Division 2 4NCL
Second Weekend, Hinckley Island, 14th-15th Jan
2012 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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Rd3 results •
Rd4 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 report is also available here
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