On Thursday, 28^th April, Anstey Chess Club’s first team played their last competitive game for the 2021/22 season in the Leicestershire league. In their ultimate test they faced the table leaders and eventual division winners Syston 2 who arrived with an interesting mixture of variously rated players at different stages of their careers. Our first team consisted of our top-rated and strongest players John “The Torturer” Robinson, “Mr. Engine” Julian, Mick and the person with many nicknames, “The Dark Destroyer” Matt Connor. Although not in a rush to win as there was no chance for the team to win the division, Anstey 1 took the contest as serious as it can get and showcased for ninth time this season amazing play to claim the win at the end.

The evening was also marked by Ben’s willingness to create some excitement for himself and the players by forgetting the match equipment at home.

Realising that there are no boards for the league match, “El Presidente” demonstrated sophisticated driving skills and road awareness pertinent to the top taxi drivers in the area and just managed to deliver enough boards for the game. Unfortunately for our chairman, his adventure involved a second lap to grab the pieces for the club night as the casual and second team players found themselves with plenty of boards but only one set of pieces.

Matt has had an amazing season so far, as he had managed to remain unbeaten with a record 8-1-0 prior to the game which started with the Four Knights game. Faithful to his very entertaining and time-demanding style, our teammate engaged in a tactical sequence straight from the beginning, eventually exchanging a knight for its black counterpart. Unlike his opponent, “The Dark Destroyer” decided to quickly get his king to safety with a short castle and then he went on to attack Black’s position with his pieces. Unaware of the repercussions of ignoring an attack from Anstey Chess Club’s top performing player this season, Matt’s opponent was eager to attack our teammate’s knight with a premature a6 push. Catching a sniff of the win, “The Dark Destroyer” started a sharp sequence which led to complete shattering of the king side (K-side) while cooking a beautiful checkmate with his rook and bishop in the centre which he delivered swiftly.

On board 3 Mick was scheduled to play with the Black and in his characteristic style he played his favourite St. George defence which was met by his opponent with the quite passive Colle opening. Following the main line, Mick went on to position his pieces for a sharp attack which apparently took his opponent by surprise as the latter was spending big chunks of time on each move, going quite quickly down on the clock. The ‘Cat and Mouse’ game continued for a few more moves, with both players thinking hard due to the many tactical opportunities available for both sides. Eventually our teammate started a K-side expansion which gave him a clear advantage in combination with the more actively positioned pieces. The position overwhelmed his opponent, and already being down on the clock, his time eventually ran out and Mick claimed the second win for our team on the night.

One of our top players this season and Anstey Chess Club’s top ECF-rated player Julian faced the young promising player Jack Pilley from Syston. Always playing in the most attacking and attractive manner, Julian opened up with his favourite Jobava London, which was met by a Grunfeld setup from his opponent. Our teammate did his best to take the initiative with an attack on the K-side following long castle, sacrificing pawns in the process in order to maintain the attacking chances and the initiative. Unfortunately for our teammate, his opponent defended well against the strong attack by “Mr. Engine” and further consolidated his position. Uncharacteristic for Julian, eventually he found himself in time trouble which led to him overseeing a checkmate from his opponent and unfortunately conceding a loss.

The hardest task, at least on paper, fell down to John, who was scheduled to face over 2000 rated player in the face of Graham Sharpe. A former Syston player himself, “The Torturer” was well aware and prepared for his opponent, and delivered a surprise straight from the opening where he engaged in a battle for the centre with his very first move. The players developed quickly, with White placing a beautiful knight on e5, while our teammate castled long with the idea of expansion on the K-side. The players exchanged a pair of knights and went on to reshuffle their pieces in a positional battle which ended in John’s opponent exchanging his beautiful e5-knight for Black’s unimpressive light-squared bishop. The Syston player tried to open up the game further, however, “The Torturer” kept his cool and after the exchange of the remaining minor pieces even sacrificed a pawn to keep the Q-side closed for the hungry white rooks, hovering on the first rank.

Throughout the night in the opposite corner of the quite spacious hall in the Anstey Methodist Church, a club night was taking place with players of various abilities and ages taking on the great game called chess, even despite the inconvenience caused by Ben’s equipment circuit run. The juniors Marcus and John, the experienced Dave and Mick “Squish”, the new regular Valdes who will also join the second team, and the seasoned players and captains of both teams “El Presidente” Ben and Oskar along with the website maintenance guy Boris “The Toaster” all enjoyed plenty of games while checking regularly on the league game action where the first team players were working hard to get another W for the club.