Thursday 20/10/2022. Anstey 1 registered their first win of the season in LRCA Division 2, putting up a good performance against a strong Kirby Muxloe side who out-rated Anstey by 7,288 to 6,933. Anstey remain unbeaten in the league having drawn against Braunstone in the first game whilst Kirby have now lost their first two matches.

With John on international duties (playing in the Guernsey Chess Festival), Matt and Mick shuffled up a board and super-sub Boris slotted in on board 4. At 19:30 the teams shook hands and battle commenced. Well, mostly, Julian had messaged in saying he was running and late and to start without him LOL.

The first game to finish was Mick with black against Kirby’s captain Ray Townsend on board 3. After another cagey start, some knight manoeuvring on both sides and the swap off of a couple of minor pieces Mick looked to start his trademark kingside attack with f5, g5, g4 and h5. At this point Ray blundered his queen to a discovered attack:

Ray played on a queen for a bishop down for another 30 moves but it was a complete rear-guard action. Mick took his time before eventually breaking through and forcing Ray to resign. Anstey 1 – Kirby 0.

Boris finished next on board 4 with white against David Walton. After an interesting game with white’s king stuck in the corner and black attacking on the kingside but with his own king stranded in the centre Boris blundered:

At this point Boris offered a draw… and David accepted! The very definition of a lucky draw because after 25. … Rh4+ black comes out with queen and king vs two rooks and a horribly exposed white king. And a -10 evaluation. In his defence David was short on time but even so a lucky ½ point for Anstey. Anstey 1½ – Kirby ½.

Julian faced off against Simon Lazarus on board 1. He was about 15 minutes down on the clock by the time he got to the board but blitzed out the first dozen or so moves and had comfortably equalised in a Caro-Kann Panov. White had a small space / activity advantage in return for a crippled pawn structure. Julian calmly manoeuvred and exchanged off pieces and it came down to a same-coloured bishop ending. Simon had a passed c pawn and exchanging off the bishops looked sensible but he had underestimated the mobility of Julian’s kingside pawns. He pushed them forward mercilessly and threatened to create his own passed pawn with white’s king too far away to catch it:

Simon resigned the completely lost pawn ending a couple of moves later. A 93.6% accurate game from Julian, he’ll want to improve on that! Anstey 2½ – Kirby ½.

Captain Matt was last to finish on board 2 with white against Kevin Dalley. In a terrible game by him he missed a chance to trap black’s queen followed by missing what would have been a beautiful tactic to create weaknesses around the black king:

He then mis-played the attack, retreated and lost a piece. Kevin gave him another chance by blundering a bishop back but then (admittedly in time trouble) Matt inexplicably gave away a knight when he had a slight advantage in an unbalanced position. A game best forgotten. But it didn’t matter as Anstey had already secured the win. Anstey 2½ – Kirby 1½.

So a draw and a win in the first two games and a mid-table league position:

Anstey’s next game is against Market Harborough 2, one they are definitely targeting for a win.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told BBC Sport:
I’m really pleased with this one, another engine-like performance from Julian and a great confidence-inspiring win for Mick. Yes, Boris got out of jail with that draw but that’s the way it is in this division, anything can happen!