It was supposedly a gentle start to the season – only four boards, in a quiet corner of our famous Smoking Room, although to make up even that reduced number the O&C had to resort to wheeling out their HR captain. Our own Captain Chamberlain nobly intended to sacrifice himself against this mighty opponent, but then one of their lower boards took fright and pleaded a sudden work commitment.
They were down to three boards, so your captain decided to let the others play, and everyone effectively moved up a board and had more challenging games than was originally planned.
Board 1
On top board, our Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) was pitched as black against Nigel White MA (Cantab) and held his own for what seemed like a long time, but the guest from the fens finally prevailed. (We understand that Mr White practises for these encounters as captain of Guildford’s second league team.)
Board 2
Likewise, on board 2, Our Good Friend Mister Taylor battled long against the formidable John Godfray (the nemesis of many of us here).
Board 3
And on board 3 our new young graduate, Young Master Jacobs, fought against the greatly experienced Mr David Jones, possibly four times his age. He opened with an aggressive Queen’s side attack (no shilly-shallying with castling beforehand) and won an early minor piece. Unfortunately this was regained in the middle game by the wily older warrior, but Mister Jacobs entered the endgame two pawns up and with an extra half an hour on the clock. However, a tricky rook-and-pawns endgame proved hard to convert to a win and despite a massive time advantage. Mr Godfray queried whether the clock was working because our man’s side remained apparently stationery on 25, whereas theirs was ticking down at 35 – he didn’t realise that ours was denominated in minutes whereas theirs was in seconds! A gentlemanly draw was eventually agreed. It was meant to be a “friendly” match, after all.
And so to dinner. Good hearty stuff.
