Round three of the Gladstone. Everyone was looking forward to calmer, more measured night than was had the week before at the Kennedy Cup. Nerves were still recovering – especially those of Mister Khan. Back to classical chess, a full hour each, just one game for the whole evening. Surely such a serene prospect as this meant pulses would remain steadfastly low?
Not a bit of it. The big beasts of Liberal chess had turned up with fight in their heart and were determined to bag some points towards the becoming the NLC Chess Champion 2025. And what a series of great fights we had. Three games, all those involving the players at the top of the leader board, went down to a time scramble in even positions. All three were highly precarious and a single slip would be the difference between a win, draw or loss – and potentially count a player out of the running.
So much hung on this round. What would happen?
Board 1 – Giffin v Khan
The first of our heavyweight encounters. Mister Khan is hotly tipped to win the Gladstone this year, being our natural board 1, but Mister Giffin KC MA (Oxon) is a very strong player indeed and can never be counted out. Here, he matched Mister Khan blow for blow, and could even have swept to victory had (in time trouble) he seen 33. Be5 skewering the two rooks. A draw was a fair result.
Board 2 – Jacobs v Landless
Another top match up. With Mister Landless beating the current Gladstone champ Mister Barton in round 1, he was well placed to top the current table. But Mister Jacobs is a devilishly strong player (and the NLC’s only chess professional). So would Mister Landless be able to sweep the points?
A very tricky, but fascinating, rook and pawn endgame ensued. Long-time NLC member and chess enthusiast Mister S. Fish thought that Black might have been able to push on through with a timely a3 pawn push at some point. But with the clock ticking and points at stake it’s hard to see all this.
Another draw.
Board 3 – Saldanha v Sam
The Editorial Committee extends its apologies to our readers – we are not yet in receipt of a record of this game. It was won by Captain Saldanha, reasonably comfortably it would seem, but not in a quick manner. However, our Correspondent did not record the moves and we await Captain Saldanha’s usual erudite report of his own game to come through to the office.
Board 4 – Edgell v Barton
A fascinating battle on Board 4. Your Correspondent was monitoring all the games so only heard afterwards from Mister Edgell that he was at one point 20 minutes up on Mister Barton with a far better position. But Mister Barton dug in, recovered the position, and the clock times, and secured the opposite coloured bishop draw.
The game itself is remarkable for the ‘pawn cube’ formation chosen by Mister Barton (f7, g7, f6, g6). You don’t see that in the textbooks.
Our third time-scramble draw of the evening.
Board 5 – Filosi v Widdicombe
A tough and fairly even fight between these two middle-tablers. It could have gone either way, but Mister Widdicombe was able to win the exchange and get his rook active thereafter. Close, very close.
Board 6 – Widger v Sharland
No record of this game was taken, but Miss Widger secured the points.
Mister Sharland – the very epitome of the Liberal Chess Spirit – worried not about the result, but instead about the beer, as demonstrated in the following lithograph.
He is a shining example to us all.
Board 7 – Raj v Ross
With Doctor Raj unable to make the game at short notice, this was a win by default for Mister Ross.
Results
With hostilities over, here’s how the table now stands:
Standings after round 2
| Place | Player | Score |
| 1 | Giffin | 2.5 |
| = | Landless | 2.5 |
| = | Khan | 2.5 |
| = | Saldanha | 2.5 |
| 5 | Jacobs | 2.0 |
| 6 | Sam | 1.5 |
| = | Barnett | 1.5 |
| = | Dias | 1.5 |
| = | Barton | 1.5 |
| = | Edgell | 1.5 |
| = | Birrane | 1.5 |
| = | Widdicombe | 1.5 |
| = | Ross | 1.5 |
| = | Widger | 1.5 |
| 15 | Filosi | 1 |
| 16 | Sharland | 0.5 |
| = | Raj | 0.5 |
| = | Taylor | 0.5 |
| = | Mooney | 0.5 |
So a four way tie at the top as Captain Saldanha capitalised on the three other draws. And just two rounds to go. Round 4 will be all important, but this one is going to go to the wire.
Dinner
Sadly, and unusually, our Culinary Correspondent was unable to attend the dinner, and so filed no report of the goings on. The Editorial Committee can only appeal, on behalf of our readership, to the one or more of the diners that evening to provide a fulsome report of the dinner in the ‘Readers Correspondence’ section at the end of this article.