So, to the final match of the season – a dead rubber against Calderdale A and a shot at cementing third place in the table. We were missing Oskar, Paul, Louis and Pete from the top half of the team so reinforcements were called for and as late as Friday afternoon we were still a player short; take a bow, 10 year old Kyle Sharpe, drafted in on the Friday to ensure we didn’t default any boards.
With captain David Patrick on 8, Calderdale A were clearly keen to finish the season on a high and ultimately their superior play fully deserved the rather crushing victory they secured. That’s not to say we didn’t battle long and hard, with our juniors doing what they could to try to reverse the tide, but we ended up well beaten.
On bottom board, Kyle put up a good fight against David and things were even until fairly late on. However, under pressure and not realising that he had another hour on the clock, Kyle started to move too quickly and dropped a piece; David ensured that was decisive and we were 1-0 down.
It didn’t stay at that scoreline for long – as I became the next player to lose with an absolute shocker of a move against Darwin taking me from a dodgy position to a simply lost one. Cheap tactics don’t tend to work against a player graded over 180 who has been undefeated all season; cheap tactics that aren’t really tactics at all but just outright blunders, even less so.
2-0 soon enough 3-0 and I was starting to worry about a whitewash. Bill, making a late season D Team debut, was massively outgraded against Mark Whitehead but did well to battle down to an endgame where he was a pawn down. Unfortunately, Mark then proved that his bishop was a lot stronger than Bill’s knight and gradually Bill was pushed back until his knight ran out of squares.
However, our board three ensured the whitewash was not going to happen. In recent weeks, Paul has had a resurgence of form and so it proved here again – Martyn has been unbeaten in the YCA this season, but that record did not survive the final match as Paul sacrificed a piece to open up the kingside. Eschewing the opportunity to win Martyn’s queen, Paul instead opted for a king hunt, driving the monarch from g8 to the other side of the board and although I missed the denouement, the end could not have been too far off when Paul played b4+!
Barry’s game concluded next; he was also significantly outgraded but opted for a quiet opening and seemed to be no worse, albeit somewhat passive. JP managed to winkle out a pawn advantage…and then his queen and rook started to do some damage and a discovered check was enough to force resignation with mate looming. Tom was the next to crash to defeat – his queenside stripped bare by John’s marauding pieces after an unusual opening, and counter-play in the centre not proving enough to turn the tide.
All of which left two more juniors on the top two boards. Robert had taken more space in the middlegame and Miles had sat back somewhat; however, things simplified whilst becoming more complex and a Q+2B endgame looked increasingly difficult to play; I missed the end but it looked like at least one pair of bishops was coming off and a draw was agreed. All eyes on James against Phil on top board. The early stages saw James castle, push all his kingside pawns, and set up a series of pins. After that, it got interesting and Phil attacked on the queenside whilst James tried to bludgeon a way through on the kingside. From what I heard in the car on the way home, it might be that James missed a chance to win but eventually Phil’s attack proved the stronger and that was that.
A heavy defeat…but no disgrace and yet another match with four juniors in the side which can only bode well for the future. Well played to Calderdale, who might yet have sneaked into fourth if Rose Forgrove slipped up in their final match.
Phil Watson 1 – 0 James Bowler
Robert Newton 1/2-1/2 Miles Edwards-Wright
Martyn Hamer 0 – 1 Paul Blackman
Darwin Ursal 1 – 0 Andrew Hards
John Morgan 1 – 0 Tom Wills
Mark Whitehead 1 – 0 Bill Ward
JP Waering 1 – 0 Barry Williams
David Patrick 1 – 0 Kyle Sharpe
And so… it all came down to this. After a season where, to be frank, we have underperformed on occasion, our fate was barely in our own hands as we travelled to Halifax for a showdown with Calderdale B. The winners were safe, the losers relegated, and a draw would suit our hosts. On paper, we had a strong side – arguably stronger than the D Team playing on the other side of the room! Calderdale were also out in force, but we actually outgraded them on every board so I was hopeful that we would have chances.
Chris and David were first to finish – queens and most pieces off early doors, doubled rooks, solid pawn structures, draw. Not long after, Srini and Malcolm also shared the point, albeit Srini had used considerably more of his time, with no doubt a fair proportion of that spent ensuring his queen wasn’t trapped after it ended up deep in opposition territory with only a few squares available. Two games gone, 1-1. And a quick wander around the boards suggested we might be struggling to achieve our objective.
Not for the first time this season, Daniel was able to lead the way. Facing David’s Budapest, he steadily improved his position, worked a small advantage and then a slightly bigger one, picked up a pawn and slowly edged up the board; eventually two connected passed pawns were enough to seal the win. This was followed by a win on two for Tom, absent for nearly the entire season whilst at university. A Budapest had given him a pawn advantage over Peter and he too slowly improved his position before a rook on the seventh proved decisive. 2 wins became 3, as Andy also won after an unusual opening and some queenside pressure eventually gave him a breakthrough and the point against Neil. A clean sweep of the top three boards, and a 4-1 scoreline. One draw from the last three games and it was all over.
Naturally, we made it as hard as possible for ourselves…. Seabelo was 2 for 2 going into this match but had managed to lose the exchange at some point and as pieces and pawns came off, this disadvantage proved increasingly hard to play around… Steven didn’t give an inch and the score was 4-2. However, both remaining games looked comfortable for us; I couldn’t see either player losing and we only needed one draw when…disaster! Mike looked like he was dropping the exchange, but found a way to save his rook. Andy then seemed to be getting his knight trapped…but in fact there was a sting in the tail and when Mike shuffled his king over to the pinned knight, Qe6+ led to mate in two. 4-3… and now everything was riding on the final game. Stuart had given a pawn up in the opening for rapid development but never really got an attack going. However, Martin wasn’t making any inroads himself and with both players knowing that their match was all-or-nothing, it wasn’t for the faint-hearted. Time was slipping away too, with both players deep into the last five minutes of their allotted time and 42 moves some way off… and then it happened. Stuart pushed a pawn to hit Martin’s bishop. Martin responded by pushing a pawn to hit Stuart’s rook…but this left his bishop unprotected. Stuart captured, Martin offered his hand…and we had done it! Saved by the skin of our teeth, in the last game of the last match of the season.
Sheffield E live to fight another season in division two, whilst Calderdale will no doubt be looking to bounce straight back up next season.
David Shapland 0 – 1 Daniel Sullivan
Peter Hughes 0 – 1 Tom Whitaker
Neil Suttie 0 – 1 Andy George
Andy Leatherbarrow 1 – 0 Mike Newett
Martin Syrett 0 – 1 Stuart Crosthwaite
Malcolm Corbett 1/2 – 1/2 Srinivasa Muthukrishnan
David Sugden 1/2 – 1/2 Chris Willey
Steve Priest 1 – 0 Seabelo Manenye
