Round 2 of the 2024 Gladstone Trophy took place on Thursday June 13th. Four games were played.
Game 1 – Miss Birrane versus Mister Barnett
Mister Barnett plays chess in the right way. He’s a fan favourite – renowned for his 19th century, romantic attacking style in which no piece is safe from being sacrificed to deliver checkmate. This game was squarely in the same tradition, with Mister Barnett sending infantry to their death for quick and easy development of the officers. Despite being a pawn down, then temporarily a piece, he won the exchange and kept marching forward until he had a thoroughly won position. Chess the way it should be played.
Game 2 – Mister Jacobs versus Doctor Saldanha
The tie of the round, with two of the strongest Libs going head to head. The result could not be predicted – Mister Jacobs had slightly the better pedigree in HR games, but Doctor Saldanha is a rapidly improving player and is stronger with every passing month. In this game Doctor Saldanha made use of some wicked pins on a centralised White King to jam his knights right into the centre of White’s position. An uncomfortable spot for Mister Jacobs, and his position inevitably collapsed soon after.
Game 3 – Doctor Widdicombe versus Mister Barton
This was always going to be tough for Doctor Widdicombe as Mister Barton is of unquestionable strength, as proven in the Kennedy Cup of last year. Doctor Widdicombe didn’t help himself, however, by playing all the right moves, but in the wrong order, so gifting Mister Barton the g-pawn on move six. Doctor Widdicombe tried to make a virtue of this by using the open file for an attack on the King, but couldn’t quite find the breakthrough. Running a little low on time he failed to see a nasty little pawn fork and so had to resign. A solid victory for Mister Barton. He’s going to be the one to beat this year…
Game 4 – Mister Sharland versus Mister Ross
A victory for Mister Sharland. No moves kept so your correspondent can’t comment on the game. But it was tense at the end as Mister Ross ran into time trouble and Mister Sharland was determined to see the game home.
Dinner
An excellent dinner ensued. Chicken Supreme, if your correspondent recalls. (Although a sad lack of soup for a starter. The Editorial Committee will take that up with the kitchen, and perhaps insist that the Chess Club would really rather appreciate more soup.)
The evening was rounded off with drinks in the smoking room accompanied by a lively and highly informative lecture from Mister Ross on how one can use one’s portably telephonic device to access a sort of modern day lonely hearts column – with rather immediate and quite startling results, it would seem. Modern technology really is a wonder.
Standings
| Position | Player | Score |
| 1= | Barton | 2 |
| 1= | Barnett | 2 |
| 3= | Taylor | 1.5 |
| 3= | Saldanha | 1.5 |
| 5= | Birrane | 1 |
| 5= | Widdicombe | 1 |
| 5= | Dias | 1 |
| 5= | Sharland | 1 |
| 9= | Jacobs | 0.5 |
| 9= | Singh | 0.5 |
| 9= | Landless | 0.5 |
| 9= | Lamentillo | 0.5 |
| 13 | Ross | 0 |