Outrated by approximately 1300 points, Anstey Chess club’s Wylie cup team put on a great fight against a very strong Wigston team

In the hot Thursday evening, the second round of the Wylie Cup was scheduled to take place for our club, as the team was crippled by the absence of “The Dark Destroyer” Matt Connor. Boris “The Toaster” filled in for the team, joining “El Presidente” Ben, Mick “Just Mick” and Julian “Mr. Engine”. The players travelled to the south of Leicester to meet Ben’s old teammates Wigston who were represented by a very strong team, as their third board was outrating all of our players. Nevertheless, our Anstey players were not there to look at the ratings, but to play chess, and in spite of the rating difference, brought the fight to the home side. (Note: refers to focused and attacking play over the board, no real fighting is involved between chess players)

Andrew Pike (Wigston) vs Borislav Lazarov (Anstey) 0.5 – 1.5

Outgraded by less than 100 points, the replacement on the night Boris was designated to be the one to deliver some positive results and did he do this in his first game. Playing with White, Boris went with his d4 setup and attacked immediately the black light-squared bishop, expanding on the king side (K-side) in the process. After both sets of bishops were exchanged, our teammate’s knights started creating havoc on the queen side (Q-side), where both players had castled, picking up two pawns in the process. With the material advantage in his favour, “The Toaster” used a golden opportunity, provided by his opponent, to simplify the position, leaving him two pawns up in a rook endgame. Boris further closed the K-side and started pushing his pawns on the Q-side, eventually exchanging one of them. Left with two “passers”, which he used to win the black rook, “The Toaster” had to be careful not to stalemate at the end, but after a rook sacrifice prior to promotion, his opponent resigned.

Flying high after the great win in the first game, our teammate engaged in the Semi-Slav as Black. The Wigston player tried to attack from all sides, but the players quickly exchanged pieces before the battle for the centre. White tried to gain the advantage on the e-file, but Boris managed to exchange more pieces leading the game to a slightly boring draw. Boris’ opponent further exchanged the e-file rooks and tried to push his d-pawn, however, “The Toaster” further simplified, leading to an opposite coloured bishops endgame with White being a pawn up. The players started shuffling their pieces and quite bored at some point our teammate asked his opponent whether “they should go for the theoretical draw on the board”. His opponent tried hard to get into a position to have some chances, including at times leaving his K-side open for Boris to pick up a pawn. However, “The Toaster” showcased great maturity to not let his opponent’s king to infiltrate Black’s back ranks and after some further shuffling, both players agreed to a draw.

A great performance from “The Toaster” who for the first time in a while did not need a single spell of luck.

Lewis Turner (Wigston) vs Ben Vaughan (Anstey) 2 – 0

‘El Presidente’ (at his second chess home, having played for Wigston before) was facing young Lewis Turner and like in all other games on the night, our Anstey teammate was on the wrong end of the rating differential.

In the first game, with the black pieces, ‘El Presidente’ engaged in his favourite French defence against 1.e4. The game went down the line of the advance variation and the Milner-Barry gambit. However, on cxd4, the Wigston player ignored the re-capture and played Re1, allowing dxc3 which ‘El Presidente’ played. A few pieces were swapped off and what followed was quite simply a demonstration of the gulf in class between the two players, eventually leading to resignation after ‘El Presidente’ hung a rook with check when trying to create a threat for the first time in the game.

With the white pieces, the objective in front of Ben was simply not to make a fool of himself. After a Sicilian Dragon opening, ‘El Presidente’ was hoping to play an English attack castling Queenside and pushing the Kingside pawns. Unfortunately, ‘El Presidente’ did not play the prophylactic Kb1 and thus blundered a piece after Bh6 (trying to trade off the Dark squared Bishops) lost to Nxd4 and consequently Nxe2 (a Bishop) which was check. As good players do, Ben’s opponent forced trades and ‘El Presidente’ resigned in a lost position.

