Month: April 2015
Tim England vs Robert Shaw
Nomads E vs Worksop C
| Nomads E (w) | 0 | 4 | Worksop C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Kesteven | 0 | 1 | Nigel Baxendale |
| Robert Shaw | 0 | 1 | Tim England |
| Jo Woollard | 0 | 1 | Alan Story |
| Natasha Withington | 0 | 1 | Frank Holt |
Nomads won the toss, and chose white on odds.
Dave played a four knights opening, fianchettoing his bishop, but lost a knight for two pawns. After further uneven exchanges reduced him to just king and pawns, Dave resigned. At the other end of the table, Frank’s queen soon occupied h8, forcing Natasha;’s king into the middle of the board, where a knight delivered mate.
After exchanging knights Jo and Alan both castled kingside, but then Jo lost her queen for a knight, ending up with two rooks , a knight, and seven pawns against two rooks, a queen, and seven pawns, a decisive disadvantage.
Robert played the Queen’s Gambit Declined After a complex exchange removed the queens, he seemed to have better development, but Tim did have the advantage of a bishop pair. Robert kept material parity into a rook and pawns end game, where he tried to play for a draw, but was comprehensively out manoeuvred and ultimately mated.
Nomads E vs Rotherham B
| Nomads E | 1 | 3 | Rotherham B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Nicholson | 0 | 1 | Chris Willey (b) |
| Eric McKenna | 1 | 0 | Default |
| Dave Kesteven | 0 | 1 | Philip Sharpe |
| Robert Shaw | 0 | 1 | Michael Snowdon |
Rotherham defaulted on board two, due to a family emergency.
Dave and Philip both castled king-side, swapping off minor pieces, then Philip doubled his rooks on the d file, generating a strong attack. After losing significant material, Dave resigned.
Simon played an obscure variant of the Caro-Kann defence. Early on, he forced Chris to retreat his knight back to g8, but Chris soon recovered. Just as the game was starting to look like a draw, Simon’s flag fell, before move 30.
Robert gained a rook early on with a knight fork, but eventually blundered it away, leaving him with a lone knight against three pawns. While he was struggling to find a way to prevent promotion, his flag too fell.
Robert Shaw vs Jerome Redhead
Barnsley D vs Nomads E
| Barnsley D | 2½ | 1½ | Nomads E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Steel | 1/2 | 1/2 | Eric McKenna (b) |
| Russell Roe | 1 | 0 | Robert Shaw |
| Max Littlewood | 0 | 1 | Dave Kesteven |
| Alan Taylor | 1 | 0 | Jo Woollard |
Robert sacrificed a knight for positional advantage, leaving Russell with doubled e & g pawns, and an exposed king, but fumbled while attempting to exploit this, losing a rook to a skewer, after which he resigned.
Dave attacked strongly with his queen early on, gaining a rook, then swapped down, emerging into the end game with queen, rook and five pawns against just a rook and fice pawns. Dave then forced a queen exchange. Faced with inevitable promotion Max resigned.
After swapping off minor pieces Jo and Alan both castled king-side. Further exchanges left Jo with a queen, rook, and pawns against a queen, rook, knight and pawns, a slight disadvantage which proved decisive.
Eric was the last to finish. He too had opened by swapping off minor pieces and castling king-side, but he maintained material parity, manoeuvring to a rook and pawn endgame, with a one pawn advantage. After exchanging rooks, Eric marched his h pawn to promotion, but Anthony also had an unstoppable pawn, so Eric agreed a draw.