Wednesday 22nd April

Clay Cross A (A)

Captain's Corner

Vice-captain's view of the cliff-hanging final match of the season - writing credits to Andrew, with limited editorial input by yours truly!
 
"Competition is never as thrilling as when it comes down to the wire.  There are some sporting competitions that linger on in the memory long after they have been consigned to the history books.  Consider these:
 
28th April 1985.  Where were you when Dennis Taylor, playing Steve Davis, sank the final black, in the final frame, to seal the World Snooker Championship?
 
26th May 1989.  Where were you when Michael Thomas of Arsenal, playing against Liverpool, scored the crucial second goal, in injury time, at Anfield, in the last game of the season, to clinch the title?
 
28th November 2003.  Where were you when Jonny Wilkinson of England, playing against Australia, scored a drop-goal in the last minute of extra time, in Australia, to win the Rugby World Cup?
 
It's no exaggeration (well OK, maybe a little) to say that a fourth event has been added to that exulted list.

Things started badly.  I got into my car, confident of arriving at Chesterfield station in time to pick Andy G up with a good 20-25 minutes to spare before the match was due to kick off.  Sadly, Satnav appeared to have other ideas, adding an extra 10 minutes onto the journey, supplemented by every single traffic light on the trip turning to red at precisely the wrong moment.  Still, once Andy G was safely collected, what else could go wrong? 
 
As it turned out, quite a bit.  The road to Clay Cross' home turf was shut; was this a clever variation by our hosts on the 'make our home turf as inaccessible as possible' approach that Nomads have successfully adopted in recent times?  Or was there a more mundane reason (essential roadworks, for example)?  Either way, a diversion was necessary; naturally, Satnav then announced 'you have arrived' several hundred yards from the location... but I'm used to this now (I've had nearly a full season of practice) and a few more seconds patience yielded results as the venue loomed large.  There's nothing like drama to kick start the adrenaline... and compared to the way the match panned out, this was nothing like drama!

To the match...  One change from the team that came back from 2.5 - 0.5 down to beat Stannington A, with Graham in on board 3 for Ken.  As has become something of a tradition of late, we were White on evens (I mistakenly assumed Andy G lost the toss this time, but as it turned out, it was another tactical masterstroke from a man coming into all kinds of form at the business end of the season!)
 
After the opening salvos, no real damage had been done to either side - Andy opted for his usual Modern set-up, Stuart sacc'ed a pawn for an aggressive position, Graham appeared to decide that his best bet would be to develop some pieces, then send them back to bed again, I opted to chase Brian's f6 knight around for a bit and build a pawn centre, Phil settled into an even, fairly closed game, and Oliver appeared to throw caution to the wind, going after his opponent's fianchettoed kingside. 
 
However, the night started to take a turn for the worst very shortly afterwards.  Oliver over-stretched himself, chasing a knight and trying to cut it off from the rest of the black pieces.  In doing so, he only succeeded in trapping his own bishop.  A piece down, and with little active play, he was quickly rendered helpless as Keith picked off his pawns and exchanged pieces where appropriate to set up a won endgame.  1-0 down and the pressure was starting to mount.  All Oliver could do now was stand and watch.
 
On the other boards, Andy G stood equal in what appeared a drawish position, Stuart was struggling to get compensation for his pawn sacrifice, advancing his queenside pawns in an attempt to break through.  Graham appeared to be heading into a drawn endgame against Paul Kelman, and Phil, whilst miles ahead on the clock, appeared to be making little headway in what appeared to be another likely draw.  My game, meanwhile, had taken a turn for the complex - it was doubtless observed by those not engrossed in their own games that I was shaking my head several times between moves, not in despair at my position this time, however, but at the futility of trying to calculate any of the combinations that either myself or Brian could play.  In fact, Brian offered a draw almost as soon as Clay Cross went 1-0 up, and on another night, it would have been a tempting offer.  But this was the league we were playing for - and I was going to win this game or be carried out on my shield...
 
Then things got really bad.  Stuart's game finished - when quizzed, it turned out that he had been checkmated.  Dean managed to hold him off until his attack blew itself out before launching a devastating counter-offensive.  Phil was now so far ahead on time, it looked like he might win before the time control; both Andy G and Graham were still looking drawn, whilst on board 4 there was much scratching of heads and wracking of brains as both players attempted to work out exactly what was going on.  Still it couldn't get any worse, could it?

Well, actually, yes it could.  Graham walked into a king/rook pin in what appeared to otherwise be a totally drawn position - and when you've only got a king, bishop, knight and rook left each, that's pretty much game over.  3-0 down.  The abyss of a probable play-off with Stannington A for second place opened up before us.  To overuse the sporting analogies, this was 25th May 2005, Liverpool vs AC Milan.  3-0 down at half-time, out of the game, defeated, beaten, nowhere to hide.... If we could have substituted in a holding midfield player at this point, I'm pretty sure we would have done.  But without that option, it was down to our last 3 players to see what they could do.
 
Phil finished next - his time advantage finally telling as he manoeuvred into a knight+pawns endgame in which he appeared, at a glance at least, to have all the chances -but Paul Williams ran out of time before we could see this put to the test.  Somewhere out there, an overweight female put her songsheet aside and took a sip of water.
 
I was next - having simplified the position (although making it more complicated, to be honest, would have been a challenge), I took a calculated gamble that Brian would have insufficient compensation for his bishop sacrifice, and that no mating threat would transpire.  We were both down to our last 3 minutes (I had made a conscious decision prior to the match to not be the first player to finish!) - and as Brian attempted to regain his lost piece he walked into a nasty rook pin, resigning when faced with mate in 2.  Somewhere in the middle distance, there was the sound of an obese woman pulling up a chair and sitting back down.
 
All we needed now was for Andy G to bring about the most important (if not unlikely) score-draw we would find on our pools coupon this season.  The position had looked drawish, but somehow in the endgame both sides had secured passed pawns.  Andy's was on the a-file - some distance from Antony's king.  However, Antony's was closer to queening and supported by both king and knight.  On the face of it, it looked like a tough game to win... but with 10 players gathered round the board, concerned looks from both sides and a digital clock counting down to oblivion, perhaps someone would slip up, or make an inspired move.
 