A tough day in the office for our chairman as he had to play against a very strong prospective opponent. Nevertheless, we are confident that ‘El Presidente’ will be back on the winning path sooner rather than later.

Andrew Morley (Wigston) vs Mick Sandham (Anstey) 2 – 0

On board 2 ‘Just Mick’ faced off against Andy Morley – Mick was heavily outgraded but having played his opponent before, relished the challenge. Thinking that our teammate would be secretly hoping to play against the Wigston player, prior to the game ‘El Presidente’ had told Mick that he might face Andy.

Mick started off with the white pieces and the game seemed to be quite close. ‘El Presidente’ who was the website’s correspondent responsible for both Mick’s and his own game, had the difficult challenge of watching both boards and try to compete and did not have the opportunity to closely monitor “Just Mick”‘s first attempt at taking the W. Nevertheless, after looking at different positions throughout the game, it was obvious that Mick gave a good account of himself against his experienced opposition but eventually was forced into resignation.

With the black pieces, Mick engaged in his usual and familiar St George defence, which seemingly took his opponent by surprise. The Wigston player opted for a slightly passive version of the white side and Mick had some well-developed pieces. Unfortunately, the 2000+ graded player succeeded in trading his weaker pieces for our teammate’s stronger ones. Unfortunately for our teammate, the Wigston player eventually got control of the game as the undefendable black b-pawn was hanging and about to be picked up to give a decisive material advantage for White in a rook endgame. Facing a strong opponent perfectly capable of converting his advantage, Mick decided to call it a day and resigned. Post match analysis showcased how greatly versed ‘Just Mick’ is in the St George defence and our teammate actually educated his opponent with some of the lines from his repertoire.

Regardless of being on the wrong side of the results, Mick could hold his head high having given Andy a run for his money.

Alan Byron (Wigston) vs Julian Tarwid (Anstey) 1 – 1

Julian found himself in the position he wished for, playing against 2200+ opponent. “Mr. Engine” had to play with the black pieces first and both players engaged in the very theoretical lines of the Caro-Kann defence. After a typical first few moves, our teammate stroke in the centre and the players exchanged a pair of knights. Our teammate continued the development of his pieces but found himself attacked by the white dark-squared bishop. Julian decided to lose the ability to castle, exchanged the dark-squared bishops and picked up a free pawn in the process. The Wigston player attacked our teammate’s remaining knight, but in his typical style “Mr. Engine” counter-attacked the remaining white bishop, and after the exchange Black found himself dominating the light squares. Both players started bringing their pieces to the centre of the board at which point our teammate decided to sacrifice a pawn in order to create a “passer” on the d-file, supported by a queen-led battery. Julian got his queen on the K-side eyeing the white king at which point his opponent decided to exchange the ladies, losing a pawn again in the process. The Wigston player placed his knight on a beautiful outpost on the sixth rank, but the piece ended up being completely dominated by the remaining black bishop. White tried to hold the position with his two rooks and shuffle his knight to create threats, only for the notorious clumsiness of the minor piece to be exposed by “Mr. Engine” who picked up a second pawn in the process. Seeing the black central passed pawns marching towards the first rank and with a great positional and material deficit, evaluated as -7.6 by Stockfish (depth = 20), Julian’s opponent gave our teammate the credit he deserves and resigned.

Following his great win with the black pieces, “Mr. Engine” started confidently with his d4 setup and before long the dark-squared bishops were exchanged. With the white queen in the centre, the Wigston player started gaining tempi and eventually managed to pick up a pawn. Our teammate used the pawn sacrifice to take the initiative himself and started lining up his pieces pointing towards the castled king, then pushed his K-side pawns. Finding himself under pressure, Black went for counterplay on the Q-side and started pushing the b-pawn. Unfortunately for Julian, he oversaw an idea, then went for a dubious knight sacrifice and from this moment on his game turned the tide. The Wigston player put great pressure on the K-side with a gain of tempo and was just fast enough to protect his K-side. Finding himself with too few pawns and pieces to create the opportunity for the final blow, “Mr. Engine” lifted one of his rooks to bring it into the attack, but his opponent had the faster attack and brought one of his knights within reach of mating attack on our teammate’s king. Seeing the mating attack, Julian jokingly asked his opponent whether he would want a draw which was met by the Wigston player rigorously shaking his head and following the amusing moment our teammate resigned.

