Another rematch against Ashby 4. Anstey had lost to Ashby 4 due to an error on El Capitan’s part, but we made sure this time would be a good match and no room for error. Unfortunately, El Capitan had gotten sick for this match, so it was up to El President to take the role of captain for this match.

Board 1: Tom Gerrard plays white; Bob Grindrod plays black

This game starts off as an advanced french defence, with Bob going for the normal c5, and Ne7-Nf5 moves, along with Qb6 (all in that order). So it’s turning out to be a little off beat, but Bob is making it work. Both players castle kingside on the 13th move and Bob plays the f pawn break, which white takes. Both players manoeuvre their pieces to slightly better positions, and white starts to advance his pawns on the queenside. Bob trades the light squared bishops and ends up with a dark squared bishop and a knight, whereas white ends with two knights, so Bob could be slightly better, positionally.

Both players fight for rook control on the c file, and both players keep manoeuvring their pieces to improve their position gradually. White seals the c file to not allow trades, and a few moves later both players trade d pawns, but white puts more pressure on Bob’s position and before taking a pawn Bob has to defend his position first. Bob does defend and he finally manages to take the free pawn. This allows white’s queen into his position, but not for very long as Bob kicks the queen out. At this point, both players have traded their rooks and they both have a knight and queen left.

Bob has a past e pawn, and white tries to make the game difficult by checking Bob’s king and constantly threatening knight forks and taking pawns. However, Bob makes a slight inaccuracy and this means the game may end in a perpetual check as white checks Bob’s king, but Bob blocks this check with his queen and white forks his king and queen with the white knight. Bob resigns, and the score starts with Anstey 0 – Ashby 1.

Board 2: Leo Abraham plays white; Nick Wyld plays black

This game starts off with a giuoco piano game with both knights out for Leo. Black jumps his knight into d4 and Leo trades the knight off for his own. Leo develops his queen to f3 to threaten mate in one, and black defends by offering and queen trade, which Leo refuses and retreats his queen to e2. Black starts a king side attack as Leo has castled kingside. Initially, Leo adjusts his piece placements, and then starts to defend against the f and h pawn advances. Leo attempts to trade off the dark squared bishop, but black trades on his own terms and forces Leo to offer a queen trade which black accepts and then he trade bishops, which gives Leo a couple of doubled e pawns.

Leo then trades rooks and forces black to take with the king, giving up his rights to castle, and Leo develops his rook to the open f file. Black has to move his king. Leo now starts to advance his queen side pawns, although white has pinned Leo’s light squared bishop to the c4 pawn. Leo doesn’t want to create more doubled pawns for himself so he tries to unpin his bishop, which does give white time to take advantage of the pin. Although, Leo still defend quite well, defending his loose pawns and trading off the light squared bishops. Black does eventually manage to claim a pawn, but the game is still a little unclear as black struggles to find a way to break through and create a past pawn.

Although, Leo is on the back foot and is at the mercy of black’s pawn majority on the queen side as Leo has two pawns against three. Again Leo does his best to try and defend the position, but black has the advantage and does find a way to trade rooks and create a past d pawn, as well as a way to shoulder Leo’s king away from the h pawns. A well fought game. Anstey 0 – Ashby 2.

Board 3: Mick Brown plays white; Noor Datoo plays black

Noor’s game starts off with the van geet opening, and Noor sets a sneaky trap to win a pawn as white has played f3. This involves checking the king with his queen and taking the d4 pawn as only the queen is defending it and Noor’s knight is attacking it. Noor manages to complete the trap and white declines a queen trade and blocks the queen trade with his dark squared bishop. Noor threatens a checkmate in one with his dark squared bishop on c5. White blocks with a pawn and Noor is forced to move his queen to f6. White pins Noor’s c6 knight, but Noor quickly attack the bishop and white trades bishop for knight.

White solidifies his kingside pawns, Noor takes the semi-open b file, white defends his b pawn by moving to b4, and Noor sacrifices his dark squared bishop to win a pawn, because if white takes the bishop Noor will play Qxc3 with check and white will be in a lot of trouble. White instead develops his kingside knight, and Noor pins the c3 knight to a rook. White trades the bishop off and Noor’s queen hangs over the white position. White tries to shoo the queen, but Noor repositions his queen, so white castles. Noor advances his e pawn to open the kingside, and white tries to repeat moves with the knight, but Noor retreats his queen to decline the repetition.

