Leamington A 3.5 - 0.5 Shirley B
4 November 2014Missing some of our best players, this match looked a tough one on paper ...
Ola's win was aided by a rather odd move by his oppnent, who attempted to capture one of his own pawns! While that move couldn't stand, of course, the subsequent forced move did cost him a pawn. Ola was able to keep this advantage and ultimately win in a rook endgame.
Andy had to do some defending in his game, but he eventually saw off the threats and swiftly turned things around to clinch our second point.
Ben was looking for some revenge against an opponent who had bested him in a B Team match earlier in the season. His opponent actually refused a draw offer before entering complications which left Ben two pawns up in a minor piece endgame. Though short on time, he was able to push one of them through and get the checkmate.
I missed the end of these two games as I was off trying to resolve a dispute in my game. After defending for most of it, I claimed a draw by threefold repitition: my opponent incorrectly claimed that the repition had not occurred, but also correctly claimed that I had used the incorrect procedure. I had spoken the claim while playing my move, but should have written the move down and then made the claim without playing it. When we went back into the main room to check this, however, we found that the match was already in the bag, so my opponent sportingly didn't enforce this and accepted the draw.
Another win, then, heading into our showdown with the might of Solihull B ...