17.1.24 Anstey’s 2nd team took on Loughborough’s 3rd team, seeking revenge for a disappointing draw in the home leg of the fixture.

With Mike absent on board 3 elsewhere at his wife’s birthday celebrations (nobody would miss that either Mike!), El Presidente recruited upwards from the first team, using the Toaster Boris to fill the board 1 slot, moving John down to board 2, El Presidente to board 3, and retaining Noor on board 4. A strong line up that should have been confident of the win.

On a night with sub-zero temperatures, El Presidente made the mistake of dragging John The Torturer to the away venue, thinking that they may turn up on time, when Loughtborough’s venue (not their players) decide to open up at 7:30 – the time that the match is supposed to start. El Presidente and The Torturer enjoyed the practice of keeping warm by walking on the spot. Boris and Noor calmly walked in within time for the match to start, and battle commenced.

First to finish was El Presidente, playing white against Stewart Gordon, the league association’s webmaster no less. Stewart employed the open Sicilian, and subsequently offered a mass trade of pieces on the d5 square, after both players had developed sensibly in the opening – however, neither player had castled. After the mass trade of pieces, El Presidente was left with an open d file, and had the move, playing Bc5 – denying Stewart’s right to castle – giving him trouble developing his final two pieces. He moved the light squared Bishop (El Presidente assumed with the idea of playing Rd8 – contesting the open file) and then tried to trade dark squared Bishops, which was refused. Stewart then made the sudden, game deciding blunder by castling Queenside, allowing El Presidente the opportunity to play Ba6 mate, and the rather stylish Boden’s mate.

Second to finish was Noor, playing with the black pieces against Les Lant – rated at 950 and significantly less than Noor’s rating. Les opened with e3 and d4 – a peculiar move order but a solid one nonetheless, and both players proceeded with the task of developing their pieces. After a couple of pawns were exchanged, and a Bishop for a Knight, Noor created the not-so-subtle threat of a Queen and Bishop battery along the a8-h1 diagonal. Noor then set about opening up the board and trying to overwhelm Les. Les in his wisdom didn’t fall for it, and Noor played a lovely Ng4 move, attacking a Bishop placed on d3, and the f3 pawn – guarding the g4 square – could not take because of the battery. Les moved his Queen to back the Bishop up, alongside his Rook. Unfortunately, Les recaptured Noor’s Knight with his Queen instead of Rook, allowing Noor to capture the Queen with his other Knight that was watching the e3 square. He had meant to capture with his Rook of course but got the move order wrong. From then on, Noor made no mistakes, driving home the advantage in the centre, trapping a doubled Rook and forcing a resignation.

Boris The Toaster was next to finish, entertaining The Torturer’s conqueror in the return match – Reece Whittington – with Boris having the white pieces. Play started with the Queen’s pawn and both players sensibly developed pieces onto good squares. Reece launched a counter attack in the centre with c5, Bb4, Qa5 all followed by Ne4, putting pressure on the c3 Knight. Boris remained calm, played his moves well and didn’t crumble under pressure, and repelled the pressure with some well timed moves of his own, and somewhat freeing his position at the same time. Boris found a neat little pin after Nxc3 with Qd2, thus pinning the Knight against the Queen on a5 which would be free. After unpicking this situation, The Toaster got his Bishop to an advanced square on d6, removing Reece’s castling option and permanently installed the Bishop on a3 – controlling the same diagonal an keeping his opponent’s King in the centre. Reece played for activity on the Kingside and the centre, but this was accurately repelled by The Toaster, creating threats of his own and ripping open the centre with some well-timed pawn thrusts. Reece played more Kingside but made the game changing blunder already a pawn down, allowing Boris to skewer his two Rooks with a Bishop where Boris had activity, material and a won game.

