Thursday 04/05/2023. Anstey 1 welcomed Ashby 1 to the Methodist Church Centre in this this LRCA Division 2 clash, the very last game of the season. Having lost their previous two matches against Braunstone 2 and Wigston 2, Ashby had lost out to Market Harborough 1 in the fight for the top spot in the division but had safely secured second place (they were “already on the beach” – Ed). With other recent good results by Braunstone 2 and Wigston 2, Anstey 1 had slipped to fifth place behind both of those teams, their lowest position for the entire season. But a win would move them back up to third and a draw up to fourth so there was all to play for! In a very tense match, it went down to the wire…

Both teams fielded identical sides from the reverse fixture back in January so there were plenty of opportunities for revenge! With on-paper team ratings 7,031 vs 6,957, it looked like it would be a close match. The players shook hands and battle commenced.

First to finish was John as white against Andrew Wilson on board 2. Andrew went for a slightly unusual two knights opening before striking back in the centre first with d5 and later with e5. John had a choice of taking either pawn and landed on dxe5, a small mistake that gave Andrew a slight edge. But John managed to activate his pieces and an overly defensive move by Andrew then gave John the edge only for another small mistake by John for the edge to swap around again. A final small mistake by Andrew and the position came out roughly equal and whilst there was plenty of play in the position both players were happy to agree a draw. Anstey ½ – Ashby ½.

Next to finish was Mick on board 4 as white playing against Paul Gibson. Paul played a steady line but little did he know it was one of Mick’s favourites to play against. Mick lined up in his usual way ready to sacrifice a pawn for the initiative but Paul deviated with the slightly passive 6. … a6 giving white a solid edge. Play continued with Paul going for an inaccurate kingside fianchetto but played … Nf5 before castling. Mick swapped his d3 bishop for the knight, giving black doubled f-pawns and an isolated d-pawn. The weak d-pawn fell a few moves later and Mick started to steamroller his central pawns forward. After 18. … Bf8 all black’s pieces were back on the back rank and white had an overwhelming advantage:

A few pieces came off which didn’t really help black. Mick tried to manoeuvre his queen to better positions but she was parried by her black counterpart for several moves offering an exchange. Eventually Mick got fed up with it and exchanged the queens but this helped black as now white’s lonely advanced e pawn looked a bit weak. Just when it looked like it might fall Mick set a sneaky trap:

Paul fell for it 34. … Kxe6 35. Nc6+! winning the rook. Paul resigned instantly. Anstey 1½ – Ashby ½.

Julian was black on board 1 against Richard Vann (who has been having a great season – Ed). Julian equalised easily out of the opening and they got into a classic isolated queen pawn game. Pieces were manoeuvred around until out of the blue white’s knight jumped into a dangerous square forking a rook and pawn:

Not wanting to give up his b-pawn Julian blundered with 18. … Bc6 missing the elegant and equal 18. … Nxe3. Richard snapped off the rook to go the exchange up with very little in the way of counterplay. Julian did rustle up some play eventually, infiltrating with his bishop and knight but Richard defended well, finding the great move 34. Ne5:

Instead of 34. … Bxe5 Julian went for 34. … Nxd4? and after the trades white came out with a rook for 2 pawns. With Matt’s position looking dicey on board 3 Julian played on in the hopeless position, even launching a fierce king attack. But it was to no avail, Richard made no mistakes and Julian resigned on move 72. Anstey 1½ – Ashby 1½.

So it all came down to captain Matt’s game against Chris Tipper on board 3, with Matt as black. Chris was out for revenge after losing horribly in the reverse fixture and having not won a game all season (lots of draws apparently) he wanted to finish the season with a win. In an offbeat opening Matt played calmy and classically, developing, castling and hitting back in the centre with … e5. White sidestepped his slightly exposed king into the corner with Kh1 and Matt followed up with the positionally incorrect e4 giving the mirage of more space in the locked-up centre. But white’s pieces then came to life, harassing blacks’ queen and a white knight jumped into d6 forcing Matt to un-develop with Qd8 and Nb8. Matt defended hard, giving up his light-squared bishop for white’s other knight on h3 giving him just enough time to repel the danger before making a couple of small mistakes to give Chris (who was by now running low on time) the chance of a lovely attack:

Chris played the brilliant 24. Bxh5!! Matt eschewed 24. … gxh5 25. Qxh5+ Bh6 26. Rg5! with a crushing position for white. He managed to win the h4-pawn back but white doubled rooks on the half-open g-file:

Once again Chris played Bh5! After 32. Bh5 Nc6 33. Bxg6+ Rxg6 34. Rxg6 Bf6 white was an exchange and a pawn up and still attacking. Matt’s only chance was Chris blundering in his now chronic time trouble. The queens and a pair of rooks came off then Matt activated his long dormant knight to nab white’s loose a-pawn followed by the b-pawn creating some passed pawns of his own (albeit a long way from the 8^th rank). Matt pushed his b-pawn forward, Chris gave up his bishop for it but with Matt’s knight and bishop “offside” his own passed h-pawn looked to have a clear run to queen. Matt’s only chance was to harry the white king which he did and then the blunder came:

Chris played 57. h7?? and after 57. … Bxe3+ 58. Kh1 Bxd4 black was covering the queening square and had 2 passed pawns of his own. Chris played the interesting manoeuvre Rxf5 then Re5 to block the bishop and after the exchange white’s h-pawn was unstoppable. But so was black’s e-pawn and although it queened second crucially it queened with check! With white’s king stuck on the side of the board with mate threatened white had to constantly check the black king. With Matt also down to less than a minute on the clock his king went walkies, picking up white’s e5-pawn on his march to f2 when, finally, Chris’s flag fell before he could try the cheeky 76. Qc2:

After 76. Qc2 76. … Nxc2 would be stalemate but 76. … Qe2 wins. Anstey 2½ – Ashby 1½.

Final standings in division 2:

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Auto Express:
Wow, that one got the heart racing! Apologies to Chris for not giving him what would have been his only win of the season but we needed the points to secure third place. A big shout out to Julian, John, Mick, super-sub Boris (and regular subs Ben, Leo and Noor) for their efforts this season, overall I think we deserved third place. At the start of the season we’d have taken it of course but I think it’s a measure of the confidence, togetherness and team spirit of Anstey Chess Club (#The SoulOfChessInCharnwood) that we’re slightly disappointed not to have challenged harder for top spot. If we had won just one of our drawn matches we would have finished second! Ifs, buts and maybes LOL.