Somehow, somehow, the position simplified a little more and now Andy G had the advantage - his king in front of his opponent's passer, his passer on the way to a1 and a new lease of life.  However, time was running out, and with one minute to Antony's 3, it looked like a draw might be the best he could hope for.  Surely there wasn't enough time on his clock to win.  I even wondered if he would have to give up his knight for Antony's final pawn and take a draw?  And then... chaos!  An illegal move, 2 minutes from the end of the match, meant that Andy could claim an additional 2mins on his clock.  The only problem - no one knew how to work the clocks.  10 minutes later, and Brian had managed, somehow, to set the digital clocks correctly and the game resumed.  It looked all over - Andy G appeared to have a winning knight fork - but he missed it and forced his opponent to give up his knight for the passer instead.  Now, as they say, it was all a matter of technique - knight and pawn endings are technical wins, I believe, provided the pawn is not a rook pawn - and Andy coolly decided he would demonstrate this to the watching crowd, showing no signs of nerves whatsoever as he queened his final pawn and sealed a win.  Sealing victory with the last move, of the last game, in time added on for stoppages...  The plump vixen returned to her feet, and, with new lyrics in front of her, started to croon.

What a match, what a year, and what a way to end the season.  Tense doesn't even begin to describe it!  Full credit must be given to Clay Cross A, who put up an unbelievable fight and must have felt for most of the evening as if things were going to go their way.  Chess doesn't come much more tense than this!
 
All that remains to be said now is:
 
28th April 2009.  Where were you when Nomads B, playing Clay Cross A, won their last 3 games, in extra time, in Clay Cross, in their last game of the season, to win Division 2?"
 
Andrew & Andy

The score was 2-3 to Clay Cross with only Andy’s game left and everybody crowding around the crucial game. It was a very complicated endgame with 5 pawns (spread on both sides of the board) and a knight each. Andy had 3 minutes, his opponent 5. His strong opponent missed (or didn’t want) a chance to draw the game and therefore for Clay Cross to win the match. When Andy’s opponent didn’t move his king out of check, Andy claimed an addition of two penalty minutes to his (digital) clock and between 12 chess players we found someone who had the technical ability to do this. With the benefit of a digital clock’s precision, Andy’s time was increased from 2 minutes 43 seconds to 4 mins 43. This gave him enough time to mate after queening his second pawn (the first was immediately exchanged for his opponent’s knight) to reach mate-in-one with a comfortable minute left.  

So the Nomads B season was decided by our captain in the last minute of the last game of the last match of the season. Andy’s put a lot of effort into the unglamorous but necessary work of getting a team out each time. In winning his match last night he showed nerve in a complex endgame which could have easily been lost or drawn; knowledge of the rules of the game (the time penalty in a blitz finish) and a quiet self assurance throughout. It’s right that he should have his moment of glory in guaranteeing that his team won the league. 

Stuart

Wednesday 22nd April

Stannington A (H)

Captain's Corner 

This was the big one!  Since our defeat at Stannington A back in February the B team have been in a rich vein of form with 5 straight wins catapulting us back up the table and into title contention.  Tonight saw the return match against Stannington, one of two teams level with us on 21 points after 14 out of 16 games with Clay Cross, the other team up there with us, left to play in our final match.  Thus it was always going to be a tense battle as we tried to gain our revenge for the earlier reverse.

In the event it turned out to be a great night for the Nomads teams as the C Team won easily against Barnsley in their relegation scrap and we ultimately triumphed 3.5-2.5, but not until after an almighty struggle where we trailed 2.5-0.5 at one point and needed to win all of our remaining games to seal the deal!  To be fair, Phil's opponent had been a dead man walking for some time as he battled gamely on a rook down, refusing to be brought down until the closing stages.  By this time Ken had long-since succumbed to a king-side onslaught, spending a lot of time unsuccessfully trying to find a defence to his opponent's mate threats.

Stuart started brightly, grabbing a pawn in the heart of his opponent's position but then conceded doubled isolated pawns of his own in a material exchange.  As time trouble loomed for both players, his opponent elected to sac a knight for 2 pawns to wreck Stuart's pawn structure further and secure the draw with black through perpetual check.  Although he didn't feel that he stood much worse, Andrew was struggling with knights against bishops in an open position with kings castled on opposite flanks.  As Andrew's king fled back towards the centre, a of series of tactical shots enabled his opponent to tear the position wide open and win material before forcing mate.

Oliver, who is on excellent form with 6 wins in his last 7 games now, had another interesting game.  After giving up a pawn for an early attack he trapped a piece to give himself the advantage.  As the queens came off he regrouped and launched the second phase of his attack in the centre.  His opponent fought manfully to force his own passed pawn on the queen-side as Oliver's pieces dominated in the centre of the board but a well judged king march saw his opponent's king trapped on the back rank with no way of escaping mate.

This left me, black on board one (again!), to bring home the bacon.  I'd not played Ryan before but had heard that he liked a tactical battle and so chose a fairly closed positional set-up in my Modern Defence.  For my second match in succession, after castling on opposite flanks, I probed on the queen-side and was able to secure the advantage in an unbalanced position where I held the knight pair for rook and pawn.  My attack was slow and steady but, with no real activity for his major pieces, my opponent struggled for counter-play.  I even had the luxury of a missing a tactical shot which would have won me the exchange before he felt he had no option but to smash open the centre when my knights proved perfectly placed to enter the fray and provide material-winning threats leaving me a simple ending a knight up and a final score of 3.5-2.5 - wow!

So, top of the pile with one match to go, and, if reports of a Clay Cross draw with Phoenix prove to be accurate(!), a drawn match at Clay Cross next week would be enough to see us to a hard-earned title victory.

Andy

Wednesday 8th April

Ecclesall B (A)

Captain's Corner

Wednesday at The Abbey - Ecclesall B away, a team which were already relegated and therefore had nothing to lose.  My third match this season as stand-in captain and hopefully we could repeat the success of my first match in the hot seat.  Satnav successfully navigated me to the location, so that was a result in and of itself.  I walked into the pub to find Phil and Graham downing their traditional pre-match pint.  Ken and Oliver were already upstairs... but there was no sign of Stuart.  I'd not heard from anyone prior to the game to say they couldn't make it, but it very shortly transpired that Oliver had emailed me and the email had never turned up... worrying.
 
