Thursday 30/03/2023. Anstey 1’s push for a top 2 finish in the division was dealt another blow as Market Harborough 1 took all the points in this LRCA Division 2 clash. Hopes were high going into the match after walloping Wigston 2 the week before but despite a brave effort they could not replicate the performance.

With John returning from ill-health Anstey fielded their regular side against an odd-looking Harborough team. Harborough out-rated Anstey on the top 3 boards but fielded an unknown (at least to us) 1,250 player rated on board 4. (A ringer? – Ed). At 19:30 the players shook hands and battle commenced.

John Robinson’s game against Dave Walker on board 2 was the first to finish and immediately put the home team on the back foot. Dave, with black, had equalised out of the opening and countered John’s queenside castling and kingside expansion with his own queenside attack leaving his king in the centre. John’s attack lost momentum and he went defensive before Dave made a brilliant knight sacrifice:

The game continued 22. … Nxb2!! 23. Kxb2 Qa4 24. Kc1 Qa2 25. Re2 Ba3+ 26. Nxa3 b2+ and John resigned a hopeless position. Instead of 22. Rd1-e1 John should have played 22. h5! when both 22. … Nxb2 and 22. … Ne3 are met with 23. hxg6 but hey-ho, that’s chess! Anstey 0 – 1 Market Harborough.

Mick Sandham was white on board 4 against Steve Bizley. Mick got the better of the opening and had a development and space advantage. Steve tried a desperate counter with 12. … e5 but after a few careful moves by white this lost a pawn. Mick then found what looked to be a lovely outpost for his knight on b6 but this turned out to be a blunder:

Steve found the brilliant defensive tactical resource 18. … Bxc5+!! winning back the pawn and then won another to be up in material. Mick lined up his queen and bishop against black’s king and Steve made a defensive inaccuracy with 21. … g6 rather than 21. … h6 allowing 22. f5! The bishops came off and with a slightly exposed king Steve accepted Mick’s draw offer despite being the pawn up. (Stockfish eval was 0.0 – Ed). Anstey ½ – 1½ Market Harborough.

Matt Connor had a strange game against Romilly Ilersic with black on board 3. After an odd opening line it looked like black had an edge, with lots of little tactical motifs at play but Matt missed a key move harassing white’s queen on c2 with 10. … Nb4. Instead, he defended his e4 pawn with 10. Bf5 but this allowed Romilly to regroup and re-position his knights on c3 and c4 targeting black’s soft underbelly and slightly exposed king. The pressure eventually told and white won a pawn and had a lovely position with black squarely on the back foot. Matt tried to mix it up and get some counterplay, it was just enough with the clocks running down to give Romilly pause for thought and to accept Matt’s (rather cheeky – Ed) offer of a draw although this pretty much secured the points for Harborough in the match situation. Anstey 1 – 2 Market Harborough.

Last to finish was board 1, Julian Tarwid as black against Ian Clarke. The game was even throughout with no side gaining any advantage to speak of (reflected in both sides move accuracy of over 95%). In the endgame Julian activated his rook and pushed and prodded for a weakness but Ian made no mistakes defending. In the end it came down to a completely level opposite colour bishops ending and a draw was agreed. This secured match victory for Harborough. Anstey 1½ – 2½ Market Harborough.

Anstey remain 3^rd in the division but are now only 2 points ahead of Braunstone who have a game in hand, yikes:

Anstey’s next game is home against Syston 2 on the 20^th April.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Men’s Health:
Once again I’m very disappointed, our third loss this season. True, the losses are all against the teams above us in the league but our biggest problems have been the number of drawn matches and points lost against lower sides. Two matches to go, we now need to ensure that we finish third.