Match Report: Thursday 18/07/24
Match Report: Thursday 18/07/24
Chorlton 3.5 – 2.5 Eccles
B Division
Summer League.
Eccles Captain Dave Toole who was one of the first to arrive was rather frazzled due to finishing work late, travelling across town by public transport after nearly missing his connection and had not eaten. I offered to make him some cheese on toast and as a good hostess I offered the rest of the players the same alongside free refreshments.
It was a lovely warm summer’s evening and I wish we could have played the match outside but unfortunately the outside playing area is being re-built.
So we played the match in a cool 22 foot square playing area and I hope someone opened the windows as I had forgotten otherwise it might have got a bit stuffy. It was probably cooler in the house than it was outside.
After everyone had helped themselves to refreshments and settled at their boards I said my usual introductory words which is to welcome everyone to the venue. I mentioned the time control, not allowing the use of phones, where the WC was located, showed where spare score sheets and extra pieces were etc… I then asked if everyone would leave the boards as they find them, to turn off the clock and put the winning king in the centre of the board when their game was over. I always ask if anyone has any questions (which they didn’t). I then went on to say there would be home-made sausage rolls and cheese pasties for vegetarians in the analysing room for when their game is over and if anyone can afford a small donation it would be greatly appreciated. Next it was time to shake hands and start the clocks. The match had begun!
It was a tough match and well played to Chorlton and as chess singer Juga say’s, ‘players learn more when they lose than they do when they win’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI6ThZ5Yny4
Many thanks to the Chorlton team for the close games and we look forward to locking horns at the next “Battle of over the Boards”
Man of the Match: Dave Stuttard.
Ardent player Dave Stuttard was delighted to have won his game v a very worthy fast growing opponent Jeremi Ignasiak. Jeremi said he missed a double check and losing like this has taught him to be more observant in the future. Losing is learning as they say.
David commented: (Eccles)
Tonight’s match was against fearsome Chorlton opponents. I was playing in my usual style against a strong 18 y-o. It was a line I’ve played hundreds of times in 5 minute games on the Internet. The idea is to get the initiative at the cost of a pawn. Which I did, we got to a position I knew the ropes of but Black didn’t. He did equalise after about 30 moves. We had Q R Kt and several pawns each. Jeremi did miss a winning exchange and we exchanged off the queens and rooks I offered a draw as Jeremi was still a pawn up. His king strayed into a net of my King and the remaining pawns. He made a knight move but only considered one of my ķnight checks. The other move was mate on the move. By the knight against a king in the centre of the board. I can’t remember a similar ending in my chess career, win or loss. Commiserations to my shocked opponent. We still lost the match unfortunately.
Jeremi Ignasiak commented: (Chorlton)
Overall, it was a good lesson, however, an unfortunate loss since after an unusual Caro Kann, my opponent gambited a pawn on move 3 which the engine thinks is a mistake which in fact followed by a sequence of my 6 next moves being the top-engine ones gave me an advantage of -2.5 therefore a crucial one. Unfortunately because of my inexperience the misplayed middle game made me lose that advantage. Luckily due to the unsuccessful attack of my opponent on the Queen side and me realising that I was still up a pawn i have managed to push back my opponent’s pieces and regained my advantage by gaining more space in the centre and trading off a couple of minor pieces. At the pinnacle the game I had a completely winning position with a -5.3 evaluation where again I didn’t take the opportunity by missing a fairly simple tactic of trading off the last 2 pieces by temporarily sacrificing my Queen for a Knight just to win it back straight away by forking my opponent’s Queen and King. This would’ve led me to a simple win in a pawn endgame however by not finding it I traded the Queens without trading the Knights and losing concentration I didn’t take into consideration a simple mating net in the middle of the board since I was too focused on winning other pawns. Terrible and unjustified mistake but congratulations to my opponent who did find it and managed to get the win.
Thanks guys for your contribution to the Match Report. Very enlightening I must say.
Next Week’s Matches
Tuesday 23/07/24: Eccles2 v Bury
Development Division
Summer League
Thursday 25/07/24 Eccles v Atherton
A Division
Summer League
Monday: Ladies Learning Chess
Wednesday: Chess for Fun
For more info please email Barbara at eccleschess@gmail.com