10 minutes later, we were upstairs getting ready to kick off.  I won the toss, and given Stuart's potential absence, went for White on evens to hopefully give 3 of our players an advantage from the 5 present.  The games started... and after 10-15 minutes or so, Stuart turned up!  Relief all round - although he wasn't best pleased to be playing with Black when he had actually prepared an approach as White for his actual opponent on the night - sorry about that Stuart ;-)
 
My view of most of the games was a little intermittent, so apologies for any inaccuracies.  I was trapped between two opposition players, with little room to manouevre; sat side-saddle as I couldn't get my legs under the table.  I got a close view of Graham's and Phil's games, but the rest is based on conversation, hearsay and guesswork to some extent.
 
30mins in, and everything seemed relatively even across the boards.  Oliver seemed to be getting an attack going, Phil's game was quite open - his queen seemingly a target in the middle of the board, and mine was making very slow progress - I was only on move 7 at this point!
 
1 hour in, and I'd managed one sneak out, ostensibly to go to the toilet, but also to get a glance at the Liverpool-Chelsea score.  Torres had opened the scoring... it was going well.  Excellent news.  Back upstairs... and I immediately overheard a conversation from outside indicating a Chelsea equaliser.  Great.
 
Stuart's game finished shortly afterwards - I couldn't see his board from where I was sat in detail, but it looked like his opponent had invaded his position so I thought he might well have lost.  Fortunately I was wrong - he'd agreed a draw and that was, to my mind, half a point gained as I had feared he wasn't going to make it to the match and had resigned myself to a default on top board.
 
By now, on my left, Phil had won the exchange and hoovered up a pawn - on an open board, with a strong position and a couple of threats, his opponent resigned and we were 1.5 - 0.5 up.  On my right, Graham had sacrificed a knight for two pawns and a strong attack against his opponent's king.  However, the tables were turned rapidly, and after Graham blundered in responding to a knight check, he resigned rather than face a 2-move checkmate.  1.5 -.1.5.
 
I was next to finish - my opponent getting into severe time trouble, with only 5 minutes to make 10 moves or so and walking into a neat trap which only gave Phillip the choice of giving up his queen or his king.  So we were up again.  Ken's game, meanwhile, had taken an interesting turn and after an unbalanced exchange, he ended up in a R+R+B vs Q+N endgame.  Unfortunately, he walked into a fork threat and in trying to avoid dropping a rook to the fork, ended up dropping a rook to a simple capture.  So it was 2.5 - 2.5 and all eyes on Oliver's game.  Well, maybe not all eyes initially (a quick peek at the score downstairs was required first - but with Liverpool down 3-1 I wish I hadn't looked)....
 
Oliver had manufactured a passed a-pawn, and was actually two pawns to the good (although one was doubled and offered no real advantage).  He had got his a-pawn to the 6th rank, but it wasn't going any further it seemed.  I was trying, subtly, to attract his attention, in the knowledge that the position was 'drawish' - or at least that it was going to be a long hard slog if Oliver was going to force home his advantage.  I was afraid he might agree a draw - no use to us in the position we're in - and was trying to catch his eye so I could give him an update on the score.
 
Still, he played on, and as the position simplified, so it got harder for his opponent to find moves and with Oliver well ahead on the clock, he was able to keep his opponent thinking long enough for his flag to fall.  Ultimately he had a won position - and could have used the time taken by his opponent to pick up the a-pawn to invade the kingside and force the win.  But it was still a relief to see him win the game on time and put us all out of our misery.

So a clean sweep on our lower boards pulled us through - our strength in depth proving enough to seal the points in conjunction with Stuart's quick draw on board 1.  3.5 - 2.5, a good fight from Ecclesall B and on this showing they are likely to bounce straight back up again next season.  We move into our final two games of the season now with our fate still in our own hands - 2 wins will seal it; back to you Andy.

Wednesday 1st April

Aughton A (A)

Captain's Corner

Quite how we came away from Aughton with a 5-1 victory is a bit of a mystery to me but we'll take the points in our now seemingly relentless pursuit of the league title.  Our 4th win on the spin wasn't exactly smash and grab but wasn't nearly as comfortable as the scoreline suggests.  Opting for black on odd boards again I soon wondered if I was going to regret my decision as Ken lost a knight early on and didn't fancy his chances of grovelling a piece down and so resigned.

For a while the outcomes of other games were too unclear to form a decent picture of the likely outcome of the match.  For this reason I declined my opponent's draw offer in a tranquil position where I had equalised with black in the Modern Defence, and elected instead to launch an all-out a-file assault on my opponent's king, conceding the centre and allowing a rather dangerous looking passed pawn.  Stuart was playing with typical panache in his pet gambit line, swapping queens whilst still a pawn down in order to trap his opponent's king in the centre.  Phil's position also looked promising against an uncastled king in a sharp Sicilian Defence.  As for the other two games, Andrew was a pawn up and Graham a pawn down but neither position was giving me too many clues as to whether I should be thinking about accepting that draw, if, indeed, the offer still stood!

As I'd hoped, Stuart and Phil gradually pushed home their advantages, Stuart wrecking his opponent's pawn structure before winning material and Phil invading on the light-coloured squares, his queen dancing from the queen-side to king-side to deliver the telling blow.  By this point I had gone beyond the point of no return with my attack and was leaping up from my seat every few minutes to glance nervously at Andrew's and Graham's games.  I didn't particularly like what I was seeing as Graham had entered a rook & knight ending with his major pieces trapped on the h-file and Andrew's advantage appeared to have evaporated and he was seen sadly shaking his head from side to side!

It was a huge relief then when my attack suddenly broke through as my opponent found himself unable to find an adequate defence for his weak a-pawn and resigned, a little prematurely, perhaps.  What followed can only be described as exemplary endgame technique from both Andrew and Graham as they both played quickly and seized on inaccuracies by their opponents under extreme time pressure to win.  Firstly Andrew made light of his inferior pawn structure and king position to finally run a passed pawn and win his opponent's only remaining piece leaving the ending a formality.  Graham then calculated perfectly under pressure and 2 pawns down, winning the race to promote pawns by a move and, by the time his opponent's flag fell, had a forced win by skewering his opponent's king to his newly-promoted queen.

Phew!  Another entertaining match and another good win (and, I'm relieved to note, 6/6 with white on evens over the past 2 matches) putting us top of the pile, for now at least.  3 matches to go and, as Ken commented, our destiny is in our own hands as we have our 2 closest rivals still to play in the last 2 matches of the season but next up, seemingly relegation-doomed Ecclesall B at The Abbey.

