Division 2, Second Weekend (Rounds 3 & 4) by John Carleton
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Hinckley Island Hotel |
The weekend of
14th-15th January saw the return to Hinckley
Island, a venue with warm memories for us for it
was here that we clinched promotion to Division
2. Despite our setbacks of the first weekend we
headed into play in buoyant mood and the revival
of those pleasant memories when we saw Bradford,
who pipped us on tie break [points scored]
receive the Division 3 Championship trophy at
the start of play of round 3 of the current
campaign did no harm to our mood.
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Bd1: John Carleton (right) 2293 playing
Richard Jones, f 2396
and on board 2,
(left) Tim Kett 2181 playing Nick Ivell
2335. |
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Once our match with Rhyfedwyr Essyllwy
started to progress our confidence was gradually
eroded. Our white games were not offering us the
prospects we had anticipated, only Andy on board
7 making promising inroads into his opponent's
territory and our players fielding the black
pieces were mainly under pressure. Peter on
board 5 completed peace negotiations at an early
stage, the life having evaporated somewhat from
the position.
Nick on board 2 was lured into an
uncomfortable position and decided on kill or
cure with an ambitious advance in the centre.
This was met by an anticipated sacrifice from
his opponent Timothy Kett who threaded his way
through the complications to eventually drive
Nick's king into the open and then up the board
to his doom netting an impressive victory and
thereby making sure it was kill and not cure.
Dave Latham's game on board 3, which for a while
had offered a slight edge, had by now fizzled
out and the draw was agreed. Andy, our big hope
in the early stages, had not forced a
breakthrough on the queen's wing and was facing
a worsening situation in the areas where the big
issues were being resolved. Andy was relieved to
get the offer of a draw which he gratefully
accepted. I completed the Atticus white draws
quartet finishing a game which Nick observed
contained very little significant action. This
is a good example of Nick's generosity of spirit
since the game contained absolutely no
significant action.
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Dave Robertson in action against WFM
Vaness Reid |
At this point there were three games in
progress: Sheila on board 4 striving womanfully
to unbalance matters from a sterile early
endgame position, Steve on board 6 who had
equalised rather comfortably but had slipped
into what appeared to be a lost rook and pawn
ending and Dave Robertson on board 8 who was in
a murky queen ending the exchange down but pawns
up. All this was rather disconcerting as Steve
"never loses" and we had mentally chalked up a
win for Dave from round about the 2 hour mark
only to be faced by this bewildering
transformation.
Perhaps it was the visit of Grandmaster Nigel
Short who appeared at this point to say hello to
some of the Atticus team that changed matters
but normal service was resumed when Steve
wriggled into a drawn position. This was enough
for Sheila who had also reached a dead drawn
position although she had conjured up pressure
from somewhere along the way. So we were one
down with just Dave in action, faced with, after
further fluctuations, a very tricky queen and
pawn endgame. In an act of team bonding the rest
of the squad gathered in the bar, frequently
sending as many as one person back to the
tournament hall to will Dave on and report on
progress. Eventually, Dave emerged victorious
having saved the match with just enough time for
him to quaff a well earned glass of wine before
we headed to Nuneaton for our post match
celebration.
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Unusually, very few of the world's problems
were solved at the dining table [mainly because
we got stuck on how to pronounce our opponents'
team name] but discussion was marked by our
customary depth and contemplation. The WAG
complement was up to a record 20% which added to
the undoubted aura that emanated from our group.
And so to Sunday morning and a clash with
AMCA Dragons, the only 100% record in our
section of division 2, and it has to be admitted
that right from the early stages the prospects
for us looked rather bleak. We were having
problems equalising in all four black games in
the early stages. On board 1 I felt mine was
going rather well but was hit by a bolt from the
blue as my opponent Paul Cooksey exploited a
familiar theme in an unusual manner. Paul thus
emerged a pawn up with positional advantages and
pushed me off the board with great aplomb. Steve
and Sheila were next to finish on boards 4 and 6
agreeing draws in quiet positions but when Peter
drew on board 5 after having negotiated some
discomfort we still had vague hopes that this
save might help spark a revival of our fortunes.
This hope grew appreciably with the approach of
the first time control, Dave Latham on board 3, a
big pawn down and short of time stirred up some
nasty complications leaving his youthful
opponent's king exposed. Dave got two rooks for
his queen so the approximate material balance
was restored and then took up defensive duties
to restrain the pawn. This ultimately led to a
fighting defeat for the Atticus player; we await
the verdict of Herr Fritz as to whether there
were attacking options available at the critical
stage.
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Spirit of Atticus
bds 2-4: Sheila Jackson (4), Dave Latham
(3) and Nick Ivell (2).
AMCA Dragon players
in the foreground include (l to r)
Stephen Dishman
(b/w sweater)
playing Nick Ivell, James Holland, Tom
Farrand playing
Sheila Jackson,
Shawn Tavares and Hans-Peter Hansen. |
Thus we were two down with three in play.
Nick on board 2 who had been our one bright spot
from the early stages, was gradually squeezing
all activity out of his opponent's position. On
the way Nick was showing himself a quick
learner; having been introduced to the wonders
of digital clocks only the day before he
nonetheless had the confidence to complete the
required 40 moves for the first time control
with just 6 seconds to spare.
On boards 7 and 8 respectively, Andy and Dave
Robertson were each fighting hard but suffering
greatly as, having slipped into passive opening
positions, they had shed material and then did
their utmost to test their opponents' technique.
Each Atticus player ultimately failed against
incisive play from the Dragons' experienced
opponents. With his defeat Andy's unbeaten run
stretching 12 games was ended [but currently is
the Spirit of Atticus record]. The final word of
the day was had by Nick, calmly and unhurriedly
completing his victory, the best [of an
admittedly small sample] Atticus win so far this
season.
We now know we are in an anti-relegation
battle and are looking forward to the
forthcoming weekends to demonstrate our
determination to maintain our status. Should
this sound like ludicrous optimism to the reader
let me share some good news that Steve Connor
gave me towards the end of the weekend and this
news was very much in line with one of my hopes.
Steve handed me a small piece of paper on which
he told me my provisional Elo rating up to
January was printed. Now, I have had aspirations
on the Elo front but have felt that the whole
system has been far too linked to results.
Finally with this rating I felt due weight was
being given to what I really deserved from my
play; 2580! Fantastic or what? And you think we
can't avoid relegation! Coincidently, but I will
have to leave the topic of coincidence to
another day, my rating was the very same number
needed to key in to exit the car park on that
particular day.
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Rd1 results •
Rd2 results
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Spirit of Atticus team page
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Division 2b Table •
Games in
PGN
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This is report is also available here