Metropolitan Chess Club 4NCL Team

Our first match against SCS went well - George (on board 4) won by default, Zafer won on 5 and Kathy won on 6.With a 3-0 start, we were well placed, so Chris agreed a draw on 3. Chris and Zafer were speculating about a 5-1 win, all rather too soon though! Ian was looking good, but the position was very complex. He lost in the end,but can hardly be faulted, as it took a long time in the analysis to work out what was happening - and his opponent deserves a lot of credit for winding his way through. Nick had a slight pull as White, but he missed a tactic which allowed his opponent a protected passed pawn on the 6th - in this case, it turned out to be a decisive factor.

So 3.5-2.5 meant we moved up to 6th place, and we earned our meeting with Pride and Prejudice. Based on our previous plan, we went mad with the board order - Zafer played Summerscale on 1, Ian played Harriet Hunt on 2, Nick vs Ruth Sheldon on 3.We were outgraded heavily but on the lower three (George, Chris and Norbert) we had the upper hand over their players.

The result was completely polarised - they won the top 3, we won the bottom 3! All three wins looked good - apparently Summerscale pointed out a better defence for George's opponent, but fortunately Summerscale was only allowed to play on one board at any one time! Chris's game traded down to a rook ending, which with careful play was winning for Chris. Norbert appeared to have a strategically won position after about 25 moves, and his opponent just lost on time.

Nick had a tough game on 3 but was eventually outplayed. Ian put up a really heroic defence against Harriet Hunt - after 40 moves, they were in a drawn R+B ending, it's a shame he then made a couple of inaccurate moves, as he had effectively held the draw uptil then. Against Summerscale, Zafer was just ground down!

So we became the only team not to lose to P&P. This meant we kept our 6th place going into the last round, and the rather complex arithmetic of the situation meant we needed 3 things for promotion:
i) We needed to beat Guildford by at least 4-2
ii) Brown Jack would need to beat Oxford by at least 4-2
iii) None of the 2-3 teams just below us win with a massive score (5.5 or 6)

i) was the hard part - Brown Jack did beat Oxford as required, and the last item was very likely. But even with our best team out, Guildford were both higher rated and an experienced team who weren't going to go mad. We shuffled the board order again - the plan was for Nick and George to play White on 1 and 3 (as they have the best results against very strong players), Ian and Zafer to try to draw with black (on 2 and 4), and Norbert and Chris to try to win on 5 and 6, the only boards where we were slightly higher rated.

The plan started off OK - Ian and Zafer both drew with some very careful chess in the opening, thereby neutralising 2 of their higher rated players, and leaving us with 3 whites in play. Norbert and Chris stood well at this point, so there was reason for optimism.

But it was not to be - after a couple of hours, Norbert's advantage had fizzled away, George's attack had been carefully replused and he was struggling, and Nick had run into trouble too. Chris was probably winning, but both sides were in serious time trouble. Actually all the games were to a degree. Norbert wanted to accept a draw, but had to play on pending the results of the other games. Nick then resigned, and it was clear that George was lost. Tragically, Chris went astray in the time pressure, so the match was over. Norbert was now worse too, but he managed to salvage it in the end.

Despite finishing 9th= it's been a successful season, we've been in the running all year, played virtually all the top teams, won more than half our matches, and drawn against the winning team.

Round 7 did not start as well our previous rounds. Chris, George and Charlie all had problems in their respective openings and although our games on the top three boards were more promising, it appeared that we were slightly worst off in the match at an early stage.

Ian soon secured a good draw with the black pieces and Charlie improved his position with some sound defensive play. Nick and Norbert both had good play in their respective games but Chris and George had sacrificed pawns for insufficient compensation.

Then things really went wrong, George lost another pawn and resigned soon after and both Chris and Charlie came unstuck in very tricky positions. To be fair to our opponents, they played well in these three games. Nick had won a piece for two pawns and Norbert looked sure to overwhelm his opponent's king position. But again our opponents in these last two games played well under pressure and Nick and Norbert, who were both very short of time, had to settle for a draw in their respective games. A heavy 1.5/4.5 defeat was very disappointing!

Round 8 went much better for us, perhaps it was the steadying influence of Zafer and Kathy returning to the fray! Norbert played very well with the Black pieces and soon won and with Ian and Kathy securing solid draws we were 2-1 ahead about half way.

