28.11.16 – London League 5: Hackney v Hammersmith
This was a night for the Sicilian Masters, and the c3 anti-Sicilian paid off in shovels and spades for Brian on top board.
With the White pieces, he posted a commanding Rook on d5 that became totally surrounded by the enemy. His opponent was yet to prevail, and once a White Knight and Bishop came to support the Rook, the blood bath could begin.
The stranglehold on the Black pieces was a beauteous sight of complete domination. The Rook was then offered in sacrifice near the end, but by then the White Knight had a beautiful fork of Black’s Queen and Rook that finally was taken with 2 minutes on the clock, at which point Brian’s opponent resigned.
With White’s a and b-pawns having passed the 6th rank together, White’s victory was anyway inevitable.
Unfortunately for John, employing a Sicilian Scheveningen, White got his English Attack launched. With the Black h-file open and the White Queen coming down it, Black could not survive and John resigned just a few moves later against the Hackney Captain. Bad luck.
On board 4 Nick cleverly won a minor piece as White’s Austrian Attack looked a bit ambitious. In any case, Nick then got his Rooks doubled and with a possible back row mate on either side, a cliff-hanger of a game ensued. Nick won the exchange and went a Rook up, but it took his passed h-pawn reaching the back rank for his opponent to resign!
With my game a default, victory was complete.
Robin.
Result: Hackney 1 – 3 Hammersmith