Andy  

Thursday 26th March

Phoenix B (A)

Captain's Corner

Arriving at The Bridge Inn we were in confident mood having won our last 2 matches relatively easily.  We knew that Phoenix were unlikely to be a pushover, however, and the match turned out to be quite a tussle with three games undecided until the last few minutes of the playing session.  I must confess that I didn't see a huge amount of the other games as my opponent's speedy play meant that I was glued to my chair for most of the evening, so apologies for any inaccuracies.  I anyone would like to provide any more detail then please feel free!

I tactically chose black on the odd boards, much to the surprise of the opposing captain, a decision which paid dividends as we won with white on boards 2, 4 & 6!  Things started very promisingly as Oliver was the first to win after his opponent turned down a speculative rook sac at the cost of a pawn.  The ensuing middle game was complicated as pieces were strewn across the board but in the end Oliver's knight and rooks proved to be superior to his opponent's bishop and rooks and he was able to convert his advantage.  One point became two as Graham, showing no signs of rustiness,  played a lovely game culminating in a devastating rook sacrifice in the heart of his opponent's king position which won easily.

The future of the remaining points, however, was far from certain and our lead was cut when Ken, an exchange down, was unable to drum up enough counterplay in another queenless middlegame and eventually lost.  I had a real ding-dong battle on my hands after I won an exchange and was winning my game only to go wrong in a double-edged middlegame.  I was forced to give back the exchange as my opponent generated strong connected passed pawns and was probably losing at one point but was able to dig my heels in and cling on for the draw with knight and pawn against bishop and 2 with a minute left on my clock, exciting stuff!

I finshed discussing my game to discover that Phil had agreed another draw in a position where he felt that he was slightly better but the risks of trying to break through in a game where little material had been exchanged outweighed the potential benefits.  This left Stuart, who held a slight time advantage, to finish things off a pawn up in a rook and pawn ending where he was offered, and turned down, a couple of draws. On discovering that we were a point up with just his match to finish he felt under no pressure and converted his ending well, eventually winning on time in a won position.  So, 4-2 represented another good night's work and the promotion chase is hotting up nicely!

Thursday 5th March

Barnsley B (A)

Captain's Corner

The second leg of our back-to-back matches on consecutive days was the away trip to Barnsley, rearranged from a month earlier when the snow came.  After a minor road-rage incident on the A61 in Hillsborough(!) we all arrived safe and sound at the Rising Sun knowing that a win would put us back up into the promotion places, at least for now.  Having beaten the bottom team in the league on Wednesday it was important to continue our good form against the second bottom team.  There were two changes to the team from Wednesday with Andrew and Phil returning in place of Enyi and Bill.  Barnsley B don’t have any superstars but are consistent in strength all the way down and so a strong showing on the top boards was essential to secure the required win.

Fortunately that’s exactly what we got!  For the second time this season I found myself without an opponent (they must fear playing me so much that they’d rather default games than risk an over-the-board mauling!) which meant that I felt rather like a chess parent, delivering my charges to the match and then pacing up and down nervously while the games unfolded!  Luckily I was liking what I saw as 1-0 soon became 2-0 as Ken played an extremely attractive sacrificial attack, giving up both bishops to drive his opponent’s king out into the open and then onto the queen-side before closing the mating net within 21 moves.

Stuart soon completed the clean sweep of the top boards as he pounced on a weak white opening and directed an all-out assault on his opponent’s king resulting in the winning of a piece and soon led to a mating attack.  I was feeling a bit calmer now and even had the chance to nip downstairs for a couple of frames of pool with Stuart before returning for the denouement.  Fortunately the chess was of a far higher standard than our pool had been(!) and Andrew was soon grinning from ear to ear as his policy of marching his king-side pawns before castling into the empty space behind them provided him with possibly his best win of what is turning out to be an excellent first season for Nomads.

So, at 4-0, the pressure was off Phil and Oliver who were both in level-looking positions.  Oliver played a very mature game against a decent opponent given his lack of recent over-the-board experience and was happy to exchange down into a well-balanced king & pawn ending as black and accepted the offered draw soon after.  Phil was unable to see a way of breaking through and saved himself any further headaches by agreeing to a draw to leave us unbeaten on the night.  So, a pair of 5-1 wins represented a very good week’s work for the B team and was a timely demonstration of the depth of our squad when everyone is available for selection!

Andy

Wednesday 4th March

Ecclesall B (H)

Captain's Corner

After defeat in our previous match at Stannington, Wednesday provided us with the perfect opportunity to get our season back on track with the visit of an under-strength Ecclesall B side who, missing several of their regulars to A-team action, were there for the taking. There was still a job to be done, however, particularly as Andrew had agreed to lead the D team that night and especially after Enyi went wrong in the opening and was ambushed not far into the middle game to give our opponents an early lead.

Elsewhere things began to pan out in our favour, however, and it was soon clear that we were on course for a relatively straightforward victory.  Ken played very fluently in a characteristic queen-less middle game in which he felt he always stood better.  After working a passed queen’s pawn he advanced it to the sixth rank where it became immovable and proved to be decisive. Oliver was in no mood to compromise either and, by giving up a knight, hammered an attack down the h-file against the castled king.  The ploy proved to be very effective as his opponent was forced to give up a rook, leaving him the exchange down, and then a further piece to prevent mate.  Oliver said after the game that his only disappointment was when the queens game off preventing a quick kill and leaving him to finish the job in more prosaic fashion a rook to the good!

Bill’s game revolved around minor pieces and minor disagreements!  Retaining the bishop pair against his opponent’s knights proved to be a sensible decision as Bill reached the time control with a comfortable positional advantage.  In setting the clocks back, however, Bill felt that his opponent had miscalculated the time settings in his own favour and was concerned that he wouldn’t have enough time left to finish the job.  He didn’t let this bother him for long though and a clinical display in the ending demonstrated the superiority of his bishops as the knights were given up for marching pawns and the ecclesiastical duo began mopping up his opponent’s remaining pawns.  Bill was left with a host of potential passed pawns and his opponent soon fell on his sword.

On my return to the team after a 2-match absence I played a nice game against James Marley where several pairs of queen-side and central pawns were swapped off in the opening resulting in a very open position which I was able to fully exploit to my advantage and take the full point with black with relative ease.  Stuart was the last to finish in a game where he felt that he hadn’t played very well and his opponent had missed a couple of decent chances.  He was allowed to consolidate before winning an exchange and then a knight to leave him a rook up in a rook and pawn ending.  Once it became clear that Stuart’s time disadvantage wasn’t going to prove critical Joe resigned to leave us with a satisfactory 5-1 victory.

