Nomads III 2009/10
Thursday 10th Jan 2013
Pheonix B (H)
| Nomads III | 1½ - 3½ | Pheonix B | |
| Phil Pickering | 0 - 1 | Farshad Ai | |
| Milan Steffko | 1 - 0 | Phil Beckett | |
| Marek Krajci | 0 - 1 | H Aryan | |
| 4 | |||
| Eric Mckenna | 0 - 1 | S Khasisabdi | |
| Robert Shaw | ½ - ½ | S Khosroabi |
Captain's Corner
Each team turned up one player short, thanks to the lingering ice, so we mutually defaulted on board four. After loosing the toss, we played white on even boards.
Robert's game was close throughout. He did loose a pawn, but since he had earlier forced his opponent to double pawns via a bishop swap, he went into a rook plus pawn endgame a pawn up. However, this proved insufficient for a win.
The next games to finish were Eric's and Marek's, both losses. Eric had brought his queen out early, leaving his development weak, and ended up mated in the middle of the board with most pieces still on.
Milan had worked his way into a tense position, with plenty of pressure on Beckett's king, but his own pretty exposed. Careful play gained a piece, and seemed to threaten immediate mate, but after Phil resigned, Milan demonstrated how he had actually had ample counterplay remaining.
This just left board one playing, with Nomads needing a win to draw the match. The last of the minor pieces and both queens went off in one exchange, then the rooks after intricate manoeuvring, leaving both players with just seven pawns each. Most of these soon deadlocked, and Farshad's king was tied down blocking Phil's one passed pawn, but this left Phil's king trying to stop three connected pawns single-handed.
It was looking like a draw when Farshad's king abandoned his blockade of Phil's passed apwn, and demonstrated it was just close enough to usher his pawn to promotion before Phil could.
Robert
Wednesday 14th Oct 2009
Phoenix A (H)
| Nomads III | 1 - 5 | Phoenix A |
| S Nicholson | 0 - 1 | P Fletcher |
| E McKenna | 0 - 1 | R Gosden |
| B Pettigrew | 0 - 1 | C Walker |
| P Saxby | 0 - 1 | M Z Aryan |
| R Shaw | 0 - 1 | J Mercy |
| G Shaw | 1 - 0 | M Davis |
Captain's Corner
Up against a first division team, we knew this would be a tough match, and so it proved.
On board one, Simon lost a bishop in the middle game, and never recovered. Eric maintained material parity throughout, reaching the endgame with five pawns to six, an untenable position.
Bill's lasted the longest. By the 29th move, he was in a strong position, with heavy pressure on his opponents queenside, but then his flag fell.
Phil resigned after going two pieces down, while Robert blundered into a losing exchange, bishop for rook. His opponent soon capitalised on this small advantage.
On board six, Gordon saved us from a whitewash, spotting a mate in two. A queen and knight double check forced the king to h7, where the queen delivered mate, supported by the bishop on the long diagonal.
Overall, not the best of results for our third team's cup match, but there's always next year.
Robert
