A successful season for the second team concludes with a solid performance, leaving them third in the overall standings in Division 3

Last Wednesday (26/04/23) marked the last fixture for our second team. Needing a solid win (ideally 4-0) to keep fighting chances for second, a strong Anstey 2 team turned up in the Royal British Legion in Melton Mowbray(MM). The return of Brian The Griller alongside Boris The Toaster, and the addition of Matt The Dark Destroyer and Just Mick, all meant that fireworks were to be expected in the upcoming fixture. Our team was greeted by a solid three-quarters of a Melton team, with the last quarter being their junior up-and-comer Bohdan Stamat. Overrated on every board (admittedly, based on September 2022 ratings), our team fought hard and brave in a set of exciting games, only to share a point with the home side at the end.

Brian The Griller Foreman (Anstey) vs Bohdan Stamat (MM) 0 – 1

After a long-ish pause to give playing opportunities to other players, Brian made a comeback to challenge the young Melton rising star Bohdan Stamat. Our most solid teammate opened with the usual Queen’s Gambit setup, and his opponent responded with the QGD (Queen’s Gambit Declined), a very theoretical variation, favourite to many Grandmasters. The Griller brought his knight to c3, challenging the centre, but the Melton player pinned the said the knight with the typical Ragozin Bb4. The players continued to follow the book for several more moves, with the white dark-squared bishop exchanging itself for the black f6-knight, followed by solidifying on the dark squares with e3 by our teammate and kingside(K-side) castling from his opponent. Brian decided to protect his knight with Qc2 with potential on creating a battery on the b1-h7 diagonal, when his opponent decided to enter the middlegame underdeveloped, but attempting to exploit the slightly exposed white king with a quick c5 push.

Our teammate immediately left the book with Rc1, his opponent took the d4-pawn, and the players engaged in a battle for the centre. The Griller re-took with the f3-knight, and Black seized the opportunity to push his central pawns in an attempt to exploit the pin on c3. The d4-knight jumped swiftly on b5, attacking the c7 square, and naturally Black kept pushing to pick up the c3 knight. Here, unfortunately, Brian did not see the best continuation, which was to challenge the bishop with a3 and instead went for the Nc7 move, giving up two pieces for a rook. The exchange was executed swiftly with the black dark-squared bishop freezing the queenside (Q-side) for White, and our teammate was unfortunate to find himself with a king stuck in the centre, underdeveloped, versus well-coordinated active black pieces on an open board. The Melton player maneuvered his pieces well, and in spite of our teammate going after material, before long the advantage for the home team player was too great, and Brian threw in the towel.

A little bit of rustiness showing, but we are sure that The Griller will get over the loss quickly to come back stronger soon.

Alan Jex (MM) vs Matthew The Dark Destroyer Connor (Anstey) 0 – 1

Returning to help the second team, The Dark Destroyer was scheduled to play a solid Alan Jex from Melton, finding himself as joint second for the most games for Anstey Chess Club this season with Mick and Noor, and looking to turn the tide the second part of the season after a wobbly start. Still the only player to get the memo of the club logo, our teammate employed his usual “soul of chess” setup, to which his opponent decided to reply with a quick pawn exchange and swapping off the queens on the d-file. Although deprived from his castling rights, Matt found himself easily equalised in the opening, and in the spirit of proper chess the players started developing their armies. White quickly brought his knights towards the centre, but our teammate unflustered deprived them of good squares with timely pawn pushes, taking control of crucial central squares in the process. The players continued with normal development, leaving castling for the faint-hearted, and engaged in a battle for the Q-side early on in the middlegame.

White started an expansion on the Q-side with a3 and b4, Matt hurried his king to c7, and found the best engine move with an immediate challenge of the b-pawn with a5. White pushed the b-pawn, and the players went on to exchange the dark-squared bishops. Our teammate had a slight advantage of -0.5 (based on Stockfish 15, depth = 20, powered by chess.com a.k.a. “the engine”), which in like a Grandmaster he kept throughout and only built on during the middlegame. The players finally completed development, and possibly annoyed by the above comment, White decided to castle Q-side. The players contested the open d-file with their rooks, and then started re-positioning their minor pieces whereby the Melton player played the inaccuracy Nb3. A long tactical sequence followed, Nxb5! from The Dark Destroyer was followed by our teammate winning a pawn, then a white knight got exchanged with the black light-squared bishop, then the black knight got exchanged with the white light-squared bishop, and when the dust settled, Matt found himself severely down on time (surprise, surprise! It paid off in the end though), but a pawn up in a notoriously tricky rook endgame.

