at which point his opponent resigned; Andrew struggled to rise to the challenge of playing on board 4 and allowed an exchange that wrecked his pawns and left him with a horrible game. The weak pawns proved to be his undoing and he lost in a king and pawn ending; Stuart, lacking confidence, was happy to exchange down into a drawn ending early on - he commented afterwards that his opponent had had to choose between the safe line or "madness"!; Phil, our other star performer, suffered frustration at the death, stalemating his opponent in an ending that he was probably winning but it was far from clear and Phil had next-to-no time in which to convert (so close!); Ken, enjoying a fantastic end to the season, won again, this time maintaining pressure and exchanging into a won ending; Oliver allowed his opponent crushing central control which cost him a piece and the game.

So, 4-4, some of us lucky, others palpably unlucky. 4.5 would have been enough, instead we return to the Weston next season, our great adventure over for now anyway. We've certainly developed a taste for top division chess and we're sure that we'll be back.

Captain's Corner

Having scored a highly creditable win at University earlier on in the season we were keeping our fingers crossed that we could repeat the performance on Wednesday night at the Harlequin and keep our survival chances intact. With Andrew unavailable we had our strongest possible team out on the night with Uday drafted back into the side to play on board 3. Boards were set up, clocks were checked and we waited anxiously to see the team that University would be bringing out to play. They arrived and the team-sheets were exchanged. Encouragingly enough there was no listing for Arnott (on the election campaign trail) or Taroyan (in Armenia) and so the task ahead began to look more manageable.

I lost the toss and, after careful consideration, Prasun elected to play white consigning Haidar to yet another tough assignment with the black pieces. Haidar is never one to shy away from a scrap, however, and with a cheerful dismissal of my offered apology he set to work. Uday arrived fashionably late and wasn’t too delighted to see that he had the black pieces on 3 but looked comfortable enough in his Sicilian. He was, however, disconcerting me slightly with a combination of a failure to press his clock (something that has been endemic in our ranks this season!) and annotating his score sheet with a string of exclamation marks next to his opponent’s (seemingly ordinary) moves! Sandwiched between these 2 games, Mithun had the temerity to play a Modern Defence against me(!) and so I set up actively and wandered off to grab a pint and have a look at the action on the other boards.

This match was characterised by a lot of games that looked pretty level for a very long time and so it was going to be a tough one to call. Mike and Stuart had balanced-looking positions, Phil and Ken seemed to have slight spatial advantages and Oliver, having ‘given up’ a pawn early on (he later confessed that this had been more by error than choice!) was playing actively to win it back, attacking his opponent’s weak c-pawn. Things continued in this vein for some time. Back on 2 my opponent had elected to close the centre and was expanding on the queen side. I began to realise that my containing approach wasn’t necessarily going to work against this slow expansion and so, in an effort to relieve the tension, I battened down the hatches and offered a draw which was politely declined. (Please note how I managed to resist the temptation to use the pun ‘Mithun Impossible’ at this juncture. Such restraint).

Round about now, good news began to filter through from the lower boards. Oliver had duly won his pawn back and had quickly turned a dominant position into a winning one as his opponent’s attempts to hold had unravelled in a hurry. Ken too had increased his advantage in a queenless middlegame and his promotion threats yielded material and the win. I had been somewhat worried about Uday’s position as his king was sitting on a draughty open h-file after Tristram’s pawn assault but he proved that I had nothing to worry about demonstrating exquisite judgement in keeping the queens on and counter-attacking in the open spaces behind the advanced pawns. Haidar too had turned what looked like a difficult opening into a clear plus, calmly castling on the opposite flank, regrouping his pieces and preparing an attack on the kingside where he had previously been being forced backwards.

Mike had a decent enough game but was rapidly running low on time and so chose the sensible option of exchanging down into a queen and pawn ending and securing a draw through perpetual check. Phil was slowly tightening the screw against the visiting captain on 6 and I seemed to be holding my game reasonably well. The only dark cloud was over board 5 where Stuart’s opponent Nicholas Carding, who is having an excellent season, had taken complete control of the queen side and it seemed only a matter of time before he would crash through. More declined draw offers on board 2 – boring, boring me! – but the air of optimism before the match was now one of genuine belief.

Stuart soon succumbed but it didn’t matter – Uday completed a triumphant return to the ranks by winning in style, his opponent resigning with less than a minute left on the clock trying to defend a hopeless position. Haidar, on course for a new grade of c.175 and now clearly a front runner for Nomads player of the season, completed yet another famous victory as Prasun shipped the exchange and then found himself unable to defend threats against his king. The game is here for you to enjoy. Well done Haidar, you have had an unbelievable season, one more giant to kill please! I was, by now, grovelling in a minor piece ending but Phil still looked comfortable, both on the board and in the knowledge that the match was already won. In the end I managed to hang on for the draw as the pieces came off and Mithun, running very short on time, missed his last possible winning chance in the resulting king and pawn ending. Phil opted not to over-press and agreed a draw too and so we ran out 5.5-2.5 winners, a fantastically satisfying performance and a massive win at exactly the right time.

