Another very good match between Sheffield and York first teams, this time ending with victory for York. Scary playing strength: 194+ average grade for us, 201+ for York.
With the clocks started in the new Woodseats venue, it was immediately quiet and intense, as it always is with these matches.
Over the first hour, things weren’t going our way. We looked fine on all the top boards – Andrew, Jon, Allan and Kieran all holding their own. But on board 5, Dave’s Slav / Kings Indian-type setup looked in some trouble, with Jean Luc probing weak squares on the queenside. On 6, Paul, on the White side of a Slav – at first sight strong with his raking bishops preventing Dave from castling – suddenly looked vulnerable as Dave gave back the pawn with immediate development and full play for his pieces. Peter on 7 (Black in a Caro) was fine but on 8 Martin’s opponent had a lot more space and was putting the White queen under serious threat.
Things stayed like this for a while, with the balance marginally moving towards us, I thought, on the top boards. Andrew had at least equalised on the Black side of a Queens Gambit Declined against Richard Palliser. With his extra space, I thought on Jon on 2 looked solid and possibly a little better – and Allan’s French Defence on 3 was also fairly promising, pressurising Jos combatively with his queenside pawns. I can’t say I understood what was happening in Kieran’s game (when I saw it, he had just played Ng5 and then h4!? in response to …h6) – but the fact that Paul Townsend thought about it for over 40 minutes cheered me up…
As the afternoon wore on, our troubles became clearer. Paul was desperately fighting to save his position and hardly had any time left; Dave L’s position had clarified, leaving him a clear pawn down (though his activity did appear to give him some compensation); and Martin was worse (though admittedly not hugely so). I was relieved when Allan asked me if I wanted him to play for a win!
Kieran’s game was moving again – Paul Townsend took the knight and a flurry of moves followed, with Kieran getting the piece back quickly. A problem was his king safety in the face of a menacing enemy queen and rook: but he dealt with that well, queens came off and a draw was agreed.
Meanwhile, drama on board 6: Paul C and Dave Adams were bashing out moves, as Paul was trying to make it to the time control. By the time the 42 moves had been made, with the flag having teetered dangerously for several moves, the position had become a tense ending where Paul was a piece down but had dangerous and advancing kingside pawns. The problem was – as Dave pointed out – that the minute hand of the clock was clearly past the hour! Perhaps predictably enough, those present from the Sheffield team were of the view that the flag was the critical factor, not the time displayed on the clock – in time trouble, what players are trying to assess is how close the tip of the horizontal flag is to the minute hand. Anyway, after Paul demonstrated that this was indeed a clock with a flag that actually fell (I think it took another 3 seconds once the clock was restarted!), play was resumed.
A draw on board 8 soon followed – congratulations Martin: there’d been some awkward moments – so 1-1. But then tragedy on board 2: Jon and James Adair were scrambling to the time control – queens were off and Jon was now defending against an extra pawn. Suddenly, it was like a one-minute game, with pieces flying all over: and then it was over, with Jon mated in the centre of the board.
Peter’s game concluded peacefully soon afterwards: 2½-1½ to them, with 4 games remaining.
Andrew’s game on 1 had gone slightly surreal – 4 queens on the board (2 each!) and A’s king advanced to something like e3 – though if anything I thought it was our man who was better. And Allan was certainly dominating on 3, with a threatening passed pawn on f4 in a R+B+N+2 pawns v R+N+N+1 pawn ending. Dave was by now defending a tough R+P ending, with Jean-Luc’s rook positioned strongly on the 7th rank. On the other hand, on 6 Paul’s advanced passed pawn had put him in a very good position, in spite of his piece deficit. So the match was still poised.
I can’t remember whether it was Andrew’s or Paul’s game that finished first. Anyway, soon after a pair of queens were swapped on board 1, moves were repeated and the game was agreed drawn. And Paul won, having converted his pawn and clearing up, for a second time with seconds to spare.
So 3 apiece. But unfortunately the final two games to finish didn’t go our way, though they might have done. I didn’t actually see the finish to Dave’s rook and pawn ending – but apparently there were chances to hold it. Not to be, as Jean-Luc played like lightning to finish things off. And Allan, in the end, was unable to press home his advantage – I think he missed a tactic allowing Jos to capture his dangerous pawn.
So, a draw and a loss completing the results – and so, by the narrowest of margins, a loss in the match. Not too devastating really: in the face of a hugely strong team, I thought we acquitted ourselves really well. Besides, we ourselves have ridden our share of luck over the years: it couldn’t last forever. Always a pleasure to be involved in this encounter.
Some games, courtesy of Andrew and Kieran (hopefully Allan’s and Paul’s to follow):
Jeremy Hamm
Sheffield A