Division 2, First Weekend (Rounds 1&2) by John Carleton
The memories of a year earlier when the 4NCL
adventure began for the Spirit of Atticus came
flooding back when we were greeted this year, as
then, by a beautiful sunny November morning. The
butterflies in the stomach that were in place in
anticipation of the unknown last year were
active this time with the prospect of upgrading
ourselves from medium sized fish in a small pond
to life in the big pool. And what opponents were
likely to be more fearsome than our first round
opponents, the Sharks?
At this point I should emphasise that Spirit
of Atticus for this campaign, like the England
Rugby Union team in the recent World Cup,
explored new levels of preparation unanticipated
by their rivals. Some matters cannot be revealed
because of their revolutionary impact, but let
me ask,"does your team have target setting?"
Atticus did. "Does your team gather round their
computers to sing along with video clips [The
Jet song from West Side Story; the Jets, of
course, sworn enemies of the Sharks]
thoughtfully provided by their support staff?"
Atticus did.
To return to the weekend itself and the first
match; after welcoming new recruits, Andrew
Smith and Dave Latham, the team were soon locked
in battle. The early stages seemed fairly level
which we took as a good sign as there was a
chance we could be swept away if we started
badly. There was a flurry of activity around the
3-3½ hour mark; Dave L had drummed up some
initiative as black on board 4, turned down a
draw but having initiated play in the wrong
sector of the board, resigned when prohibitive
material in arrears with no activity. This was
balanced by Andy M on board 7 who had had his
draw offer turned down by an opponent who could
sense long term attacking options. Unfortunately
for him this was not backed up by suitable short
term choices; a simple sequence netted the
exchange and a straightforward win for Andy.
Sheila on board 3 had emerged from a dodgy
opening with some activity for a pawn and when
her opponent moved in for the kill with what was
anticipated as a pseudo-sacrifice but succinctly
demonstrated to be a real one by Sheila, the
point that gave us the lead was not long
delayed. Steve on board 6 put in a measured
display to hold the half point as black in a
game that never varied significantly from level.
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Rd1: Spirit
of Atticus v Sambuca Sharks |
This left four games in play: Dave R on board
8 had equalised comfortably with the black
pieces but in trying to break into his youthful
opponent's position walked into a sucker punch
and selected playing on with rook and pawn for a
queen as his best practical chance: this was
not, as you will anticipate, a great chance and
in due course Dave succumbed leaving three of us
playing, with Sambuca Sharks better in each
game. Andy S on board 2 had gradually moved to
neutralise the slight but nagging pressure he
had been under throughout when a time trouble
blunder lost a piece and ended his resistance.
Peter and his opponent on board 5 had
constructed a position where Peter had acquired
a bad bishop; however the pawn formation had
become blocked and after extreme care and some
suffering Peter was able to complete the
exchanges that made a draw inevitable. Last to
finish was my game against Thomas Rendle: a
sharp skirmish in the opening saw us progress to
an ending where Thomas had two pawns for the
exchange. When this extended to three pawns a
loss for me seemed inevitable, but a couple of
small errors on his part were enough for me to
generate activity sufficient to wriggle into a
straightforward theoretical draw. Thus we set
off somewhat belatedly for our traditional post
match celebration, following a match of many ifs
and buts but one where we had contributed fully
to the tension in the narrow defeat.
This time we ate English style in
Northampton, close to our hotel. Steve's
assiduous research was applauded by one and all,
for it was he who had found the Brabenec
Restaurant some months before, and he has
immediately been installed as assistant to the
deputy Entertainment Secretary.
The food was much appreciated and, hard
though it will be to comprehend by those who
know us, I got the impression that the drink was
appreciated even more than the food. The
conversation was as ever, varied, inspiring and
lucid. We were graced by Jeannie Latham's
presence and look forward to welcoming her on a
regular basis even if Dave should be unavailable
for a particular match. It was Sunday morning
when we retired, looking forward to the
challenges of the new day.
We were higher rated than our opponents 3Cs
and we settled down with confidence for we felt
that they would have been unsettled by their
defeat to the impressive, largely North Wales
based opponents, called South Wales Dragons. As
a team who has regularly beaten higher rated
opponents we should have expected that one day
the tables would be turned, and, after two and a
half hours or so it might have dawned on us that
this was the day. The games where we were making
the running seemed few and far between: on board
3, Sheila had ventured into the home ground of
well-known Trompowsky aficionado Alan Walton and
an interesting and rather obscure position
arose. On board 2 Andy S appeared to be on the
verge of breaking through into his opponent's
rather undeveloped position.
The rest of the match did not look promising:
my game on board 1 was set for long term action
on opposite sides of the board and my position
looked reasonable; this changed when I rashly
opened up lines in the centre meaning that the
pawn cover round my king was extremely scant.
Dave L on board 4 was, as white, struggling to
get play. Peter on board 5 set up what appeared
to be a fairly balanced position with maybe an
edge for his opponent Graham Burton. Only after
the draw was agreed did the players establish
that Peter's situation was in fact extremely
dicey and we were fortunate to get the draw.
Over the bottom three boards, the Spirit of
Atticus team had between them something in the
region of one hundred and fifty years extra
chess experience over their opponents. This did
not show with Dave R on board 8 and Steve on
board 6 in very poor positions and Andy between
them struggling to equalise.
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Rd2: 3C's 1 v
Spirit of Atticus |
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Our destruction was complete approaching the
first time control: Dave L duly obtained enough
to draw on board 4 and Sheila also agreed a draw
in a position where maybe most would have
preferred her opponent.
Dale James against me did not rush into
matters, calmly playing defensive moves before
launching his cavalry against my king. Where his
knights led the heavy artillery soon followed
and I was blown away. Andy's opponent on board 2
played some clever defensive/counter attacking
ideas with both sides short of time: those
watching from our side could only admire this
intense battle whilst feeling, on Andy's forced
resignation that this may have been the one that
got away. There is no criticism of our player
here nor complaint concerning the match result,
since the bottom three boards proved the three
that got away for 3C's, experience having the
last word and three of our elder statesmen
managing to capture three difficult draws. We
thus lie equal bottom of our section, and, like
the Rugby Union Board before us we will not
stand idle for a moment faced with this grave
situation. Extracts from the first report of the
management committee include the following:
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We have no comment regarding the
unsubstantiated dwarf throwing allegations
in Northampton on Saturday night.
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A moratorium on target setting is now in
place whilst we consider the whole matter;
we will in the meantime hope for the best
like we always have.
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We will ensure that the new song [to a tune
by a band called the Village People, we
believe] ♪♫
"It's fun to play 'gainst the AMCA"
♪♫
will be ready for distribution in good time for
the second round of matches.
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In brief we intend to enjoy this season's
competition and camaraderie every bit as
much as we did last season.
•
Rd1 results •
Rd2 results
•
Spirit of Atticus team page
•
Division 2b Table •
Games in
PGN
•
This report is also available here