Although University were under strength for this match, to achieve the double over them this season is still quite an achievement. We more than matched them over the top boards where they are always strong, and did the business lower down to gain valuable points in our quest to stay up. More points are available in a straight shoot-out against Barnsley in our final match. Since Barnsley’s only other remaining fixture is against champions elect Chesterfield, it seems likely that this will be a winner-takes-all encounter to determine who will remain in the top flight next season – exciting stuff!

Captain's Corner

We edge ever nearer to the precipice! If Rotherham Juniors were in the mood to offer us some charity then the team that showed up to play us on Wednesday certainly showed no evidence of the fact, boasting, as it did, the might of Paul Blackman on board 4! Paul has had a wretched season but is still a fearsome adversary as Stuart found out on the night when we were subjected to a 4-0 clean sweep in the top half.

If that was ‘the bad’ then ‘the good’ came in the form of a win for Ken against Alan Coupe’s French, saccing a pawn to keep his opponent’s king in the centre and exploiting it with a neat attack. Phil also continued his good form with a creditable draw when under pressure against Tom Whitaker and Ian played well, coming back against an opponent who found nice tactics to win a pawn in the early middle game. Ian won the pawn back and was better in the ending but unable to break through.

Given his recent fantastic form I gave Haidar the challenge of playing Peter Shaw on board 1 and then promptly lost the toss meaning that he was obliged to play black again – sorry Haidar! In the game Peter marched the pawns in front of his own king to drive back and trap Haidar’s bishop and the resulting sacrifice for 2 pawns was never enough to be competitive. Oliver lost fairly early on in a game that I hardly saw. Stuart found himself in familiar territory after Paul chose an irregular opening line and the game was in the balance for the majority of the match before Paul slowly turned the screw to grind down his opponent’s resistance.

I had warned Mike before the match about Yang’s speed-demon approach to the league time limits (as Andrew found out to his cost earlier in the season) but, by Yang’s standards, he was reasonably subdued, only converting his advantage just before Mike’s flag fell at the second time control! I was last to finish again and, in retrospect, should’ve taken a draw in the middlegame when my opponent seemed happy enough to repeat moves, but, as I had a big time advantage, I had sacrificed a pawn for an attack which was ably defended and, in the end, succumbed to a decisive counter-attack. Ugly.

2 matches left and suddenly the equation becomes very clear – we need to win them both and hope that other results go in our favour if we are to survive!

Captain's Corner

To be bitterly disappointed by a 4-4 draw against a team that beat our A Team recently is an indication of how far the B Team has come this season but this was definitely a point dropped in our battle against relegation as Worksop were there for the taking. Not at full strength (but considerably stronger than the team that got thrashed by Rotherham Juniors recently) our visitors posed a tough challenge but, in the main, we played extremely well and were maybe unlucky not to win the match.

Haidar, Andrew and Phil played with customary flair to record good wins. Haidar's amazing run of form continued as he bamboozled Jim Burnett from a seemingly difficult position. Andrew played an attractive exchange sac to win and Phil outplayed his opponent to put us in a strong position. By this stage Oliver had lost after losing a rook in a very sharp French and so we were 3-1 up. Unfortunately Mike then lost on time as he made his 30th move having extricated himself from a difficult situation. I'd reached an unbalanced late middlegame against Jonathan Tait after an almost comical tactical melee and was defending with two knights and a bishop against queen with a rook and pawns each. I was desperately hoping that I wouldn't be required to hold on for the draw to win the match but that was how it panned out.

Ken won nicely, expanding in the centre and then unleashing a devastating king-side attack but Stuart blundered a rook and lost in a tricky position which left all eyes on board 1. While my pieces were pretty well coordinated, I was down on the clock and my opponent could afford to take his time and his gradual pressure eventually told as I ran out of defensive resources. (Subsequent analysis by Fritz pointed out that I missed a brilliant tactical resource as late as move 60, sacrificing my knight to win black's queen and the match - hard to spot with only a minute or so left on my clock, however).

So, 8 decisive games resulted in a 4-4 draw leaving us on 9 points, 3 adrift of safety and looking precarious. Galling to have failed to win another vital match.

Captain's Corner

Without Haidar who had to work, we were massivley outgraded by champions elect Chesterfield A but put up a game display which, maybe, should have yielded a point.

The games, in board order: I pushed one too many central pawns and was slowly strangled by Hubert; Mike played a blinder with a beautiful queen sac to finish in one of the games of the season; Stuart battled gamely to secure a draw in an ending the exchange down; Phil went right to the wire before being mated; Andrew crushed his opponent; Ken had much the better of his game and offered his queen too but it was declined and his opponent hung on; Oliver won his game in the opening but then went horribly wrong and had to give up a terminal amount of material in order to avoid being mated; Ian kept things on an even keel throughout but was eventually ground down in a rook and pawn ending. Dave Latham on the Chesterfield Chess Club website is, as ever, truthful, witty and entertaining in equal measure: http://chesterfieldchessclub.weebly.com/results-a-team.html.

