The Long and Windlehurst Road

Played at the Navigation last evening -

Marple 1  V Chorlton 2 - Manchester Lge. Div. One  - 09/04/2015

1 I Lentzos      0.5/0.5     J E Horner
2 S Hegarty       1-0        A Elliot
3 G Trueman     1-0        J O'Neil
4 N Livesey       1-0        L Gregg
5 A Jenkins     0.5/0.5     S Stokes
6 C Baker        0.5/0.5     A Beresford
7 T Cowling      0.5/0.5     R Nurse

                           5-2

At 6.45pm just as I was getting ready to leave I received a text from Andy warning of roadworks on the A626 between Stockport and Marple. Although this was helpful information I was left with the dilemma of whether I should try and contact everyone who would be using this road, or would this just cause confusion?.I opted for the 3H's route - Hazel Grove,High Lane and Hawk Green. It's been many years since I saw Hawk Green and as I drove through the village on a beautiful spring evening I couldn't help but feel nostalgic about the time I played cricket there over three decades ago - O my Hornby and my Benaud long ago...  

I still managed to get to the Navi for 7.20 and was relieved to find the whole team there, regardless of the route they took. The good fortune continued when I won the toss and chose to bat, sorry I mean have White on odd boards. I do feel having an extra White is a significant advantage. At the highest levels of team chess getting a draw with Black is considered almost on a par with a White win.That's one reason why I'm always 100% satisfied when one of our players draws with the Black pieces.

Looking at the way the teams were constructed I made Chorlton marginal favourites. They have a lot of strength in depth at their club and whilst our players had slightly higher grades on boards 1-3 on boards 5-7 we were outgraded on average by 24 points.

Like last week my game was the first to finish. I was berating myself for a somewhat limp choice of opening when in an even position one injudicious pawn move from Jim transformed my Knights into Arkle and Red Rum. (For younger readers I should perhaps point out that Arkle was a magnificent racehorse and is not to be confused with Keith, who is a magnificent chessplayer). The speed with which Jims game collapsed was remarkable, he could find nothing better, and indeed there was nothing better, than a line where he not only lost the exchange but also two pawns as well.Although Jim played on for several moves as long as I didn't do anything stupid there could only be one result and Jim resigned on move 31. (1-0)

Some time later Terrys game ended. This had been a typical Terry manoeuvering game. Although he had contracted an isolated e pawn he obtained enough piece activity to encourage Richard to eventually offer a draw which after some thought Terry accepted. (1.5-0.5).

Meanwhile Chris and Alan were  having an epic battle. I have great respect for the fearless way Alan meets the Najdorf with the main line Bg5 variation. This was a typical game in this line with Alans Kingside pawns marching up the board but Chris retaining the counterplay that has kept this opening top of the pops for the last fifty years. Eventually Chris '  Queen cleverly  invaded   behind the lines and best play for both sides seemed likely to end in either repetition or perpetual check. A draw was then agreed. (2 - 1)

Andys game was next to finish. I didn't see too much of the early play but a position was reached where although there were opposite coloured Bishops Stephen had a passed d pawn that looked dangerous. Fortunately by a very nice pin on the seventh rank Andy was able to tie down both the opposing Rook and King making progress for Stephen impossible. (2.5- 1.5)

So the match was still in the balance but I was delighted that we had managed to draw all the games on boards 5-7.

Ioannis' game then ended in another draw but it certainly wasn't for any lack of effort. John is a very resourceful defender and always seemed to be just about holding Ioannis' winning attempts. They went all the way to a Bishop V Knight ending with Ioannis having the Bishop. However Ioannis' Queenside pawns were all on the same colour as his Bishop . With Johns King and Knight both very well centralised there was no way to make progress. (3-2).

Nigel had seemed to me at times to have problems against Louie but the position always remained sharp and double edged. I suspect Louie felt the match situation demanded he play for a win and with only a Q and B left for each player he attacked on the Kingside. Nigel calmly saw his opportunity to invade into the vacated space with his Queen. In the ensuing melee Louie went wrong somewhere and ended up allowing Nigel to mate in one. He resigned before Nigel had the chance to make the move. We had won. (4-2)

In the last game to finish for the second week running Austin launched a Grand Prix attack against a Marple player. Although objectively Black may have been fine I wouldn't have liked to face the attack after Austin played f5 but Sarah calmly defended and went on to obtain what looked to be the better position.Austin still had play though and running short of time missed the opportunity for a very interesting exchange sacrifice. Subsequent analysis has seemed to reveal that Sarah would still have been ok but the line involving a move of the Knight to a8 would have been difficult to find over the board. As played Austins lack of time became the overriding factor and he resigned with just 17 seconds left on his clock. (5-2).

The final score was I thought very harsh on the Chorlton team who took defeat in a very sporting manner.It was a good team effort on our part with everyone making a significant contribution. As always thanks to those who played/drove.

Although this win improves our position in this League, we are still in a relegation dogfight.. Our next match on the 14th of May will be very important in determining our fate.