Wednesday 29th April

Ecclesall B (H)

Captain's Corner

We needed a draw to be sure of staying in Division 2. Ecclesall B were already relegated and needed players for A and C team fixtures so we were 2-0 up before we started. There was some pointless antagonistic fuss involving Masrura's opponent on Board 2 complaining repeatedly about the orientation of the pieces but eventually we got underway.

Ian was a pawn up from very early on and the game seemed to move quickly from there as his opponent resigned early in the evening but late in the ending. Very little drama but a 3-0 meant we were safe in the division for another season.

Possibly distracted by Board 2 Mursal worked a good position but must have miscalculated or badly overpressed because he was a rook down from early on and despite his best efforts Joe played calmly and sensibly to win the game. Masrura comfortably outplayed her opponent and Kev set up a nice pin and a knight fork of king and queen. 5-1 and we've earned ourselves another season in Division 2. A couple of wins when we really needed them. Thanks to everyone who contributed in any way throughout the season.

Paul B

Wednesday 22nd April

Barnsley B (H)

Captain's Corner

A high stakes evening started with a stressed out captain flustering unprofessionally about whether Mohammad was registered for the A Team or not. Panic-stricken phone calls to Jeremy and Kieran confirmed that he wasn't, which we knew all along, and we could get on with the match.

With MMM playing and the addition of Mizanur this was a very strong team, possibly even stronger than the bunch on the other side of the room* who were beating Stannington A and heading to the top of the division.

Mohammad's opponent attacked boldly but overstretched and was caught in a very powerful crossfire in the centre of the board. Mizanur played the Advance variation against the French which is meant to be boring but it seemed to me he rounded up all his opponents pieces on to the queenside before separating off the king and surrounding it on the kingside. Ruthless. It looked as though Mursal's f6 knight was awkwardly pinned to his queen but he played aggressively in the centre to break the pin and built up a massive attack against f2 with rooks doubled on the second rank plus queen and bishop all bearing down on the position. Masrura seemed to have a very offside rook on the queenside but again she increased the pressure till she broke through the offside rook playing its part in a decisive pin along the seventh. Ian faced a Stonewall set up and calmly allowed a sacrificial attack claiming he had it all covered. The first attack was repelled but more material was invested by his opponent and with heavy pieces and a pawn deep into an open kingside Ian had to find some accurate moves to defuse the attack and win with his extra material. Kev seemed to be cooking up a storm but it was his opponent who won the material and continued to attack till Kev lost a rook to bishop fork and there really was no way back. 5-1. One point from the last game against Ecclesall and we survive.

*Who we had so magnificently and decisively despatched in the first game of the season

Paul

Aughton A (H)

Captain's Corner

Simon never looked happy and ended up with a rook pinned against his king. Nasty. The moves were coming thick and fast on my board. Not a great game but I played on and won(!) a totally drawn, opposite coloured bishop position as it looked like we'd need the point. Kev's game looked very tactical, he seemed to be on the backfoot but countered, emerged a bishop up, and cleared up after that. Mursal's game looked symmetrical and finished early. Ian was a couple of passed pawns down early on with no compensation after a misadventure, he played on and, as usual, made his opponent work for the full point. Last to finish was new recruit Mizanur. Pete offered a couple of draws, which would have given us a point in the match, but Mizanur played on, inadvertently pinned his bishop, his opponent got a second queen, which he then lost(!) in a touch move oversight, but Mizanur's flag had fallen, and actually it looked like his opponent wouldn't have needed the extra queen after all. 2½-3½. I must say I thought we had a strong team and was hoping we'd get something from the match tonight, so well played Aughton. Two matches to go against two Relegation Rivals.

Paul B

Thursday 19th March

Barnsley B (A)

Captain's Corner

Eric worked a nice position but then hung a piece. Simon went astray in some blitz tactics. My opponent lost a piece on move 10 but managed to turn my extra bishop into a big pawn and I was fortunate to win in the end. Kev won material with a discovered attack and Ian played a Fantasy variation against a Caro Kann, trapped his opponent's king in the centre and subjected it to sustained assault. Unbeaten in two matches. We're obviously coming into form when in matters.

Paul B

Wednesday 25th February

SASCA A (H)

Captain's Corner

Squeaky bum time. The plan was to redeploy the big guns in an all out assault on mid-table obscurity. But Wednesday night football meant Mursal pulled out so Many Thanks to Phil S for being a last minute replacement.

I didn't see much of Masrura's game but it looked like a smooth positional performance. Ian had an overwhelming positional advantage in almost all areas of the board from very early and was a couple of pawns to the good on but somehow managed to make the game last all night. For the third match in the row Kev was trapped behind a wall of pawns, this time there was no way out. I faced the Budapest Gambit for the second consecutive match. I was under pressure most of the game but then my opponent blundered a clear exchange at the time control. Simon tried his hand at a tactical (mis)adventure which lost a rook. Oops. Phil looked to be on top but a long way behind on time in a very complicated tactical position*. He seemed to overlook a backwards knight move causing all the advantage to disappear and resigned soon after in disappointment at the game. 3-3. A great result, and a useful point, against strong opposition.