Captain's Corner

Our rearranged fixture at Barnsley had all the hallmarks of a cagey relegation 4-pointer and so it proved. Whilst the final scoreline was close, however, we were never in any danger of achieving anything better than a scraped draw and, in the cold light of day, Barnsley deserved their victory and we are now in serious danger of dropping straight back into the Weston next season.

Things began fairly promisingly. Phil set up aggressively and his opponent opted for a peaceful draw rather than face up to a kingside attack. I repeated my white g-pawn opening from the Clay Cross match and my opponent set up solidly and placed queen and bishop on the long black diagonal, hitting f2. My plan to play f4 thus scuppered, I played an enterprising pawn sac on b4 taking advantage of my opponent’s uncastled king to cause trouble on the open a-file. Having taken the pawn my opponent opted to give it back rather than hold onto it and risk a fierce attack which led to an exchange of heavy material and a drawn position.

Stuart lost a piece in the opening, unfortunately, and was staring down the barrel all game which meant that we required an almighty effort elsewhere if we were to pull ahead of our rivals. This may have contributed to Bill’s over-eagerness on board 8 where he won a pawn but then got greedy allowing his knight to be trapped while picking up a second. Haidar, playing the Sicilian Defence in a competitive game for the first time(!) was in the mood for a fight and a well-judged pawn sac led to an exchange win and, ultimately, another laudible victory. Mike shrugged off time pressure to hold his opponent comfortably and, suddenly, we had 2/3 against Barnsley’s finest on the top 3 boards and a sniff of a chance. However, once Stuart and Bill’s fates were sealed we were a point behind and neither Oliver nor Ken, making a welcome return for us, looked to be ahead.

Oliver negotiated a tricky middle-game where his opponent seemed to have all the chances (and possibly missed a tactical shot under enormous pressure at the time control) and exchanged into a dead drawn rook and pawn ending. This left Ken needing to pull off an unlikely victory to grab us a priceless point but once he had blundered the exchange just before the time control we looked doomed. His opponent was clearly better in the ending but, rather than risk blundering and handing us the draw, he offered a draw and, with his time rapidly running out, Ken was more or less obliged to accept.

Another “what if” scenario, really, had Andrew been available we might just have pulled off an unlikely victory but we were second best on the night. We now face a potentially punishing trip to Chesterfield before 4 consecutive home games. Depending on the teams that turn up to play us we may still have a chance but things are now looking tricky, to say the least!

Captain's Corner

Our return "must win" match v Clay Cross was a potential banana skin and I feared a backlash. However, 3 quick wins and 5 assorted draws later we eased past them again, job's a good 'un. I led by example for once with a simple (given our recent technophobic efforts!) win against Antony Natt and Phil followed suit. Haidar added some gloss, coolly leaving his king in the centre despite pawns bearing down on it and finding a nice piece sac to win.

Of the draws, several came at the end of fluctuating games and so we were pretty happy with most of them. Most interesting of all was Mike's where his opponent found a fantastic sacrificial resource in a position where he appeared to be about to get mated and left Mike scratching his head - hopefully this game will appear in these pages.

So, 16 individual matches against Clay Cross in the last month and not one defeat - something to be proud of. It puts us within striking distance of teams above us - our matches against Barnsley will now decide our fate.

Captain's Corner

Sometimes with a comprehensive victory the score-line reflects a dominant performance from the victor and sometimes it represents a travesty. In this case it was certainly more the latter than the former but it was a very pleasing journey to the dark recesses of North Derbyshire nevertheless! As Phil pointed out, we were playing on Pancake Day and the fact provided me with an opportunity to flex my creative writing muscles in the match report. Alas, (*audience prepares for groans*) he will find this report a little flat as I’m crêpe at coming up with puns. I hope that he won’t batter me but, to be honest, I couldn’t really give a tos... fig.

Enough, to the chess! For the first 28 or so moves few games were offering clues one way or the other. Haidar was the first to win, his opponent sacrificing material to expose his king but Haidar was always in control and forced his opponent’s resignation around the time control. As Andrew pointed out, this left him with plenty of time to pick faults in everyone else’s games, a habit that is as impressive as it can be irritating! There was plenty of excitement at the time control. Oliver’s game featured castling on opposite sides and a race to finish off vulnerable kings, eventually resolved by Keith losing on time having made 29 moves. For the second year running my game with Anthony Natt involved confusion over the digital clock. He seemed sure that he had made 30 moves by the time control and the clock backed him up although I was sure that he had only made 29 and my score sheet backed me up! Considerably worse in the ending I accepted Anthony’s offer of a draw which seemed like the ethical thing to do. Technology, eh?!

So, 2.5-0.5 up we weren’t home and hosed and I was keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t regret my decision not to insist on a win. I was pretty confident that we were on for full points on boards 3 and 5, however, and so it proved. Andrew won a piece fairly early on and held onto it to into a won ending (although Haidar gleefully pointed in the post-match analysis that he did allow his opponent a rare opportunity, thankfully missed, to skewer his knights with a rook! Mike won a nice game to secure his first full point for us this season, taking the game by the scruff of the neck in the middlegame and not letting his opponent escape).

