Match Report: Cowley 1 v Oxford City 1 - 15th April 2013

Post date: 16-Apr-2013 19:33:55

This was another tight match against local rivals Oxford City. Ray and ex-Cowleyite Jason McKenna contested a Sicilian Dragon. It eventually boiled down to a draw after the major pieces were swapped off, although both players had to exercise caution. Will transposed Philip Haywood's Alekhine's defence to his favourite Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and soon had all his pieces hovering around black's castled King. Philip defended with great accuracy and finally Will's sacrificed pawns (or lack of them) proved to be the major factor. Rod defended an interesting Ruy Lopez against Matt Brown but slid into an inferior position. Geoff defended a Dutch against Leif Dixon. Leif sacrificed a piece to force Geoff's King out into the opening, but again heroic defending won the full point. My games against John Yates have always been French defences, but this time, John surprised me with a Pirc. My queen tried to create some pressure on the king-side, but very nearly got trapped. In the end I managed to reposition my minor pieces, and my queen broke through.

So, it was 2.5-2.5 and everyone gathered round to see the final match between Paul and Sean Terry. Paul played the English with a very early and provocative a3. This invited Sean to surge forward in the centre and then force out the king and win material. Near the end, there seemed to be little hope for Paul, or Cowley as he was a

rook and a pawn down. This was when Sean played his king and rook to opposites ends of a long diagonal, and lost the latter to a bishop fork. Confusion and much amusement abounded when Sean offered his hand in resignation and Paul accepted it thinking it was a draw offer! This was amicably sorted out as a draw for both the game and the match.

The full scorecard can be found here