In round three of the 2022 Harrod Summer Cup, Anstey’s second team travel away from home to Ashby’s very nice Ivanhoe Social Club to go up against a strong Ashby second team. The scores in the Harrod were quite equal between the two teams as Ashby sat at a comfortable fourth place, and Anstey sat just below them in a nice fifth place. The Anstey team on the night was Mike, a solid and experienced player on board one; the new but strong Valdas on board two; the experienced second team captain Oskar on board three, and a very young John who was making his debut match, and as rumours had it he was very excited about his first professional match in the competitive Leicestershire chess scene. 

Anstey two had come into the match with one win from round one of the Harrod, and a lose from round two. Hoping to get a win, Oskar, the team captain, was ready for a fight, as he had been playing rather well in the last two rounds. Mike and Valdas were as ready as can be, as they quenched their thirst at the bar before making their way towards the back room of the social club. John was patiently waiting for the games to start, with his mum, making friendly conversation with his opponent for the night. 

As the players were ready to play a gentleman’s game, the Anstey players headed through the snooker room of the social club into a cosy back room with its own toilet. The captains of both teams filled in the score sheet to mark who was playing, and then got to the coin toss to decide who would be playing white, and who would be playing black for the first games. The Ashby team captain, Andrew Wilson, was to call and as the coin flipped and flipped in the air Andrew called, “heads.” Luck was on Andrew’s side as the Anstey team captain, Oskar, revealed the coin to show heads. Andrew picked white for his team, with board one and three to play white first and Ashby’s boards two and four to play black first. Although, with some confusion from Oskar, the teams decided to have all of Ashby’s players to play white first. 

All eight players began to sit down to play some serious chess. It was peaceful in those last few moments, but soon there would be a brutal clash between the two teams. The leader board scores of both teams hung in the balance; who would come out on top to cement their position in the Harrod Summer Cup table scores? There’s only one way to find out… 

First Games of the Night – Ashby Plays White; Anstey Plays Black 

Board 1 – Andrew Wilson plays white; Mike Griffiths plays black. 

With white’s first move being an aggressive d4, Mike responded with a classy Sicilian defence. With the game being equal for most of the game, pieces getting traded off quite quickly, and with a rook and opposite-coloured bishop endgame, Mike seemed to be facing a certain draw. However, with only Mike’s bishop from stopping his opponent’s king and rook getting in behind Mike’s pawns, the game was far from over. Andrew’s time was running much lower than Mike’s, and so Mike had to put Andrew under some pressure. With one move of his bishop, Mike realised that he made a mistake, and his opponent seized his opportunity to get behind Mike’s pawns, but Mike was not done with yet. It took a while longer before Andrew had captured a pawn with his king, Mike knew he had to work hard to recover from his inaccuracy. He moved his drink to one side, trying to calculate a way out of his position, but he knew he couldn’t find a way out. Unfortunately, Mike knew his opponent would win eventually, so he put his hand out over the board for Andrew to shake. White was victorious, and it was one for Ashby. 

Mike plays white; Andrew plays black. 

In game two, Mike kept up the spirit of the Sicilian by playing c4 as his first move as white, and again everything came down to the endgame. Pieces were quickly traded off during the opening and middle game, and again Mike reports that a draw “looked obvious.” There was even some discussion between him and his opponent that they had in fact repeated moves, however, Andrew had clarified that you have to repeat a position three times rather than it being you repeat moves three times. Both players mutually agreed to continue the game, and black tried to lead an attacking charge with his king. Rather courageous to let the king go first, but Andrew had little to fear in his position, or so he thought. Determined to not allow black to win, Mike looked across the board for any slither of an advantage, and there was. A knight sacrifice, with check too; very juicy! However, with sacrifices you have to be sure that the sac will give you a winning advantage, if not win material. Mike was sure, after precise calculations and methodical planning Mike sacrificed his brave knight. Andrew unknowingly took the knight with a pawn of his, and this allowed white to push a 

pawn with a clear pathway to becoming a queen. Black realised what he had done, but it was too late and there was no visible way of stopping that pawn, it was queening no matter what. With that done and dusted, Mike had gained a victory, his opponent resigned. It was one all between Ashby and Anstey. 

Board two – Paul Gibson plays white; Valdas Matutis plays black. 

In Valdas’ first game, he played the Caro-kann defence as advised by the club’s secret coach, and Valdas clearly agrees he should play the caro. With successfully developing his pieces, Valdas patiently waited until his opponent had made an opportunity for black, and as Paul castled king-side Valdas pushed his a pawn forwards. Valdas castles queen-side, a very confrontational move as this puts his rook in the centre files of the board. As white’s pieces start attacking black’s king, black contains the attack well and pushing his b pawn forwards to try and create a blockade of pawns, although, this may weaken his king more than he would like. The position looked promising for Valdas, his king was safe, his pieces were coordinated, and he had some attacking chances for himself. Although, after a hard days work, sometimes your brain can only cope with so much thinking. Valdas wanted to exchange the queens off the board with the help of his knight. With the escort of the knight, the queen confidently faced off against white’s queen, so Valdas had successfully traded off his own queen as he had forgotten that his knight was pinned by white’s rook. Realising his mistake, Valdas did the honourable thing and resigned. Ashby with two, and Anstey with one. 

Valdas plays white; Paul plays black. 

