Reports on two Friendlies lifted from the Nomads website
Nomads 2 - 2Worksop
Denis Mason0-1 Michael Clark
Bill Pettigrew1-0 Tim England
Henry Withington1-0 Cliff Briggs
Francesca Biggio0-1 Frank Holt
Following our victory at Worksop two days earlier, Cliff and the team turned up a full 15 minutes early at the Harlequin, eager for revenge. There were a couple of changes to the Nomads team, with Denis and Bill coming in for Steve and Ian; Worksop made one change with Michael replacing Nigel on top board. Henry vs Cliff and Francesca vs Frank were repeats of Monday night's match.
Worksop won the toss, so took white on odds. On board one, Denis played an unusual opening, and seemed to get in something of a pickle early on - however, he managed to extricate himself from the mess at no significant cost materially, even if his position was probably shot to pieces long term. On two, Bill opened with the King's Gambit and after a fairly innocuous opening period, managed to win a couple of pawns with some neat tactics. Henry and Cliff (pt2) seemed to be heading down a different route to part 1, with the board becoming choked with pawns and a deadlocked position seemingly the most likely outcome. Francesca and Frank (pt2) was an altogether sharper affair - Frank's Petrov countered with an interesting queen move by Francesca which gave her a shot at dismantling Frank's kingside pawns. Unfortunately, a capture with the knight on g6, rather than the bishop, allowed Frank a discovered check which netted him the exchange.
As the evening progressed, Michael was able to exert increasing influence over the position of Denis' pieces, eventually picking up the exchange and then making significant inroads into the centre of the board, allowing a forced queen exchange which would also net an entire piece - Denis resigned rather than play on in a hopeless position.
On two, Bill was forced to give a pawn back, but significantly ahead on the clock he was then able to win a piece for two pawns. Tim looked to have some threats with a number of passed pawns, but an inaccuracy resulted in him dropping another piece and after the rooks came off, Bill was able to press home his advantage, using his two bishops to queen a pawn and weave a mating net.
On three, the expected deadlock was reached. Henry attempted to barge his way through on the queenside with doubled rooks, a bishop and his queen all brought to bear. Eventually a bishop exchange seemed to open a chink of light - Cliff closed the door quickly and in attempting to manouevre around the blockade Henry allowed his rooks to be forked. The position looked strategically lost, but with Cliff running out of time Henry was able to hold on and Cliff's flag fell before he was able to press home his advantage.
Finally, on four, Francesca attempted to generate counterplay against Frank, nearly trapping his king in the centre of the board. He was able to wriggle free, and after a rook pair came off slowly worked his advantage, capturing one piece and then another until eventually all Francesca had left to play with were a couple of pawns. Frank pushed one of his own, queening and delivering checkmate only a couple of moves later.
So 2-2 - a very close match reflected in the scoreline and a lucky escape on the night. Many thanks to Cliff, Michael, Tim and Frank for turning out against us and offering our players the chance for some more chess this season. We can now look forward to more chess next year; if the S&DCA continue with the limited number of games for Division 4 then there's every chance we'll be setting up some more friendlies in 2011-12.
Monday 25th April 2011
Worksop 1 - 3 Nomads
Nigel Baxendale0-1 Steve Withington
Tim England0-1 Ian Copley
Cliff Briggs 0-1 Henry Withington
Frank Holt1-0 Francesca Biggio
arranging a double-header week towards the tail end of the season, and confirming that despite the Easter festivities there were still players on both sides who hadn't consumed too much chocolate over the weekend that they were unable to play, we rolled up at The Horse Shoe 10 minutes early to take on a Worksop team generously put together by Cliff Briggs. Somewhat less generously, we won the match 3-1 but that doesn't tell the full story.
First to finish was the match on board 3. Henry played in his customary laid-back style, but appeared to get into a few pickles in the middle game. He managed to get out of them again, just, and after all the minor pieces came off a back rank invasion allowed a neat geometric finish which picked up Cliff's queen and the game. A chance at revenge on Wednesday night, perhaps...
