Early November saw the Liberal chessers troop off to Pall Mall to play the mighty RAC, reigning Hamilton Russell Champions. The omens were not good. The RAC’s Chris Gant’s unavailability meant Natasha Regan – Women’s International Master, no less – was on top board, and then the RAC bats all the way down. Having someone like Henry McWatters on Board 5 is a level of riches at which the NLC can only marvel.
The RAC are always gracious hosts and extended the invitation for two friendly boards, so Mister Mohammed was given his NLC debut and Mister Sharland his second match on the spin.
And the form was followed, with the NLC being defeated 2-4. Messers Jacobs and Widdicombe managed to secure the full points, but elsewhere it was the usual litany of disasters against the strong RAC side. But 2-4 in the match was highly creditable under the circumstances, and the friendly boards were split 1-1, with Mr Sharland winning.
Anyway, here are some cars that were in the RAC’s foyer. Not much idea what they were as the usual explanatory notes weren’t out (and the usually reliable Doctor Kirby wasn’t able to fill in the blanks), but very pretty nontheless.
Board 1
Dogs bark, cats miaow and Captain Giffin KC MA (Oxon) loses the toss. So Doctor Kirby had Black on Board 1 against the excellent Natasha Regan. A Reti opening ensued and therein lay the problem. Doctor Kirby’s defensive set-up was prepared for a King’s Indian attack but instead White’s pieces danced around, and a deadly Bb2 Qa1 set-up pressed Black’s K-side. One side was playing positional chess and the other wasn’t. The good Doctor used to play the Reti in his youth, but it never worked like this. Although ‘only’ the exchange and a pawn down the Doctor resigned, as there was no counterplay available.
Board 2
Captain Giffin KC MA (Oxon) had White against the highly dangerous Stephen Meyler. Our skipper played 3 Qf3 in a Grand Prix attack vs the Sicilian to prepare a K-Side attack and make it a sharp game. This was coolly refuted by an opponent who didn’t panic, developed quicker, organised exchanges and left himself a better endgame which was duly converted to victory. Another opponent playing proper positional chess.
Board 3
The pain continued for the NLC on Board 3. Mister Ioannou lost a quick Centre Counter, his speciality, (the opening, that is, not the losing) against Alex Burganski. In an interview after the game Mister Ioannou said ‘What can I say. Never got going and got thrashed’. That’s a fair – if painful – summary.
Board 4
Board 4 saw a highly creditable performance by Young Master Jacobs against Colm O’Shea. The lad was a couple of pawns down but always had pressure and a dangerous Knight. He managed to engineer a fork with check which won the opponent’s rook and then converted the endgame to victory. In a slightly different world he would be the Gladstone Trophy holder but as we know ended in a creditable third place. He’s clearly improving, and managed to win this game from a couple of pawns down. That’s true grit.
Board 5
Miss Widger had Black on Board 5 against the highly dangerous Henry McWatters. They’re all highly dangerous really but Henry McWatters has a particularly good record against the NLC. It was more of the same really. Miss Widger managed to start an attack but the opponent broke through, got to the seventh rank and finished the game quickly. An excellent performance from a top player.
Board 6
So things weren’t looking promising, and the NLC was expecting a heavy defeat. But cometh the hour, cometh the man. Mister Widdicombe has always been a renaissance man with chess being just one of his many activities (his primary love being fencing). He has just now finished his PhD (can we call him Doctor Widdicombe yet?) [Ed. – no, graduation in February] and he finally has more time for chess. It’s showing in the results.
He faced the very handy Rob Matthews, and after the usual 1.e4 the RAC Captain went into a Sicilian Dragon, clearly looking to make short work of Mister Widdicombe. But Mister Widdicombe had been flicking through his copy of Fischer’s ‘My 60 Memorable Games’ earlier that week and remembered the World Champ’s comments on Fischer v Larsen (Portoroz 1958) about how to beat the Dragon – ‘h4, h5, sac, sac, mate’. (What Fischer failed to mention was that it works even better if you, ahem, ‘sacrifice’ a knight on move 11 just as you launch the attack).
But Fischer in Portoroz is only half the story. What was really in Mister Widdicombe’s mind was something from one of the first chess books Mister Widdicombe ever properly studied. It was John Emms’s ‘Starting Out: The Sicilian’, and the first game of the section on the Sicilian Dragon recommends the Yugoslav attack. It gives the following game as the perfect example of how it is meant to be played, and it is a game burned into Mister Widdicombe’s memory:
So with a template game in mind, and Bobby’s advice ringing in his ears, Mister Widdicombe went for it.
Four games and four wins so far this season for Mister Widdicombe. Can he really stay on Board 6? [Ed. – yes. Don’t get any silly ideas, Captain Giffin]
Friendly Board 1
It was great to have two friendly boards also playing that evening. It’s a sign of the growing size and strength of the NLC Chess Circle that we can now field not only the full team but some additional boards. Old hands will remember when there was no distinction to be made between the competitive team and the friendly team, as we only had six players on a good night… No more.
So welcome to Mister Mohammed, newest debutant for the NLC. And he picked a good one to start with. He played against Peter Antrim, who bettered him, but he played very creditably, and was perfectly positioned to get stuck into the excellent RAC dinner, of which more below…
Friendly Board 2
The second friendly board saw Chess Circle stalwart Mister Sharland taking on Adela Prior. The game was a long one, going the full two hours, but Mister Sharland managed to break through, and with that he chalked up his first victory in inter-club chess. Well done, Sir!
Dinner
And so, to dinner, in the RAC’s excellent Brooklands restaurant.
With the RAC it’s old school smoked salmon to start followed by fish and chips or steak and chips. But now there’s a third option of liver and bacon. It was excellent as ever. Mister Widdicombe’s was served not one, but a small school, of fish. No one goes hungry at the RAC.
Dessert was great too, with the crème brulee a particular highlight. It’s almost worth losing to experience it, but it’s better if you win.
As was said at dinner, a very enjoyable evening, and everyone is looking forward to the return Friendly at the NLC in May 2023.