It was time for the HR Cup match against the Oxford and Cambridge Club. The O&C are the reigning Hamilton Russell champions and so comprise formidable opposition, and for this match – a four boarder – they sent a strong side.
Usually what follows such a match is a match report that makes light of the resultant drubbing. A focus on the one single draw amongst the losses. A few well chosen bon mots about how gauche it is to win. A suggestion we tried to lose. Or even the old deflection of technique of talking about the dinners or the neckwear.
Not this time. True, it was 3-1 to the O&C. And true, the NLC didn’t win a game but only managed two draws. But you know what? We played well. We weren’t outclassed, and it felt like we put in a decent mid-table performance. We were no rollovers.
Here’s what happened. Judge for yourselves.
Board 1
Doctor Kirby had White against the very strong Julio Brau. It hasn’t always gone to plan for the good Doctor against Julio Brau, but undeterred the Doctor managed to avoid what was likely Julio Brau’s favoured line and held a roughly equal position throughout. The draw was a very fair result. The NLC had matched the champions on top board.
Board 2
Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) faced Nigel White. The O&C Board 2 is a lovely chap but a horridly strong opponent to face. Queen’s Counsel headed for his favourite Dragon and Nigel White immediately went for the classic pawn storm on the kingside. There was play in the unbalanced position right up to the end, but with so many pieces crowding the black king it was only a matter of time before Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) had to bow to the weight of the other side’s case. Creditable from the Lib, but just short in the end.
Board 3
A breakthrough on Board 3. We can actually report on the moves of an Ioannou game. Groundbreaking. Of course, he didn’t actually write down his own moves, but he did at least remember to take a snap of his opponent’s score sheet. So a breakthrough of sorts…
But the game is here. Mister Ioannou played Peter Webster – another very tough opponent. He was not blown away by any means, but did lose two pawns early on and saw his opponent coolly swap off some pieces to get to a knight v bishop endgame and calmly push the pawns forward. Mister Ioannou had little scope for getting the game back, and succumbed on move 44.
Board 4
Mister Widdicombe has been training with the reserves for most of the season but was summoned to first team action owing to Miss Vera Widger’s absence. He faced the O&C Captain Miss Anna York-Weaving. A very good player (and Russian, to boot…gulp). Mister Widdicombe was relieved to see a Spanish – the only opening he knows in any depth – and further pleased to see the rare 5.Qe2 sideline that usually sees black fine. The game was on a knife edge throughout. Black had a slight edge for most of the early and middle periods (black being a little lucky that white didn’t see 13.a5 followed by b3, which would have trapped the knight at the cost of two pawns), with white getting very slightly on top by the time the draw was agreed.
And so this result leaves the NLC in a solid mid-table position.
| POSITION | CLUB | PLAYED | WON | DRAWN | LOST | POINTS | |
| 1 | Athenaeum | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |
| 2 | RAC | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| 3 | MCC | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| 3 | Oxford & Cambridge | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 5 | National Liberal | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 5 | Chelsea Arts | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 7 | Oriental and East India | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| 8 | Hurlingham | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 9 | Reform | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
And here’s the thing. The table doesn’t lie. Once upon a time the Libs were genuinely struggling to place anywhere beyond the very foot of the table. But these days, and especially this season, a mid-table position feels about right. Certainly, on a good day, the NLC would fancy their chances against any of those clubs below us in the table. We may yet end up close to the bottom of the pile, but for now, mid-table decency is a fair reflection of Liberal chess.
We’ll take that.
Dinner
As so often noted in these pages – whatever happened in the chess, it’s all just an elaborate excuse for a good dinner. And this one was a good one. The lamb shank was a triumph (is there such a thing as a bad lamb shank?), and Doctor Kirby ensured the bottles of red kept coming.