Outrated by almost 400 points, Julian proved again that he is well ready to challenge the top rated players in the county having won one game and managing to get a winning position at times in the other.

Although on the losing side of the match, our players demonstrated great play and amazing improvement against a strong Wigston side. This is a second consecutive loss for our Wylie Cup team and we are scheduled to face Syston on Thursday, 30^th June at home.

We were also very happy to see our second top-rated player John “The Torturer” who was at the Wigston Chess club for his individual county championship game. Our teammate managed to get the win in his classical game and is looking to challenge the other top players in his division for the first place.

Anstey 1 claims a second win in the Harrod Cup, as resilient Anstey 2 fought bravely against strong Wigston team

Heading towards the peak of the heatwave last Thursday, the Anstey Chess Club hosted a double fixture in the Harrod cup. Anstey 1 had their first home game in this cup following their win against Ashby 1, while Anstey 2 hosted a strong Wigston team. Both matches were four boards and as usual for the Harrod cup, the players engaged in two rounds of 20/10 rapid format. Similar to the first round, Anstey 1 played Black in the first round, while Anstey 2 used the league system of first and third board starting with Black, while the second and the fourth board were playing with White in the first round. While our first team found themselves outrating their opponents by a good margin, especially on board 3, Anstey 2 found themselves in the opposite situation, as they were significantly outrated at the bottom boards and only on the first board the rating advantage was for our team. Throughout the night, the rating difference appeared to get reflected on the boards and the higher rated teams in both matches took home the W.

Deepa Kalyanji (Anstey 2) vs Chris Brown (Wigston) 0 – 2

Following her debut OTB back in February, we were pleasantly surprised to see Deepa back in action, this time in a rapid format. She had the hardest task on the night as she was facing more than 600 points higher rated young Chris Brown from Wigston. Big credit to our first female competitor, she proved again her bravery over the board and put pressure immediately from the opening in the first game where she played with the white pieces. Her opponent managed to contain the storm and at the start of the middle game, the Wigston player eyed the white queen. Unfortunately, out teammate took her eyes off the lady in white and fell victim to “tunnel vision”, a well-known part of the chess game, seen even at the high levels. As expected, being a 1400+ rated player, Black slowly improved his position and capitalised on his material advantage in spite of the great fight from our teammate.

In her second game, our teammate showed her recent opening preparation and went into an advanced Caro-Kann variation, where she started an expansion on the queen side (Q-side) straight from the beginning. White used his time to develop quickly and put pressure on the black pieces, while containing the Q-side expansion from our teammate. The Wigston player used the pressure to pick up a piece in a tactical sequence. Similar to the first game, Deepa’s opponent slowly improved his position and eventually capitalised on the material advantage despite our teammate’s valiant efforts.

A tough day in the office for Deepa. Nevertheless, she showcased great improvement and we are excited to see her back in action hopefully soon!

Oskar Rudczenko (Anstey 2) vs Ben Noyvert (Wigston) 1 – 1

Oskar “El Capitan” also played against significantly higher rated opponent and had the black pieces in his first game. Our teammate and second team captain (hence the nickname) started the game slightly passively and unfortunately ended being on the back foot throughout the game. White developed quickly and started gathering his forces for an attack on the king side (K-side) where Oskar’s king ended eventually. Using the initiative, our teammate’s opponent started the attack and put pressure on Oskar’s K-side and managed to cramp his pieces. The pressure eventually led to a deadly attack on the K-side and despite our teammate’s valiant efforts, following losing an exchange and in the face of his opponent’s strong attack, Oskar resigned.

