A bit of a strange one this. A good Hurlingham side made its way to Whitehall Place, led by Mark Woloshyn and Rupert Ratcliffe, while the NLC had most of its top players available for the higher boards. The NLC and Hurlingham are usually fairly closely matched, so both sides were expecting a tight struggle. In a particular highlight, the match also saw the debut of Miss Birrane on Board 6: may it be the first of many.
The chess didn’t quite live up to the billing. The silence of concentration was regularly punctuated by the groans of a chessplayer who had just made a blunder.
The NLC was quickly up against it, with Doctor Kirby’s extremely odd 20-move win on Board 1 outweighed by losses for Mister Ioannou, Miss Widger and Miss Birrane. But Doctor Saldanha and Mister Giffin Q.C M.A (Oxon) managed to ignore what was going on elsewhere to convert their advantages.
A 3-3 draw and all matches finished by 8.30. A fair result as neither side really deserved to win, but it was all a bit odd. We can only hope the overall quality of the chess (from the NLC anyway) is a bit higher when the two sides meet in the Hamilton Russell Cup in April 2022.
Board 1
Doctor Kirby played White against Mark Woloshyn having won the toss (see how odd the match was!?). What followed was possibly one of the worst matches ever seen on Board 1. Eager to avoid Black’s likely theoretical preparation in the English Defence (1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6), White headed into the Queen’s Indian. After a mishandling of the opening White made a mistake on move 12 which led to the loss of the exchange on move 14.
Much of White’s thinking time was spent convincing himself to play on. It proved worth it – Black ignored an obvious trap which won the exchange back but still left Black with an at least equal position. Rather than accept this, Black compounded his error by trying an intermezzo which didn’t work, which in turn led to the loss of his Queen.
Board 2
Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) faced Rupert Ratcliffe on Board 2 in a Grunfeld Defence. Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) thinks he can’t play the Grunfeld but it always seems to turn out well for him. White perhaps overplayed his hand (as is common in the Grunfeld) and some central skirmishes led to an ending where Black was a pawn up. Our legal star coolly (or so it seemed) converted his positional and material advantage to victory.
Board 3
Mister Ioannou played the wily campaigner Michael Yeoh on Board 3. The adage of leaving your form on the training pitch applied here. Mister Ioannou – a deadly blitz player – had destroyed Doctor Kirby and Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) in casual games while setting up the boards, but misfired in the match.
The misfiring also took place at a rapid pace. Doctor Kirby sauntered over to escape the carnage of his own match only to find Mister Ioannou a piece down in a rook vs rook and bishop ending having only used three minutes on his clock!
Board 4
Miss Widger had Black in a Ruy Lopez against Richard Paterson. Miss Widger attacked on the kingside but made a mistake and lost a pawn. White used his better development to power through the holes made in the kingside to record a fairly straightforward victory.
Board 5
Doctor Saldanha played Chris Clark on Board 5 in a Sicilian Defence. Queens were exchanged relatively early but Doctor Saldanha was in control and the exchange up for a large period of the game. As the opponent went pawn-hunting, Doctor Saldanha aggressively brought his King into the enemy position and used his rooks to threaten mate. It was an excellent controlled performance.
Said Mister Saldanha to the assembled press pack after the game: “This game is definitely one of my more solid displays. I found Mister Stockfish in the bar and he kindly looked over my game between a few whiskies. No blunders for yours truly according to him, which is a rare occurrence. I thought my opponent was a thoroughly nice chap – just a bit too relaxed in the opening. Reckon he’ll really give me a run for my money if we meet again”. Both gracious and victorious. Well done Doctor.
Board 6
Finally Miss Birrane played Gavin Graham on Board 6. It looked like a debut win was in sight for our new recruit as she applied pressure in the centre and eyed up a rook on e1. Just one thing though – it’s usually not wise to take a rook if the opponent is attacking your Queen. Things went downhill after that but a promising start at least.
Dinner
Dinner was the by now customary set menu. The NLC team tried something novel by asking people to order starters and mains prior to the match start to give the kitchen an idea what to expect. It all seemed to work well.
Michael Yeoh gave the Captain’s speech for the Hurlingham and said that it was the first time he’d seen two female players in a match team. The NLC is leading the way in the diversity of its side, but perhaps we could do with less diversity in the quality of some of the moves made.
