(edited: bobideco)

Anstey 1 continued their amazing run of form in the Chapman Cup with a superb away win at our friends Market Harborough (MH).

MH fielded a near full strength side outgunning us by a total of 742 rating points. That did mean that once again we’d have a head start in this handicap competition with a lead of 1½. Their captain Romily won the toss for colours and chose white on odds. Handshakes completed; battle commenced.

It was a tense start, you could cut the atmosphere with a kn…, well, any blunt instrument really. And measure the temperature with a thermometer; on a hot summer night the playing room just got warmer and warmer and warmer, it was rivalling Wigston’s venue at the end!

Boris was a late replacement for John and faced off again David Curran on board 4. He played his favourite 1. d4 setup against the King’s Indian Defence but wasted a couple of tempi early on and his king was stranded in the centre for good part of the game. He managed to preserve his dark squared bishop and place a beautiful knight on e5 but David played an early Qb6 and built up pressure on the queenside before prising open the centre with c5. White eventually managed to castle kingside but was still slightly on the back foot albeit with a fairly solid setup. A few pieces and pawns were swapped off and with some tactical play white’s pieces came to life and with Qd7 he attacked the black rook on e8. At this point Boris offered a draw as David only had about 5 minutes left on the clock. In a tricky position for both sides he swiftly agreed. MH ½ Anstey 2.

Next to finish was Mick. Against Romily’s 1. Nf3 he went straight for the St George with 1. … b5. White developed calmly fianchettoing his light squared bishop and castling short. The dark squared bishops were exchanged on f4, white recapturing with gxf4 giving black a half-open file to go for. Not one for a quiet game Mick went all out for the attack on the kingside with a knight on g4 and pushing Harry the h pawn and followed up with sacrificing his knight for a pawn and the attack. The black queen went to g5 to join the attack but white’s queen, bishop and rooks were well placed to repel black’s forces. White played the excellent 20. Rd4 defending sideways (against black’s rook on g4) followed by a cheeky knight move forking bishop and rook. When the dust settled Mick was a rook for a pawn down and resigned immediately. MH 1½ Anstey 2.

Julian was black against Ian on board 1. After a quiet opening (literally, D11 Slav Defence: Quiet Variation) we could be rude and say it was a quite game and nothing much happened, the most exciting thing being Julian’s pen ran out of ink half way through and he had to pen share with Matt until Dave Walker kindly offered a replacement. But no, the game was quite sharp, going back and forth with both sides having chances. Black had the edge through the middlegame and into the endgame it looked like his 2 to 1 queenside pawn majority and two bishops might pay dividends but the dark squared bishops came off and with white’s pawns on dark squares in a knight vs light squared bishop ending the position was dead equal and a draw was agreed. At 51 moves this was the longest game of the night. MH 2 Anstey 2½.

Not for the first time this season the outcome of the match came down to Matt’s game. Having gone to the dark side this season he opened 1. e4 and Dave replied with the French Defence, 1. … e6. Two firsts for Matt this game, a dodgy sideline against the French and mimicking Julian with ear defenders. When Dave didn’t accept Matt’s gambit pawn, Matt was out of his book knowledge (maybe not the best plan against a near 1900 rated opponent). However, he played the opening and middlegame fairly accurately and came out with a slight edge although a bit down on time (quelle surprise). Black eventually castled short and Matt started his kingside attack with h4 and h5 (go Harry!). Dave defended by playing f6 followed by swapping off a knight and a bishop. Matt kept attacking but Dave had counter chances down the f file and a tactical finish to the game looked likely. Time was now very short for both sides and with Matt having less than a minute offered a cheeky draw which Dave declined. Play continued and Julian’s heart rate spiked when Matt was down to 2 seconds on the clock. There was also a touch move incident, Dave picking up his queen and Matt’s pawn on c3 before pausing mid-air before putting the pawn back down and moving his queen elsewhere. Matt should have insisted on Qxc3 (rules is rules) which would have had the benefit of giving him mate in one with Nf7:

After a few more move in the time scramble and under pressure on the board Dave’s flag fell handing Matt, and the team, the win. Phew! MH 2 Anstey 3½.

After four rounds we are in pole position in the competition, we can only be overtaken by Braunstone who we play in the next round, a real crunch game!