Match Report (from Warks Captain...)
In a match where we (Warks) were outgrading our opponents by an average of 15 points per board, Manchester put up a very tough battle and the final scoreline was much closer then might have been expected if rating points alone had been used to decide the result and, in fact, if we had lost just one more point the match would have been considered a loss on board count as the majority of our wins came from lower down the team, the final score being 9:7 in Warwickshires favour.
This win sees Warwickshire winning the midlands counties championship for the first time in several years and, more usefully, proceeding directly to the quarter finals and dodging the fairly nasty draw which the second placed midlands county has to suffer.
The next match will be no mean feat in itself, as we will be facing Kent who have been a real bogey team for Warwickshire but,this year I think the side has been playing better then ever and have a great chance of going all the way.
Warwickshire won the coin flip and gained the white advantage on odd boards.
Board 1: Nick Thomas Vs Richard Beach
Nick played an especially aggressive scotch gambit opening here and, after regaining the sacrificial pawn, maintained a good initiative and blacks forces were especially stretched to keep control ov the position. Eventually a pawn was lost on b7 but by this time black had other things in mind, such as a mate on the undefended white back rank and whites kingside was shredded in the process of escaping. Things still appeared ok for white as nick retained the extra pawn as well and had begun a push of his own passed pawn to queening. Unfortunately disaster then struck, and a tactic was overlooked which resulted in the loss of a piece. Nick fought on and tried to continue the passed pawns march towards queening but black had too much time to coordinate his queen into a defence and the game had to be resigned.
Board 2: Tony Hynes Vs David Hulmes
A ruy lopez game where Tony employed his favourite Schliemann defence and the game, unsurprisingly, became extremely chaotic with it looking as though white was going to get mated on several occasions as his king was sitting right in the middle of the board. White was not rewarded with a mate, however, and instead elected the safer route of removing a few pieces and making do with winning via the extra pawns he had picked up along the way.
Board 3: Phil holt Vs Stephen Pickles
The first of several scandinavian games to be played today, this opening not having made an appearance in county games for some time and scoring especially well today. Phil employed a fairly safe and sensible system, allowing for potential of play on either flank. The majority of the interesting play took place on the queenside where it appeared phil was making some serious threats against his opponents castled king and against the c7 pawn in front of it. Somewhere along the line, two pieces were given up for a rook and continued attack but blacks defences held well and, eventually, with two bishops against a rook and a strong looking counterattack the black forces managed to triumph.
Board 4: Pablo Padilla Vs Harry Lamb
Pablo, after a recent promotion in the team, played a dutch defence which was tested sternly by his opponent. In the early stages white appearing to be making strong progeress towards a crushing attack on the kingside after an aggressive g5 thrust. Pablo played carefully and patiently in parrying these threats but, more importantly, creeping towards the undefended white king and setting up a devastating counter attack. This game is given below:
1. Nf3 f5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 c6 6. Bd3 e6 7. Qd2 b5 8. h3 Bd6 9. g4 O-O 10. gxf5 exf5 11. O-O-O Nb6 12. Ne5 Qe8 13. f4 b4 14. Ne2 Ne4 15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Rdg1 a5 17. Ng3 Be6 18. b3 a4 19. Qe2 axb3 20. cxb3 Bxe521. fxe5 Nd5 22. Qh5 Rxa2 23. Kd1 Nc3+ 24. Ke1 Qxh5 25. Nxh5 Re2+ 26. Kf1 Ra8 0 - 1
Board 5: Andy Baruch Vs Ali Jaunooby
Andy decided to go for a bit of a change of pace in his game and opened with e4. The game started out as a pirc but soon drifted into a position which much more closely resembled a benoni, with Andy posessing a good space advantage and potential to attack. The attack did come on the kingside and a well deserved win was picked up within 30 moves.
This game is given below:
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 a6 5. a4 b6 6. Be2 c5 7. d5 Nf68. Qd2 h6 9. h3 Nbd7 10. Nf3 g5 11. Nh2 Ne5 12. f4 gxf4 13. Bxf4 Ng6 14. Be3Rb8 15. Ng4 h5 16. Bh6 Kf8 17. Bxg7+ Kxg7 18. Ne3 Bd7 19. Bxa6 Ra8 20. Qe2 e521. dxe6 fxe6 22. O-O Bc6 23. Bd3 Qd7 24. Nc4 Qc7 25. e5 Nxe5 26. Nxe5 dxe5 27.Qe3 Rag8 28. Qg5+ Kf7 29. Rxf6+ Ke8 30. Bg6+ 1-0
Board 6: Stewart Fishburne Vs Graham Burton
The game opened as a modern defence where Stewart unblocked the centre by means of a knight sacrifice, however his opponent managed to refute this by a massing of pieces on the kingside and through some tactics, which I did not personally witness, was able to win Stewarts queen and the game finished shortly after.
