The New Year dawned with the NLC Chess team hosting our friends from the Oxford and Cambridge for a friendly at the NLC Clubhouse. As befits a gentle re-entry to chess after the strain of the festive period, the result was an honourable tie at 3.5 – 3.5.
Board 1
Captain Giffin KC MA (Oxon) continued his quest to push the boundaries of opening theory, rolling out an outlandish opening that left him with what looked like a rather good position. But (in what the Captain says ‘is a recurrent theme these days’), an inaccuracy in the face of solid defence followed by downright error whilst trying too hard to win, led to defeat.
Board 2
A topsy-turvy encounter on Board 2, with blunders on both sides, and an overlooked checkmate. In the end it went down to time pressure and Black’s flag fell in a lost position.
Board 3
Mister Dias likes the white side of a King’s Indian. Your correspondent can attest to this, having sat next to Dias v Saldanha in the last round of the Gladstone and witnessed first hand the ding-dong slugfest that ensued. So Mister Dias was on familiar ground, and once again played it aggressively with b4 and a queenside squeeze. His experience showed, and Mister Dias took the points.
Board 4
This one swung back and forth. Mister Rhatigan may have been up at one point, but allowed a Bishop and Queen attack on h7/g6 and dropped a piece a few moves later.
Board 5
More merciless brutality from Mister Barnett on Board 5. In his last outing for the Libs he hammered his opponent with a ferocious Fried Liver Attack. In this game too he faced the Two Knights Defence to the Italian, and so once again smashed in 4.Ng5 and let the blood flow. By move 16 he had a queen for bishop and rook, but more importantly he had a raging attack. So how to continue? Throw another piece on the fire! Move 17 saw Mister Barnett give up a bishop in order to bring another rook into the attack – now it was rook and two bishops for the queen – so everything hung on continuing the attack. The pressure was too much and Black erred on move 22, giving up two pieces – the attack had crashed through. Mate followed soon after. This is fearless 19 century Romantic chess at it’s height. Adolf Anderssen would be proud.
Board 6
The ever-dependable Doctor Schady stood better throughout, and his opponent lost on time shortly before being overwhelmed by material superiority.
Board 7
Excellent stuff from Ms Birrane, recording her first points for the Club. Good solid chess, grabbing a pawn on move 25 and using her queen excellently to keep the attack going. A nice use of some pins at the end broke Black’s resistance. Nicely done.
Dinner
The dining room produced some very good food (mushroom soup; chicken supreme) despite the current temporary kitchen arrangements.
