No Doubt About It

Played at Holmes Chapel Chess Club last evening -

Holmes Chapel     v    Marple      Charnley Cup Final    07/05/15

1 JLB Blacburn    0-1   A Longson
2 JM Turner         0-1   A Walton
3 P Bennett           0-1   J Bentley 
4 M Hancock        0-1  J Horton
5 B Scattergood    0-1   S Hegarty
6 A Raeburn      0.5/0.5 G Trueman

                           0.5-5.5  

Firstly if anyone from Holmes Chapel  is reading this I apologise for the slightly arrogant title to this piece. Given the sad death of Erroll Brown I had to use a Hot Chocolate song but "Everyones a Winner" would have been innacurate and given events elsewhere on Thursday inappropriate.Also try as I might  I couldn't find a way to headline a chess match with "You Sexy Thing".
Anyway on to the chess. My game with Andy (Raeburn) was the third time I have drawn with him in the last eighteen months. My only mitigation is that I have had Black every time.On this occasion a very subtle move order by Andy left me defending a type of Scheveningen Sicilian I have never played before in my life. This showed as Andy left the opening with a slight plus. I didn't play particularly badly but I always felt I was slightly worse and computer analysis later confirmed this. Andy offered me a draw on move 26 and given that we seemed to be doing well on virtually all the other boards it seemed logical to accept. (0.5/0.5).
Alans game was the next to finish. He engaged John (Turner) in a Tarrasch French line he obcviously knew very well.Alan played ...g5 and though it was still theory (I think) it takes strong nerves to play such a move against a very good attacking player like John. The next time I looked at the board the Queens had come off and Alan had a big advantage in the centre. John ultimately tried to defend an opposite coloured Bishop ending two pawns down but it was no problem for Alan to convert. (1.5/0.5).
Our John (Bentley) was next to finish. He seemed in control throughout most of the game using what in my view is a very potent weapon in the Catalan system. Pat allowed John to dominate the centre and ultimately win a piece. Given Pats style of play perhaps he would have had better chances using some sort of g6 system.Although Pat played on for some time he ultimately resigned facing an unstoppable attack. (2.5/1.5).
Sarah took us over the line with a win over Ben Scattergood. In a Classical French Sarah established a Knight on d6. The position was complicated though and I did get a bit concerned when Sarah took about thirty minutes on one move.However  White won the Opening  and Ben ended up playing a middle game position where he was material down without compensation .In due course Ben resigned. A special thanks to Sarah for turning out when she was unwell and thus saving me from any last minute scrambling to get a team together. (3.5/1.5).
Alex also won. He had faced a very interesting Winawer where Black retreats his Bishop to a5 rather than taking on c3. I wondered if Alex would play the move recommended by Alekhine and Fischer 6b4!?. Of course he did. This is perhaps the best choice but is very complicated and double edged.Given the strength of the players on Board One it's not surprising theory was followed for quite some time  but my gut instinct was White had an edge. Ultimately Mr Blackburn (Jon?) relinquished  the exchange, and although he had some interesting attacking ideas on the kingside Alex' accurate play resulted in him taking the full point. (4.5/1.5).
Jamies game was the last one to finish. This was a Closed Sicilian that always looked pretty even to me although Jamie was becoming ever more short of time. We were playing with ten second increments and when I saw Jamies clock reading just 5 seconds against his opponents 10 minutes plus I thought he was doomed. However in the circumstances he played remarkably well and the focus transferred to Michael who was under pressure to win in such circumstances. Jamie now seemed to be getting on top and was further helped when Michael made an illegal move. This gave Jamie an additional two minutes and when the clocks were reconfigured it turned out to be Michael that lost on time in what was by now a lost position for him.This was quite a remarkable recovery, one of the best of its type I have seen. (5.5/0.5).
So we now have done the "Double" of League and Cup without losing a match! It's been a long season in the Stockport League and I would like to sincerely thank all those who have either played or enabled people to play.
It's still not quite all over though, there are still two important Manchester League fixtures coming up.