Determined to prove himself in the face of significant rating difference, Oskar started his game with the white pieces using the club’s favourite – a weird London system. Unlike in the first game “El Capitan” played aggressively in the opening and swiftly occupied the centre while developing his pieces. Our teammate managed to put pressure quickly on his opponent’s pieces resulting a few of them either to under- or completely undevelop themselves. Oskar started capitalising on his initiative and trapped one of Black’s knights. Having material advantage, “El Capitan” started exchanging pieces, but in his eagerness to finish his opponent managed to blunder one of his rooks. In spite of the material loss, our teammate kept the initiative and managed to promote a pawn leading to Black losing one of his rooks. Our teammate continued the aggressive play and threatened another pawn promotion at which point his opponent decided that he had enough and swiftly resigned.

A great result for Oskar against a more than 300 points higher rated opponent. “El Capitan” has shown great improvement in the last several months and at this pace, we are certain that it will not be long before he starts playing at the top boards.

Valdas Matuitis (Anstey 2) vs Alex Milligan (Wigston) 0.5 – 1.5

Although not outrated by as many points, “Big Daddy” Valdas was also playing against a higher rated and more experienced opponent. In the first game our teammate had to play with the white pieces and unmoved by his opponent’s rating, Valdas developed quickly with a weird London system setup (mentioned already above as the club’s favourite) and put pressure in the centre. Black managed to contain the pressure exerted by our teammate and solidified his otherwise passive position. “Big Daddy” tried to shuffle pieces around and create attacking opportunities but his opponent managed to defend while also exchanging pieces in the process. With the solid position generally unaltered and with most of the pieces off the board, the players agreed to a draw.

With the black pieces, our teammate engaged in the Caro-Kann defence and his opponent managed to double our teammate’s pawns on the Q-side. With Valdas unable to create any activity on the Q-side, his opponent put pressure on the K-side, marching his pawns and bringing his pieces over. “Big Daddy” did his best trying to defend against White’s active play, however, his opponent eventually broke through on the K-side. Our teammate had to march his king towards the centre while White put even more pressure, this time attacking on the Q-side. As a result, White was able to win an exchange and further pick up a pawn at which point Valdas found himself in a completely losing position and despite his efforts, White proved too difficult to trick into a swindle and our teammate resigned.

A tough day in the office for Valdas. Nevertheless, our teammate showcased again that he has improved a lot in the last few weeks and we are more than excited to see what the future holds for him.

Brian Foreman (Anstey 2) vs Andrew Pike (Wigston) 1 – 1

The match against Wigston in the Harrod cup marked the return of Brian “The Griller” who was the only player from the second team to outrate his opponent. Our teammate started the match with the black pieces where he used the Semi-Slav defence to get to a slightly inferior, yet drawish position. With the players developing and exchanging pieces, White managed to blunder and Brian found himself with a clear advantage. Unfortunately for our teammate, he found himself last to finish his game meaning that he had to suffer the disturbance from the finished players’ discussions and distractions which influenced his play. The latter combined with his rustiness over the board led to him losing first his advantage and then under the time pressure the game as well.

Determined to prove himself, “The Griller” opened the second game with the Queen’s Gambit which was further led into the QGD Exchange variation. Brian managed to win a pawn straight in the opening but found himself on the back foot after Black’s light-squared bishop started roaming free around the board, creating both havoc and initiative in favour of the Wigston player. Our teammate worked hard defensively and eventually managed to trade off the annoying bishop for his knight, leaving the game at two rooks and seven pawns against two rooks and six pawns. Experienced in the game of chess and rook endgames, Brian consolidated his position and started a pawn march towards the enemy’s back rank. Our teammate coordinated effectively his two rooks and king to support the march and eventually found himself too close to promoting one of the pawns at which stage his opponent decided that he had enough and promptly resigned.

