Anstey 2 invaded Wigston like a clan of marauding Vikings and plundered a 5-1 away win, extending their unbeaten run to 6 games and moving up to 3rd in the division. Wigston had indicated before the match that they could play 8 boards drafting in a couple of 2nd division players. Team captain Oskar did likewise, bringing in first team stalwarts Mick and Matt to bolster the team. In the end 6 boards were played and on-paper the sides were evenly matched 8436 vs 8410.

Mick and Matt travelled together to the game but due to city centre traffic were delayed, not helped by a police incident closing Aylestone Road. Well, that’s their story and they’re sticking to it. Oskar was relieved when they arrived in the nick of time, taking their seats literally seconds before the match started. In a strange twist, that was the only time-trouble Matt had that night! Leo’s opponent on board 5 was also late, Oskar was very charitable offering a 10-minute grace period before starting the clock when he was well within his right to start straight way.

Mick Sandham (Anstey 2) vs Ben Noyvert (Wigston 4) 1 – 0

So, onto the action. We had barely sat down when we heard the words “check” then “checkmate” from Mick on board 1. Mick’s Italian Game opening turned into a Scotch Game (Benima Defence) with young Ben Noyvert riskily taking on c3 (allowing Qd5) and missing the mate threat, oops: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 exd4 5. c3 dxc3 6. Qd5 d6 7. Qxf7+ Kd7 8. Be6#. Mick takes the lead in the quickest win of the season competition, relegating John Robinson to 2nd with his leisurely 12-move win at Latimer. A great start, 1-0.

Leo Abraham (Anstey 2) vs Madhav Eradi (Wigston 4) 1 – 0

Another very tactical game, where Leo decided to go for the notorious bishop sacrifice Bxf7+ with the decision helped by his opponent blundering a knight for a pawn. Nevertheless, the Wigston player decided to keep himself in the game by being active and started attacking our teammate’s knights from all corners and even placed a beautiful knight on d4. Under immense pressure, Leo calmly engaged his pieces, led by his fierce queen, into a tactical combination, and when the dust settled, our teammate found himself a piece up, with the right to castle his king to safety unlike his opponent, and ahead positionally with a +5.1 evaluation by Stockfish (depth = 20, powered by chess.com). Eventually, Leo consolidated his position and after a long castle, our club’s youngest active competitor unleashed a barrage of attacks towards his opponent’s king, leaving with plenty of material and practically delivering a checkmate on move 30, securing his fourth straight win. 2-0.

Mike Griffiths (Anstey 2) vs John McKiernan (Wigston 4) 1 – 0

Next to finish was Mike against John McKiernan. Again deploying his trademark English opening, after a cagey opening all bishops were exchanged off and the knight maneuvers began. A pair of knights came off then Mike doubled rooks on the b-file and with a lovely knight on d5 won black’s b6 pawn. Black tried to mix things up in the centre to get some counterplay but Mike handled it deftly, exchanging the rooks and knights and picking up a couple more pawns in the process. A couple of queen checks was all black could muster and in the cold light of day 3 pawns down in a queen and pawn ending he resigned. 3-0.

Chris Brown (Wigston 4) vs Hal Jardine (Anstey 2) 1 – 0

The only fly in the ointment was Hal’s defeat on board 4 as black against Chris Brown. It is unknown at this point whether Hal brought a pen, we think that might be what threw him off his game. At some point Hal dropped a pawn, most of the pieces came off and in the ensuing rook and pawn ending (Hal’s nemesis) white was set to win another pawn and Hal gracefully resigned. 3-1.

Callum Holgate (Wigston 4) vs Oskar Rudczenko (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

With just ½ point required to secure the win attention turned to Oskar’s game against Callum Holgate on board 6. Against white’s 1. d4 Oskar went for the Modern Defence 1. … g6 with white going for a London style setup with Bf4, e3 and c3. After a few developing move Oskar tried to crack open the position with c5, both sides making a few mistakes in a chaotic phase of the game – it was really wild! After a few exchanges the dust settled and white came out a pawn up with a dangerous looking passed pawn on c5. White pushed it on to c7 and was in full control, it wasn’t looking good for black. On move 35 Oskar played Qc8 to block the pawn and challenge the white queen on e6. In what can only be described as a moment of madness white played Bf4 defending the pawn on c7 but overlooking the fact his queen wasn’t defended. Oskar snapped up the queen, the engine eval going from +8 to -8, the biggest swing of the night (where’s Jeremy Vine with the swingometer?). White did eventually queen his c pawn but at this point black’s queen and bishop were making mincemeat of the white king’s meagre defences. Oskar eschewed a chance to mate the king instead toying with his opponent going for the simple method of exchanging off all the pieces leaving king and 3 pawns vs king. He queened a pawn and delivered checkmate on f1. What a game! 4-1.

Alex Milligan (Wigston 4) vs Matt “The Filler” Connor (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

This left Matt on board 2 as black against Alex Milligan. White opened with the Nimzo-Larsen 1. b3. Matt went for a solid if slightly passive setup with pawns on e5, d6 and c6 but missed a chance to gain space in the centre with e4 (kicking white’s knight on f3) and d5. Instead, white played d5 and after a little manoeuvring Matt closed the centre / queenside with c5. He thought he could reposition his pieces to the kingside and get some play with the pawn strike f5. Unfortunately, white was able to transition to the kingside much more quickly and build up pressure on the f-file, then the g-file and then the h-file. Matt’s pieces were all tangled up and just when it looked like white was making the decisive break through came the second biggest blunder of the night, white gave check with Bg6 just losing the piece to Nxg6. Engine eval swing +5 to -5 (Jeremy?). Matt then made his first foray into the other half of the board on move 34(!) threatening the cheeky Ne2 forking the king and queen but also attacking the rook on h5 so he won an exchange leaving him a rook up. White still had attacking chances but Matt calmly defended (no doubt helped by his time advantage (yes you heard that right)) bringing his queen and bishop to defend the king before opening up the queenside and infiltrating on the back rank with his extra rook. White lost on time before he was mated by queen and rook. Boom. 5-1.

Commiserations to Hal for the only defeat of the night (we have all been there mate) but for the two massive blunders the result could have been very different. But that’s chess, in the end an excellent result for the team continuing the great form since Christmas.