Andy

Monday 23rd February

Stannington A (A)

Captain's Corner

Monday the 23rd February... I will remember it well.  We were at the New Barrack Tavern, sans our regular captain for the second game in a row, for a tough match up with Stannington A, who overall probably enjoyed a slight grade advantage (particularly when taking into account the ungraded nature of both myself and Oliver).
 
I won the toss, and in a move that was deliberately designed to throw off our opponents, opted for Black on odds.  Actually, it was more because I know Ken rarely gets to play with White, and I also have played most of my games with White and fancied a go with Black, but calling it a tactical masterstroke sounds so much better (at least at this stage in proceedings).

With our opponents already on the back foot mentally, it was time to press home our advantage....
 
A few minutes in, and things already looked interesting.  The games appeared to be a bit more dynamic than they were last week against Aughton; a lot more going on, with some interesting positions cropping up.  Stuart had a pawn on a4 early doors as Black - I've got no idea how that got there and did wonder if it had crept back on when no one was looking.  Ken and Bill also had quite open positions, whilst in my game it was becoming clear that we were both going to be attacking on opposite flanks and that one of us would make a breakthrough eventually.  This did mean, however, that I had to concentrate on my game for long periods, and therefore missed a fair slice of the action elsewhere.
 
Nevertheless, an hour into the match and things had seemingly calmed down a little for Phil and Oliver.  Both were edging towards endgames, with the minor pieces off in Phil's case (not to mention his d- and e- pawn) whilst Oliver retained the bishop pair (nearly always a good idea if you can manage it).  Stuart and I were way ahead on the clock in our respective games, whilst seemingly still relatively equal; Ken's game continued to be open, with both sets of minor pieces seemingly trawling the board, looking for somewhere active to rest.  Bill, meanwhile, had missed a discovered check and found himself a pawn and the exchange down - a few moves later and it was first blood to Stannington as Bill's material losses proved too great.
 
Second blood also went to Stannington, not long after, as Stuart's position became completely lost.  Looking at the final board it would appear that the open c-file played a big part in his downfall as Ryan's rook invaded Stuart's position to devastating effect.  So 2 down with 4 left in play.  A quick glance around again and things were looking dicey.  Phil was a pawn down, well into the endgame.  Ken's position seemed OK, but the sheer openness of it, with bishops and rooks raking the board, suggested a tactical battle was on the cards.  Oliver still seemed equal, whilst I was beginning to regret not pushing my a-pawn when I had had the chance.
 
Sadly, that regret proved all too painful.  Kier managed to queen a pawn, forcing me to give up the exchange, and sure enough in a R+3P - N+3P endgame I didn't manage to hold out.  So that was 3-0 and we were really up against it then.  Could we drag ourselves back from the dead?
 
No.  5 minutes later, and Ken's opponent asked his captain the score.  Knowing a draw would suffice, he then offered one to Ken who accepted.  After the match had ended, Ken said that he felt he shouldn't have taken the draw because to do so meant ceding the match - however, looking at the position, Dave had activated his bishops and potentially would have been able to force a threefold repetition anyhow, chasing Ken's queen's rook across the back rank.
 
That left Phil and Oliver to salvage some pride for the team.  Phil battled gamely on, but with his opponent exchanging off the last minor pieces he was left with an impossible endgame, a pawn down and unable to pose any threat with his king.  4.5 - 0.5 and all eyes on Oliver (well, all eyes that weren't on the big plate of food that had just arrived in the room).  He had won the exchange, with Q+2R against Ron's Q+N+R, with the odd pawn scattered about the place.  Ron had a series of well disguised threats (amazing how well a queen and knight can work together sometimes) but Oliver managed to see them all, staving off various forking opportunities and ultimately trapping Ron's knight, forcing him to exchange queens in order to save it.  Oliver then instantly generated a passed pawn, and with rook in support, looked set for a new monarch....
 
But then Ron's flag fell and he won on time instead.  Still a win is a win and Oliver has now won 3 on the bounce.

So all told, a chastening experience.  Stannington are a strong team, there's no doubt, and it felt on the night as if they just had a little bit more nous than us.  Still, it was a good effort as always from the lads - we put up a good fight, and if you wound the clock back to maybe 45mins into the match, I like to think that every game was still in the balance and could have gone either way.  On another night (the return leg?) maybe the scoreline would have been (will be?) different.  At least we have an added incentive now for when we host them later in the season.
 
It just remains for me to say well played to our opponents, and thanks for the chip butties that were laid on for us as the match came to a close.  From next week, I will return you all to the warm embrace of Mr George, back from conferencing duties in the deep south (Birmingham) and keen to revive our challenge for the top places.  It's been good fun captaining the side in his absence - thanks for your efforts and I hope to do it again sometime!

Wednesday 18th February

Aughton A (H)

Captain's Corner

My debut as captain (standing in for Mr George, on 'babysitting' duties) and we are up against Aughton A.  All matches at this stage of the season are important - and with Aughton having a number of games in hand over most of the teams in the division it was vital for us to turn them over.  Naturally, I lost the toss - and Aughton went with White on odds.
 
45mins in... Were we were heading for what has come to be known as the 'Nomads A position' - i.e. a drawn match - with very little appearing to happen on any of the boards? It felt that way, but I was sure the fireworks would come eventually.  Perhaps my own bore-draw was clouding my judgement, but all I was seeing at this point was 3-3, 6 draws and everyone a winner (or at least, not a loser).
 
60mins in... Oliver and Ken seemed to be making progress, with both establishing strong pawns on d6, deep in the enemy camp.  Oliver's position, in particular, had started to open up and with N+B exchanged for R+P, and the bishop pair starting to cause trouble, I had my first reason to be optimistic.  Ken meanwhile, had 3 central pawns occupying the d and e files; a central pawn storm appeared to beckon....
 
90mins in...  Surprisingly, Bill finished first, agreeing the draw immediately after the time control.  His game was pretty even, but he had maintained the bishop pair in the wake of a few minor piece exchanges and when I spoke to him after the game he felt that he probably would have won, all things being equal.  However, he was dangerously low on time, and there was a lot still to be done to win, so a draw seemed about right.  Oliver finished shortly afterwards, winning Peter Higgin's queen as his bishop pair did all the dirty work whilst his pawn on d6 proved an unshiftable monster.
 