Next up, the battle of the Frans on board 4. Frank gained the upper hand via a misjudged exchange, then Francesca retrieved the situation with a neat fork. A simple pawn capture would have left her standing equal, if not slightly better...but overlooking the capture in favour of avoiding check led to a passed pawn on f3. A neat queening move then saw Frank emerge a full rook to the good and Francesca's mating threats were dealt with, at which point she resigned with essentially no play left in her position. A chance at revenge on Wednesday night, perhaps...
Steve vs Nigel, and Ian vs Tim, meanwhile, looked set to go the distance. Steve had opened solidly enough, but then appeared to decide that the queenside was a good place to gather his rook and queen for a get together. Nigel, however, misplaced a knight in the middle of the board and whilst there were tactics and pinning threats along the key d- and e- files, not to mention a couple of diagonals, eventually Steve emerged a piece to the good...which he then had to hand back in order to avoid over-exposure for his king. An endgame with the rooks and queens on the board looked very even...but Nigel moved his king to a losing square in avoiding check, and a few moves later Steve had unstoppable threats and another win (though by his own admission, one of his least convincing this season). No chance of revenge on Wednesday night, however - Nigel can't make it and Steve's services are needed elsewhere.
Which left Ian and Tim gamely battling it out in a queenless middlegame...followed by a queenless endgame. Ian worked an extra pawn early on, and with a solid position and some slow (but genuine) threats down the queenside, looked to have the game sewn up. Tim, however, fought back and eventually forced a perpetual check. However, seeing the possibility of something more, he declined to go with that option and instead offered a mating threat. Ian saw it, and batted it away. A few moves later, Tim returned with a second perpetual threat - Ian also saw that and batted it away. Finally, with no more than 60 seconds left on his clock, Tim found a third potential mating net; Ian saw it yet again and a pawn sacrifice was sufficient to give his king an escape square and the chance to support his passed a-pawn - a couple of moves later Tim's flag fell. A half-chance at revenge on Wednesday night...Tim is playing again but this time he'll be up against Bill.
Overall, then, four close games - the sides were well-matched and it will be interesting to see how the rematches pan out on Wednesday night. As ever, we would like to extend our gratitude to Tim, Frank, Nigel and of course Cliff, for setting up the two matches.
Andrew
Nomads 2 - 2Worksop
Denis Mason0-1 Michael Clark
Bill Pettigrew1-0 Tim England
Henry Withington1-0 Cliff Briggs
Francesca Biggio0-1 Frank Holt
Following our victory at Worksop two days earlier, Cliff and the team turned up a full 15 minutes early at the Harlequin, eager for revenge. There were a couple of changes to the Nomads team, with Denis and Bill coming in for Steve and Ian; Worksop made one change with Michael replacing Nigel on top board. Henry vs Cliff and Francesca vs Frank were repeats of Monday night's match.
Worksop won the toss, so took white on odds. On board one, Denis played an unusual opening, and seemed to get in something of a pickle early on - however, he managed to extricate himself from the mess at no significant cost materially, even if his position was probably shot to pieces long term. On two, Bill opened with the King's Gambit and after a fairly innocuous opening period, managed to win a couple of pawns with some neat tactics. Henry and Cliff (pt2) seemed to be heading down a different route to part 1, with the board becoming choked with pawns and a deadlocked position seemingly the most likely outcome. Francesca and Frank (pt2) was an altogether sharper affair - Frank's Petrov countered with an interesting queen move by Francesca which gave her a shot at dismantling Frank's kingside pawns. Unfortunately, a capture with the knight on g6, rather than the bishop, allowed Frank a discovered check which netted him the exchange.
As the evening progressed, Michael was able to exert increasing influence over the position of Denis' pieces, eventually picking up the exchange and then making significant inroads into the centre of the board, allowing a forced queen exchange which would also net an entire piece - Denis resigned rather than play on in a hopeless position.
On two, Bill was forced to give a pawn back, but significantly ahead on the clock he was then able to win a piece for two pawns. Tim looked to have some threats with a number of passed pawns, but an inaccuracy resulted in him dropping another piece and after the rooks came off, Bill was able to press home his advantage, using his two bishops to queen a pawn and weave a mating net.
