The title-chasing MCC turned up for the Hamilton Russell Cup match at Whitehall Place with a strong side and justified optimism. Following the friendly a few weeks ago where the NLC had gone in with high hopes but scraped out with a 3-3 draw, the MCC had added luminaries such as Gary Senior, Dominic Lawson and Ian Reynolds. At least the Eckersley-Waites had been left at home, but from the NLC perspective that was the only saving grace.
The NLC had a couple of new players with Mister Barnett and Mister Burgoyne making their Hamilton Russell debuts, but shall we say hopes were not high. A defeat with honour and then a spirited effort against the Hurlingham in the last match of the season looked the way forward.
But whatever it is, chess is rarely predictable. Captain Giffin KC MA (Oxon) even won the toss. Perhaps that was a sign of things to come.
So where do we start?
Let’s begin on Board 6. Mister Barnett was making his Hamilton Russell debut against Colin Ferguson and played the Dutch defence. The opponent blundered a piece early but Mister Barnett couldn’t make his advantage tell as the position closed up. Later Mister Barnett lost a piece but rather than go for a win the opponent took the perpetual check.
That’s a decent result to start and at least meant the NLC wasn’t going to get whitewashed.
NLC 0.5 – MCC 0.5
What was happening up top?
Well it didn’t go very well on the higher boards, mainly due to an ability problem – the MCC had it and the NLC didn’t.
Captain Giffin KC MA (Oxon) had black against the highly dangerous Dominic Lawson in a Nimzo-Larsen attack (1 b3). As so often happens when good players play it, white uses pressure on the long diagonal and a bishop on b5 pinning the black knight on c6 to create pressure. Pressure was duly created. There was a queen swap but black was stuck in an inferior ending. White duly turned the screw, won material and won the game.
If anything Board 1 was even worse. Doctor Kirby had white in a Dutch defence against Gary Senior. It was one of those games where the opponent was playing simple direct positional chess and the Doctor felt bereft of ideas. Gary Senior managed to get e5 through early which is always a good sign in the Dutch. Instead of trying to keep control of the d-file, the Doctor tried to replicate the Bb2/Qa1 set-up used by Natasha Regan against him a few months ago. Difference is that it didn’t work and Black broke through in the centre.
NLC 0.5 – MCC 2.5
What about the other debutant?
He was going quite nicely. Mister Burgoyne has recently joined the Club, encouraged by Mister Corrigan. That’s a decent recommendation so he was slung in on Board 3 to play Ian Reynolds in a veterans match-up.
Little is known about the match but Mister Burgoyne managed to secure a draw. When you consider that Ian Reynolds has played in the world over-65s championship that’s a very decent result. Mister Burgoyne is a valuable addition to our ranks.
NLC 1 – MCC 3
What about Board 4?
Board 4 saw Young Master Jacobs as black against David Clarkson, who had previously scored a creditable draw against Doctor Kirby in the friendly. The Young Master essayed Owen’s Defence (1…b6) against e4. The opponent occupied the centre and looked to be building pressure before losing a pawn. Material was regained but then David Clarkson blundered a piece and lost the game.
NLC 2 – MCC 3
That leaves Miss Widger
That it does. Miss Widger was playing white against Wil Ransome. With approximately 3 minutes left on her clock to the opponent’s 4, she was a pawn down but with a highly active knight in a R&N vs R&B ending. Miss Widger surveyed the situation, knew that she needed to win rather than take a draw, and decided outright aggression was the only solution. In cricketing terms, it was time for some Bazball.
She ploughed forward, winning back material and pinning the opponent’s King on the back row leaving her King free to advance. Could she do it? Eventually she managed to ram through a pawn to Queen, which meant the opponent had to sacrifice his rook. Miss Widger was a rook up but with under a minute left. Skilfully she removed the opponent’s pawns to make sure she couldn’t lose and then advanced her g-pawn. So concentrated was she on her plan that she missed two mates in one but victory was finally achieved with five seconds on the clock.
The final result
NLC 3 – MCC 3
So that was it, a 3-3 draw achieved against the mighty MCC. A draw in a Friendly was perhaps a slight disappointment for the NLC, but a draw in the Hamilton Russell match against a very good MCC side is probably one of our greatest achievements to date.
Dinner
Dinner was rather good too, with soup to start and then the NLC sea bass with white beans, tomatoes and tapenade. All washed down with decent supplies of NLC Club White and Club Red.
Well done NLC! Great result against such strong opposition.