Metropolitan National Club Team

In the fifth and final round of the BFC National Chess Club Major Championship 2003/04 Metropolitan lost 1 - 4 to a very useful Wanstead & Woodford team.

With our opponents playing the maximum allowed grade of 199 on first board, Nick at 29 points lower was always going to have a tough game. As grading strengths were balanced on 2 and 5, it might have appeared that our best chances for wins would be on 3 and 4 where we held grading advantages of 13 and 11 points, respectively. By now do I need to mention that Metropolitan lost the toss for the fifth time in succession (a 1 - 32 probability) to give us white on 2 and 4? Actually, quite favourable for us given the grading distributions.

A whirlwind start on board 4 seemed to indicate that Kathy had walked into a prepared variation. By the time Nick arrived some twelve minutes after the start (delayed by having to endure two bus replacement services on the tube network) Kathy was well into a very sharp and complicated middle game. Within the hour almost simultaneous draw offers were made by our opponents on boards 2 and 5. The other three games were not clearly advantageous to either side, although the position on 4 was such that a result, either way, was to be expected. In fact on both 2 and 5 we were looking better, so we decided to continue playing on.

At a later stage, when Kathy (4) had to resign, these decisions seemed well made ; Ian (2) had won a pawn and I (5) had an extra pawn resulting in two connected passed pawns. Zafer (3) was somewhat better and Nick was holding his own.

In the ensuing ending of rook plus knight and pawns my two connected passed pawns gave a winning position. Ian's queen ending, with two king - side pawns each and his passed b pawn advancing up the board, gave winning chances. Zafer had the better of things in a rook and pawn ending while Nick was perhaps a shade worse with a space disadvantage.

However, disaster struck! On board 5, I had a hallucination and instead of simply winning another pawn I went for an illusory checkmate and had to resign a few moves later. Also, on board 2 it now appeared that the white king could not avoid perpetual check. We held the advantage on 3, but the rook ending looked drawn, and the squeeze on board 1 was running against us.

The final results on these boards gave Wanstead and Woodford a well deserved victory, but in reality the match was closer than the overall score implies.

It was a fine team effort by all to enable Metropolitan to finish as runners up in the Major Championship, having won four hard matches out of five. As for the players in the final, no one had lost until that round and even so two remained unbeaten throughout the competition.

At the prizegiving we were awarded a cheque for £150 for the club, and each player in the final received a commemorative shield.

Noel Stewart (8/7/04).

Metropolitan win away against Brown Jack to reach the Finals.

The fourth round of the BCF National Major Championship 2003/4 was a 3 - 2 win for Metropolitan. A splendid win by Nick on top board with black against his highly rated opponent meant that draws in the four remaining matches gave us victory in this Semi-Final.

In this encounter the grading distribution of the players on the two teams was quite different. Brown Jack opted for strength at the top which resulted in Nick being out-graded by 26 points and Ian by 9. As a consequence Zafer was higher by 7 points, Kathy by 11 and myself by 21. The idea being that a win on board 1 was more valuable than that on 5, if the three middle boards were all drawn. Losing the toss, as usual, led to speculation that the "second" win for us might come from the white pieces on either board 2 or 4.

The match started solidly enough on all boards with an initial tactic being an early draw offer to Zafer on board 3. Although the position was level I thought it was too early for our match winner from the last two rounds to be so easily neutralised before the situation had clarified on the higher boards. Happily Zafer was eager to carry on the fight. The first three boards continued to be even. Kathy was becoming involved in a fluctuating struggle and having equalised comfortably out of the opening I was now a good pawn up.

As the afternoon went on Kathy and Ian both drew, thereby putting an end to the speculation that our "second" win would come from the white pieces on 2 or 4. In fact, although still a pawn ahead at this stage I was not making much progress in the resulting queen and rook ending. Zafer's position was level, but a win still seemed possible for either side.

In retrospect it is amusing to record that as the time control approached I was running myself short of time trying to manufacture a win in case both Zafer and I had to get a result in the event of a loss on board 1. Unknown to me Nick had pulled of a magnificent win on the top board and we were bound to win unless both myself and Zafer lost! With a few minutes left on my clock I noticed that Nick and his opponent had left the playing area. A hurried enquiry confirmed his excellent result and without further ado I forced perpetual check. As we had thus won the match a draw on board 3 soon followed.

Noel Stewart (6/7/04).