Again, white keeps attacking Noor’s queen, but Noor simply moves his queen and continues developing his pieces. White advances his kingside pawns, which Noor prepares to attack, but white keeps advancing them and Noor sacrifices another bishop to open up white’s king. Noor now castles and white desperately tries to counter attack and defend, but Noor keeps on going. And as Noor keeps putting more pressure on white’s position, white resigns. A very well played game by Noor. Anstey 1 – Ashby 2.

Here is Noor’s game: https://www.chess.com/a/2fsPfggoQJdyp?tab=analysis

Board 4: Aarav Sinha plays white; Jamie Rhodes plays black

Aarav’s game starts off as a sicilian, but Aarav goes for the smith-mora gambit, which black accepts, and Aarav manages to develop his kingside in the next two moves and castles. Black tries to fienchetto his dark-squared bishop, but Aarav shuts this plan down by pushing his e pawn to e5 and Aarav defends said pawn well. Black continues to develop, and Aarav starts poking around black’s position. Black keeps attacking Aarav’s advanced pawn, but Aarav blocks the attack by the black queen and manages to trade the pawn into d6, which forces black to move his queen again.

Now Aarav challenges the fianchettoed bishop and black advances his f pawn supposedly to trap Aarav’s bishop and force a bishop trade. Black now advances his queen side pawns to attack Aarav’s light squared bishop, but similar to Noor’s game Aarav sacrifices his bishop to win a pawn and trade bishop for knight. Aarav repositions his dark squared bishop to attack an ill placed black rook, but black attacks Aarav’s queen but Aarav offers a queen trade by attacking black’s queen. Black accepts the offer, and now Aarav tries to protect his advanced e pawn and facilitate his promotion. Aarav defends his pawn well, offers a rook trade, which black refuses but Aarav insists in a rook trade which now accepting would help Aarav’s pawn be one step closer to promoting.

Instead of playing on, black resigns. Another very well executed game. Anstey 2 – Ashby 2.

Here is Aarav’s game: https://www.chess.com/a/2ZrD29XwtJdyp?tab=analysis

Board 5: Graham Bird plays white; Yuvraj Sadhra plays black

Unfortunately, this report is being typed more than a month after the match took place, and Yuvraj’s notes had been lost. However, Yuvraj did win his game against a decent opponent and I’m sure it was well deserved, so this puts the score at Anstey 3 – Ashby 2.

Board 6: John Graham-Brown plays white; Joshua Cherrington plays black

John’s game starts with a four knights italian game, and both players get a mirror symmetrical position on move 5, which John relinquishes by playing Ng5, and black responds by castling. John now offers a knight trade which black accepts and John retakes with a pawn to dislodge black’s c6 knight, but black counterattacks by threatening mate in one. John responds well by castling to defend the mate threat. Black retreats the knight and John brings his queen to h5 to threaten mate in one, which black responds by bringing his bishop to f5. John tries to dislodge the bishop by playing g4, but black brings his bishop to g6, which attacks John’s queen and John retreats his queen to h3.

Black now tries to shoo away John’s g5 knight, but John tries to set up a trap where if black takes the free knight John can almost trap black’s queen. Black sees this and plays Nc8, and John plays a waiting move (Kh1), and black takes the knight and John takes back with the bishop, but black plays Qf3 check and John has to move his king back to g1. Black tries to move his knight back into the game, John counter attacks black’s f rook and black moves the rook to attack the bishop. John now moves the other bishop to attack the rook and black plays c6, which John takes with on of his doubled d pawns and black retakes with the b pawn.

John retakes with a bishop to try and fork black’s rooks, but the black queen defends the pawn, so black takes the bishop and John is now down two minor pieces. John now moves his queen to g5, but this traps his dark squared bishop on e7 and black plays Nd5 to guarantee the bishop capture. John realises this and he takes a pawn knowing it will be taken on the next move. John advances his kingside pawns to attack the black king, but black offers a queen trade and John has to take otherwise he loses a pawn and gets his king exposed. John tries to create counter play for himself, but his opponent keeps coming into John’s position and John loses more material. John now resigns. Anstey 3 – Ashby 3.

Final Words

Another draw by Anstey, which is better than a loss and it does help to keep our position in the middle of the leader board. This puts our total number of draws to seven, which is almost half of our games (eight would be half) and we are still doing quite well. Our next match will be against Kirby Muxloe, which we will hopefully win as they are in the bottom half of the leader board, but it should be a good match still. Bye for now.