Unfortunately, George was still playing poorly and had lost a pawn but Zafer stood better and Nick also to seemed to be doing alright. At last things went our way, Zafer transposed into a winning ending and George's opponent drifted into a drawn ending. Nick settled for a draw and we finished 4/2 winners. A disappointing weekend, we will have to play better in the final rounds next month.

In the first match, we made a good start, both George and Kathy won their games with white pieces fairly quickly and Ian drew with the black pieces comfortably. (2.5-0.5 to Met.) The remaining games were much tougher - Zafer had the edge in his game and duly won, but Nick chose the wrong option at a crucial juncture of his game and lost the ending. Charlie was a pawn down in a difficult position, but defended stubbornly into the sixth hour of his game and secured a draw. A 4-2 win for us was an excellent result!

Unlike the previous round, we made a bad start - Charlie and Kathy succumbing to direct attacks on their king positions. Then Ian went wrong in a tricky rook and pawn ending and lost. (0-3 Met losing). Fortunately the other three games were looking better for us, Nick's position was messy but he was two pawns up - George's game was also messy but his opponent was short of time and Zafer had sacrificed a pawn for good counterplay. A passed h-pawn won the game for George, but Zafer's opponent played very accurately to secure a draw.This time Nick had the five hour plus game and played a fine ending to beat his highly rated opponent. A 2.5-3.5 defeat was a good result against one of the top teams in Div.4.

In round 3, we faced Athenaeum, one of the strongest teams in the division. The result of 2.5-3.5 was a creditable one, and under the new scoring system(where game points count before match points) - not a near miss that it would have been in previous years.

Our wins came from the middle boards, where Norbert won a complex closed Sicilian, and George conjured up a dangerous attack in the antique Four Knights. A solid draw from Ian on board 1 against a strong opponent completed our tally. Charlie was holding his own but missed a nasty check. Chris had a normal IQP position but let his rook get trapped behind enemy lines. Finally, Nayeem hung on for a while, but his opponent always seemed to have control.

A good result against Monmouth, whom we had collapsed against last year. Norbert had a good win, forcing his opponent to castle Qside in a compromised position. Ian looked like he was gradually outplayed on top board. A good win for Chris also, who obtained very good play for his pieces.

George's game was an interesting King's Gambit - George declined the gambit and offered a pawn in return for a very active bishop pair in the endgame. A draw seemed a fair result. Nayeem conjured up some threats in an otherwise sleepy Colle. Charlie went down to an inventive exchange sac from his opponent. He had to return the material with interest, and could not hold the endgame after that.

We won our first match of the year, against a team of talented juniors, although the result was a slightly shaky 3.5-2.5, and could easily have been worse.

On top board, Ian had a quick draw. On 2, Chris equalised as black, and towards the time control won a pawn, but his pieces lacked coordination, and his opponent got the initiative. With some errors, he lost in the end.

George's game went more to plan - he sacced a piece on move 10 against a provocative pawn set-up. The sequence that followed left him a solid pawn up in the endgame, which he duly converted to a full point. However, while Zaf reached a comfortable endgame as black, he overplayed the position, unfortunately reaching a pawn race type of position where his opponent was much better placed

Nayeem was in some trouble, as he'd conceded the two bishops for rook and pawn. But a mistake from his opponent allowed his a-pawn to become very troublesome, resulting in him being able to win back both the bishops for a rook. The extra pawn rook endgame was difficult for his opponent to hold. Charlie came under a strong attack early on, and had to give up a piece. However some mistakes from his opponent let him back into the game

Sunday's match had a more convincing result, although again we were a little fortunate, and this pushed us up the standings. Ian again had a quick draw on top board. Chris had an exciting game where a long tactical sequence left him a pawn down, so he gave up another for some very active pieces. He obtained a very murky position from which he eventually came out on top.

George was having a good weekend and won again, with a convincing game with very active play for his pieces. An overaggressive opening left Kathy a pawn down with a shattered structure, she played on for a while but was not able to find any chances.

Nayeem was fortunate - in a bad position, his opponent captured with the wrong piece, and suddenly all his pieces were hanging. Some careful moves brought home the full point. Charlie's opening advantage evaporated and he was under attack, but a dubious piece sacrifice from his opponent turned it round - he needed to defend carefully for a while after that, but eventually triumphed.