In game two on board two, Valdas played a London variation, also recommended by the club’s secret coach. Valdas had used this same opening a few times before, but after his devastating loss in game one, Valdas began to struggle. White’s pieces hadn’t been developed very well and with little coordination, Valdas had lost the initiative in the mid-game. Valdas still had some chances to defend his weakened position, but he was barely hanging by a thread of fabric above a pit of angry pieces heading towards his king. After gaining the extra tempo, Paul began trying to pry open the centre of the board by using his centre files, along with the teamwork of his pieces. However, Valdas was not about to give up hope, he tried his hardest to take back his advantage and to rid the chances that black had of winning. There were not many trades happening, this game was a positional fight. As both players kept on fighting, Valdas was defending everything that black could throw at him, and Paul was getting tired. There was still a chance for black to win, but it was small and unclear; Paul would have to grind for this win. Knowing this, being tired and wanting to go home, Paul offered Valdas a draw, and Valdas happily accepted. The score was Ashby with two and a half, and Anstey with one and a half. 

Board three – Lawrence Hayden as white; Oskar Rudczenko as black. 

With white first playing e4 and Nc3, Oskar comfortably played e5 and Nf6, however, things would not remind comfortable for Oskar as white entered the Vienna Gambit. Oskar had head of this opening before but did not know much about it. Unsure of what to do but willing to play on, black played d6 hanging onto the centre pawn of his. The game carried on with Oskar being unsure of every move he was making, but he was holding back white’s attacks for now. White castled king-side and black castled queen-side, the fight was on, but Oskar took a lot of time to think. This was more of a positional fight, with only a couple of pieces traded off. White was slowly making progress into black’s territory, and with every move made Oskar’s position was starting to suffocate his pieces. As time ticked down, Oskar had half of his opponent’s time, but he was still not giving up. Oskar was holding back his opponent’s pieces, but time had ran out for Oskar. After the game Lawrence had admitted that the position was looking to be a draw, and with that the score was three and a half for Ashby, one and a half for Anstey. 

Oskar plays white; Lawrence plays black. 

With game two starting off solidly for Oskar, he brought his bishop and knight out quickly, while his opponent had opened with the Kings Indian Defence. Oskar had faced this many time before and knew what to do, but he was too preoccupied with trying to force his opening prep against the unexpected passive play by black. Both sides had castled king-side, but Oskar was after blood playing h4 after castling. Fierce, but ignorant, Oskar continued to push his h pawn into black’s position without the help of a rook on the h file. Using his queen and bishop, putting pressure on the fianchettoed bishop and allowing his h pawn a clear passage to h5. Although, with the lack of support the pawn had, Oskar had to use his light-squared bishop to help the lone pawn. Again, this was a positional game, black was manoeuvring his knights to many different squares in the position, trying to push his b pawn into the attack. White’s 

position was looking good enough to maintain a small advantage, but the pieces were tripping over each other and eventually Oskar had blundered. His misplaced knight became even more misplaced and unwelcome, as Oskar had accidentally severed the line of sight between his queen and dark squared bishop. Black took the free piece and exchanged the knight off too, allowing his queen to face down onto white’s king. Time was equal for most of the game, until the unfortunate mistake and Oskar was down by more and more time in the last few moves. Oskar had tried to defend himself, but it was very tricky and, consequently, he had lost on time again. It was four and a half for Ashby, and one and a half for Anstey. 

Board four – Tom Gerrard plays white; John Graham-Brown plays black. 

John opened strongly in his first match of his chess career, making it difficult for his opponent to gain the initiative. John is a very quick player, and he does not like to give his opponents any breathing room at all. There were even times when John had all his time left, whereas his opponent had half his time remaining. Although, playing so quickly, John had less time to think about which moves to play, and this gave him less time to contemplate what his opponent might do. John started to run out of threatening moves, and, consequently, Tom could gain some breathing room and eventually it became an equal middle-game. John continued to play quickly, whereas Tom continued to ponder over his moves. As black played quickly, he did not think about many threats that white could make, so this gave white an opportunity to start making threats and attacks of his own. Eventually, John’s pieces were backed up in the corner of the board along with his king, so as time went on and with black’s options getting less and less favourable, John, unfortunately, got checkmated. Ashby 5 and a half; Anstey one and a half. 

John plays white; Tom plays black. 

In the second game, John, again, came out strong and fast. Attempting to make sure his opponent does not have any breathing space on the board. Tom had to work hard once again, as attacks kept coming from every possible angle, but white’s attacks were light and rushed with not much weight behind them. Black parried all of white’s attacks. John wanted to press his attack, so he brought out his most powerful piece: The Queen. Unfortunately for John, things took a turn for the worst, as black slayed the white queen. John tried to hang onto the position with the pieces he had left, he tried to coordinate his pieces to create a fortress for his king, but it was not enough to save John’s king. White was checkmated. John did not win against his opponent that night, but he fought fiercely and harshly. Tom had admitted multiple times that he did had to work hard for both wins against John, and with John being two hundred and fifty points lower than Tom things look bright for John’s chess career. With enough practise of patience and discipline, John could become a formidable chess player. 

Final Result 

The final match result was six and a half to Ashby’s second chess team, and one and a half for Anstey’s second team. The leader board table now puts Anstey two at eight place out of eleven. Although the result is a landslide in Ashby’s favour, this does not share the full story that happened, on the night of the fourteenth July twenty twenty-two. All of Anstey’s players were out graded by an average of two hundred and eighty-five ECF points, and all of Anstey’s players had fighting chances all throughout the match. Especially the games on the first two boards, those games were not lost completely and looked quite equal for a while. With more experience and training, every player on the Anstey second team can become even stronger. For now, though, we will have to wait until the next round of the Harrod Summer Cup to see how Anstey two will fair against their next challengers, or maybe, even, victims. 

Match report written by Oskar E. S. Rudczenko.