S&DCL Div 3

Champions struggle but eventually prove their worth

The Second team were already Champions before the start of this match, and from the point of view of peace of mind, that was just as well. The only member of the team to be comfortably placed all evening was Graham, who completed a perfect league season for his team with 7/7. In relatively few of those games was he taken past move 20.

John made it 2 - 0 with a fairly uneventful win: Black sacrificed a piece for two pawns in front of White's castled king, but all the threats were easily stopped. Queens were exchanged. John's bishop was hemmed in by its own pawns but when Black ventured out into the middle with his king, it was summarily executed by a pair of white rooks.

Daniel and Jim both struggled for any kind of initiative but Heather found herself under a vicious attack from the off, but once the pieces were exchanged, found some relief. For a long time she was on the point of winning a piece due to a pin and a back rank weakness but White found clever defences. Finally she did win her piece but overlooked the fact that it could have been recaptured. White missed this too and after that there was no problem.

Boards 1 and 2 both went the wrong way. Having lost only one game so far for the club in all competitions, and that to Mike McDowell, Daniel had just untangled what had been a very difficult position when he left a 2-move combination which won a rook. Around the same time, Jim played one attacking move too many and Chris Lawrence threatened a mate to which there was no defence.

Sporting as ever, Melvin was in his usual time trouble and was the exchange down for good measure. He tried to whip up a king side attack but left his own king bereft of cover. However, 3.173 nanoseconds before the time control he won a piece and still had time to complete the necessary 17 further moves before his flag dropped. Into the calmer waters of the second time control, he found a very fine rook move to attack the black queen and she had nowhere to go. Shortly afterwards Black succumbed to the inevitable and Customs II had won the match and the division. It was a thoroughly well-deserved Championship earned by an excellent Captain and a dedicated team.

As Graham said as we left the venue, "Dave would have been proud."

Byram,V - Walker,H [B21]
S&DCL

1.e4 c5 2.f4 d6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Ng5 e6 7.0-0 Bg7 [ 7...h6; 7...d5] 
8.f5 d5 [ 8...gxf5 9.exf5 d5] 9.exd5 Nxd5? 10.fxe6 Bxe6 11.Nxe6 [ 11.Nxd5] 11...fxe6 
12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Qe2+ Qe7 14.Qxe7+ Nxe7 15.Bb5+ Nc6 16.Re1+ Kd7 17.d3 Rae8 18.Bg5 Bxb2 
19.Rab1 Bd4+ 20.Kh1 a6 21.Bxc6+ Kxc6 22.Be7 b5 [ 22...Bc3] 23.Re6+ Kd7 24.Rbe1 c4 
[ 24...Bf2 25.R1e2 Bh4 26.Rd6+ Kc7 27.Rxa6 Bxe7 28.Ra7+ Kd6 29.Ra6+ Kd7 30.Ra7+ Kc6 
31.Ra6+ Kb7 32.Rae6 Rhf8 33.Rxe7+ Rxe7 34.Rxe7+ Kc6] 25.Rd6+ Kc7 26.Rxd5 Bf6 27.Rc5+ 
[ 27.Bb4] 27...Kb7 28.Rd5 Rhf8 29.dxc4 Rxe7 30.Rb1 Kc6 31.Rbd1 Rfe8? [ 31...bxc4!] 
32.Rd6+ Kc7 33.g3 [ 33.Rxf6 Re1+ 34.Rf1] 33...Re1+ 34.Kg2 Rxd1 35.Rxd1 Re2+ 
36.Kh3 bxc4 37.Rf1 Bg5 38.Rf7+ Kb6 39.Rxh7 Rxc2 40.Kg4 Bd2 41.Rg7 c3 42.Rxg6+ Kb5 
43.a4+ Kxa4 44.Rxa6+ Kb5 45.Rd6 Ra2 46.Rd8 c2 0-1

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