Leamington A 3.5 - 0.5 Solihull C

10 February 2015

Kenilworth B had done us a massive favour since our previous game, beating Solihull B despite being a man short. This left us four points clear with four each to play ... Solihull sent a strong C team, however, to try and help their clubmates.

  • Aldridge, Dan (187) 0.5 - 0.5 Byrne, Nigel (151)
  • Price, Andrew (157) 1 - 0 Brodie, Iain (150)
  • Collins, Andy (150) 1 - 0 Nevin, Mike (142)
  • Olaleye, Oladejo (149) 1 - 0 Smith, Paul (134)

    • Dan, playing a Sicilian Defense, got into some trouble, and was actually losing when his opponent offered a draw. Dan had a rook for two knights and would have lost several pawns if White had played the best continuation.

    The other three games were in the balance at that point, but they turned in our favour one by one. Andy Price was the first to make the breakthrough. He held a slight positional edge for most of the game, ultimately exploiting the weak squares in his opponents camp to infiltrate with his queen and decisively win material.

    Andy Collins clinched the win, in a finely balanced game where all three results were plausible for most of it. The telling factor was the perssure on White's knight on f3, pinned and attacked multiple times. Its eventual capture soon triggered a resignation.

    Ola started well, gaining space in the middle and the kingside. The position became very blocked, however, and Black's queenside counterplay became dangerous. Ultimately, Ola's rook and bishop broke through, winning too much material for his opponent to have serious chances of a comeback.

    So, despite (or perhaps because of) the captain being rested, the A team temporarily go six points clear. There's now over a month off before the final three games.