No-Holds-Bared

30.04.19 – Thames Valley Division 3: Hammersmith vs. Ealing

Another no-holds-bared encounter in the Valley – read on…

Welcome to two newcomers – Jack Esiri, and John McDonagh.

Jack, a junior, comes here from Richmond Juniors and has a solid ECF A grading.

John plays like a veteran and I rate him e115, especially when he is wearing his trademark “newsboy or horse-trainer” cap!

With not a draw in sight, the match was drawn 3-3, as we did the previous week. This result skates over the concentrated efforts of the protagonists.

Luckily we had our four veteran top-boarders and I was hopeful we could remedy a previous loss to Ealing.

On board 3, Matteo looked all set for a draw, with his two rooks and knight against his opponent’s two rooks and bishop, but the bishop was landlocked: all its’ open squares were held by Matteo. Matteo moved his knight to attack the bishop, even though well-defended. His opponent thought to move the bishop to Matteo’s back row, where his rook lurked. And the rook woke up and grabbed the errant bishop! Such a simple and harmless looking position, a blunder out of the blue! So, score 1-0.

Next, on board 5, Jack was playing an experienced opponent, ten games this season, mostly losses. Bad luck to be playing him! For well over an hour and a half the game looked winning for Jack, material ahead, I thought. But after a sudden inaccuracy, Jack had to resign. Jack’s opponent has previously beaten Nikolis. Score 1-1.

About this time, on top board, with almost even position, Paul suddenly got up, with him signalling a down thumb. Score 1-2. Total surprise!

Meanwhile I was watching Brian Dodgeon on board 2 with the white pieces, completely eclipse his opponent with a beautiful attack. Enthralling game! Score 2-2.

See the game here with Brian’s comments:

John McD on board 6 was looking good – a minor piece up and winning, his opponent resigning, just after Brian’s win. Nicely done! Score 3-2.

Last to finish was veteran Charlie on board 4, who had a bishop and knight and 3 or 4 pawns, against rook and some 5 or 6 pawns. A very interesting position, and I reckoned it was not a lost cause, as Charlie would fine the one resource to win the game and the match. But it was not to be.

Somehow his opponent gained a winning end-game, and Charlie painfully threw in the towel. His opponent had just recently drawn against a high 140 graded player, but only played 3 or 4 matches this league, so clearly improving.

Match drawn, 3-3.

Robin.

One thought on “No-Holds-Bared”

  1. excellent and thrilling commentary ! makes it all come alive…
    Jack and Kumar (who joined last month) are from the same school and both are alumnus of Richmond Juniors (having worked with Paul McKeown et al)

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