So, we were over the winning line with the minimum of fuss. Ian again exchanged down into a minor piece ending where he stood worse due to his bad bishop but was able to secure enough counterplay to force a draw on this occasion. This left Phil and Stuart to tie up the loose ends. Stuart was the exchange up but had to spend time rounding up his opponent’s passed pawn and, once that was done, had a comfortable ending. Phil’s went right to the wire. A piece for 2 pawns up he played on his opponent’s time trouble and, despite not finding the best lines at top speed, was bishop and pawn v bishop when his opponent’s flag fell.

So, all-in-all, a thoroughly satisfactory outcome. A few more of those and we might just avoid the drop. Hopefully we haven’t used up all of our remaining points for the season in one go!

Captain's Corner

We travelled with hope and a decent team to Worksop on Monday night, although this season’s star performer Phil Ford was, unfortunately, unavailable. We arrived to find that Worksop were at maximum strength, however, allowing them the double luxury of a non-playing captain and a spare player in regular board 3 Jim Davis who, rather bizarrely, was there “just in case someone didn’t turn up!” Looking down the list we seemed out-graded on 5 boards and fairly evenly matched on 3 although, since Andrew was playing as low as board 6, we still felt that we had a chance.

It transpired that the evenly matched games all panned out in our favour but, unfortunately, we were unable to make headway in the other games. Time proved a factor on both boards 4 & 8 where Mike and Bill spent a lot of time trying to find solutions to pressure on their central pawns but were unable to find them. Both were worse by the time their clocks ran down. By this stage Uday had been outclassed by a ruthless Jonathan Tait on top board, having lost a piece for little compensation. On the plus side, Haidar, Andrew and Stuart all held advantages and, as the evening unfolded, all played well to convert them into full points.

Andrew judged the exchange into the endgame to perfection and won nicely in a minor piece ending. The game is here for you to enjoy. Stuart and Haidar both held material advantages. Haidar won the exchange and forced a rampaging passed pawn which won him a nice game. Stuart trapped his opponent’s king in the centre and, by the time he had untangled himself, he was a couple of pawns up. In trading queens a further pawn dropped and Stuart tied up the ending neatly. Sadly, Ian had also headed into a minor piece ending but had dropped a vital pawn as he did so and resigned soon after.

And so, not for the first time, my game was to decide our fate! It wasn’t as exciting as it sounds, however, as I’d rather misplayed the opening as Jim had chosen a system that more or less compelled me to deviate from my usual Modern set-up and venture into King’s Indian territory. I was reluctant to do so but the moves I played instead were inferior and I was soon facing a passive position with few prospects. As Jim started to press home his advantage I found some tactical shots that made him defend accurately but it always felt that I was on the verge of losing in any number of ways! Despite missing a quicker win by playing conservatively in a sharp line where he could have gained a material advantage, Jim calmly exchanged queens and won a piece at which point I resigned.

3-5 and a little disappointing against one of our closest rivals but the better team undoubtedly won. Every match from here on in will be key to our survival in this division. We start by entertaining University A next week.

Captain's Corner

My turn again on write-up duties - and a case of a 6-2 defeat that was in no way a thrashing, and could have actually been even closer with a little bit more luck. As it was, when Andy (eventually) arrived and saw the line-up (with 155-graded Ashley on board 7(!)), he was more than a little concerned that we could be given a severe beating.

The games got underway, and with my opponent moving rapidly, I didn't get to look around much in the early stages. What I did see was Phil generating some play on the h-file, Andy seemingly taking his king for a walk whilst inviting Peter's knights into his position for a look around, Oliver engaging in a sharp tactical battle over an open board, and Mike seemingly content to sit back and wait to see what happened.

Shortly afterwards, I managed to lose - from a pretty even middlegame I made the mistake of exchanging off a pair of bishops and with my pawns slightly worse, I was tied down and given no room at all. Trying to make some space on the kingside, I blundered into a K/R fork. Meanwhile, on board 7, Joel was also struggling - having been surprised by his opponent's third move, he was quickly tied up and forced to give up his queen for a bishop to avoid mate - sadly the respite was only brief, however, and shortly afterwards he capitulated.

2-0 down, but Rotherham weren't having it all their own way; on 6 Oliver had won the exchange and had threats against Tom's king. On 4, Phil's h-file play had resulted in an invasion and Lukas was tied up trying to fend him off. Haidar was a pawn down, but the position was still eminently playable, and Andy appeared to be pushing Peter's knights back. Next to finish, however, was Ian C - making his first appearance for the B team this year and picking up a good draw in the process. So at least we were spared the ignominy of a whitewash.

The next two games to finish were both 'what might have beens'. Mike appeared to misjudge an exchange, resulting in him dropping a piece for a couple of pawns, but with Paul's rook ready to invade the black position and start hoovering up the loose pawns, Mike was left with little option but to resign. Oliver, had apparently missed a sacrificial attack - and by the time he offered his knight the chance had passed and all that he actually managed to do was equalise the position - they kept going at each other right down to the last couple of pieces, at which point a draw was agreed - a good result for Oliver against an opponent graded in the 160s.