On three, the expected deadlock was reached. Henry attempted to barge his way through on the queenside with doubled rooks, a bishop and his queen all brought to bear. Eventually a bishop exchange seemed to open a chink of light - Cliff closed the door quickly and in attempting to manouevre around the blockade Henry allowed his rooks to be forked. The position looked strategically lost, but with Cliff running out of time Henry was able to hold on and Cliff's flag fell before he was able to press home his advantage.
Finally, on four, Francesca attempted to generate counterplay against Frank, nearly trapping his king in the centre of the board. He was able to wriggle free, and after a rook pair came off slowly worked his advantage, capturing one piece and then another until eventually all Francesca had left to play with were a couple of pawns. Frank pushed one of his own, queening and delivering checkmate only a couple of moves later.
So 2-2 - a very close match reflected in the scoreline and a lucky escape on the night. Many thanks to Cliff, Michael, Tim and Frank for turning out against us and offering our players the chance for some more chess this season. We can now look forward to more chess next year; if the S&DCA continue with the limited number of games for Division 4 then there's every chance we'll be setting up some more friendlies in 2011-12.
Monday 25th April 2011
Worksop 1 - 3 Nomads
Nigel Baxendale0-1 Steve Withington
Tim England0-1 Ian Copley
Cliff Briggs 0-1 Henry Withington
Frank Holt1-0 Francesca Biggio
arranging a double-header week towards the tail end of the season, and confirming that despite the Easter festivities there were still players on both sides who hadn't consumed too much chocolate over the weekend that they were unable to play, we rolled up at The Horse Shoe 10 minutes early to take on a Worksop team generously put together by Cliff Briggs. Somewhat less generously, we won the match 3-1 but that doesn't tell the full story.
First to finish was the match on board 3. Henry played in his customary laid-back style, but appeared to get into a few pickles in the middle game. He managed to get out of them again, just, and after all the minor pieces came off a back rank invasion allowed a neat geometric finish which picked up Cliff's queen and the game. A chance at revenge on Wednesday night, perhaps...
Next up, the battle of the Frans on board 4. Frank gained the upper hand via a misjudged exchange, then Francesca retrieved the situation with a neat fork. A simple pawn capture would have left her standing equal, if not slightly better...but overlooking the capture in favour of avoiding check led to a passed pawn on f3. A neat queening move then saw Frank emerge a full rook to the good and Francesca's mating threats were dealt with, at which point she resigned with essentially no play left in her position. A chance at revenge on Wednesday night, perhaps...
Steve vs Nigel, and Ian vs Tim, meanwhile, looked set to go the distance. Steve had opened solidly enough, but then appeared to decide that the queenside was a good place to gather his rook and queen for a get together. Nigel, however, misplaced a knight in the middle of the board and whilst there were tactics and pinning threats along the key d- and e- files, not to mention a couple of diagonals, eventually Steve emerged a piece to the good...which he then had to hand back in order to avoid over-exposure for his king. An endgame with the rooks and queens on the board looked very even...but Nigel moved his king to a losing square in avoiding check, and a few moves later Steve had unstoppable threats and another win (though by his own admission, one of his least convincing this season). No chance of revenge on Wednesday night, however - Nigel can't make it and Steve's services are needed elsewhere.
Which left Ian and Tim gamely battling it out in a queenless middlegame...followed by a queenless endgame. Ian worked an extra pawn early on, and with a solid position and some slow (but genuine) threats down the queenside, looked to have the game sewn up. Tim, however, fought back and eventually forced a perpetual check. However, seeing the possibility of something more, he declined to go with that option and instead offered a mating threat. Ian saw it, and batted it away. A few moves later, Tim returned with a second perpetual threat - Ian also saw that and batted it away. Finally, with no more than 60 seconds left on his clock, Tim found a third potential mating net; Ian saw it yet again and a pawn sacrifice was sufficient to give his king an escape square and the chance to support his passed a-pawn - a couple of moves later Tim's flag fell. A half-chance at revenge on Wednesday night...Tim is playing again but this time he'll be up against Bill.
Overall, then, four close games - the sides were well-matched and it will be interesting to see how the rematches pan out on Wednesday night. As ever, we would like to extend our gratitude to Tim, Frank, Nigel and of course Cliff, for setting up the two matches.
Andrew
