The first weekend of the new 4NCL season began with high spirits, not least because Jonny Wilkinson had kicked that vital drop goal before an argument arose over whether 5 Slough members were going to West Bromwich or staying in Reading for more extra time of the Rugby World Cup Final. It got better - not long before the car containing these members had arrived in West Bromwich, we received a phone call from our on-the-spot reporter Oliver Payne, saying the team sheets had just been posted, and the third team were getting a 6-0 default. This was met with delight by the car, but it was not to last.
Upon arriving at the venue, it transpired that Grendel's Mother, new to the league, had simply not realised that the team list had to be delivered to the controllers, and in accordance with the rules were docked 40 minutes each on the clocks. I chased this at the captains meeting the following morning, and was satisfied the right action had been taken.
The second team began their match 1-0 up, with Stephanie Barraclough the beneficiary of Athenaeum's inability to field a female player. Oliver Payne was quick to follow with a 16 move draw, but he was quick to point out afterwards that his previous game against the same opponent had been drawn in just 9 moves, so in some ways this was an improvement. Nick Payne on board 5 was also early to finish, although he had cause to be disappointed that he couldn't land a killer punch after blowing his opponent's Alekhine Defence out of the water.
2-1 to the good guys then, and the other games appeared to be going well. Robert Richmond held a slight advantage out of the opening and was toying with how best to proceed; Sam Williams had exchanged queens early on but was still fishing for an attack; Ezra Lutton had been rewarded for a typically outlandish opening with an excellent position; my game was a rather dull Hedgehog setup that I had plans of livening up; the only bad news was Roger de Coverly's position, which looked under a bit of strain from the march of his opponent's kingside pawns.
Rob Richmond ended up sacrificing a piece which he felt gave him only perpetual check, but his opponent went wrong in the complications and allowed a forced mate in 10 (!). Ezra's position had taken a sharp turn for the worse as he lost patience, and for a while it looked as if he might struggle to hold the draw, but in typical fashion he found a tactic to cause instant resignation. Roger de Coverley's exchange sacrifice held his lines for a while, but his resignation came as no surprise soon after.
Thus it was left to myself and Sam to sew up the win. I had made things tactical with the not often seen 'Fischer attack' in the Hedgehog, which consists of Kg8-h8, Rf8-g8, and g7-g5! My opponent ran short of time and was soon over-run by pawns, reaching a number of positions where he had only one move despite having most of the pieces left on the board - he made the time control but resigned shortly afterward. Sam had won a pawn, but could not convert a tricky technical bishop and pawn ending, leaving the final score at 5.5-2.5: not a bad start at all!
The third team had a much tougher time: Oliver Coddington was the only crushing win, with the time difference notable throughout. Stuart Russant marked his 4NCL debut with a win, but his game was somewhat marred by an illegal move that was overlooked by both sides. Daniel McGowan and Kevin McCarthey both made solid draws with the black pieces, but Seshagiri Vaddadi went down to a strong opponent on top board.
The real incident of the match happened in the last game to finish. Liam Varnam had a paqn for a queen, with only kings left otherwise, and must have been seconds from resigning when his opponent offered a draw. Astonished, Liam accepted, and there was much laughter shortly afterwards when kibitzers pointed out the ending was an easy win. This bizaare incident meant the difference between a draw and a win, and could prove vital in the promotion challenge to come.
Cometh the evening, cometh the celebrations. The Slough entourage retired to the bar, where they played pool (one game), discussed intellectual topics such as law and mathematics, and congratulated themselves with some pleasant drinking. As the bar closed activity moved to the hotel rooms, with Welshman Chris Arnold providing some of the quietest speakers this world has ever known for a little musical interlude. Eventually the evening became the next morning, and the group grabbed as much sleep as possible for the following day.
In the second team match, it soon became clear that Sam "Superhero" Williams was indeed performing his superheroics, winning a piece very quickly and closing the game out soon afterwards. Ezra had been promoted to board one for his efforts the previous day, and was throwing his pawns into an attack with great gusto. Rob Richmond, for his efforts, had been demoted to board three (!), and immediately seemed in trouble in a Philidor's Defence. I had a comfortable opening with the white pieces, refusing to be phased by the offbeat O'Kelly Sicilian and emerging with a clear initiative. Nothing much was happening in Nick Payne's game; Roger de Coverly appeared on top in his; Oliver Payne was playing a prepared line and seemed to have an OK game, and Stephanie Barraclough was in a few contortions after misplaying a Kings Indian Attack, but nothing serious. This was to be the high-point of the day though, as most of the positions turned sour.
Nick Payne duly drew, but Robert Richmond's valiant struggle proved in vain, and the scores were leveled at 1.5 apiece. Ezra's attack was not coming to much and his opponent was infiltrating for the endgame; the only question there was whether Ezra would catch him on the clock before it got that far. My comfortable edge turned into a clear win of two pawns, and with my opponent having less than a minute a move to reach the time control, it was almost impossible to see how I could fail to win it. But I have never been one to shirk a challenge, and I duly got hit by a cheapo just prior to the time control, dropping a whole rook. There looked to be some hope for the ending, the material balance having shifted to two pieces for four pawns, as the pawns might create a distraction, but it was a far cry from coasting to victory as I had been doing.
Roger de Coverly showed great technique to close out his ending, but Oliver Payne had hit the rocks and ended up two pawns down. Unlike me, his opponent was very succesful in his transition to an easily winning ending, and the hands were duly chipped in. 2.5-2.5. Steph had reached a drawn looking position, but played on knowing the other two games were looking desperate. Ezra tried most of the tricks he knew to escape, but his opponent was up to the task and had no trouble in the ending. I gave my all for about 5 hours to save my game, but could only reach R+B+N vs R, with no hope of swapping the rooks and leaving the dreaded B+N ending. Just to really make my day, I then let my king and rook be forked. Thus we had lost the match, and to add insult to injury, Steph had done enough to get a winning position, only to eschew taking a pawn ("I thought it wouldn't matter, and I didn't want to go pawn-grabbing" - an admirable sentiment at least) which then won the game for her opponent. The 2.5-5.5 scoreline could easily have been reversed, but the luck just wasn't with us - those seeking scapegoats can look at manager Ben Purton's decision to switch the board order, which resulted in two players who had won their opening round both losing!
The third team had a comparatively easy match, bulldozing a weak AD's third team by 5.5-0.5. Coddington and Russant both completed 2/2 for the weekend, with the highest scorer for the second team being Sam "Superhero" Williams on 1.5/2 - a shame then that he is cutting down on his chess. All in all, an enjoyable weekend had by all.
Charlie Linford