110mins in... and after one declined draw offer, after which I tried and failed to make headway, I opted to make my own draw offer at which point John Reynolds accepted.  So we were 2-1 up and I could relax a little bit and 'enjoy' the rest of the evening.  A quick scan of the games and it didn't seem like relax was the right word.  Stuart and Enyi were both a pawn down heading into queen-less endgames, and whilst Ken's position still seemed dominant, I'm sure the last time I checked he had both rooks on the board.  Now he appeared to be an exchange down (R for B) so these were going to be three big games, hard to call and with time trouble looming for pretty much everyone, the clocks looked set to play a big part.
 
120mins in... extra time beckoned and still we continued on all 3 boards. 
 
140mins in...  Suddenly (how do these things happen so quickly when everyone moves so slowly?) Enyi went from being a pawn down to being 2 pawns up - with what appeared to be an unstoppable passed pawn on the a-file.  Good job he still had 5 whole minutes left on the clock else it might have been tight!  On board 1, Stuart's game had ended in a draw - he was still a pawn down, but with essentially 5 minutes each left on the clock and with no apparent way through for either player, it seemed like a reasonable result, given the alternative was almost certainly a blunder by one of the two players under time pressure.  2.5 - 1.5, and as Enyi captured Patrick's final piece, thus guaranteeing himself a half point even if his flag dropped, I could relax a little (we weren't going to lose on my watch at least!).  At which point, Patrick resigned, giving Enyi a nicely worked win on board 3 and also handing us the 2 points.
 
145mins in... all eyes on Ken's game, where he still had positional dominance. Dave spent just a little too long trying to work out a way to break the central stranglehold Ken had held for most of the game, his flag fell, and Ken brought home the point.
 
So we won the match, with the entire team unbeaten so everyone contributed to the score.  Thanks for the effort lads - a good victory against stubborn opposition which keeps us vying for that top of the table position.  From a personal perspective, it was good fun being team captain for the night, I enjoyed the experience and look forward to reprising the role if Andy ever has to 'babysit' again in future.  Now it's off to Stannington on Monday night, for another 'must win' encounter.  4.5 - 1.5 AET.

Andrew H

Monday 19th January

SASCA A (A)

Captain's Corner

It was very much a game of 2 halves against SASCA on Monday in a nip & tuck battle with the top half of the team emerging victorious and the bottom half not faring so well!  We were under strength for this match with Stuart, Graham & Enyi all unavailable to play.  This meant a welcome back to Oliver (part of the 'invincibles' C Team squad from a few years back!) on board 6 with Andrew and Phil experiencing the heady heights of boards 3 & 4 respectively.

I had planned on choosing black on odds if I won the toss but I didn't and so the decision was taken away from me!  This meant that Oliver had white for his B-team debut against rising star Miles Edwards-Wright who recently swept the board with a clean 6/6 in the U12 section of our Sheffield Junior Chess Tournament. (Paul - link here?!) After a promising start, Oliver's king-side attack faltered and, by over-pressing, he allowed his opponent to win a piece and launch a devastating counter to win the point.  Andrew, meanwhile had trapped a rook for bishop in the opening and was busy expanding on the king-side as his opponent struggled to find any meaningful counterplay against his uncastled king.  It was only a matter of time before he crashed through to level the scores at 1-1.

Bill struggled to find activity for his minor pieces as black and was forced into a retreat by his higher-graded opponent who made his positional advantage tell to restore SASCA's lead.  It didn't last long, however, as I was able to launch a swift king-side counter-attack from a position where I stood worse and was under some pressure in the centre. As my opponent grabbed my weak c-pawn I switched my focus and used threats against his king to engineer a passed d-pawn which soon forced his resignation.

Phil's battle with another emerging talent, Louis Brijmohun, seemed in the balance as he played a very sensible containing game as white.  The resulting king & pawn ending favoured black, however, and Louis was able to push home his advantage to put SASCA's noses in front again.  All remaining pressure on Ken, then, although he had made the most of a relatively rare outing as white and was 2 pawns up and looking good.  He duly pressed home his advantage with the minimum of fuss to confirm the 3-3 draw.

On balance I was pretty happy with the draw even though SASCA weren't as strong as they could've been on the night.  Next up we continue our travels with a trip to Barnsley.

Andy

Wednesday 7th January

Clay Cross A (H)

Captain's Corner

Happy New Year to everyone.  The B team's luck finally ran out on Wednesday at home to Clay Cross.  With 3 teams playing and Phil unavailable, Graham turned out for us for the first time this season and it was a good job that he did as his tidy win on board 5 was our only full point in a 4-2 defeat.
 
My opponent on board 1 lulled me into a false sense of security by arriving a full 35(!) minutes late.  I soon went wrong in the opening and was quite glad that, a full pawn up but with only 10 minutes left to play 13 moves, he chose to repeat the position and I was happy to agree to the draw.  Stuart drew soon after, frustrated by his opponent's lack of ambition when also a pawn up but, admittedly, in an inferior position.
 
Bill not only kindly turned out despite having a lot on his plate at the moment but brought his own equipment to ease the burden on our creaking resources.  Unfortunately he blundered when in a decent position, losing a bishop and leaving him with a horrible game which eventually resulted in his first loss this season.  Enyi also eventually succumbed in a game where he fought back strongly after losing a pawn to tactics in the opening to have chances in the ending before being outplayed on the kingside where his opponent managed to generate 2 passed pawns.
 
This left us 2 behind with 2 to finish and so Graham, who might have been tempted to settle for parity in a game where he was a pawn down with an exposed king, decided to play aggressively in an active position.  The ploy paid off handsomely as his opponent elected to allow him a strong passed pawn rather than give the pawn back and Graham subsequently overwhelmed him in a nice game - no signs of rustiness there, I'm pleased to see!  Any chances of securing a draw in the match seemed remote, however, as Ken's opponent held 2 active knights to his rook.  Ken struggled manfully to find an advantage but his opponent defended very actively. Running very low on time, Ken was unable to generate enough chances and was forced to resign.
 
So our first defeat since the opening match and a disappointing result.  As Kieran commented, there aren't many Nomads players who can claim to be truly playing well at the moment and, unfortunately, the B team is no exception!  We will need to pull our socks up for a tough away match at SASCA A later this month.