*It has been said the position wasn't the only part of this game that wasn't quiet.

Paul B

Wednesday 4th February

Clay Cross A (A)

Captain's Corner

Ian got a bishop trapped for a pawn, fought back but two pawns down in a knight ending was losing. Kev's was totally tied up, worked a bit of breathing space, was forced back again, into zugzwang and decided to resign rather than choose which of his opponent's pawns to queen. My opponent used a lot of time on routine moves, I started to play on this ('the clock is a piece' wise words), took the chance to mess up his kingside pawns going into an ending, he fought back and it looked like he'd won a pawn, I turned down a couple of draw offers when nominally behind, but an active rook meant I was able to quickly regain material and pose enough problems to win comfortably on time. Simon faced an Orang-Utan which he'd seen before, wasn't put off and easily made a draw. Phil dropped a piece in the middlegame, played on for a long time but wasn't able to rescue the lost cause. Eric had a significant time advantage but the position looked level and difficult to stir up trouble. 2-4. We could do with a win to bounce us up the table.

Paul B

Wednesday 4th February

Phoenix B (H)

Captain's Corner

Masrura got far behind on the clock which told in the end. Ian overpressed and was picked off. I got tied up behind a Four Pawns Attack, picked up a bit of material for my queen, posed a few problems till we were both very short of time, and lost in a poor position after a fairly strict interpretation of touch-move. Simon says: Playing white against a Sicilian defence, I sacked a pawn in the opening, then a knight for 2 pawns, then a bishop for a rook, for an attack which looked promising, then equalised into a drawn end game and Phil: did the same as last week, got in time trouble in a good position, went on to scrape a draw. 1½-4½.

Paul B

Wednesday 21st January

Ecclesall B (A)

Captain's Corner

Ian got into a decent position against Ken but exchanges nullified any advantage. Kev entered an ending a pawn down and it got worse from there. I had a poor position up to the time control when I won a piece for a pawn but then managed to find the only move that lost. Simon got a straightforward draw with another Albin pawn on d4. Eric was on the back foot, began to break free, but fell victim to a powerful tactic. 5-1. It has to be said it was a bit of a hammering, which is strange because it didn't feel like we'd been that badly outplayed.

Paul B

Wednesday 14th January

Aughton A (A)

Captain's Corner

It looked like no MM&M again for a game we could do with winning. Then...Wednesday afternoon Mohammad phoned to say he fancied a game so we had seven players. I nobly withdrew for the greater cause. I met up with Simon and we went to pick up Ian who, it turned out, was suffering from a bad headache probably brought on by having to figure out too many combinations, so we had six players. I didn't fancy playing so I thought we could ask Mursal while we were picking up Mohammad, maybe we'd have seven. But Mursal had some coursework to finish by Friday, and, try as we might, we couldn't talk him into sacrificing his education so, no, we had six players. But...Masrura hadn't played for a while, and she fancied a game, so we had seven.

The actual chess didn't start well. Eric's kingside was taken apart by an early sac on f7. 0-1. On 5 it was the reverse. Phil was helped out by an attacking Bishop working backwards and covering a desperado Queen chasing after a perpetual. 1-1. Some nice tactics against an uncastled king(!) and Kev won a pawn early on. He looked after it all night till the pressure told and he promoted. Masrura was material down but with enormous pressure against the back rank. After resisting several queen sacs her opponent lost concentration for a moment, touched Masrura's queen, and generously resigned as capture would have been mate in 1. Mohammad's was a very aggressive complicated game but he never had quite enough. This left Simon, who shoved an Albin Counter Gambit pawn into d4 and played around it all night. Simon won the race for promotion but his opponent arrived one move later. Simon gradually forced the king to line up with the new queen, exchanged off, and had a clear run with a spare pawn. Nicely played. 4½-1½. A useful win.

Wednesday 7th January

Stannington A (H)

Captain's Corner

Stannington A had beaten us earlier in the season and knocked the II team out of the cup so without MM&M this was going to be difficult. Kev seemed to be in trouble almost from the start and this time didn't recover. Simon had pieces lined up against his opponent's king but the attack must have petered out over the evening. Ian C won the exchange and converted nicely. Phil was equal right till the end but then blundered. Ian B has been sacrificing/blundering pieces unsuccessfully for a season or two now (allegedly as part of a grand, visionary, strategic evolution of style) so, by the law of averages, it had to work some time, but it has to be said his win on Board 1 was a very impressive game. 2-3 and I was last to finish. I'd left several pieces unprotected and/or offside for the sake of winning a centre pawn. I more than half expected to be crushed but somehow managed to hang on and exchange to relieve some of the pressure, then. the move after I broke out, my opponent won a pawn with a nice tactic. My response ate into the little time I had left but 2-3 down I had to play on. When it became clear I was going to queen my a pawn my opponent resigned, although he had a 3 or 4 minutes to my 20s and maybe could have played on (mirroring the situation with Simon in the away leg earlier in the season). 3-3, and a welcome point.

Paul

Wednesday 3rd December

Nomads B (A)

Captain's Corner

We'd beaten the B Team at our ground earlier in the season but an away match was always going to be tougher...