In all honesty, the home team player possibly misplayed the endgame slightly, but nevertheless, with less than 4 minutes on the clock, and having Boris to notate for him, The Dark Destroyer proved his nickname again. Great coordination between the black rooks found them taking the most principled approach, whereby one got exchanged, while the other enjoyed a pawn feast on the K-side. White activated his king, bringing it towards the centre, while our teammate’s rook looked too hungry to be stopped, and by move 36 had ensured a three pawn advantage for Matt, as well as passed pawn on the b-file. After consolidating on the K-side, our teammate eliminated any potential Q-side threats by exchanging his b-pawn for the remaining white a-pawn. Our teammate then brought his king to the K-side, and took the last remaining white pawn, finding himself with R+3 vs R, with an active king and engine-based advantage of -9.3. A few checks from White got the black king to an even more active position, and Matt pushed the pawn all the way to glory. In the process he let a rook exchange to occur and lost the pawn, but left with K & 2 vs K, in spite of being down to about 1.30 mins on the clock, our teammate pushed his pawns and faced with the menace of Q&K vs K, the home team player resigned.

Another brilliant performance from The Dark Destroyer who solidifies himself as the…well…The Dark Destroyer.

Borislav The Toaster Lazarov (Anstey) vs Kerry Kidd (MM) 1 – 0

After a mishap in his last game, Boris The Toaster returned to play for the second team against his opponent from the reverse fixture, Kerry Kidd. After executing in your author’s humble opinion the most popular combination of first moves (1.d4 Nf6, and yes, I understand that 1.e4 is played slightly more often than 1.d4, but there are so many replies from Black, I doubt it that any combination of first moves will beat the game opening, apologies for the sidetracking), the players engaged in the Pirc defence, whereby our teammate went for a line he is not quite familiar with, the Austrian attack. Nevertheless, using the memorised lessons from none other than our own Julian Mr. Engine, a connoisseur of many a chess opening, The Toaster gained space early in the game, exchanged a pair of knights, castled K-side, and solidified his centre. The Melton player equalised comfortably, and in spite of his lack of space, developed normally and looked to play on the Q-side.

The middlegame begun with a Qb6 from Black. Looking at the potential perspectives for the black knight on c6, Boris decided to try and cut it off early in the game at the price of a queen exchange and doubled pawns with Qb3. Black snatched the white queen, the ladies head for the box, and the players started improving the rest of their armies. Black placed his rooks on the central c- and d-files, while The Toaster took as much space in the centre as possible with Harry and Garry pushing forward. Our teammate re-routed his knight via e1 and d3 to the brilliant outpost on c5, then attacked one of the black rooks, and offered an exchange of dark-squared bishops. The home team player started spending loads of time, calculating many long forced lines following Nxe5, and after deciding that he does not like it, shuffled his rook to the seventh rank instead. Completely oblivious of his opponent’s seemingly pointless rook shuffles, our teammate exchanged the bishops, and instead of solidifying his knight with b4, decided to push his king to g2, giving his opponent the opportunity to equalise on the spot with Nxe5. The Melton player did not like the take again due to Nxe6+ and went on to protect his e6 pawn which was met by another king push by our teammate. Fortunately for Boris, his opponent mixed his move order and took the e5 pawn with his knight, only to realise that he had not placed his rook on c8 first. Confused, our teammate took some time, but eventually “called the bluff” (admittedly, still oblivious of the tactic Black was preparing initially) and took the said knight.

In the short middlegame that followed, the players exchanged the remaining bishops, then a pair of rooks, and The Toaster solidified his position, a piece for a pawn up, and looking to start munching on Black’s weaknesses. Unfortunate to find himself in this position, the Melton player resigned.

A lucky win for The Toaster which will hopefully bring his confidence back, as he heads to Ashby tonight in support of the third team for his “milestone” 25^th game this leagues season, rendering himself as the record holder for most games within a league season for the Anstey Chess Club.

Christopher Knight (MM) vs Just Mick Sandham (Anstey) 1 – 0

Mick stepped in again to help out the second team, taking joint second place for most games this season with Matt and Noor. Our teammate was scheduled to play the in-form Christopher Knight, who had given many of his opponents severe headaches this season. To his opponent’s 1.e4, Just Mick replied with his usual O-Kelly variation of the Sicilian defence. The players engaged in the Ljubojević Line of the Venice system, and given the unusual nature of the opening, were out of book by move 6. Our teammate equalised early on, and the players prioritised development and fight for the centre. The tension kept growing, with White creating a queen-led battery on the c-file, while Mick’s light-squared bishop was eyeing the long h1-a8 diagonal. White castled K-side, and with our teammate completing development, the middlegame began.

