Played at the Navigation last evening -
Marple 1 V Stockport 1 : Manchester League Div.1 : 30/10/2014
1 I Lentzos (192) 0.5/0.5 A Smith (204)
2 S Hegarty (174) 0.5/0.5 A Reeve (186)
3 G Trueman (163) 0.5/0.5 P Siddall (191)
4 N Livesey (152) 0.5/0.5 P Cawley (185)
5 C Baker (129) 0-1 D Toole (171)
6 A Jenkins (130) 1-0 M Taylor (171)
7 T Cowling (127) 1-0 J Mason (150)
4-3
Things didn't get off to the most promising of starts when Sarah and I got stuck in an enormous traffic jam caused by an accident on Dan Bank. I desperately phoned Andy disturbing his pre-match shower to let him know we could be late and give him our team list in case Stockport were already there. As I read out the names I think we all realised just how much we were likely to be outgraded on every board.
Suddenly the traffic cleared and we were able to reach the Navigation by 7.30. This was not to be the only pleasant surprise of the evening.
On Board One Ioannis faced the difficult task of taking on Alan Smith with the Black pieces. Alan seemed to me to have some space advantage in a 3e5 Caro-Kann but the look on Alans face suggested to me he wasn't entirely happy with the situation. Soon a draw offer from Alan was forthcoming which understandably Ioannis accepted. A good solid start. 0.5/0.5.
My opponent was Phil Siddall. I've always found Phil a very strong adversary. The last time we played he made me look like a total patzer after he opened with 1g4. This time he opened with his Queen pawn and after 1d4 Nf6 2Nf3 e6 3g3 I couldn't resist an exaggerated fianchetto of my my own with 3....b5. Although I've never played this before and it looks slightly dubious it has been played by some strong GMs such as Timman and Kramnik so it can't be too bad. Our game perhaps showed that no matter how good the player it's very difficult if you don't know the nuances of an opening and soon Phil was having to find some very exact moves not to get a terrible position. Eventually I won a pawn but I failed to find an effective way to capitalise on it as the seamy side of b5 was showing up with with my a7 pawn looking virtually impossible to defend. We agreed a draw in a position where my extra pawn was about to become both doubled and isolated and truth be told I thought Whites winning chances although slim looked better than Blacks. 1.0/1.0
Sarah was taking on Andy Reeves favourite d6,c6 set up with a system I've never seen based on a very early Qe2.I suspect some work had been done on this line in the Hegarty/Longson Opening Novelty Factory otherwise known as their house. Here it seemed to work well and Sarah was soon energetically launching her Kingside pawns towards Andy. Mr Reeve is of course a superb defender and his position remained solid so I wasn't surprised when a draw was agreed. 1.5/1.5.
Chris was Black against the Stockport Captain Dave Toole. The opening seemed to have gone reasonably well with a typical IQP position being reached. When I next looked though things had become very difficult for Black with Daves pieces menancingly poised around Chris' King and sad to say soon there was absolutely no way out. 1.5/2.5.
The strength of the Stockport team was shown by the fact that Andy was facing a player graded 171 on Board 6. Mike Taylor won a piece and although Andy had two pawns for it he later said he didn't think it was anywhere near enough. Things took a turn for the better when Mike decentralised his beautiful Knight on e4 much to the annoyance of Alan Smith. It was now clear that Andy had real chances and with a series of superb vigourous moves broke through and triumphantly promoted a pawn. Mike had no option but to resign. This was Andys second victory against much higher rated opposition in three days and gives him a grading for the week of about 214. 2.5/2.5
It was now getting tense as incredibly we were in with a real chance of getting something from this match. Nigel had played an English Opening quite beautifully against an opponent graded some thirty odd points higher than him. To avoid defeat Paul had no choice but to give up a Rook for two minor pieces. At one point Nigels position looked tremendous with a beautifully placed outpost Knight on d6. The problem though was how to actually do something with the position and superb player that he his Paul found a way to create problems based around the march of his h pawn. When I saw that the Black Queen had invaded near to the White King I even feared Nigel might lose but the players agreed a draw with Black poised to give perpetual check. 3.0/3.0 .
So it all came down to the Board 7 game. Terry had faced a relatively quiet d4/e3 system from Jeff (Mason) and for a long time the situation looked well balanced to me. Eventually Terry managed to win Jeffs h pawn and a very tricky Knight endgame was reached. I don't think I'll ever forget the look on Terrys face when I showed him the scorecard after he asked me what the situation in the match was with only his game in play. Although Terry was a pawn up there was play all over the board and a further problem was that Terry was about three minutes behind on the clock with about 8 minutes left to Jeffs 11.
Was Terry worried ?- Well he certainly didn't show it as he navigated his way through lots of obstacles and with most of the Marple team barely able to look Jeff resigned with both players having less than than two minutes left and Terrys pawn poised to promote. 4-3.
We had actually won despite being outgraded on every single board and against opposition graded on average 30 points higher than us! I've played competitive chess for 35 years and I can't remember a more remarkable victory. Many thanks to all our players on what was definitely a night to remember.
One final point which is more important than the chess, at the end of the match every Stockport player shook my hand and congratulated Marple on their victory. In the circumstances I think that was a very classy gesture indeed.
Glenn.
Brilliant effort - well done everybody !!
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