Last to finish was John Robinson, The Torturer, facing El Presidente’s conqueror in the first game Peter Hickman. Employing his favoured King’s Indian Defence with the black pieces against Peter’s 1.d4, The Torturer developed his pieces to good squares whilst Peter’s pieces seemed to fall over themselves, resulting in a lovely looking position for John, with some well situated pieces and so many options for The Torturer. Peter managed to get some pieces and pawns traded off and the position approached equality as the game entered the endgame phase. The Torturer played very well and forced a mistake from Peter, which subsequently led to another and having declined a draw offer earlier in the game, John converted the fact that he had all the aces in hand, and proceeded to force a resignation from Peter when The Torturer took an undefended Rook that Peter had missed in time trouble.

A 4-0 win for the 2nd team that couldn’t have gone much better! Well played everyone.

El Presidente speaking to Talksport:
Obviously we are delighted with the win – I didn’t expect a 4-0 whitewash, although some of the form that our guys are in, it might not be a total surprise.

9/11/23

Anstey’s second team played host to the surprise early-season leaders Ashby 3 at the Methodist Church. El Presidente selected a strong team, with The Torturer John Robinson, himself, Mike and the Prodigy, Noor.

Ashby 3 brought the same team as had faced the University 1st team the previous week, albeit captain Dom Lennon (the minor County champion), swapped himself and Les Fancourt around in board order to face fellow skipper El Presidente. The home team out graded their opposition on 3 out of the 4 boards, so must have fancied their chances. Pleasantries were exchanged and battle commenced.

First to finish was the Torturer on board 1, playing black against Steve Emmerton. In a fairly sedate game where the Torturer employed the centre counter Scandinavian defence against Steve’s 1. e4, nothing much really happened with some sensible piece development followed by some central exchanges and when the Queens came off, a draw looked to be likely. The Torturer had a look around the games and with all looking level, and Noor possibly having an advantage, John accepted the draw.

Second to finish was El Presidente, playing white against Dom Lennon’s Caro-Kann defence. Play was again fairly serene during the early exchanges with sensible piece development from both players until the fireworks started in the middle game, with Dom claiming space on the Queenside and El Presidente looking for a central strike. A critical position was reached in the middle game with Dom looking to smash the defences around El Presidente’s King and El Presidente looking to get a rook on the seventh. In placing his Rook on the seventh, he missed the winning Rd5! forking a Queen and Bishop and soon after, Dom’s plan succeeded first with the pawns in front of El Presidente’s King being smashed to smithereens and a nice forced mate sequence (instead of mate in one), won for Dom in a nicely played finish.

Third to finish was Mike Griffiths playing black against Les Fancourt. Mike employed his trusty Sicilian defence and Les chose the Alapin variation. Play was once again good from both players with Mike’s development slightly more passive than Les’s, which resulted in a Rook marauding on the seventh for Les, winning him a clean piece after some other piece trades. Mike had the slightly more active King and managed to win an exchange back, which meant that white had two Knights vs Mike’s very active Rook. Mike got to work on winning Les’s Kingside board with Les’s King protecting his isolated e pawn. Mike subsequently picked off one of the Knights with a cross-board skewer after picking up all of the Kingside pawns. After this, Mike liquidated the central pieces, exchanging the Rook for a Knight and pawn, leaving himself two connected solitary pawns on the g and h files. Les resigned with the h pawn guaranteed to Queen in a game he felt he might have won.

This left the match all-square with Noor to finish, playing white against John Howlett. John employed the French defence, with Noor playing the advance variation. After the pieces were developed, Noor found a nice forcing combination winning him an exchange, but John fought back during the later part of the game. It came down to an always tricky rook and pawn ending with John being a pawn up, but said pawn was a backward pawn, which Noor tried to pick off without success. John had the slightly more active Rook and used this to hoover up and to some extent liquidate the remaining pawns, leaving him the pawn up against Noor’s solitary Rook. To his credit, John played it well, and any threats that Noor tried, he parried whilst advancing the lone pawn. What happened in the end was a position that looked very much like the Lucena position – the first time your author has seen it in play over the board. Noor correctly resigned once John’s King was moved out of the way and the pawn promotion couldn’t be avoided.

A 2.5-1.5 defeat for the second team, with Ashby 3 seemingly deserving to be top of the tree at this early stage of the season.

