The Northern 4NCL 2nd Weekend, 15th-16th Jan 2011 by John Carleton
It was a big sporting weekend
in Crewe with Port Vale the visitors to Gresty
Road on Saturday to play the Alex [The match of
hate as it is known locally since Stoke's fairly
recently acquired lofty status]. Fortunately,
two of our stars [heading for the other major
sporting event in Crewe] Andy and Mike managed
to elude the police cordon at Crewe Station and
joined their colleagues at the second superb
venue for the fledgling 4NCL Northern League.
This time we knew a bit more about our opponents
and were expecting a tough match against fellow
100% scorers Cheddleton 2 in our Saturday
fixture. We were not to be disappointed in this
expectation.
The match soon settled into a
series of headlong collisions with quarter
neither being given nor expected with the
possible exception of board 6. Andy approached
me fairly early on saying that the positions
were going to be pretty drawish and would a draw
be O.K. Trying to fathom where three and a half
points might come from was proving quite taxing
so I was agreeable to reducing that problem to
trying to work out from where a further three
points might come. So as anticipated, this game
was agreed drawn quite early in the proceedings.
Meanwhile in my game we were trying to recall
some heavy Nimzo theory which was taking quite a
bit of time. You may be surprised that I needed
quite so much time since I had actually played
the variation before [unlike my opponent];
this should not connected in any way to my
having a deteriorating memory but at the moment
I can't quite recollect why I took so long.
Meanwhile board 2 was rapidly turning into
a Dutch Defence tribute afternoon. Peter, with
scarcely a glance to the queenside, took on the
mantle of the Ginger GM and overwhelmed his
opponent's king's defences; a smooth Atticus
victory with a snappy finish.
On board 3 Dave Robertson had
started slowly but his opponent lost time when
he had prospects of a promising initiative. Dave
needed no further invitation and soon whipped up
a ferocious attack which ensnared the black
king. Many people were worried whether, playing
board 4, Dave Stuttard, with
his somewhat idiosyncratic style, would be ready
for the generous time allowance and positional
emphasis of the 4NCL. Of course they should have
been worried whether the 4NCL would be ready for
Dave. Suffice it to say that on this occasion
even his captain was more than a
little concerned that he might not have quite
enough for the two pieces sacrificed.
In addition Mike on board 5
had been under pressure, was forced to jettison
a pawn and although he was fighting back,
the match, despite our two fine wins, could
depend on board 1. This had progressed to an
ending where I had the notional advantage of two
pieces against rook and pawn and could play on
for a long time but was having trouble coming up
with winning ideas. My plans for an early trip
to the bar seemed in jeopardy when Mike lost on
time with a move to make to the time control in
a drawn ending. At this point Dave Stuttard's
opponent was forced to resign [obviously, oh ye
of little faith!] so peace
negotiations swiftly followed in my game to wrap
up a satisfying 4-2 win.
And so, pausing for a only
few drinks at the golf club bar, the team
embarked on our traditional in-depth post match
debriefing session before heading into Crewe
town centre for a meal. Robbo's researches had
indicated that Giovanni's offered a particularly
interesting selection of wines and so even
the traditional beer drinkers decided this was
the opportunity to broaden their horizons and to
embrace the produce of the grape. As a result of
this pioneering decision it was felt by many
that the conversation reached new
heights, although recollection of said
discussions proved somewhat elusive on Sunday.
The dawn of a new day saw us
move up from the competition's 5th highest rated
team on Saturday to the 4th highest team on
Sunday so we felt we must have had a good
evening. We were however wary of Jorvik, who had
looked in good shape in the previous round. Our
wariness had grown to real concern quite early
in the round 4 encounter with our opponents
looking more comfortable overall. Jos Wooley had
a small opening edge against me. On board 2,
Peter was our brightest starter, looking very
comfortable as he built up big pressure on the
black centre. Dave on board 3, with a willing
partner from Jorvik [Richard Mounce], embarked
on some hot Najdorf theory which had the
non-aficionados amongst us bemused. Dave
Stuttard on board 4 appeared very relaxed as he
lost/sacrificed a pawn in the opening, swapped
queens and then converted the material
situation to an exchange deficit. There was some
concern in the Atticus camp that this game might
not last too long. Mike was under big pressure
on board 5 but was digging in and showing real
determination. Andy on board 6 had realised that
we required a win and, accepting a potentially
loose position, had grabbed space and was
generating some initiative.
 |
|
The
well appointed playing room at
Wychwood Park, an ideal setting for
rounds 3 & 4. |
All the games came to a head
with the approach of the time control: board 3,
after some startling adventures fizzled out to a
draw. Andy made his space count on board 6,
gathering material as his opponent attempted to
break out. Jos outplayed me in the crisis
position I had provoked which meant the match
was all square. Mike liberated his position and
even grabbed a pawn but was content to agree a
draw as matters were changing on board 4. Dave
had won back the exchange for a [weak] pawn
which duly dropped off. Thereafter, he gave a
text book demonstration of play with two bishops
against bishop and knight and once again
delivered the full point. This enabled Peter to
agree the draw in what was surely a winning
ending [but posing real problems of
coordination] to bring victory by the narrowest
margin.
Another weekend of tough
chess thus saw us sitting proudly at the top of
the division, but with nearly every match close
and unpredictable we look forward to more
uncompromising battles in the forthcoming
rounds.
•
Rd3 results •
Rd4 results
•
Spirit of Atticus team page
•
Northern league Table •
Games in
PGN
• More
photos from the weekend
• Official
site
This report can also be seen
here.
Additional reports by John Carleton
