19.01.17 – London League 5: Pimlico v Hammersmith
I goofed! Bringing people 30 minutes late to this match – my apologies to all!
Not the ideal start by any means but never-the-less, we had a couple of bright spots last night.
Chris won in short order, as is almost routine for him. With the White pieces, he launched into a Queen’s gambit with a Slav Defence. In a crescendo of a finish, he had 3 major artillery units bearing down on the opponent’s Rook posted at f8, defended only by his King on g8. Checkmate arrived shortly thereafter. Sweet win.
I had a quiet King pawn opening but got careless, losing a Knight due to a Royal pin. The Knight loss became a Rook loss – the price to get out of the pin.
I fought back, no doubt spurred on by Chris’ win, and got a dangerous passed e-pawn on the 3rd rank, protected by a connected f4 pawn.
Eventually my opponent got into time problems and offered me a draw, which I finally accepted. After nullifying my passed-pawn for the extra Rook, material balance was restored. Still, he could have won this Rook and pawn ending, having 3 connected pawns to my 2 unconnected pawns… a lucky escape for the captain on board 3.
Brian on board 1 got a draw fairly early on, against a very evenly matched opponent. Kudos here.
John had a commanding centre position against the Sicilian, and was unlucky not to press home his attack.
A decent result after losing a collective 2 hours of chess at the start – well done all.
Best wishes,
Robin.
Result: Pimlico 2 – 2 Hammersmith
