York RI A v. Sheffield D

Here’s the write-up for the Sheffield D match (with Oskar’s awesome victory against James Adair included… I must point out that I also saw the great Bg5+ move that was the catalyst for him turning the position around, if only because it was the only thing I could personally console myself with after my position collapsed around me!):
With 5 of our top 7 players missing and a last minute default also reducing our numbers, there was a chance we could have frozen like rabbits in the headlights against the current Woodhouse Champions. However, this side are made of sterner stuff and despite being heavily outgraded on every board, we resolved to make York work for their wins.
And work they surely did…for a long time I held out hope that we might even manage an upset or at least push York all the way, and whilst it didn’t quite pan out that way, the team can rightly be proud of putting up such a good fight against such overwhelming odds.
First to finish was board 2 – Paul managed to get pawns deep into the heart of James’ position and a counter attack never really got going… Paul’s Q and N proved once again how effectively they work in tandem as James’ king was forced into a fork and his queen was lost. I followed shortly afterwards; my queen, king and rook stuck on the back rank and my knight pinned to my king as Detlef used his space and the winning of an exchange to expertly press home his advantage.
3-0 became 4-0 eventually…Miles had lost a pawn in the opening to Jean-Luc, who gradually advanced on the king-side and was even able to give up the exchange to create two immense passed pawns on the sixth – Miles gave up his rook for both but that left Jean-Luc with a knight extra in the king + 2 pawns endgame and there was only going to be one winner of that.
The match was then lost with the next result – but this also saw us register our first half point as Tom picked up an excellent draw against Richard. A very sharp opening with threats all around the board eventually reduced down into a rooks and minor piece endgame which looked very, very level.
Three games to go…and things were delicately poised. On top board, Oskar and James had decided that pawn structure, solid play and slow, strategic build up was not the order of the day and appeared to be going at each other with scant regard for the safety of their kings, or for that matter, most of their pieces. Oskar landed a speculative rook sacrifice on g7, and followed it up with a not-so speculative bishop sacrifice on g5 which wrecked James’ position and enabled Oskar to equalise and expose James’ king. A few precise moves later and it looked as though James might pull through…but one inaccuracy was all it took; rook check, queen check, and with the rooks and the queens coming off and Oskar’s handily placed pawn on b7 unstoppable, the game was up. Another stunning victory for the rising star of Sheffield chess.
4.5 – 1.5… and our scoring wasn’t quite complete. With literally seconds left before the time control, Mike played a sneaky king move which, whilst leaving his bishop en prise, was going to force a drawn endgame. Alexander spent 35 minutes trying to find a way to avoid the draw…but failed to do so and despite being K+B+P vs K at the end, he could not force a win.
Which left Stuart and Martin’s game… a French defence in which Stuart’s kingside pawns dissolved to leave him with half-open files against Martin’s king and a target in an off-side queen. Neither proved decisive, however; Martin’s pieces moved menacingly around to the queenside, there was a time scramble, and when the dust cleared Stuart had a few less pawns and a long, lingering defeat to look forward to. He opted to resign instead and the match was over.
James Adair 0 – 1 Oskar Hackner
Paul Townsend 1 – 0 James Bowler
Jean-Luc Weller 1 – 0 Miles Edwards-Wright
Detlef Plump 1 – 0 Andrew Hards
Alexander Combie 1/2 – 1/2 Mike Newett
Martin Carpenter 1 – 0 Stuart Crosthwaite
Richard Mounce 1/2 – 1/2 Tom Wills
Dave Adams 1 – 0 DEFAULT