Season opener sees Hurlingham beaten by NLC in friendly

Friday August 13 saw the season opener in an away match against the Hurlingham. It was a friendly, so a nice gentle start to the season.

Mister Jacobs was Captaining the side that evening, and has since sent the following telegram to the Editorial Office:

Reporting on today’s success at the Hurlingham. We’ve won 3/4 and are now ready to conquer this season!

The first win was a very quick one, quarter of an hour into the night, from Mister Rhatigan on board 3. The game was over so fast that there was no scoresheet to recover, but we’ve got the point! Mister Rhatigan relayed that the cause of victory was a triple knight fork with check and queen being disposed, instantly invoking a surrender.

I was told Mister Dore’s match was a very balanced one, but alas no points there – guess we’ll see from the scoresheet.

[Event "Hurlingham v NLC Friendly"] [Date "13 September 2024"] [White "Stephen Quartermaine"] [Black "Mister Dore"] [Result "1-0"]   1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 b5 4.e3 Nf6 5.a4 c6 6.axb5 cxb5 7.b3 Be6 8.bxc4 bxc4 9.Bxc4 Bxc4 10.Qa4+ Nbd7 11.Ne5 Rc8 12.Nxc4 Ne4 13.O-O e6 14.Nbd2 Nxd2 15.Bxd2 Be7 16.Ne5 Bd6 17.Nxd7 Qxd7 18.Qxd7+ Kxd7 19.Rxa7+ Rc7 20.Rxc7+ Bxc7 21.f3 f5 22.g3 Rb8 23.e4 Rb2 24.Rf2 Bb6 25.Be3 Rxf2 26.Kxf2 g6 27.Ke2 Kc6 28.Kd3 Kb5 29.exf5 exf5 30.h3 Kc6 31.Kc4 Kd6 32.Bf4+ Kd7 33.Kd5 h6 34.Bxh6 {and Black offered his resignation} 

The coin flip for side order was done early on, and I completely misread that “white on odd” was towards the NLC, not the home team. Hence halfway through my game I realised we have 3 boards as black (perhaps my desire to play as black, after playing white against Miss Birrane the previous day in the closing round of the Gladstone was so strong, that even my opponent decided it was the correct order of things).

As for the match, I was a pawn up early on, and maintained that advantage all the way, pressing the attacks until we both were down to a few pawns. There was an exchange and a race to promote to queen, but being a pawn up proved its worth and in the end Michael Yeoh was behind on one move and was unable to stop both of my pawns, so extremely satisfied with the performance.

[Event "Hurlingham v NLC Friendly"] [Date "13 September 2024"] [White "Michael Yeoh"] [Black "Mister Jacobs"] [Result "0-1"]   1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.O-O d6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Bg5 O-O 8.e4 h6 9.Be3 Ng4 10.Qd2 Nxe3 11.Qxe3 Nb4 12.Qd2 c5 13.a3 Nc6 14.Ne2 Qb6 15.c3 f5 16.exf5 exf5 17.Nf4 cxd4 18.Nd5 Qa5 19.Nb4 dxc3 20.bxc3 Qc5 21.Rac1 Be6 22.Nxc6 bxc6 23.Nd4 Bd5 24.Bxd5+ Qxd5 25.Rfd1 Bxd4 26.Qxd4 Qxd4 27.Rxd4 d5 28.c4 Rad8 29.Rcd1 Rf6 30.cxd5 Rfd6 31.f4 Kf7 32.Kf2 Rxd5 33.Rxd5 Rxd5 34.Rxd5 cxd5 35.Ke3 Ke6 36.a4 g5 37.a5 a6 38.Kd3 Kd6 39.Kd4 Kc6 40.fxg5 hxg5 41.h4 f4 42.hxg5 fxg3 43.Ke3 d4+ 44.Kf3 d3 {and the black pawns roll through}

Last but not least, Miss Birrane and Mike Ross’s match lasted till the sudden death of time, although there was a sneaky knight fork from which Miss Birrane saw a knight for rook exchange.

[Event "Hurlingham v NLC Friendly"] [Date "13 September 2024"] [White "Mike Ross"] [Black "Miss Birrane"] [Result "0-1"]   1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f6 4.O-O Bc5 5.Nc3 d6 6.a3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Nd4 9.Qd1 Qd7 10.Ne2 O-O-O 11.Nxd4 Bxd4 12.c3 Bb6 13.Be2 Qc6 14.d3 Ne7 15.Bg4+ Kb8 16.Qe1 h5 17.Be6 Rde8 18.Bf7 Ref8 19.Be6 g5 20.Be3 Rh7 21.Bxb6 Qxb6 22.b4 Rg7 23.Qe2 Rh8 24.Rfe1 Ng6 25.Qe3 Nf4 26.Qxb6 axb6 27.Bc4 g4 28.h4 g3 29.Ra2 c6 30.Re3 gxf2+ 31.Rxf2 Rg6 32.g3 Nh3+ 33.Kg2 Nxf2 34.Kxf2 c5 35.Be6 Rg7 36.Bd5 cxb4 37.cxb4 Rc7 38.Bb3 Rc3 39.Bd1 Rxa3 40.Rf3 Rf8 41.Ke3 Ra1 42.Be2 Rb1 43.Rf5 Rxb4 44.Bxh5 Rb1 45.Be2 b5 {and White resigned}

First match of the season, albeit a friendly, but the Libs are already on a 75% win rate!

As for dinner, no menu to take photos of, but the duck croquette for starter, lovely fish & greens for main, and even a rich cheesecake for dessert was a treat to polish off the evening!

Mister Jacobs

A fine report, and a fine victory. Well done all.