So, we were 4-1 down with 3 games remaining - it wasn't looking encouraging as Haidar had dropped a rook at some point and whilst Phil dominated the board, he didn't appear to have much in the way of active chances. So Joel and I opted for a few games of Blitz whilst waiting for the games to simplify.

Next up was Phil - he had managed to win the exchange at some point and it all came down to a K+P vs K ending, with Phil demonstrating the requisite technique to queen his pawn and bring home (yet another) win in what is turning into a superb season in the top flight for him. Suddenly, on board 2, Haidar equalised - winning the rook back against Dennis. But on board 1, Andy was in dire straits, several pawns down and a fatal fork saw to it that his last piece was removed and 3 unconnected passed-pawns prepared for monarchy. 5-2 and all remaining eyes on board 2, where with his very next move after recovering the rook, Haidar appeared to give up the exchange - I was a long way from the board so I may have missed something but it appeared to me that he needlessly interposed the capture of Denis' bishop before taking Denis' queen - timetrouble may have played a part. The net result was a R+Ps vs B+Ps ending which Denis converted and the match was over.

6-2 to Rotherham Juniors, a not wholly unexpected outcome but one which was still an achievement against such a strong side, and which could even have been better. Still, those dropped points wouldn't have made a difference - here's hoping that when we need them to swing a tie our way, perhaps the luck will come in our favour.

Captain's Corner

With Chesterfield A’s board 6 out-grading yours truly on top board, it was always going to be a tough encounter, particularly as we had loaned Andrew to the C team who were playing Woodseats A on the same night. (It proved to be an inspired move as Andrew gained a mightily impressive draw against Alan Potts!). Sure enough, the early exchanges saw Chesterfield gaining a grip of the match on most boards. Alas, I was under pressure throughout my game and so my knowledge of what took place elsewhere is a little sketchy but I will do my best to fill in some of the detail.

Ken’s and Bill’s defeats could’ve been carbon copies of earlier losses this season. Ken went a pawn down fairly early on in proceedings and was never able to force his way back into the game and Bill, once again, built a massive advantage and then dithered at the vital moment losing on time with one move left to make. Frustrating stuff! Stuart seemed to be doing ok in a position that suited his style of play but was evidently outplayed in middle game by a strong opponent and lost as other games were reaching the first time control.

Short of time in a complex position, Mike missed a win on move 30 and, in fact, blundered at that point to also lose shortly after. Haidar’s opponent was also extremely short of time and, playing quickly, Haidar attempted to pile the pressure onto him and force him to crack. Mike Alcock coped admirably under this pressure, however, (even when Stuart tried to pinch his pen to record his result!) and even had a small advantage by the time his flag fell. After some minor confusion it was agreed that 32 moves had been and so the clocks were re-set and he was able to convert his advantage into a material gain and force Haidar’s resignation.

The games that I have seen since the match were full of interest. A pawn down, Oliver held his own into the middle-game and was then faced with a dilemma of where to put his queen. In opting to place it behind a slow king-side attack rather than keeping his options open in the centre, however, he missed an opportunity to create very strong pressure and ended up having to give up both rooks for queen in an ending where his pawns were weaker. This weakness proved costly and he was ultimately facing a lost cause. Perhaps the performance of the night came from Phil who dominated against his opponent’s English opening and completely outplayed him in a very tidy game. You can find it here on the website for your viewing pleasure.

Our only other point of the night came (finally!) on board 1 where I quite frankly swindled Dave Latham in a position where I was a pawn down for nothing on move 34 with less than 5 minutes to make my remaining moves! In opening up the black squares around his king in an attempt to pressurise mine, however, Dave left me with a very clear attacking agenda and I was able to find a succession of almost instantaneous strong responses as his 20-minute time advantage gradually dwindled. By the time he was forced to give up his bishop to avoid being mated I still had 2 minutes for my remaining moves and he had little more than 3 to find a defence. It proved impossible as I drove his king onto the back rank and he resigned with virtually no time left and mate imminent. My first win of the season and a real adrenalin buzz!

Whilst personally relieved at the end of the match, I couldn’t help feeling that we had missed a number of opportunities to make the scoreline far more respectable than the 6-2 that it turned out to be. The Friday feeling brought by Rotherham Juniors away next up but we will have a decent side out so maybe we will be in line for a happy Christmas hiatus!

Captain's Corner

Of all the achievements managed by the B Team over the past 2 seasons this has to rank as the greatest. Looking at the teams before we started, we were massively outgraded on the top 4 boards and pretty evenly matched on the bottom 4, I felt that we only had a 1/10 or even a 1/20 chance of pulling off a result given the teams. Fortunately it was to be a special performance on a special night.

