Leamington A 3.5 - 0.5 Leamington B

9 September 2014

I've decided to try and do quick match reports for all the A Team fixtures this year. Hopefully, following our relegation last year, there'll be a few more wins to relate! Our first game was an all-Leamington clash with our B Team ...

  • Aldridge, Dan (181) 0.5 - 0.5 Egid, Ben (150)
  • Price, Andrew (155) 1 - 0 Graff, Ben (145)
  • Darling, Tom (151) 1 - 0 Hodgkins, David W (130)
  • Collins, Andrew (145) 1 - 0 Bonillo, Alejandro (UG)

    • The B Team got off to a good start, with Ben Egid making light of a 31 point ratings gap to claim a quick draw against Dan. At this point, the other three games were all in the balance, but they ultimately turned our way.

    In my own game, David had handled the Elephant Gambit well, but made the crucial error of cutting off his knight's retreat, allowing me to trap it. From there, it was just a case of swapping off pieces until the material advantage was irresistable.

    On board two, a French Defense was looking like a probable draw, but with the match in the balance Andy lept pushing for the win, and managed to win a bishop for two pawns. An unstoppable mate threat on the back rank finished things off.

    So the match was in the bag, but the last game stayed in the balance until the final seconds. Both players had enjoyed the advantage at times in the game, but Andy's experience with the time scramble showed, as he was able to stop Alex's attempt to sneak a rook's pawn home. He had a decisive material advantage when his opponent's flag fell.

    A deceptive final scoreline, then, but nice to start with a win.