A home win against Tunbridge Wells in the Third round puts Metropolitan in the Semi-Finals he second round of the BCF National Chess Club Major Championship 2003/4 produced a good team effort that resulted in a 3 - 2 win for Metropolitan. The single decisive result was again achieved by Zafer playing with the black pieces on board 3

On paper we had two balanced teams with Metropolitan having a slightly higher average grade by 2.6 points. Boards 1, 2 and 5 were within a few grading points of each other, and we were higher by 7 and 9 points on boards 3 and 4 respectively. Following tradition, for the third time in succession, I lost the toss so that we gave our opponents white on boards 1,3 and 5.

Nick, for once, finished first with a relative early draw in a completely equal position. As for the others at that stage: on 2 Ian's position with the white pieces was looking aggressive while Zafer on 3 appeared equal. That left Kathy on 4 well ahead on time (but chesswise dubious) and I had equalised easily with the black pieces on 5.

Just after halfway through the playing session, my opponent having avoided the last few threats of back rank mate, we reached an equal rook and pawn ending, so board 5 was agreed drawn. Ian, on 2, looked as though he was about to give checkmate, Zafer still seemed equal while Kathy was further ahead on time, but chesswise correspondingly even more dubious.

Hereabouts we realised that Nick had left and would not be around for the rapidplay replay with colours reversed!

No matter! Zafer's opponent, unwisely, decided to unbalance the position on the kingside, with the result that he allowed his rook to be trapped. Zafer made no mistake in the resulting position and duly brought home the point. This enabled Ian to force a draw to win the match. With nothing now resting on the board 4 game a draw was agreed.

Noel Stewart (1/7/04).

The average grade for both teams was identical, but grades were not close on every board. On one and five Maidstone were higher by 16 and 7 points respectively, while we had an advantage of 16 points on three and 11 points on four. As in round one Noel lost the toss to give Maidstone the white pieces on the three odd numbered boards.

The match itself got off to a somewhat slow, if amusing, start with only board one commencing play on time. Ian's opponent was not to show up for another half hour or so and as the Djabris had not arrived Noel went off to the entrance, some two floors up, to ensure they would find the playing room easily. Somehow they passed in transit, so for a few minutes only three games were in progress.

Eventually all five games were underway. But not for long. No sooner had the Maidstone number two arrived than we were saying goodbye (probably an illusion caused by the late start of all games), since Ian's game quickly reached a drawn position. Meanwhile both Noel on board 5 and Kathy on 4, playing fast as normal, were trying very hard to lose; proper games of chess on 1 and 2 seemed alright for us.

Somewhere near the time control Kathy decided not to lose and produced a drawn result, while an injudicious pawn advance allowed Noel's position to become totally blocked. His opponent played on rather hopefully after the time control, but as time was not an issue he soon agreed a draw: there were no any winning attempts in sight. With three draws in the bag the situation now looked very good for Metropolitan. Nick was a pawn up on board 1 and Zafer had a monster passed pawn on board 3. This time there were no last minute shocks. Zafer duly won his game and Nick's opponent could hope for no more than the draw offered to him.

A good team effort had given us the three points necessary to get through to round three.

The first round of the BCF National Chess Club Major Championship 2003/4 started well for Metropolitan against a very useful Wood Green team. The final score was tied at 2.5 points apiece, but Metropolitan won on board count after the last game to finish on board 1 was eventually decided in our favour. The final result could have gone either way, and indeed as the first time control was approaching the Wood Green team seemed to likely to triumph.

At the start both teams appeared to be reasonably well matched with an Elo rated player higher graded than Nick on board 1, and in the Captain's duel on board 5 Noel was nominally much higher. The Cutmore twins for Wood Green were neatly balanced by the Djabri family playing for Metropolitan.

In what was a foretaste of matches to come Noel lost the toss to give Wood Green the white pieces on the three odd numbered boards. Wood Green also gained an early advantage when Nick arrived some 30 minutes late and Kathy on board 4, playing fast, as usual, obtained a bad position. Nonetheless, summoning commendable resources Kathy drew her game and was the first to finish. Noel's, always level, game was the next to finish as a draw. This left Norbert and Zafer fighting hard on boards 2 and 3, but on board 1 Nick had not recovered from his late start and was definitely worse. Anticipating a loss on top board, Norbert on 2 turned down a draw in a level position, as in that case even a win by Zafer would lose us the match on board count.