Authored by Aarav Sinha

Oskar as captain selected a strong initial team for the second team with himself on board 1, Aarav Sinha on 2, Jakub Miler on 3 and Hayden Padgett on board 4.

Leo was selected late as captain and managed a team of young but strong players consisting of himself on board 1, Curtis Blunt on 2, Young John on 3 and new player Reidan Minhas on board 4.

Just so our many millions of readers are aware, the Harrod Cup is a rapid play tournament in Leicestershire and isn’t mandatory for all clubs. Some clubs choose to take a summer break – but not Anstey. The players play the same opponent twice in the quicker format, once with the white pieces and once with the black pieces with a 20-minute time control with 10 second increments. Because of the nature of the games being rapid play, notating is not required and with 8 games to look over, it is hard to recall what happened in each one, so the rapid play reports will be shorter than usual and comprise a summary of the games.

Board 1 – Oskar Rudczenko vs Leo Abraham – result: 1-1

1^st game:

On the first board, 2 strong players against each other, Oskar was the first to play white and opened with the Scotch. Leo on the other hand has a counter and developed his pieces aggressively forcing Oskar to back down and play more defensively. Leo eventually managed to isolate Oskar’s queen with his side pawns, but Oskar still had more active pieces he could play with to make Leo play defensively for the rest of the game. Eventually Oskar was up by two pawns and unfortunately Leo lost on time, due to the immense pressure.

2^nd Game:

Leo now had his chance as playing white and Oskar was keen on playing the modern Scandinavian against him. Within the first couple of moves they both traded their knights and developed their pieces naturally without causing any threats to each other. Leo now playing to equal points was able to coordinate his pieces very well to create multiple threats on Oskar’s position. Eventually Oskar blundered mate in one on the back rank and Leo was able to gain advantage from Oskar’s mistake.

Board 2 – Aarav Sinha vs Curtis Blunt – result: 2-0

1^st game:

On the second board, 2 players similarly rated fairly playing against each other, Aarav played white first and played the Evans gambit where he could eventually play a swift Rook sacrifice which forced his opponent’s position to slowly crumble of which Curtis eventually resigned, after losing a Rook to a fork, between the King and the Rook which after posed a threat on his Queen and other Rook.

2^nd game:

Curtis now playing white he was able to make a counterattack on the Sicilian defence that the opponent had never played against before and he was able to sacrifice many of his pieces to eventually promote to a Queen and be up a Queen against a bishop. Unfortunately, he rushed his moves after being able to
give many checks and take many pawns and blundered his queen after taking a pawn that he didn’t realize was guarded by Aarav’s bishop. He then resigned on the last move when he lost his Queen.

Board 3 – Jakub Miler vs Young John – result: 1-1

1^st game:

Jakub played white in his first game and started with c4 “The English”. This ended up turning into a reversed Sicilian. As much as he wanted to Jakub never managed to castle his king to safety. Even so, to put the final nail into the coffin happened when Jakub blundered his rook. This caused him to eventually
resign as there was an eventual checkmate for John.

2^nd game:

Jakub, now playing black, started off with the Sicilian but after miscalculating a trade he went down a piece. Later John gifted Jakub’s lost piece back to him and gave him a very strong passed pawn. Jakub later saw a brilliant move where he was able to sacrifice a rook to secure a promotion and managed to
find a checkmate, few moves later.

Board 4 – Hayden Padgett vs Reidan Minhas – result: 1-1

Rookies both on debut finally play against each other.

1^st game:
On the 4^th and final board, Hayden was playing white, in a very closed position. A series of trades were rapidly played leaving Hayden’s king exposed with all his pawns surrounding his king were captured. During the middle game, Hayden struggled to maintain his security and tried constantly to move his King
to safety. Reidan was able to move his rook to an open file threatening check mate in 1 which unfortunately Hayden didn’t see and was checkmated with a rook and a bishop.

2^nd game:

Second game, Reidan now playing white, and Hayden had a strong start to the game, with him being able to capture a free bishop and was able to threaten checkmate very early on. This caused Reidan to play defensively. Despite Hayden breathing down on Reidan’s neck with his queen and bishop very close
to his king, he was able to hold on surprisingly. Then once again there was a quick series of trades. In the endgame Hayden was up in a king vs king and rook situation. Hayden was able to play well and remain cool to be able to checkmate Reidan just after 10 moves in the endgame.

STRONG EFFORTS FROM BOTH PLAYERS RESULTING IN A DRAW

The Juniors narrowly lost 5-3 by one game, which could have resulted in a draw between both sides.