Thursday 12/01/2023. Anstey 1 travelled to the Ivanhoe Social Club in Ashby for this LRCA Division 2 top of the table, six-pointer, win at all costs, do not come home with anything other than victory, epic fixture against the league leaders Ashby 1. Except that they came home with a big fat zero and slipped to third place in the league (after Wigston 2 beat Market Harborough 2).

Playing in the back room was much better than playing in the bar (we’ve had enough of playing in bars for this season – Editor), the captains exchanged team sheets. The teams were very evenly matched on paper (6,957 vs 7,031), it was going to be a close contest.

The players shook hands and battle commenced. After just a minute or so there was a bit of a commotion, there was some kind of announcement from the snooker room next door (another famously quiet sport you would think). Matt reached for his ear defenders and in doing so knocked over a bottle of water demolishing half the pieces on the board. Many whisperings of “j’adoube” followed and the position set back up LOL. As an aside, a little-followed etiquette rule of chess, you should never adjust the pieces on the board when it’s not your move. You’re welcome.

John’s game against Andrew Wilson on board 2 was the first to finish. In what can only be described as a bore-draw John, as black, mirrored Andrew’s setup in fact copying white’s moves four to ten exactly! Shortly after the queens came off and in an equal position John offered the draw which Andrew accepted. Ashby ½ – Anstey ½.

Julian played Richard Vann on board 1. Going for his usual castle long and attack on the kingside approach, Julian pushed Gary the g-pawn to g6. Richard countered on the queenside but left his king in the centre of the board which Julian exploited with a brilliant knight sacrifice:

After 17. exd5+ Qe7 18. Qxc4 Julian had three pawns for the piece, with black’s pieces uncoordinated and his king stuck in the centre. Unfortunately, Julian got over-ambitious and sacrificed his other knight (and a chunk of his advantage) on g5 giving the crazy material deficit of four pawns versus two knights. He still stood better in game but a second mistake a few moves later allowed black to give back a knight for a pawn (it’s now three pawns for a knight, keep up) and a dynamically equal position. But it’s easy to go wrong in these types of positions especially with the clock ticking (Julian was down on time). A couple of further slips and black won another pawn and playing accurately Richard activated his knight then his rook and pushed his passed b-pawn with devastating effect to take the win. What a shame. Ashby 1½ – Anstey ½.

Mick was next to finish with black on board 4 versus Paul Gibson. By his own admission Mick mixed and matched his opening systems missing a key move which would have completely equalised. Instead, white came out of the opening with a slight but nagging advantage. A couple of passive moves by Paul though meant Mick was still in the game and his thoughts turned to attack by means of h6 and g5. Unfortunately, the idea was flawed and white hit back with a great move:

Mick compounded the problem with 23. … g4. White later opened the f-file and move his doubled-d rooks to the f-file bearing down on the pinned f7 pawn. As pieces were exchanged off and the dust settled white came out 2 pawns up and an overwhelming advantage. A final error meant black’s king was trapped on the h-file and a forced checkmate with rook, bishop and knight meant Mick had to resign. Ashby 2½ – Anstey ½.

Matt’s game against Chris Tipper on board 3 was the last to finish. Chris declined Matt’s opening gambit which unusually led to a more positional type of game for Matt. With a strong pawn centre for white with pawns on c3, d4 and e4, black tried to hit back with … d5 but after exchanging the dark-squared bishops on e7 Matt pushed on with e5 securing what turned out to be and everlasting space advantage. Plenty of piece manoeuvring on both sides followed but it was much easier for white than black with Chris trying to defend everything with awkwardly placed pieces. Eventually white pinched a pawn:

The manoeuvring continued but when Chris finally tried to break free (when he was running out of time) with f5 he mortally weakened his central pawns and allowed a nice tactical finish:

The game finished 32. Rxc7 Kxc7 33. gxf5 1-0 as after 33. … Nxf5 34. Bxf5 exf5 35. Nxd5+ wins the queen. Ashby 2½ – Anstey 1½.

Anstey 1 slip to third in the division at the (approximate) halfway point of the season, equal on points with Market Harborough 1 but MH have a game in hand. The division remains very tight with just 3 points separating the top 4 teams:

Anstey’s next game is against Braunstone 2 on the 26^th January, a win required to keep them in the mix!

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Snooker Weekly:
I’m gutted, a win tonight would have taken us top of the table. We need to work on our away form, we’re averaging 50% compared to 83% at home. Having said that we’ve only played 3 matches at home and 5 away so far, hopefully the crowd can get behind us in the coming home games to really lift the side. The very last game of the season we’re at home against Ashby, if we’re there or thereabouts in the league our fate could still be in our own hands!