A wave of the hand, a puff of smoke, and the point magically disappeared from Board 6. On 5 Phil P was steamrollered by two central connected passed pawns. Not pretty. On 4 my game with Phil featured opposite coloured bishops, a symmetrical pawn structure, and three draw offers. On 3 Simon was a pawn up for not very much out of the opening but Stuart's pieces sprung to life in the late middle game and took over. On 2 I thought Kev's involuntary exclamation of 'Oh...What am I doing?' was probably a bad sign. It was. And on Board 1 Ian got ideas above his station, thought he was being clever when in fact he was losing a piece, followed this up by getting his queen trapped, and only managed to escape this ignominy by being mated. ½-5½.

Paul B

Monday 24th November

SASCA A (A)

Captain's Corner

Mursal came straight from training at the Sheffield United Academy and hadn't had any tea so he took a very early draw in a French. Once my game settled down I stood up for a look around and saw mayhem everywhere. Masrura's K and Q were in the middle of a knight fork, Ian was about to win a queen on top of much else, and Kev was totally tied down by mate and material threats against Evie. Only Simon's game bore any resemblance to normal chess. I sat back down, chastened by the experience, and came up with a cunning plan to win a pawn. Fortunately once my plan swung into operation I realised it could actually win a rook. Boards 2-5 panned out as expected, leaving all eyes on Simon with Q,R+4 v very active Q,B+5 or 6. His opponent handled the position very well and mated just before the final time control. 2½-3½.

Paul B

Monday 6th October

Clay Cross A (H)

Captain's Corner

"I'm living on a one way dead end street. I don't know how I ever got here." Steven Wright.

Having a venue in the centre of an impenetrable road system, hidden from Satnav has its benefits as your opponents sometimes arrive several crucial minutes late. Eric finished early and took time to survey the proceedings. Phil was a piece down for a lot of the evening till his opponent blundered his queen late in the game. Oops. Simon faced 1 b4, gained space on the queenside, and won on time a bishop and pawn to the good. Kev moved quickly and was around half an hour to the good at the first time control, forcing a series of mistakes from his opponent. I took a draw in a good position as we were 2 up by then. Ian was down to opposite coloured bishops pretty quickly, he had to step carefully against some advanced pawns but he coverd the important squares and a draw was the right result. 5-1. A good night's work.

Paul B

Monday 6th October

Phoenix B (A)

Captain's Corner

We were missing Mohammad, Masrura, and Mursal, and Phoenix are a strong club so it was going to be a challenge. First things first Many Thanks to Phil and Ian C for turning out at short notice for their second game in two days. Tonight on 5 and 6 they were 'gaining valuable experience' against two solid league players. On 4 Simon used a  pin and an open f file to pick up a piece and won, for the first time in over a year(!), in about 15 or 20 moves. Simon is now 2/2 against Phil Beckett. On 3 Kev miscalculated a sac, got less compensation than he'd banked on, and this time his opponent didn't lose track. On 2 I had a great position but overlooked a defensive resource and took too much time adjusting to the new game which told right at the end. The main story of the evening has to be Ian on Board 1. After several years campaigning for/droning on about games against high graded players, he finally got his chance against a 146. A handful of moves in and superficially it wasn't looking great - Ian's knight had been chased around and had ended up on a peculiar post, but White's pawn structure and development weren't looking healthy. White did pick up a couple of pawns but still all was not lost. Ian restrained, consolidated, counterattacked, picked off 1, 2, 3, 4, pawns to go level, and then move ahead into a clearly won ending. A very well played game.

Paul B

Monday 6th October

Stannington A (A)

Captain's Corner

Looking at the grading list we had to fancy our chances going into this game. Mursal seemed to have a better position but was behind on time and agreed a draw. ½-½. The equilibrium was never really disturbed right into the ending in Masrura's game. 1-1. My game finished early, mainly because my opponent played at a move a minute. I missed a chance to sac a rook in the ending, taking the safe option with not enough time to calculate and double check the variations, and drew after repeating. 1½-1½. I finished just in time to see Ian walk into a really simple mate in 2, but he claims he was lost anyway. Mohammad seemed to be under pressure, but he came out fighting, pushed Black back and we thought forced a draw, till a Stannington player pointed out that Black could have allowed sacced his Queen whilst simultaneoulsy allowing check(!) and then recovered everything and more with a windmill recapture. 2-3 with everything hingeing on Simon's game. He was R+(a very active)Q against R+R+N down. With about 7 or 8 minutes to his opponent's 2 or 3. White probably thought he was on top but Simon used the rooks well for a surprise capture of a pawn, White zigzagged across the board using forks to pick up a Kingside pawn. As the passed pawn marched on all seemed lost but Simon rallied and defended his back rank very resourcefully, so that even a queen sac couldn't break through. White offered a draw and a relieved Simon snatched his hand off. Mursal thought he should have ruthlessly pressed home his ~30s to ~5s advantage for a win but Simon's far too nice for that sort of thing. Well played to Stannington, we didn't really get a look in all night.

Paul B

Wednesday 1st October

Nomads B (H)

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