Sheffield & District Chess Association Established 1883 |
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25/03/2021 On-Line League 2020-21, Season 2, Round 2
Links to result pages:
Round 2 duly went ahead on 25/03/2021.
Time trouble led to a number of games being terminated by blunders, usually in losing positions. Six of the 28 games have been added to the Games page of this website. These were those the webmaster intentionally followed live, in expectation of possible interest.
US player Frank Marshall developed the a counter attack which bears his name (8. …d5 in a line of the Ruy Lopez), and famously used it to try to topple Capablanca in the 1918 New York tournament. (Capablanca defended stoically and went on to win.) In the Division 1 match Darnall & Handsworth A v Hillsborough A, on board 1 for the latter, Paul Fletcher as Black played this Marshall Attack against Chris Ross, and Black developed tactical pressure for some moves, but the attack was fizzling out by move 20, by which time White had harvested a second extra pawn. The game reduced to an ending with K+R+N+1 versus K+R+P. White was saved task of demonstrating a win when in time trouble Black strayed into a knight fork of his king and rook. Click here to play through the game on screen.
On board 2 in the same match, Bryan Wood as White, against Marek Gajdosz, won Q for R + N (or lost R + N for Q). Black’s game fell apart when he allowed a humorous 25. Bx(P)b5, attacking a black bishop on d7, which could neither move nor be defended due to a lurking back-rank mate. Click here to play through the game on screen.
In the Division 1 match Woodseats A v Sheffield Nomads A, Mark Allison, with Black against Oskar Hackner, played the Dutch Defence to 1. d4. Black was faring reasonably well until at move 21 he exchanged at e3 so as to create a connected, passed white pawn at e3. An injudicious 30th move by Black led to the unavoidable loss of a pawn, and Black’s subsequent choice of pawn exchanges led to his c-pawn disappearing, so that White had connected, passed d and e-pawns, which won the ending for White. Click here to play through the game on screen.
On board 2 of the same match, Nigel Carpino had White against Paul Cumbers. (I once told Paul I was “disappointed” that he had not been named Quentin, and discovered that idea was not new! That reminds me of a certain Mr. & Mrs. Bone, who were considering calling their new-born daughter Henrietta, until the strategic flaw in the plan was explained to them.) This game, too, featured a Dutch defence. It was relatively uneventful, reducing to an ending with K + 2B + 4P on each side: two pairs of opposite-coloured bishops! There was an interesting pin and double attack on Black’s e-pawn at the end, and both sides seem to have preferred to agree a draw rather than risk simplifying to an ending were they would have to work out who, if anybody, would be winning. Click here to play through the game on screen.
In the Lucky Dip match SASCA A v Barnsley, Andrew Butterworth had White against Miles-Edward Wright. Would the latter manage to topple an opponent who seems disinclined to take risks? The answer proved to be “Yes.” By move 30, Black had positional pressure reminiscent of that for which Black strives in the Benko Gambit (but without having surrendered a pawn to achieve it). This pressure netted the white b-pawn (à la Benko), and White, perhaps under time pressure, stumbled into an amusing mate which would have been so much prettier had the white Rook been a pawn, so as to maximise the symmetry of White’s sorry final position. Click here to play through the game on screen.
On board 2 of the same match, Jonathan Arnott had White against Peter Micklethwaite, both of whom like to attack. After 30 moves, Black had a rather raggy pawn structure, but things were not very clear, and seemingly far from over. However, White then played a backward knight move (notorious for leading to oversights) which happened to attack the black queen at c7. There had been a possible pawn exchange for Black at b5 for the previous ten moves, and now, with his queen en prise, Black decided that it was the best moment to make that exchange! Click here to play through the game on screen.
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