El Presidente speaking to OK! Magazine:

Obviously disappointed with the result and my own performance, but a good win from Mike – to quote him ‘snatching victory from the jaws of defeat’, and a good battling performance from Noor, albeit he came out on the wrong side of it.

In spite of facing solid opposition in Ashby 2, our second team dominated a difficult contest

In the second round of Division 3 in the Leicestershire League, our second team travelled to Ashby to face their second team. With the captain Ben having to step down, it was Boris The Toaster who had to deputise for the chairman. The Bulgarian captained a very strong team on the night, with John The Torturer, Mike and Noor The Prodigy all looking to make their mark on the night. Eventually, they did just that, taking the win and leaving only half point for the strong home team.

John The Torturer Robinson (Anstey) vs Christopher Tipper (Ashby) Result: 1/2 – 1/2

John The Torturer was back on top board for the second team, this time as White facing the solid but tricky player Christopher Tipper. The game started with the Polish defence employed by the home team player against our top board’s Queen’s pawn opening. The game continued with the players developing their pieces swiftly on somewhat natural squares without fancy tactics and reckless attempts for advantage. During the proceedings, the Ashby player stroke in the centre with c5 and our teammate decided to release the tension straight away by taking. By move 10 the game was already in the middlegame, and The Torturer decided to exchange one of his knights for one of their black counterparts. The players continued to improve their pieces, and John exchanged his light-squared bishop for one of the black knights, leaving the home team player with doubled pawns on the e-file. At move 18 there was lots of potential on the board and it looked as if fireworks are about to go off, but in a strange turn of events, the players decided that the position does not provide enough opportunity and agreed to a draw.

A solid half-point for John who is looking to make his mark for the second team this season.

Lawrence Hayden (Ashby) vs Boris The Toaster (Anstey) Result: 0 – 1

Boris The Toaster was playing with the black pieces on board 2 against a familiar opponent of his in Lawrence Hayden who by Boris’ words “battered” The Toaster an year prior in the summer cups in rapid format. On the lookout for his revenge, Boris answered his opponent’s e4 with his favourite Caro-Kann. The home team player took the Fantasy variation path – a notoriously tricky and tactical attempt from White to take an early advantage. The players played “by the book” until move 10 when White accepted the queen exchange on b3 and subsequently relinquished his e4-pawn. Boris, finding himself a pawn up, immediately exchanged a pair of knights and a set of pawns in the hope to play for only two possible results. Unfortunately, our teammate left his king too open, and White seized the opportunity to attack it with his well developed pieces. Our teammate “parked the bus” in front of his king and managed to just hold everything together when he received a gift from his opponent who offered an exchange of the light-squared bishops. Our teammate snapped the black “pointy hat” and then managed to exchange a set of rooks followed by a couple of pawn pushes on the queenside (Q-side) to create some breathing space for his pieces. To The Toaster’s delight, White offered another exchange, this time of knight for the black dark-squared bishop which was welcomed by our teammate, leaving him a pawn up, with all of his pawns on dark-squares, and with a knight and rook against a dark-squared bishop and rook. Boris slowly improved his position and having claimed the open d-file, while blocking the e-file with his knight, managed to take away the space from his opponent’s pieces. Eventually the rooks got exchanged on e1, and our teammate’s knight started hopping around dangerously on the Q-side, eventually taking one of the white pawns, at which point the Ashby player demonstratively took his king and present it to our teammate.

A great win for The Toaster to kick off his league campaign.