Andy 

Wednesday 17th December

Phoenix B (H)

Captain's Corner

Like mountaineers the B team continued our slightly treacherous ascent towards the summit of our division with a narrow 3½-2½ win over Phoenix B at the Harlequin on Wednesday night.  Bill, who has been magnificent for us so far this season, was suffering with a heavy cold but bravely turned out anyway.  He proved to be a little under the weather both on and off the board in a ding-dong battle, losing a pawn early on but winning a piece back only to miscalculate and have to settle for a draw.

By this stage our steely resolve on the middle boards was already beginning to show as, in turn, Stuart and Phil both built up strong positions with definite edges and the promise of full points and Andrew had established strong chances in a combative position.  Ken was the first to succumb as black in a quiet game where he looked to be level as black but was out-manoeuvred by his opponent who swapped into a won ending.  Ken felt afterwards that he had been slightly worse all game and never found a satisfactory plan of attack.  Meanwhile Phil's raking bishops had lent potency to a devastating king-side attack and Andrew had counter-punched nicely against Phil Beckett, side-stepping his attack to pick up queen-side wood and overwhelm him along the 7th rank.

So, at 2½-1½ things were looking promising, but not on board 1!  I continued my disturbing losing streak for Nomads with an abject defence against speed-demon Mo Aryan's slightly wonky Accelerated Dragon, allowing my bishop to be trapped on h1 by a marauding pawn which had invaded f3 when a tactical oversight meant that I was unable to pick it up before the e-pawn rolled in to support it on e4. Game over, 2½ each.  This left Stuart to provide us with a grandstand finish with a massive position but, characteristically, very little time to finish the job.  His, and our, ultimate triumph was achieved with a good couple of minutes to spare on the clock as 2 connected pawns marched to the 7th rank and laughed in the face of some desperate defending.

So, a good first straight for the B Team and the promise of outright leadership of the table if we can beat Clay Cross in early January.  With some tricky away ties still to come in the depths of winter, however, there is still a very long way to go.  Merry Christmas one and all.

Andy

Wednesday 3rd December

Nomads C (H)

Captain's Corner

After a mixed start to the season the B Team finally hit their straps on Wednesday and the timing couldn't have been better as we faced the revenge, sorry, return encounter with our upstart C Team who had beaten us on the opening day of the season.  However, missing the 3Ms™ they were never going to be the force that they had been on that fateful opening day.  That said, as we have been deprived of the services of Haidar due to an unfortunate administrative blunder(!) and Enyi was unavailable for this match, the result was still exceedingly pleasing.

Early candidate for B Team player of the season, Bill, wasted little time in achieving a decent advantage against Eric on board 6, winning one of his pawns and shattering the structure of those that remained leaving him a fairly straightforward task in a rook & bishop v rook & knight ending.  Elsewhere some interesting battles were unfolding, but we always felt like we had our noses in front.  Stuart played with gay abandon on board 3, sacrificing a pawn and then exchanging queens, always confident that his spatial advantage would be enough to restrict Simon's chances.  His confidence proved to be well-founded as he firstly pushed his opponents pieces backwards and then mopped up queen-side material to ride off with the full point.

I was quite nervous about playing Ian, particularly as his form has been so good this season, but, after missing a chance to equalise with the Accelerated Dragon in the Sicilian he overplayed his hand on the queen-side leaving his major pieces horribly off-side and open to a neat tactic in the centre that left him completely lost. I even had the luxury of delivering mate with a knight as he tried to complicate matters.  3-0.  New recruit Andrew more than justified his selection with a smooth win against Phil Pickering, correctly exchanging down into a rook and pawn ending as white where two enormous connected central passed pawns were the difference.

A tense struggle had ensued on board 2 where Ken had played very correctly to secure a pawn advantage as black against a strangely orthodox Kev (he castled and everything!) only for a well-judged central thrust to win the pawn back.  Unfortunately for Kev he then failed to notice/remember that knights move backwards as well as forwards leaving his own en-prise to one of Ken's - cue an exclamation of "Oh, what am I doing?!"!  As everyone knows he plays far better when material down, however, and posed his opponent quite a few more tricky questions before Ken was able to press home is advantage, trapping Kev's king on the back rank with a passed pawn and delivering mate with his rogue knight - possibly the first and probably the last time that check-mate with a knight has ended games on both boards 1 & 2!

This left Paul battling his early-season nemesis, our very own Phil Ford, to avert a white-wash.  After Phil appeared to have early dominance on the queen-side Paul hit back, exchanging and opening up the centre at the correct moment, and an opposite-coloured bishop ending left a draw the inevitable outcome.  5.5-0.5 will look good in the record books for at least one on our league 2 teams come the end of the season and puts us in contention for top spot in what promises to be a pretty tight division.

Andy

Wednesday 22nd October

Barnsley B (H)

Captain's Corner

For a long time it looked like we might remember remember the 5th of November for all of the wrong reasons as Barnsley threatened to rain on our bonfire for a lengthy period of this match.  Having lost Stuart shortly before the start we were down to the bare bones of our squad but, fortunately, obduracy triumphed in the end.
 
Phil was the first to win when his opponent's king-side attack turned out to be merely angel dust as he had neglected to castle, or develop his queen's bishop, for that matter and fell foul to a raiding white knight.  As ever, Phil shows the way, plotting the route to victory as the Guy Fawkes a rook leaving his opponent with a hopeless game.  As I said to him at the time, it looked like possibly being our only full point of the night as, one by one, we squandered promising positions and found ourselves looking down the barrel.
 
Haidar had moved smoothly into gear and had his opponent's king on the run before needlessly sacrificing a whole rook for an attack that already had great winning prospects and was struggling to make sense of his game.  Enyi had a nice position against his opponent's Petroff's Defence but, not for the first time this season, was finding it hard to press home any advantage with white and forced exchanges and a tricky looking endgame were looming.
 
I had contrived to throw away an advantage with black, declining the second pawn against my opponent's transposed Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and consolidating, only to overlook a tactical cheapo and find myself a pawn down with a shattered pawn structure.  Finally, Bill's lovely solid position out of the opening, where he held the bishop pair v knights in a semi-open game, had deteriorated as he missed a tactic and found himself desperately defending his uncastled king from a white onslaught.  Only Ken held firm, again choosing not to castle but nestling his king behind a shield of central pawns and probing on the king-side while his opponent attempted to open up the opposite side of the board.
 
