28/9/23 – Anstey 2 2-2 Loughborough 3

After much excitement and anticipation, Anstey 2 kicked off the home league season against Loughborough 3. An Anstey home match wouldn’t be complete without some drama, and this night didn’t disappoint. The rise of the Silent Destroyer meant that he would be afforded his debut for the second team on a night where the second team would have fancied their chances of a win. Unfortunately, come the start of the match, Yuvraj was nowhere to be seen – despite calls to his Mum from El Presidente. The match had to go on and El Presidente called on Young Alex, another hope for the future to step in. For those concerned readers, it was the Silent Destroyers parents evening – as a parent, this is an acceptable excuse and we move on.

First to finish was Mike Griffiths on board 3 with the black pieces against Stewart Gordon. Mike employed the Sicilian against Stewart’s 1.e4. The game, as always, started out fairly even as pieces competed for effective squares out of a book line of the Sicilian, Mike managed to cripple Stewart’s pawn structure with doubled c pawns. After move 17 for black, the game was even – this was until a blunder from Stewart on move 18 that Mike didn’t spot straight away. Stewart never saw the threat and allowed the nice deflection tactic with 18. … a5, costing him a Knight and after this blunder was compounded with another, Stewart allowed a forced mate in two and resigned. A classic example of how chess can turn very quickly. A good, solid win for Mike on board 3 to open his account for the season.

Second to finish was young Alex on board 4, with the white pieces against Matt Essex. As on board 3 – Anstey outgraded Loughborough by 200 or so points. Thanks to Alex for stepping in by the way. (Incidentally, Yuvraj did turn up at 8:05pm, but by this time it was too late – I think Mike had already won by then too!) Interestingly, Alex employed the Ruy Lopez exchange variation. After castling, Alex expanded slightly on the Kingside, snatching his opponent’s e pawn. Alex’s opponent missed Qg3+ and a forced perpetual at minimum. Alex developed his pieces nicely, creating threats along the way, in a comfortable position for white, leading to the win of an exchange for Alex. In some super attacking play, Alex launched his f pawn up to f6 in consecutive moves, ripping open his opponent’s Kingside. Alex missed a little trick from Matt as he fought hard, but with being two pawns up, Alex attacked his opponent’s King, forcing trades and finally finding the finish with a Knight fork against king and rook, which forced a resignation. Well done to Alex on his first win this season. Anstey 2-0 up and flying at this point – around an hour after the match had started!

Third to finish was John Robinson on board 1 with the black pieces against Reece Whittington – graded just higher than John. The game started with an orthodox Samisch variation of the Kings Indian defence. Play in this game was a lot more compact, concise and accurate as both sides fought for control of the centre. After 14. Nd5, John missed Qc5, followed by Nc6, winning the d4 Knight, instead trading off the d5 Knight and playing Qc5 a move too late. Reece created a passed pawn on the d file after some middlegame piece shifting and trading. Reece got a rook on the 7th, then a queen, which mopped up some pawns, as did John’s queen as both went on a rampage. John tried some tricks on the Kingside with Reece’s King like baby in the corner but these were repelled by Reece. Eventually John resigned and 2-1 to Anstey with 1 to play.

Finally was El Presidente on board 2 with the white pieces against Peter Hickman. Peter employed the Pirc defence – a defence that El Presidente is not so familiar with and consequently adopted a more passive development system, waiting for some middlegame play. This middlegame play never materialised in an equal position, and El Presidente’s pieces tripped and fell over one another while Peter gained space on the Queenside. A draw offer from El Presidente ensued and it would have been accepted had Mike and Alex not won so quickly on boards 3 and 4! It was these Queenside pawns that were El Presidente’s undoing, as Peter traded Queens at exactly the right moment, connecting a 4 v 3 on the Queenside and El Presidente’s light squared bishop was merely a spectator and out of the game. Peter drove the advantage home in some style and, under time pressure, El Presidente’s position crumbled with a marauding Knight and two pawns against El Presidente’s King. The flag dropped as a mate in two was on the board. El Presidente was hoping for some support but everyone had gone home, so Just Mick and El Presidente tidied up by themselves and dejectedly left for home.

El Presidente speaking to Gardener’s World:

A disappointing start to the season for the 2nd team, in a match that we backed ourselves in. Still, it is early days and we move on to the next one at Ashby next week.