Mike Griffiths (Anstey) vs Nick Wyld (Ashby) Result: 1 – 0

Mike had the white pieces against another solid yet tricky player in Nick Wyld. Our teammate opened with his favourite English opening which was met by the Caro-Kann defensive system from his opponent. The players deviated from the book as early as the fourth move after exchanging the c4 and d5 pawns, with one of the black knights taking over the d5 square. Mike played with energy and developed his pieces swiftly while his opponent spent a few tempi to stabilise the central knight and cover the g4 square. While Black was finishing his development and castling, our teammate launched his Q-side pawns for a minority attack. His opponent brought his second knight to the centre and it was immediately exchanged with one of its white counterparts. A bit of a back and fourth shuffle from Mike’s remaining knight and the black queen but when it almost looked like a three-fold repetition and another “grandmaster draw” (apparently it is a thing), the home team player decided to leave the said queen and centralise a rook. Eventually Mike exchanged the remaining knights and the dark-squared bishops, and solidified the centre with a timely e3. His opponent rushed to exchanged the remaining bishops, leaving only major pieces on the board which Mike welcomed, creating a battery on the semi-open c-file. The Ashby player created one himself on the e-file and offered a queen exchange which our teammate took happily. Having a tempo in hand, Mike did not hesitate and pushed the Q-side pawns, finally finishing his minority attack. Our teammate managed to get a pawn in the process and in his characteristic solid way navigated a difficult endgame with two rooks still on the board for each side to bring the win home.

Amazing win for Mike as he continues to shine for the second team for a second week in a row.

Les Fancourt (Ashby) vs Noor Datoo (Anstey) Result: 0 – 1

On board 4, Noor The Prodigy was scheduled to play as Black against the tactical player Les Fancourt. Knowing the tactical capabilities of our best performing player last season, the game looked promising and it will be fair to say that the spectators were not disappointed. The players engaged in the Giuoco Pianissimo, four knights variation of the Italian game. At move 6 The Prodigy decided to offer a light-squared bishop exchange, leading the game in less explored territory, albeit still in book. The “pointy hats” were swapped and our teammate had achieved the goal for Black, equalising early on. The home team player found himself with a slight lead in development and started a Q-side attack with his a- and b-pawns which was followed by another exchange, this time of the white dark-squared bishop for one of Noor’s knights. This exchange opened the g-file for our teammate in case he was interested for a kingside (K-side) attack towards the white king. Always the exciting player, The Prodigy immediately castled Q-side which was followed with another set of exchanges when Noor managed to fix his pawn structure and a pair of knights headed for the box. 17 moves into the game, the race started. The black h-pawn started marching towards the white king while the white Q-side pawn army looked to gang up on their black counterparts. No subtle play was to follow, and our teammate brought his queen to g4, eyeing the white king directly. White continued to push the Q-side pawns and only slowed down for a move to prevent a mate in one by pushing his g-pawn forward one square. Eventually, the remaining black bishop ended completely cut out from the game by those dreaded Q-side pawns and White started looking towards the defence of the K-side. Noor looked to support an f-pawn push with his rook and it looked like he lost the h-pawn in the process but he immediately moved his rook back to the h-file to eye the white king. The next move proved to be crucial for the game, as (probably looking to release the tension a pawn up and with better minor piece) the Ahsby player decided to offer a queen exchange on f3. Unfortunately for the home team player, this move fell victim to a nice tactic from The Prodigy, and as it is a tactic, he was quick to find it, taking the knight on h4 for free, as the white queen ended being unprotected while the said rook was protecting the black lady. The white queen stepped back, and another fancy tactic from our teammate kept the pressure on the white K-side. At this moment the Ahsby player decided to exchange his queen for Noor’s rooks. The black lady proved to be a great hassle, as The Prodigy played energetically and started picking up material quickly. The white rooks managed to activate themselves and White even picked up the buried 13 moves prior dark-squared bishop but the black queen kept devouring the white pawns in the meantime. Nevertheless, one last white try found the rooks doubled and ready for the exchange with Black up three pawns, however, good calculation from The Prodigy found that the h-pawn was slightly ahead in the race with the black a-pawn and instead opted for active play with the queen. White still tried to push the said h-pawn but the queen came back to harass the white king, and seeing that at least one more pawn is lost, White resigned.

Another brilliant game from The Prodigy who is set to be knocking on Matt’s door for a first team initiation quite soon.

With the games over, our team headed back home having given only half point to Ashby 2 and proving their worth in a difficult contest. Anstey 2’s next fixture is on 9^th November at home against another Ashby team, this time their third, and our players will be looking to build on their great performance so far and start in a strong manner their challenge for the division title. After two rounds, our second team stands in second with 3 points, one less than Market Harborough 3 but also having played one game less.

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.