Oliver set the ball rolling in a game where he shed a couple of queenside pawns but kept counterplay against his opponent’s king leading to a brilliant winning combination involving a knight sac followed by a rook sac to force mate - a worthy addition to our online gallery and a strong contender for game of the season so far. Other games seemed pretty well balanced as we held firm against strong opposition. Haidar was facing a ferocious attack where his opponent’s exchange sacrifice looked like it might lead to a win at any moment as Haidar’s king was trapped in the centre. Stuart, equally, was facing a barrage assault down the g-file against his castled king with no less than 4 pieces training their sights on the scantily defended g7 square, however a rook sac didn’t seem to be enough to force an immediate win and he was defending valiantly. Both must be commended for keeping cool under pressure despite the onslaughts that they were facing.

Andrew provided us with another timely victory with his Wing Gambit against the Sicilian, also on the website for your viewing pleasure. Having built a dominant position he won material, was then forced to give it back in complications but retained his edge and played very well to force a second material win, this time a rook, whereupon his opponent resigned. Things weren’t looking so good for Mike and Ken, however. Mike had a balanced looking position against Mithun, with both sides choosing kingside fianchettos to castle behind, but a tactical shot in the centre as Mithun expanded led to Mike’s bishop being trapped and this eventually cost him, although later analysis revealed that he might have overlooked a countershot to keep him in the game. Ken had lost a pawn and was trying speculative shots against first his opponent’s queen and then king with defended bishops but neither were enough to win back material and after a second pawn fell his position unravelled and he lost soon after.

Despite these setbacks things were still looking fairly encouraging. Phil was locked in a very evenly matched battle where middlegame exchanges had led to an ending involving a knight each and two pairs of rooks where he was temporarily a pawn down but appeared to hold all the tactical chances. My game offered three firsts this season – I was white, I castled (eventually!) and ultimately I didn’t lose for a change! Playing against Prasun’s Dragon I adopted a slightly unusual approach, leaving my king in the centre while using kingside pawn advances to exchange off material leading to a blocked and fairly even position. When Prasun finally forced me into castling on the queenside and began to put pressure on the c-file I opted to exchange queens leaving us with a very balanced game. Any edge I thought I might have had soon proved to be illusory and so I opted to shore things up and my draw offer was accepted. At this point I discovered that Stuart had also secured a draw as his opponent bailed out of his aborted attack, agreeing the draw material down as Stuart formed an impenetrable barrier in front of his king.

With the match fascinatingly poised at 3-3 we were, therefore, left with Haidar, who had by now completed his Houdini impersonation and was into an ending against Jonathan Arnott and Phil, who was by now into a rook and pawn ending, trying to secure an unlikely win. Jonathan huffed and puffed with a knight and 5 pawns to Haidar’s rook and 2 but, with oodles more time, Haidar’s iceman facade did not crack and a nice tactic involving a skewer as they both ran pawns on opposite flanks gave Haidar a rook versus 2 unconnected passed pawns and he demonstrated exemplary technique to secure a brilliant win finally mating his opponent’s king as it supported the last pawn on the 7th rank. So Phil was left needing a draw to win the match. With both sides banging out moves deep into the last 5 minutes he was a pawn down but then found a tactical shot of his own, giving up the rook to queen first. Left with a queen vs rook and advancing passed pawn, and with both sides with only seconds remaining, Phil did the sensible thing and forced repetition through perpetual check to draw the game and win the match – an extremely exciting (and exhausting!) finish to a brilliant performance from us.

So, our second win on the bounce, scarcely believable after 3 straight losses to start the season, and the prospect of survival in this toughest of divisions suddenly starts to look like a possibility. Very, very well done to the team, who now take a well-earned break for the best part of a month before back-to-back matches against Chesterfield and Rotherham Juniors.

Captain's Corner

Big thanks to Phil Ford for major input into this report. The reason for his freedom to act as roving reporter will soon become clear! At home against a greatly weakened Ecclesall A side, (3 of their players from the recent return fixture were missing and Ken McIntosh and James Marley who had played on boards 7 and 8 that night were on boards 2 and 4 respectively!) we felt confident beforehand that this could be the first win that we were looking for to launch our season. With Bill coming in on board 8 and Mike Newett making his debut on board 3 so as to free Andrew up to chalk up another win by default for the C Team(!) we had a solid-looking team and it proved to be a solid team performance.

I was engrossed in a tactical struggle in the Najdorf against Dave Adams but Phil was having no such problems. In his own words “I was White against a Sicilian and my opponent's very passive play allowed me to have a crushing kingside attack with mate in 21 moves”, which freed him up to act as my eyes and gave us an early lead. Oliver had similarly few difficulties, winning seemingly smoothly with tactics in the French although he was less than complimentary on the quality of the game when pressed! So, 2-0 and on course. However, as Phil describes, “Ken was an exchange down quite early with the Black pieces in an English opening. Near the end his opponent controlled the c-file with both rooks and had a- and b-pawns bearing down on Ken's solitary a-pawn – and he resigned before the inevitable”.

