Match Result, Marple A v Chorlton 10/03/14

Here is the match card / report from last nights Stockport League clash

		Marple A			Chorlton
1		Daniel Fernandez	1	0	Ron Doney
2		Alex Longson	1	0	Chris Vassilou
3		Michael Fernandez	1	0	Phil Olbison
4		Alan Walton	0.5	0.5	Dennis Owen
5		Sarah Hegarty	0.5	0.5	Alan Beresford
6		John Bentley	1	0	Dee-Fault
			5	1

The night got off to an eventful (uneventful?) start when at 1930 only one Chorlton player was present.  By 1945 and with the E-Team match already underway I had started to doubt my own diary management skills.  Fortunately, the Chorlton team bus finally showed and we could start.  Unfortunately, Chorlton had to default the bottom board due to a late cancellation meaning one of our 6 had to drop out.  John kindly volunteered, for the 2nd time this season, which at least meant he could get some rest ahead of a business meeting scheduled for today.

With a 1-0 lead before we had begun and a significant grading advantage on every board we were overwhelming favourites and so it proved.

Daniel again wheeled out the Caro Kann and again managed to demonstrate it as a potent attacking weapon whipping up an attack on Ron's king in the endgame.

My game was quite straightforward as Chris found himself in an unfamiliar position in his favourite Sicilian Kan and had to enter a depressing endgame a pawn down which I soon converted.

Michael played an interesting and sharp game eventually prevailing against Phil Olbison on the black side of a 2.c3 Sicilian.

Sarah had a good position out of the opening (6.g3 Sicilian Najdorf) but Alan seemed to play quite well and eventually succeeded in persuading Sarah to accept a draw offer.

Our Alan's game was last to finish and went right to the wire.  Alan had been nursing a tiny edge from the opening (Queens Gambit Declined Exchange Variation) but with all the rooks swapped off I thought his advantage was largely symbolic, and Dennis was playing very solidly.  Down to around 4 minutes each Alan blundered a pawn and entered a minor piece endgame where his knight appeared to be trapped.  At the cost of a pawn he was able to extricate it and the game came down to knight and pawn (Dennis) vs a knight.  It looked complicated and with around 20 seconds left who knows what was going on.  Alan was able to sacrifice his knight for the lone pawn and a draw was finally agreed with about 10 seconds remaining.

Thanks all for playing / turning up.  We now have 7 wins and 1 draw with 4 games remaining and are top of the League table at the moment.