In spite of the loss in the first game, Brian is starting to get back to his usual rhythm and we look forward to see his improved version next time.

Leo Abraham (Anstey 1) vs Rene Butler (Market Harborough 2) 1 – 1

Currently in great form, Leo took on the very experienced Rene Butler, the captain of Market Harborough 2 (MH2). In his first game, our teammate engaged in a solid positional battle where his opponent decided to create initiative on the K-side. Leo tried to counterattack but eventually the position was closed. Both players tried to get back on the front foot and shuffled their pieces around in an attempt to get the initiative. Eventually the players started exchanging their pieces and before long there were just pawns and few pieces left with no clear way for either player to make progress without creating big weaknesses. Realising the situation, the players agreed to a draw.

Playing with the white pieces in the second game, Leo opened with e4 which was met by the Dragon Sicilian from his opponent. Our teammate developed quickly and went for an attack on the centre, putting pressure on his opponent. The MH2 player tried to defend but the pressure from Leo proved to be too strong and Black had to part ways with his knight. With the initiative and material advantage on his side, Leo started consolidating his position and even created further activity on the K-side by doubling his rooks on an open file and with the perspective to prise open the K-side leading towards the black king. Unfortunately, although in a winning position, our teammate found himself quite down on time and decided to agree to a draw.

Another great performance from young Leo who keeps showcasing great talent and improvement.

Borislav Lazarov (Anstey 1) vs Amrik Tahim (Market Harborough 2) 1.5 – 0.5

Just like in the first round, Boris “The Toaster” found himself again in the position of outrating his opponent by more than 300 points. Playing with the black pieces in his first game, our website maintenance guy met 1.e4 with the Caro-Kann defence. Both players developed quickly, but Boris was the more active player and started creating threats all over the board. His opponent defended swiftly, albeit at the expense of running his clock down quite quickly, while our teammate in his characteristic style barely spend any time during the first 15 or so moves. “The Toaster” won a free pawn while keeping the initiative and successfully utilised a pin to put pressure on the white king. Threatened by all sorts of tactical threats, the MH2 player eventually crumbled under the immense pressure and blundered his queen at which point he resigned.

Flying high, Boris started the next game with his favourite London and quickly put pressure on his opponent. Keeping the initiative, “The Toaster” managed to win two pawns but found himself well down in development with his king still stuck in the centre which was opening by the minute. The material advantage gave our teammate great confidence and he rushed to exchange all of the major pieces, leaving himself and his opponent with a knight and a bishop each and losing one of the extra pawns in the process. Unfortunately for our teammate, his pieces were not coordinated at all and his opponent managed to pick up two pawns to get the advantage himself. At this point Boris appeared to completely switch off and blundered his knight to find himself in completely losing position. Black started pushing his pawns, only to lose his bishop and Q-side pawns, but still in a winning position. Eventually, the MH2 player pushed his h-pawn all the way to the second rank, but then miscalculated to blunder his position and gave our teammate fighting chances. At the end the players decided that they had enough of the excitement created by their own blunders and agreed to a draw.

Following the last week’s win which was the greatest swindle in the summer cups so far, Boris was lucky again to dodge the loss in the second game, however, another good performance from the “The Toaster”.

Ben Vaughan (Anstey 1) vs George Gowers (Market Harborough 2) 1.5 – 0.5

Anstey 1 game against MH2 marked the return of ‘El Presidente’ Ben who played against the rising star George Gowers. In the first game, our chairman played his favourite French defence and the players engaged in the Tarrasch variation. Both players developed swiftly with White taking the initiative and attacking the K-side with a mating attack. Ben managed to defend by covering with g6, only to let White’s dark-squared bishop to try to exchange itself for his black counterpart or just be annoying with Black’s dark squares on the K-side weakened. The players shuffled their bishops only to repeat moves and finish their game quickly with a draw. Unsurprisingly, they were the first players to stand up from the board and had to wait quite a bit while their teammates were playing.