Bill’s attractive victory against Joe Morrison is preserved for posterity on the website and, despite the fact that I had, by this stage, succumbed to Dave’s attack, a solid draw from Mike on debut against a King’s Indian Attack, described by Phil as “...very even in the middlegame and ended up with opposite coloured Bishops and 6 pawns each - draw agreed”, meant that a point from our last 2 games would be enough for victory. My game in brief: Having admitted that he hadn’t enjoyed facing my Modern last time out Dave opened with 1. Nf3 and this transposed into a Sicilian Najdorf after 1. ...c5 2. e4. It was a typically tactical struggle but, having allowed my king to be fixed in the centre my counter-chances hinged on a knight sacrifice that was calmly declined and I was lost soon after. 3.5-2.5.

Stuart held the aces with White against a Caro-Kann advanced variation. In Phil’s words “His opponent did not castle until near the first time control and Stuart had control in the centre. However once his opponent castled, his position was quite solid despite Stuart's active rook. With Stuart in some time trouble a draw was about right”. This draw had been endorsed by myself when asked as I was confident that Haidar was better and winning on time. Things became hairy however when Haidar, who had an advantage in the middle game but had been pegged back somewhat, played a move and forgot to press his clock, drifting into a trance that cost him 5 of his 10 remaining minutes! On finally noticing his clock ticking he thought he had missed a move from his opponent and tried to play again causing much confusion and consternation! Fortunately his opponent had the good grace to simply resolve the issue and continue playing rather than cause a fuss and Haidar used his remaining minutes to conduct the endgame expertly – “ Excellent play at the end to gain the full point” – Phil.

We’re off the mark! An excellent performance from several players and good preparation for the stiffer challenges to come, starting with a trip to University A.

Captain's Corner

Buoyed by our recent strong showing against the A Team, and with a full squad at our disposal, the B Team arrived at The Harlequin full of vim and vigour on Wednesday. We were further boosted by rumours of a weakened A team – we could scent blood! With a last-minute influx of players to shore up the A Team’s bottom boards we anticipated having chances in the bottom half whilst attempting damage limitation on the top boards, and so it proved.

A summary of boards 1-4:

With Uday confident enough to step up to his rightful position on top board, and taking the white pieces after I won the toss, he unleashed a blood and thunder assault on Jon’s castled king at the expense of his own castling. This led to the amusing spectacle of and early middle game with both kings cowering behind a single king-side pawn while packs of pieces marauded in the empty space around them! Unfortunately for Uday Jon proved to be sharper in the ensuing struggle and judged his defence perfectly before unleashing a devastating counter-assault on the exposed king. Things were a little quieter on board 2 where I had attempted a policy of exchanging off as much material as possible against Chris’s English in order to try to avoid a strategic battle. However, Chris was able to use tactical threats in order to profit by a pawn and retained the bishop pair in the open centre giving him a clear edge. After some manoeuvring I thought I was still posing enough questions to make life tricky for him, but I overlooked a neat tactic involving a backwards pin just after the time control handing Chris a second pawn and resigned rather than have to face three connected passed pawns.

On 3, Haidar was making a welcome return to action for us and set up aggressively against Kieran’s Sicilian Najdorf. Kieran castled on the opposite flank but the pawns at the heart of his position were weak and he was somewhat relieved when Haidar, possibly feeling a little rusty, accepted his offer of a draw. Having felt that his position had become untenable just as Haidar was feeling that his attack was running out of steam, I believe that Kieran has since reported that Fritz has demonstrated some defensive resources that he would have had at his disposal but would have been tricky to play over the board. Quirky, unorthodox openings are in Stuart’s blood and his anti-theoretical approach to Jeremy’s English saw both players move a knight twice in the first few moves. After gaining parity courtesy of Jeremy’s inferior pawn structure, Stuart settled in for a quiet game but was subsequently outplayed and Jeremy sealed the win to give the A Team a 3.5-0.5 margin across the top half.

A summary of boards 5-8:

It was a different story in the bottom half. Andrew recently played the Wing gambit against Ian’s Sicilian in the final round of the club championship. On that occasion Ian didn’t necessarily find the ‘book’ moves but Andrew got greedy, over-pressed, and was picked off. Ian was better prepared this time but then so was Andrew, and some nice tactics won a rook in the corner and, after successfully extricating the marooned knight, the game. On 6, after what looked like a studiously correctly played Queen’s Gambit Declined, Paul suffered the indignity of turning down a blood-less draw against Ken only to blunder the exchange just before the time control enabling a rather sheepish Ken to win the point.

Phil, no doubt disconcerted by Kev’s uncharacteristically orthodox approach to their game, (perhaps married life has had a calming influence!), found it hard to make any headway and was soon material down for his efforts. As things became desperate he attempted a perpetual check but Kev was more than a match for him and, after he found safety, Phil was forced to resign. It was a bloodbath on board 8 where Oliver found himself material up as Simon tried to recoup his losses through tactical threats. Apparently Simon overlooked a dangerously cunning exchange sacrifice, however, and Oliver was able to consolidate and secure a win and gave us a positive 3-1 margin across the bottom boards. The mathematicians amongst you will note that this was not quite enough to draw the match – final score 4.5-3.5 to the A Team.

