Anstey Chess Club made their proud debut in the elite Summer Cup event in Leicestershire – the Wylie Cup. In the first round, we were drawn at home against Thurnby – likely to be fighting against ourselves to avoid the wooden spoon.

The format is rapidplay – 20 minutes per player with 10 second increments for each player throughout. Furthermore, you play one game with the white pieces and one game with the black pieces against the same opponent.

Early team news meant that Anstey suffered an early blow with the best graded player in the squad – Julian Tarwid – being away in the picturesque Corby and not available. El Presidente was resourceful at short notice and recruited Valdas for his debut for the team having been keen to get involved.

Thurnby arrived early and with the pieces and boards set up in good time – as usual – we actually started the game early with Thurnby’s captain and driver John Pattinson eager to try and get home whilst it was still light. Having decided to keep the boards as they were (Anstey starting with the black pieces) rather than mess around with tossing for colours and playing alternate colours (it is also easier to fill in the score sheet as both captains agreed!), battle commenced around 10 minutes earlier than advertised.

Board 1
Matt ‘Dark Destroyer’ Connor vs Ray Burgess
Matt with black – draw
Having been involved in my own game and with Matt being furthest from my board, I didn’t see much of Matt’s games. However, Matt (in a great run of form it must be said) achieved a draw against an opponent significantly higher rated than him. When I joined the game, both players were short on time with Matt a pawn up in a notoriously difficult Rook and pawn ending. The problem for Matt was that both Rooks were active and Ray checked Matt’s King as often as he could which eventually meant that they agreed a draw. A victory was far from clear for either player.

Matt with white – draw
Matt also achieved a draw on board 1 – making a mockery of the FIDE ratings. Thankfully Matt’s rating is an actual rating else other clubs might feel like they would want to have their say about Anstey’s estimated ratings. Again I didn’t see much of the game, but from what I did see it again looked very even with Matt once again holding his own against a stronger player.

Board 2
Mick ‘Just Mick’ Sandham vs Roland Graf
Mick with black – draw
Having been sat next to Mick, I was able to see what was going on in his game. Employing what appeared to be his favoured St George defence, Mick appeared to be more than equal over the board against his higher rated opponent (let’s be clear, we are very much underdogs in the Wylie Cup this year). After a fairly level looking position, both players agreed to a draw with Mick being slightly up on time.

Mick with white – loss
The second game with Mick as white was quite simply a joy to watch, albeit Mick finished on the wrong side of the game. Mick had said before this game that ‘We had to go for it’ because of the match score. At the time after the games with the black pieces, we were down in the match. My goodness did Mick go for it and so did his opponent. The game itself was one that as chess players, we all ought to have agreed draws and watched. It was a Sicilian Najdorf/Dragon amalgamation setup with Mick attacking on the Kingside and Roland attacking on the Queenside. Unfortunately, Mick blinked first with his attack and defended and was on the back foot after that. Mick resigned in a lost position and I think we all nearly applauded both players after the game!

Board 3
Ben ‘El Presidente’ Vaughan vs John Pattinson
Ben with black – loss
Both captains faced off on board 3. John is also the league chairman so I had to be nice. Playing his old friend the English with white (I wish I’d have known), the game transposed into a Semi-Slav type setup but with John having played c5 as white, I had a backward c6 pawn. Once the heavy artillery came off, the Rooks and the Queens, I offered a cheeky draw which was declined. The c6 pawn was eventually picked off by a marauding Knight and Bishop in tandem, then I lost my a pawn. The end came when I walked into a simple pawn fork with a King and Knight and I resigned.

Ben with black – loss
Unfortunately, the losses continued but not without a fight. Ben was out of opening theory after John played 2. .. Qe7 against e4 e5, Nf3. The development of pieces occurred with central squares being contested along with board space. John managed to get a pawn and subsequently a Knight into advanced spaces on the board which led to a dangerous passed pawn on d3.A few moves later and John’s pieces came to life and a nice deflection tactic secured John a checkmate on the board.

Board 4
Valdas ‘No nickname yet’ Matutis vs Mick Busby
Valdas with black – draw
Valdas’s opponent played a fairly passive opening and allowed Valdas to contest the centre with ease. A few exchanges took place and another double rook and pawn ending was on the board. Mick had the more active rooks and seemingly instead of using them to pick off pawns, repetitively checked Valdas’s King and the players agreed to a draw, despite Valdas’s Rooks lacking connection and harmony.

Valdas with white – win
Congratulations to Valdas for securing the team’s only individual win on the night. In a London system opening, Valdas secured the centre and Mick seemed to let him. Valdas then embarked on attacking Mick’s King. In the process Valdas secured a pawn and a good attack and Mick seemed to take a lot more time after he lost the pawn and eventually, Mick’s time ran out and Valdas claimed the win on time. With the digital clocks we use as a club, there was a little flag visible on the clock to indicate the ‘flag fall’ of time running out.

And so a 5-3 defeat on the night but one can’t help but wonder what might have been because some of these games could quite literally have gone either way.