In the second game ‘El Presidente’ opened with another classic – the good old Ruy Lopez. The players developed quickly and Black eagerly took a pawn which ended being more or less poisoned as Ben received the opportunity to take the initiative and start harassing the black queen. With the pressure on the queen building, our teammate used the initiative to take back the pawn and win even further material. Finding himself under even more pressure, Black decided to sacrifice a piece in order to create counterplay and went for a “cheepo”, however, ‘El Presidente’ has been around a block for a while and managed to consolidate his position, finding himself a rook up. Our chairman traded off the pieces and finding himself in a completely losing endgame, the MH2 player resigned.

A great comeback for Ben as he showcased great play to capitalise on his greater experience.

Mick Sandham (Anstey 1) vs David Curran (Market Harborough 2)

Following his unfortunate game in the first round of the Harrod cup, Mick ‘Just Mick’ played on board one against higher rated opponent in an attempt to finally get the result which will truly reflect his play. Our teammate faced the Polish attack from White in his first game and created a solid defensive plan with Nf6. The players shuffled around their pieces, with the MH2 player trying to create attacking opportunities, but our teammate manged to equalise and keep the game solid. With the game closed and pieces leaving the board swiftly, Mick’s opponent found himself quite down on the clock and in spite of his best efforts, eventually the players agreed to a draw.

‘Just Mick’ took the confidence boost from his great defensive play into the second game where he exerted pressure straight from the opening, challenging Black’s Caro-Kann defence with one of the most challenging lines, namely the Panov-Botvinnik attack. Mick’s opponent decided to leave the book early, probably aware of the encyclopaedic knowledge possessed by our teammate, especially in the Caro-Kann defence. Unfortunately for Black, the decision led to playing an extra move and with the free tempo our teammate took the initiative early on in the game, creating tactical opportunities all over the board. With the pressure on Black’s position building up, the MH2 player missed one of the tactics threatened by our teammate, only to find himself parting ways with one of his rooks. With the major piece up, ‘Just Mick’ wasted no time and consolidated his position to find himself in a winning endgame, at which point his opponent decided that enough is enough and resigned.

A great performance from ‘Just Mick’ and a deserved confidence boost for him. Knowing his great tactical ability, we are excited to see him back in action soon.

In summary, another great Thursday evening in the Anstey Methodist church, as eight boards saw plenty of rapidplay action in what was true celebration of the game of chess. The cherry on the top were the friendly games during the club night between our top-rated player Julian ‘Mr. Engine’ and Richard who decided to pop over to check how is the club going. In the next round of the Harrod cup Anstey 1 are looking to play Wigston in a contest for the top spot, while Anstey 2 will most likely play one of the Ashby teams.

A thrilling four board match produced twists and turns with our team claiming the win at the end

The summer cups are now in full swing and our club’s Chapman Cup team played their second round against Braunstone on last Thursday, 9^th June. A strong Anstey team, consisting of Julian “Mr. Engine”, Mick “Just Mick”, Boris “The Toaster” and Valdas, hosted the leaders of the table prior to the game – Braunstone. Our opponents turned up with a relatively strong team, outrating our players on almost every board, with Julian being the only one playing against an equally rated opponent. Following the rules of the Chapman Cup, the captains promptly calculated the rating difference, leaving the outrated by 541 points Anstey team with a half point advantage at the beginning of the game.

