“Hail mighty Caesar! Those who are about to die salute you!” *
London League 5: Hammersmith vs Kings Head – 11.10.17
Hammersmith obtained a creditable draw against King’s Head in Division 5, but read on for why chess can be so cruel.
An auspicious start to the new season saw fine wins by junior Nadhmi Auchi on board one, and Dipender Gill on board 3. Congratulations to these two! And welcome home to member Gokhan Kizilay, who has returned to the club after a year’s absence.
On Board 1, Nadhmi with the Black pieces used the Kings Indian defence setup against the Sicilian. Kudos to Nadhmi, when with calm precision he overturned his opponent’s diversionary tactics and won infront of a gathering audience.
On Board 2 a nice position by Gokhan was spoilt by his blundering a piece against stalwart Mark Huba. We’ve all done that.
On Board 3, Dipender reports as follows: It was a highly strategic game that needed careful calculation in the middle section. There was an opportunity for my opponent to take a better position but he floundered instead. I entered the endgame a piece up and consequently won.
Board 4 saw the two captains drawn in battle, a duel where no quarter was invited nor given. The Hammersmith captain, a piece up, launched a mating attack. Not quite lethal, it backfired and then reduced to two Rooks for Kings Head versus Rook and Knight. Again, Robin forked King and Rook and looked set for the win. However a tricky Rook and pawn ending ensued and was lost in the last few desperate minutes on the clocks.
We out graded our opponents by some 80 points – they are to be congratulated for playing so much better than their grades suggest. Boards 2 and 4 were losses, thus the final result was a 2-2 draw.
Robin.
* no deaths were reported during the game