Then, fireworks!  The dry gunpowder keg that was Ken's king-side attack exploded into life and he blew open his opponent's defences to seal the point.  2-0.  Looking for an active defence, I found a sparkler and managed to put a rocket up my opponent, causing him to miscalculate as material was exchanged.  Despite dropping a second pawn I activated my remaining pieces, and picked off his weak pawns in reply and was more than happy to accept a draw in a level opposite-colour bishop ending once he realised that his passed pawns were going nowhere fast.  Haidar was playing it cool in the face of his own pyrotechnics and ensured that roman candles kept going off around his opponents king.  This coolness paid off as a bishop was shipped and a draw agreed soon after.
 
Enyi appeared to have achieved a drawn rook and pawn ending and, as his game ended, I assumed he had agreed a draw.  But no!  Apparently he lost (I'm still not sure how) although I suspect foul play as his opponent, Vlad the Impaler, must have realised what was at stake and called upon dark forces to overwhelm his hapless adversary.  I'm pretty sure I saw a black cat run out from under his table at the end of the game.  This left Bill needing to secure a draw for victory but, with the minute hand of his clock spinning round like a Catherine wheel, it looked far from certain.  It was his opponent who imploded, however, showering pawns on him like a fountain and leaving Bill with a won ending that he polished off in his remaining few minutes to keep up his excellent start to the season.
 
So, a 4-2 win.  All in all, not a spectacular display but not the damp squib that it might have been.

Andy

Wednesday 22nd October

SASCA A (H)

Captain's Corner

A much-weakened SASCA A side arrived at The Harlequin for our match on Wednesday evening. John Fryer told me after the match that 4 of their top 5 players were missing! However, as some of us found out to our cost, under-graded young guns are not to be underestimated and it was with some relief that we finally emerged as 4-2 winners.

Despite being, on paper at least, the most even match-up, Bill was the first to finish, continuing his already great form this season and rolling back the years with another vintage display. As black he seriously weakened his opponent's castled king-side and, after picking up a couple of loose pawns, showed no mercy as his major pieces converged on the vulnerable king to complete a quick victory.

Ken, similarly, had little difficulty with white, building up a huge positional advantage and then preying on his opponent's weakened queen-side to seal the win. He was impressed with his inexperienced opponent's play, however, and said that one slight mistake had cost him the game.

Enyi appeared to lose a pawn in the opening but seemed to have secured a spatial advantage with white. He was unable to convert this into any clear pressure, however, and when his opponent forced the issue by exchanging into a rook and pawn ending he was forced to resign as his inferior pawn structure held no hope against a phalanx of advancing pawns.

By this stage I had managed to blunt my opponent's choice of 4. Qxd4 against my 2. ... d6 Sicilian set-up and gain substantail control over the centre of the board. By missing a couple of slightly better continuations Evie allowed me to open the game up to my advantage, advancing a pawn into the heart of her position and picking up a stray knight in the process. She resigned soon after to give us an unassailable 3-1 lead and needing just half a point to secure victory.

However, also losing out in an endgame was Stuart, whose opponent has only been playing chess for 2 years but is already making waves in the junior ranks. Stuart, with black, told me that he was comprehensively outplayed in the middle game was unable to find adequate counterplay leaving Louis to consolidate his advantage before running his extra pawns to win a bishop v knight ending. 3-2.

This left the pressure on Haidar who, having arrived late after a mix-up with his captain(!), found himself with under 5 minutes on his clock to play a tricky level late middle game as white against wily campaigner John Fryer. John, however, was a little too eager to press home his time advantage and blundered by playing too quickly, leaving himself open to a fork which Haidar gleefully spotted, snapping up rook and the game and sealing the victory.

All in all it was a match that left the new captain with a few more grey hairs and demonstrated that we need to shake off a little more of our rustiness if we are to be competitive this season. Well done to SASCA for giving us such a tough match with such depleted resources

Andy

Wednesday 1st October

Nomads C (A)

Opposition Captain's Corner

With Mohammad, Masrura, and Mursal on board calling ourselves the C Team is perhaps stretching a point. Anyway...

The evening didn't start well with no light or heat. The collective brains set to work on the problem and after 15 minutes we realised that if we reset the fuse and then actually turned the lights on, that might work. Emboldened by this insight we tried it and it worked, so we could get started.

Phil was so in awe of my prowess with the Dragon that he played 4. Qxd4 to get me out of my book early doors. Running it past Fritz and various other databases it turns out that we played theory at a fairly exalted level till move 14, when I played the TN 14 ... a5. Phil (Branko Kutuzovic) had been rushing things and so was playing at an IM's mere 2425, whilst I (Igor Stohl) had taken my time and was operating at the level of a 2565 GM. Regrettably these exertions had left me with about 20s for my last 10 moves and I lost on time with 3 moves still to make - inexcusable as captain in a competitive team game really.

After a fine win at the weekend Ian was on form. Last year we'd looked at the Caro-Kann as a means of attempting to bore Aref into submission in the Sheffield Championship. In the process we'd come across a plausible trap in the Fantasy variation. Ian had already beaten Ken once in a Blitz tournament at The Abbey and when Ken repeated the mistake 5 ... exd4? Ian felt confident he could convert and eventually he did. There are a couple of games Gallagher v Lee and Teichmann v Mieses illustrating what can go wrong in this line.

Kev and Stuart both like to mix things up and I thought this would be an interesting game. It wasn't long before Kev's king was marching up the centre of the board. A big advantage in time coupled with a small advantage on the board added up to a good win. As I saw it Masrura had the advantage over Enyi most of the evening but as pieces and pawns were exchanged a draw was about right with little time left. Time was not a problem at all for Uday who beat Mursal in what looked like a complicated game in around 45 moves with three quarters of an hour still left on his clock(!) Impressive.

2½-2½ with Mohammad against Haidar. We'd been looking forward to this game and it didn't disappoint. Haidar dropped a pawn but recovered it with a dangerous tactic. Mohammad fought back and with pieces raking all over an open board it was impossible to figure out what was happening. Haidar thinks he overlooked a winning fork but Mohammad had a dangerous counter with a pawn on f7. Mohammad pushed forward and with a minute left on his clock Haidar left himself open to a fork, dropped a Bishop and resigned. 3½-2½.

Well played and a great start to the season against the team who finished runners-up last year.

Paul Bailey

07/08 matches are in the archives