Daniel Wilkinson (Braunstone) vs Valdas Matutis (Anstey) 1/2 – 1/2

The rest of the K-side pawns got exchanged and in the process Valdas played first e5, then e4, creating a “passer”. Our teammate also managed to exchange the dark-squared bishops and on move 38 offered a rook exchange. At this point ‘El Presidente’ Ben, who was hovering around and watching the games closely, noticed that the clock has been set incorrectly and there is no increment. With our teammate down to less than five minutes, Ben tried to add the increment to the clock, unsuccessfully. Valdas stopped notating and continued the game for another eight moves, during which his opponent managed to equalise a losing position before offering a draw which our teammate, quite down on the clock at this point, happily accepted. After the games Boris “The Toaster” admitted that he was most likely the perpetrator in the clock situation and apologised several times to both Valdas and the team. In spite of not taking the win, Valdas showcased again that he is another great addition to the team this season and we all look forward to see him playing again, hopefully with a clock not set by Boris. As to the latter, he would like to apologise again to the whole team and especially Valdas as “The Toaster” potentially stripped him of a win against 150 points higher rated opponent.

Borislav Lazarov (Anstey) vs James Bingham (Braunstone) 1 – 0

“The Toaster” decided to contest the h-file himself and eventually managed to take control of it, albeit at the price of another exchange, this time of a pair of rooks. With the pieces on the board being reduced by the minute, our teammate sacrificed another pawn to close the K-side while looking to infiltrate Black’s back rank from the h-file. The experienced Braunstone player managed to consolidate his position, finding himself at move 43 with completely winning position, evaluated at -20 by Stockfish (depth = 20). However, Boris’ opponent never looked to capitalise on his winning position and did not play the winning move …Qd3, which would have been at minimum crushing and at certain moments was even leading to a forced mate in 7. Instead Black tried to bring defenders to the back ranks, completely abandoning the opened h-file and leaving it for White to infiltrate first with the queen and then with his remaining rook. Our teammate seized the opportunity and took complete control of the h-file after which closed the Q-side, rendering Black’s bishop useless. Eventually, “The Toaster” went on to coordinate his two pieces to attack the king and managed to get himself in a position to grab the black rook or just draw the game with a perpetual check. However, at move 53 the Braunstone player fell victim to the old tunnel vision, completely ignoring a dovetail checkmate, which Boris delivered quickly, unable to believe his luck and pulling off the biggest swindle in his short chess career and on the night. Nevertheless, to quote Matt “The Dark Destroyer” Connor: “The game of chess is about who blunders last.”(probably quoting someone famous), so a great win a for Boris against a strong opponent after playing from the inferior position throughout the whole game.

Julian Tang (Braunstone) vs Mick Sandham (Anstey) 1 – 0

Mick’s opponent then lifted his remaining rook to the seventh rank, attacking our teammate’s d-pawn. Unfortunately, finding himself in a completely winning position, evaluated at -5.7 by Stockfish (depth = 20), “Just Mick” miscalculated the power of the rook lift and greedily took the b-pawn, providing his opponent the initiative. Mick decided to bring back both of his rooks, but with the solid pawn chain already on the sixth and seventh rank, the experienced Braunstone player managed to consolidate his presence and further to get a completely winning position at which point “Just Mick” resigned. Regardless of the result, Mick should be proud of his performance throughout most of the game, as he again played toe to toe with a significantly higher rated opponent, eventually getting a winning position which he was unfortunate not to convert.

Julian Tarwid (Anstey) vs Michael Salisbury (Braunstone) 1 – 0

“Mr. Engine” then infiltrated Black’s position with his rook and put pressure on Black’s pawns, eventually snatching the isolated d-pawn. With the otherwise non-pretentious and improving moves, Julian managed to get himself in a +3.7 position with his opponent down on the clock. Realising that he is about to lose even more material, especially under the time pressure, the Braunstone player decided that he had enough and resigned. Another great win for our top-rated player who is deservedly flying high at the moment!

While the match for the Chapman Cup was taking place in the usual spot of the Anstey Methodist Church, in the opposite corner there were plenty of friendly games as the Thursday club night was taking place. Juniors Marcus and John took on the experienced Oskar “El Capitan” and Brian “The Griller”, while Ben hurried to take the opportunity to play against Richard and learn something new. In conclusion, another great evening in the Anstey Chess Club filled with emotions, fun and above all – plenty of chess!