Board 7: Dani Malik Vs Adam Tyton
A Caro Kahn game where Dani employed the fantasy variation (an opening which I think has been unfairly named, as it works pretty well in reality as well) and, after sacrificing a pawn, was able to generate a position where he had enormous control over the centre with his opponent eventually cracking and allowing a powerful piece sacrifice which led to a position where mate was unstoppable. This game is included below:
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 e6 4 Nc3 Bd6 5. e5 bb4 6. a3 Ba5 7. f4 Ne7 8. Nf3 Bd7 9. Bd3 c5 10. dxc5 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Qa5 12.0-0 Na613. Be3 Nxc5 14. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 15. Kh1 Qxc3 16. Ng5 g6 17. Qf3 Rc8 18. Rab1 Qc7 19. Qh3 h6 20. Qh4 Nf5 21. Bxf5 exf5 22. Nxf7 Kxf7 23. Qf6+ Kg8 24. Qxg6+ Kf8 25. Qf6+ Kg8 26.Rg3 1 - 0
Board 8: Alan Lloyd Vs Glenn Trueman
The game opened as a kings indian but it became apparent that white was not especially keen to gain any sort of big advantages in the opening and Alan took the opportunity to activate his pieces and looked to have quite a good share of the play. A pawn was sacrificed on the queenside in order to lure the white defences away from the protection of the king but white spotted this cunning ploy and withdrew his attacking chances, a draw being agreed in the process.
Board 9: Kaiser Malik Vs Marcial Flores
The game was an unusual opening (I think it might have been a nimzowitch) which progressed to a dynamic middlegame in which white was first off the mark to start attacking but had to be cautious as black had many chances for a counter attack of his own. Eventually, although it had looked as though white was winning at some stages, a draw was agreed at a point of the match where it was very useful to protect our lead.
Board 10: John Emanuel Vs Tom Vout
A welcome return to the side for John, who has been away at university for the last few years, saw another positive performance for the Scandinavian opening. The game opened in the usual black style of generating a rock solid position and white striving hard to crack through. Some counterplay by black ended up with a slightly overstretched position and eventually the isolated pawns fell to whites positional play. The endgame looked lost but whites shattered pawns on the kingside proved an invaluable resource and John was able to engineer a perpetual check and save a loss at an important stage of the match.
Board 11: Keith Escott Vs John Wordsworth
The game opened as a sicillian with Keith employing a more positional approach to counter blacks, usually aggressive, intentions in this opening. The pressure exerted was too much for black and he found himself two pawns down, Keith then allowing one to be recaptured in order to reach a streightforward knight endgame one pawn up and his technique did not fail him in converting this position to a full point.
Board 12: Martin Smyth Vs John Reed
A kings indian defence game, with white playing a blocking g4 move to prevent the thematic f5 move which is usually an essential part of blacks play. Although martin was able to ward off the problems on the kingside, the queenside soon opened up and whites marrauding pieces made their way to create heavy threats on the back rank, which eventually led to a lost position.
Board 13: Bob Wildig Vs Alan Beresford
This game was a queens indian where white took steps to enforce the centre and keep black counterplay to a minimum. As I have lost against Bob myself from a similar position I had great faith that he would convert the lager space advantage into a win, which eventually did come to pass after black was forced to lose a piece and a continued onslaught of queen checks picked off all the pawns and then exchanged into a winning ending.
Board 14: Colin Eckloff Vs Mick Connor
Colin went for the very positional sacrificial opening, the benko gambit. White played well for a long time and hung onto the pawn while minimising blacks counterplay. Unfortunately, this also meant that his pieces were stuck defending and could not really do anything which meant that, when they did try and escape from the binds, the black forces struck quickly and a devastating pawn found its way to the back rank, forcing a resignation.
Board 15: Joey Stewart Vs Dave Pardoe
I was keen on the opportunity to play against another captain but almost came to regret this decision later in the game. The game opened as a scandinavian with white keeping a fairly firm grip on the position with a looming threat of an attack on the kingside. Eventually, though, it seemed easier to exchange off pieces and double blacks pawns in such a way that he was effectively a pawn down and the endgame would have been fairly easy to win. An endgame was the last thing on blacks mind, however, and an attack down the open h file proved extremely effective against a misplaced king with two pawns dropping off in rapid suscession. A sudden stroke of good luck prevented the position from being totally lost as black picked up the wrong piece and lost an exchange and therefore I offered a draw as a way for both players to emerge without loss of reputation.
Board 16: Richard Weaving Vs Ian Lamb
Making his debut for the team, Richard was not faced with an easy game against an opponent who seemed to be playing far about his nominal rating in a semi slav position, and applying a great deal of pressure in the centre. However, with black playing carefully and patiently, whites advantage slowly evaporated and an ending was reached with black having extra pawns which were pushed forward and once white fell victim to an en passent capture he was forced to resign. This game is included below:
1. Nf3, d5 2. g3, Nf6 3.Bg2, e6 4.d4, Bd6 5. 0-0, Nbd7 6.b3, c6 7. Bb2, Qc7 8. Nbd2, 0-0 9. c4, Re8 10. Rac1, Nf8 11.Qc2, Ng612. Rfe1, Qe7 13. e4, dxe4 14. Nxe4, Nxe4 15. Qxe4, c5 16. dxc5, Bxc5 17. Rcd1, f6 18. Bd4, Rb8 19. Bxc5, Qxc5 20. Qd4, Qxd4 21. Rxd4, e5 22. Rd6, Kf7 23. c5, Ne7 24. Red1, Be6 25. b4, Nf5 26. R6d2, h5 27. a4, g5 28. b5, g4 29.Nh4, Nd430.c6, bxc6 31. Bxc6, Rec8 32. Rd3, Nxc6 33. bxc6, Rxc6 34. Rd6, Rbb6 35. Rxc6, Rxc6 36. Rb1, Bd5 37. Kf1, Ra6 38.Rb8, Rxa4 39. Rh8, a5 40. Rxh5, Kg7 41.f4, gxf3 0 -1