So, with the A team blooding new players on boards 7 and 8 it proved to be a bloody close match! Thankfully for the blood pressure of all concerned, we won’t be playing the A Team again this season unless, of course, the Richardson Cup fixtures computer has a sense of humour...!

Captain's Corner

We took on a strong Ecclesall team at a crowded Abbey on Wednesday night without the services of either Haidar or Uday. We ended up being outclassed but, on our way home, we couldn’t help wondering what might have been...

Having been so engrossed in my battle with Dave Adams that I rarely left my seat, my report is rather sketchy, unfortunately, and based mainly on hearsay and the couple of games that I have since seen. I could see that Stuart on the next board had launched a kamikaze assault on Peter Hempson’s centre. Sadly, he shipped rather too much wood in doing so and his opponent was able to regroup and exchange more material in order to secure the point. A flustered Andrew arrived late and was soon material down. Unable to find counterplay, he soon also lost.

Around the first time control my opponent, who afterwards said that he felt that it was me who held the better chances at this stage, got up from the game when it was his move to examine the state of play on the other boards – a sure sign that he was considering a draw offer. What he found, however, served only to inspire him to set me a trap into which I duly fell, allowing him to fork my bishop and loose pawn with his queen to finally break through what had been, up to that point, a solid defence. I was left to rue one careless move in an otherwise well played game. Bill also had regrets by the end, in his case spending too long in a promising position and losing on time for the second successive game.

Joel and Oliver both had chances too. Oliver’s game was wild and open but he eventually succumbed against an experienced campaigner and Joel, on debut, put in a fine performance against an improving opponent before blundering horribly on the verge of securing what might have been a winning advantage – a promising first outing for the B Team which deserved a better outcome. The most successful performances came on boards 4 and 5 where Ken and Phil secured a draw and a win respectively to add some semblance of respectability to the score. Ken felt that he had been swindled out of the whole point while Phil felt that he had always been in control but, since I saw neither game, I’m in no position to support or challenge these assessments!

It was, then, a far from disgraceful performance in all, if a slightly disappointing scoreline. We play Ecclesall again in a few weeks and will learn from this match and hopefully put up a stiffer challenge next time.

Captain's Corner

I was very proud of the efforts of the B Team last season in winning the Weston and enabling us to accept promotion to the Davy. It would be fair to say, however, that I was even more proud of our efforts on Wednesday night at The Harlequin against reigning Davy champions, our very own A Team. Considering that we hadn’t been able to call on the services of Haidar and that the A Team were almost at full strength I had feared a chastening introduction to life in the top flight of Sheffield chess. In the event, it was anything but, as the team put in a fantastic performance that should set us up nicely for what promises to be a very tough season.

Unfortunately the high quality of the performance in general was not replicated on board 1! Using my captain’s prerogative to the full, I allowed myself the luxury of blundering not one but both bishops in my favourite opening against Jon, having briefly been let back into the game after my first error. As Jon and I agreed after the game, not one for the website but a chance to get some poor play out of our systems at the start of the season! Luckily for me, by this stage Phil was putting the finishing touches to an excellent major piece king-side attack against Ian in a Sicilian where the players had castled on opposite sides, leaving the score poised at 1-1.

The match was proving to be extremely hard-fought and, with the first time control approaching, it was clear that mutual time trouble was likely to be a factor on the bottom boards. Oliver kept his cool admirably and reigned in his attacking instincts to pile the pressure on Masrura, eventually forcing the win on time in a fairly level position, an excellent performance. Meanwhile, Bill, (playing against Paul, no stranger to time trouble himself!) had built up, in his own words, “a reet attack” but was rapidly running out of time to try to turn his pressure into a point. Deep into the last 5 minutes his position began to unravel and he eventually lost on time a pawn down.

At 2-2 things were starting to look promising, and were soon looking even more so as Stuart gave us a 3-2 lead with a brilliant win in his favoured Budapest. A well-timed exchange sacrifice enabled him to completely rip open Kieran’s king position, leading to mate with a rook and bishops - a fantastic game and suddenly we started to wonder whether the unthinkable might be possible. Unfortunately for us we weren’t able to consolidate as Ken, who had been battling valiantly against Mohammad, finally succumbed to the central pressure that had been building up. So, 3-3 and, as Mohammad said after the match “tough game”!

And so it was up to Uday and Andrew, up against Nomads glitterati Chris and Jeremy respectively, to see if they could bring us a share of the spoils. Both games were tight and Andrew, who had boldly played the Wing Gambit against Jeremy’s Sicilian, had got his pawn back and was doing well. However, as the middle game evolved into an ending Jeremy won a pawn and was able to use promotion threats to force home his advantage and win the game. Uday had also built up a decent position as white against Chris but without creating any real threats and his opponent was able to whittle away at his backward pawn on the open queen side and secure the win.

So, a 5-3 defeat but a very encouraging start to the season for the B Team. Now the key to our season will be to take confidence from this and keep the momentum going throughout our forthcoming matches. Thanks and congratulations to everyone involved, it was a very tense match for some time and was played in an excellent spirit.