On Thursday, 7th April, Anstey Chess club’s second team took on a fourth great challenge in a row, this time against the division favourites Braunstone 2 who entered the match with six wins and only one loss. With Hal and Leo unable to play, the captain Oskar was left with a great challenge to find someone to play on board one, but as usual the first team delivered when needed and Mick jumped in to fill the missing space. This left a very strong team of Mick, Boris, Mike and Oskar, all eager to prove themselves in a difficult game. The away team arrived with a strong team of their own, led by 1810 rated James Bingham who was scheduled to face our guest start in the second team Mick. A quick glance on the team score sheet got our hearts racing, with the only player outrated by less than 100 points being Boris on board 4 (Boris was outrated ‘only’ by 93 points). Needless to say, our players were not moved at all by the difference on paper and went into the match with plenty of heart and brain, delivering solid games and fighting for the win until the very end.
Oskar Rudczenko (Anstey 2) vs Daniel Wilkinson (Braunstone 2) 0 – 1
Massive challenge in front of Oskar, as he faced more than 400 points higher rated young Daniel Wilkinson. Playing white, our team captain decided to follow on Julian’s steps and openned with the Jobava London system to which his opponent replied with (apparently the best move by Black, based on Stockfish, depth=20 evaluation) 3…a6, preventing Oskar’s knight jumping on b5 and trying to create characteristic havoc on the queenside (Q-side). On the following move, Oskar’s opponent decided to attack the centre, guiding the game into the depths of the most testing lines with early c5 push. The players continued their development and both castled kingside (K-side). The Braunstone player continued his attack on the centre in an attempt to open up the game and after a long forcing sequence, our teammate found himself a pawn down, but holding the bishop pair while his opponent’s extra pawn was doubled on the e-file. Determined not to lose a big chunk of his rating, Black played more actively, pushing pawns and chasing our captain’s bishops all around the board, only to be faced by Oskar’s impenetrable white wall.
Following a sequence which included a rook exchange and many jumps of the black knight before the equine-shaped piece was exchanged for our teammate’s light-squared bishop, Oskar found himself a proud owner of a passed pawn on the c-file, with the black king squeezed alongside his light-squared bishop on the eighth rank. With more active pieces, our captain managed to pick up another pawn while Black started attacking Oskar’s king, blundering his rook in the process which unfortunately our teammate missed. Under pressure, both players continued their game with a pattern of bad moves, leading to Daniel picking up Oskar’s ‘passer’ and exchanging the rooks. Unfortunately, our captain did not receive another opportunity to win the game and with Black two pawns up and having a passed pawn on the e-file, Oskar resigned. A big challenge and a great lesson for our teammate.
Martin Steel (Braunstone 2) vs Mike Griffiths (Anstey 2) 0 – 1
On board 3, the mismatch in rating terms was not as pronounced and unsurprisingly one of the leaders in the top player table Mike delivered again for the second team. Playing with the white pieces, Mike’s opponent opened with the English, the benchmark opening our teammate is usually using as White. Apparently familiar with the position, both players developped confidently without engaging too early in the battle but focusing on king safety, with fianchetto’d bishops and castled on the K-side. With the e-h side of the board sorted and middle game starting, our teammate decided to show White how is the English properly played and started an expansion on the Q-side in an attempt to utilise the power of his g7 bishop further down the road. The Braunstone player attempted a response but in the Q-side chaos Mike managed to place a beautiful knight in his opponent’s half, waiting to unleash an attack. Always a class solid player, our teammate started also eyeing his opponent’s g2 bishop, and created a bishop led battery on the c8-h3 diagonal.
Still navigating a complicated middlegame, the players decided to continue the battle in the centre, where again Mike made the better positional choices and under the pressure from his powerful pieces, Mike’s opponent finally crumbled and lined up his queen and rook for a beautiful knight fork. Our teammate seized the opportunity and with the resulting lead in material decided to simplify earlier rather than later and exchanged the queens. Having the power of the rooks, Mike started a slow and steady positional squeeze on his opponent which resulted in placing the ‘pigs on the seventh’ and pressuring the cornered white king. Realising the inferiority of his position, the Braunstone player had nothing better but to resign. An amazing seventh win this season for Mike which places him again half point in front of ‘Filler’ Matt in the Top player table.
Borislav Lazarov (Anstey 2) – Vijay Gulab (Braunstone 2) 1 – 0
The return of the website maintenance guy Boris was marked by his opponent being more than half hour late for the match. While our teammate was casually drinking coffee, taking photos and chatting around with the first team players, his opponent stormed the room and both sat down for the game. After a little play around with the Catalan, Boris decided to get back to his favourite London system, conscious of his opponent’s superior experience and rating. Possibly still a little panicked due to his late arrival and already being down more than 20 minutes on the clock, Vijay played quickly and on the fifth move made a positional mistake by challenging Boris’ light-squared bishop with 5…a6. Our teammate hapily exchanged his bishop for the c6-knight, leading to the effective funeral of the Black’s light-squared bishop. As the saying goes, the rest is history. Up on the clock, Boris placed a beautiful knight on e5 and started squeezing his opponent with pawns on the Q-side. The second knight also helped in the process and was eventually exchanged for the light-squared bishop of the Braunstone player, but only after it won a pawn for our teammate.
Black responded with attack on the K-side which led to White doubling pawns on the e-file, but also opened the g-file and subsequently the route to the black king. Boris continued to create chaos with his powerful knight on the sixth, seventh and eighth rank, leading to his opponent exchanging it for a rook. Leading in material, Boris exchanged queens and then activated his king, giving his opponent some good opportunities in the process, fortunately missed by the Braunstone player. Eventually, the last black rook was exchanged and still leading in material, Boris activated his rook and picked up the black c-pawn, creating a ‘passer’ on the b-file which, with the black bishop controlled by the white king and the black king cut out by the white rook, could not be stopped and Boris’ opponent resigned. A great game for our teammate which gets him back on the winning track.
James Bingham (Braunstone 2) vs Mick Sandham (Anstey 2) 1 – 0
With Hal and Leo unable to play on the night, it was down to the first team to help out. The man of the evening ended being Mick, who readily stepped up to the occasion and sat down on board 1. Our teammate had the black pieces facing the wily and experienced Jim Bingham, who was also the highest rated player in the whole building (current rating, John Sr. has been rated well into the 2000s in his glorious past). After 1.d4 Mick replied with his benchmark e6, b5 and a6 setup, facilitating slow development and striking on the centre with pieces. His opponent decided to strike back by taking as much space in the centre as possible. A cagey middle game followed, then in his tactical style Mick decided to try and blow open white’s K-side with an attack by sacrificing a piece. Unfortunately, the Braunstone player was able to consolidate the position and gave some material back, leaving him a pawn up on the 6th rank and keeping our teammate’s King and Bishop honest. Aware of the result on Mike and Boris’ boards, Mick offered a draw a couple of times, but his opponent was adamant on converting White’s superior position.
Our teammate’s remaining pieces ended being a little too overworked and as soon as the bishops were about to be forcibly exchanged, Black resigned. A tough day in the office for Mick but nevertheless our second team and the whole club are grateful for his bravery in taking on a higher rated opponent on a very short notice.
With a total result of 2 -2 against the team considered favourite in the division, our second team continues to show that they can fight as equal against the big guns and remain unbeaten in this calendar year. Sitting comfortably on fourth place, their utlimate fixture will be home against Melton Mowbray 3 as they make full circle to face the first team they have beaten this year.
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