Revenge of the MCC

Even in the afterglow of the glorious 4-2 victory in the Friendly against the MCC a question remained – is it wise to tweak a tiger by the tail? After all, the next Hamilton-Russell match was against the MCC on their home patch.

So the NLC Warriors headed for St John’s Wood realising that the MCC weren’t going to take their loss lying down. Captain Hamme no doubt thought of reprising Imran Khan and ordering his troops to fight like cornered tigers themselves, but what was the worst that could happen? It’s a trip to Lord’s! You know, Lord’s…the Long Room, the crucible of cricket.

As it turned out the MCC continued their previous practice of putting out a side it considered strong enough to win but leaving the big guns at home. Very sporting of them. And so it was a decent hard-fought contest, with the MCC emerging 3-5.1.5 victors. Honour satisfied on both sides – and it’s still a trip to Lord’s!

Doctor Kirby opened for the NLC against Ed Goodall. Looking around and seeing a dodgy pitch and skilful opponent, Doctor Kirby again essayed his favourite Caro-Kann and dug in Tavare-style. 24 moves later a breakthrough seemed unlikely on both sides and a draw was agreed.

    [Event "MCC v NLC"] [Date "23 January 2019"] [White "Ed Goodall"] [Black "Doctor Kirby"] [Result "0.5-0.5"]   1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Ne2 e6 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.c3 Qc7 7.Bd3 c5 8.O-O Nc6 9.a3 c4 10.Bxg6 hxg6 11.b4 Nh6 12.Nd2 Nf5 13.Nxf5 gxf5 14.f4 Be7 15.Nf3 b6 16.a4 a6 17.Be3 g6 18.Bf2 Kf8 19.Qe1 Kg7 20.Bh4 Bxh4 21.Nxh4 Qe7 22.Nf3 Na7 23.Ra2 Rh7 24.Ng5 Rh5 {and the players shook on the draw}

Mister Whiteley played a King’s Indian attack. Sadly he saw a tactic which wasn’t there on move 19, lost two pawns and went down to defeat.

  [Event "MCC v NLC"] [Date "23 January 2019"] [White "Mister Whiteley"] [Black "Nick Callicot"] [Result "0-1"]    1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.O-O Bg4 5.d3 Nbd7 6.Nbd2 e6 7.e4 Bc5 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Qc7 10.Kh1 h5 11.h4 Ne5 12.Nb3 Bd6 13.Bf4 O-O-O 14.Bxe5 Bxe5 15.d4 dxe4 16.Bg2 Ng4 17.Bxe4 f5 18.Bf3 Bxg3 19.Bxg4 hxg4 20.Kg2 Bxh4 21.Qe2 Qd6 22.Qd3 Bf6 23.Rh1 Rhe8 24.Rh7 Qf4 25.Kf1 Bxd4 {White resigns}

Mister Chamberlain lost to Chris Waites (father of the MCC top boards Tom and Adam Eckersley-Waites). The pre-programmed chess genes proved a bit much for Mister Chamberlain.

Star of the night was Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) who played David Clarkson. Our legal star managed to get into an opposite bishop ending a couple of pawns up and pushed on to victory.

     [Event "MCC v NLC"] [Date "23 January 2019"] [White " Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) "] [Black " David Clarkson "] [Result "1-0"]     1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.c3 d5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 e5 8.O-O Bd6 9.Ng5 e4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Qe6 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.Re1 Qxe2 14.Rxe2+ Be6 15.Na3 O-O 16.b3 Bg4 17.Re3 Rfe8 18.Nc4 Rxe3 19.dxe3 Rd8 20.Ba3 Bf8 21.Ne5 Rd1+ 22.Rxd1 Bxd1 23.Nxc6 a6 24.Ne5 Bc2 25.Bb2 Bb1 26.a3 Ba2 27.b4 cxb4 28.axb4 Bd6 29.Nc6 Bd5 30.Nd4 Kf8 31.f3 g6 32.e4 Bc4 33.f4 Bd3 34.e5 Bc7 35.Kf2 Bb6 36.Ke3 Bc4 37.Ke4 Ke7 38.g4 Bxd4 39.Kxd4 Be2 40.g5 Ke6 41.c4 Kd7 42.Kc5 Kc7 43.b5 axb5 44.cxb5 Bf3 45.Bc3 Bg4 46.Ba5+ Kb7 47.Kd6 Be6 48.Bc7 Bc4 49.b6 Be6 50.Ke7 Bd5 51.Kf8 Kc8 52.Kg7 Kd7 53.Kxh7 Ke6 54.h4 Kf5 55.Kh6 Bb7 56.h5 Bc6 57.hxg6 fxg6 58.Kg7 Bd5 59.Bd6 Bc6 60.Kf7 Bb7 61.e6 Bd5 62.b7 Bxb7 63.e7 Bd5+ 64.Kf8 Bc6 65.e8=Q Bxe8 66.Kxe8 Ke6 67.Be5 Kf5 68.Kf7 {Black resigns}

[Event “MCC v NLC”]
[Date “23 January 2019”]
[White ” Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon)”]
[Black ” David Clarkson “]
[Result “1-0”]

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.c3 d5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2
e5 8.O-O Bd6 9.Ng5 e4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Qe6 12.Bxc6+ bxc6
13.Re1 Qxe2 14.Rxe2+ Be6 15.Na3 O-O 16.b3 Bg4 17.Re3 Rfe8 18.Nc4
Rxe3 19.dxe3 Rd8 20.Ba3 Bf8 21.Ne5 Rd1+ 22.Rxd1 Bxd1 23.Nxc6
a6 24.Ne5 Bc2 25.Bb2 Bb1 26.a3 Ba2 27.b4 cxb4 28.axb4 Bd6 29.Nc6
Bd5 30.Nd4 Kf8 31.f3 g6 32.e4 Bc4 33.f4 Bd3 34.e5 Bc7 35.Kf2
Bb6 36.Ke3 Bc4 37.Ke4 Ke7 38.g4 Bxd4 39.Kxd4 Be2 40.g5 Ke6 41.c4
Kd7 42.Kc5 Kc7 43.b5 axb5 44.cxb5 Bf3 45.Bc3 Bg4 46.Ba5+ Kb7
47.Kd6 Be6 48.Bc7 Bc4 49.b6 Be6 50.Ke7 Bd5 51.Kf8 Kc8 52.Kg7
Kd7 53.Kxh7 Ke6 54.h4 Kf5 55.Kh6 Bb7 56.h5 Bc6 57.hxg6 fxg6 58.Kg7
Bd5 59.Bd6 Bc6 60.Kf7 Bb7 61.e6 Bd5 62.b7 Bxb7 63.e7 Bd5+ 64.Kf8
Bc6 65.e8=Q Bxe8 66.Kxe8 Ke6 67.Be5 Kf5 68.Kf7 {Black resigns}[/pgn]

Captain Hamme played the ever-dangerous Peter Rust (who was on Board 5 this time compared to Board 2 in the Friendly). Captain Hamme fell victim to a fork and went down to defeat.

Dinner afterwards in the Committee Dining Room was Cream of Leek soup, Salmon Fillet with potatoes and vegetables and a sort of Rum Bhaba without the rum…a Bhaba then. All very good. Tough job this chess.