Match Reports 23-24

Eastbourne 4   0 - 4 Uckfield

You may have noticed there haven't been many of these recently, and to be fair our form has been a bit poor, but our last match of the season was a return to winning ways.  Mark was first to finish (very quickly) in a game I thought I was hanging on by a thread.  My opponent didnt adjust properly to some counterplay and missed that in order to not give up a piece he would get mated.  Brian had perhaps the smoothest win of the evening, never in trouble, applying some pressure and then winning in the endgame with his 2 bishops against 2 knights.  Oliver had a real rollercoaster, missing a fork on the queen then having to withstand a fierce attack.  His opponent then allowed  another fork of rook and queen and resigned,  There were still chances for the attack, so this might have been out of frustration, but still, a good win, Oliver holding his nerve to come through.  Michael on Board 1 won an interesting game and although I didnt see much of it, appeared pretty equal until he managed to get 2 rooks on the 7th rank.  A slight slip made the win harder but he won the endgame with some extra pawns.  So a good end to what has been a mixed season.

Thankyou to everyone who played.

Uckfield 3 1/2 - 1/2 Haywards Heath 2

A good night for the team with Arran last to finish in a tough encounter, eventually his queen was too much for his opponents rook.  Brian looked to be cruising but it did get a bit more difficult, he ran out the winner.  Oliver won again, it looked like a French where he gradually picked up material.  I (Mark) was on Board 2 and learned a few things, 1. don't play a stupid opening, 2. learn not to be ridiculously optimistic about your own position and 3. set the clocks correctly.  Lucky to escape with a draw in the end.

Bexhill 3  4 - 0 Uckfield

You win some, you lose some..and we lost this one.  Arran had chances to simplify into a slightly better endgame but went for the complications which didnt quite work out.  HIs opponent found some good moves and won in the end.  Michael took a poisoned pawn in the opening before exchanging off a vulnerable bishop and never got back into the game.  Brian was a piece and a pawn up but it was a closed position.  After a few twists and turns he missed a discovered attack on a rook and lost.  Oliver was into an endgame very quickly and with his king trapped on the back rank had the worst of it.

Uckfield 4 - 0 Eastbourne 5

This was an interesting set of games, even if in the end it was 4-0 to us.  I hope to get a few notes from the other players to put here..but briefly'  

Arran faced a London System as black and having no patience with it advanced his h pawn to cause trouble.  Well, it worked and after some sharp tactics which Arran read better than his opponent Arran's was the first game to finish.  

Mark faced a Modern Defence.  I used to play this myself but got rolled over once too often, so went for a large centre with pawns on d4, e4 and f4 hoping to do the rolling.  One often gets to use this space advantage and if Black does not counter attack can get crushed.  Although managing to give up most of the advantage, eventually my opponent slipped up and I was a whole rook up, so won.  

Brian again had the longest game, keeping us all up beyond 10pm.  He was a couple of pawns up but managed to get his king into some trouble...and when he'd got out of that dropped a knight.  So it became a race between Brian's King and pawns and his opponents knight...which Brian counted out properly and won.  

Oliver also won, he got an advanced protected passed pawn and used that to constrict his opponents movement, eventually promoting it.  So, on the face of it a convincing win, but none of the games were straightforward.

Collyers 6th Form College 1 - 3 Uckfield

Our first match was away to Collyers and it has been some time since we last played competitively over the board.

Michael Stockham on Board 1 faced a King's Indian Defence.  Black always gets an attack on the King's side in this, but it is considered a bit risky.  Michael defended the attack very well and then started to invade on the queen's side.  His opponent sacrificed a piece and after quite a long think Michael took it and his opponent, realising it wasn't working, resigned a few moves later.  Excellent win.

Mark Attree on board 2 was black against an English opening which looked pretty close, though white had a very poor bishop trapped in the corner.  After some double edged pawn pushes Mark was breaking through and his opponent resigned.  I thought it was a bit early at the time, but in fact according to Stockfish it was a winning position.  This was the first game to finish.

Although I didn't see much of Brian Stockham's game on Board 3 it was a tricky one in which Brian gradually collected some pawns.  His opponent tried to invade on the black squares but Brian swapped off the queens at the expense of one pawn leaving an opposite colour bishop ending.  These can be tricky to win but Brian had correctly judged that he had plenty of pawns remaining to win, which he did.

Ian Archbold on 4 had a rollercoaster of a game that could have gone either way.  At one point Ian had R,B and 4 pawns against R,N and 1 pawn but that pawn was about to promote and Ian needed to keep his bishop in order to give it up for that pawn when it promoted.  Unfortunately he mixed up his move order, lost the bishop and thereby the game.

A very good result overall and one from which we can all take something positive.  Onwards and upwards.