White tried to create more tension with c4, but just when it looked like the c- and d-files are about to explode, the players pushed their Q-side and central pawns to close the centre, release the tension, and begin a very long game of “cat and mouse” behind their locked pawn chains. The players shuffled pieces behind their pawn fronts, and White was first to find a nice outpost for his knight on f5. Just Mick, relieved the knight of its duties by exchanging it for his light-squared bishop, and after some more piece shuffling, exchanged one his knights for its remaining white counterpart. Taking the most principled approach of locking down the central pawns when he was the player with the knight, our teammate pushed f6, only to give a +1.7 engine evaluation advantage to his opponent with Bh5+, whereby the bishop restricted the K-side for Black. Having the piece majority on the Q-side, White started pushing his pawns, and before long created a couple of semi-open files to attack the vulnerable black king from. Just Mick tried to create counter play on the K-side, prioritising activity over defence and exposing his king for a strong attack from White. Unfortunately, our teammate was a few tempi short of succeeding, and White penetrated the Q-side with a deadly attack. In spite of being low on time, the Melton player managed to get the position to mate in one, and unfortunately for our teammate, he had to resign,

A tough blow for Just Mick, who was unfortunate to find himself on the wrong side of a sharp double-edged fight. Nevertheless, it is never boring games from Mick and we are sure that with the summer cups coming, there will be many brilliant performances from him.

The match result means that unless MM2 lose 6-0 or more against Ashby 3, Anstey 2 finishes the season on third place in Division 2 of 2022/23 season. Initially nicknamed the B-team due to the original line-up (Brian, Boris, Ben, Bob), the team showcased tremendous growth since their first game which they lost against Wigston 4. They end up behind the two big favourites in the severely underrated Loughborough 2 (having a 2000+ currently rated player still competing for them) and a team with three players above 1700 rating competing consistently throughout the season. Our second team deserves nothing but praise for their efforts, so the author would like to close this last season 2022/23 league match report with a big Thank you to the regular line-up Brian The Griller, Boris The Toaster, El Presidente Ben, Bob The Lawman, as well as to the people stepping in when in need Matt The Dark Destroyer, Just Mick, Mike, Big Daddy Valdas, Leo The Lion, Noor The Prodigy, and Aarav. Last but not least, here are the closing thoughts of the team captain and Anstey Chess Club chairman, El Presidente Ben:

Had anybody said to me that we’d have finished 3rd in this highly competitive division, I’d have laughed in their face. It is a testament to how far we have come together as a club and as a 2nd team that we have finished so strongly. Well done to everyone concerned for their part in a truly terrific season.

Our second team showcased great grit and determination to get a 3-1 win against Ashby 3

Last Thursday (06/04/2023) marked the penultimate home game for the B-team. Anstey 2 were scheduled to face Ashby 3, with both teams promptly at the venue by 7.20pm, except for Boris “The Toaster” who decided to keep his teammates on their toes until 25 minutes past 7. Our second team consisted of the regulars Bob “The Lawman” and Boris along with super-subs Matt “The Dark Destroyer” (acting captain on the evening) and Mike. Opposite our players there was another changed team compared to the reverse fixture, with only the bottom two boards staying the same. At 7.35pm, after cups of coffee and tea were distributed, and everyone had the opportunity to grab a free Easter egg, credit to “The Lawman”, the players shook hands and the games began.

Les Fancourt (Ashby 3) vs Matthew “The Dark Destroyer” Connor (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

The acting captain in “El Presidente”‘s absence was scheduled to play against the tricky player Les Fancourt (a.k.a. “controversial Les”, more details on Episode 1 from the Anstey Chess Club Podcast) who was the player responsible for the Ashby 2 win against our second side in their last home fixture of 2022. The game opened up with a Pirc style setup which transposed into the Philidor with Nc3 and Nf6 on the board. The away team player immediately charged the centre with f4, and following sound chess principles, Matt exchanged pawns towards the centre, luring the white queen on d4. With a free tempo at his disposal, “The Dark Destroyer” developed his b8-knight and dark-squared bishop. The players prioritised development, placing their pieces on active squares aiming at the enemy camp, and by move 9 they had both castled short, entering a middle game where White had more space, while our teammate had a slight edge in development.

The middle game began with more space taken by the Ashby player, trying to trap Black’s light-squared bishop on the kingside (K-side). The Anstey captain for the match decided to trade it for one of the white knights, which was answered by a mistake from White who was looking to lift his rook on the third rank, aiming at future K-side attack. After taking a few minutes to calculate, which by his standards is “bullet” thinking, Matt forked the said white rook and White’s light-squared bishop, in a position where the options for the Ashby player were either bishop for a pawn, or rook for a knight. The away team player decided to proceed with taking the f7-pawn with his bishop which on the very next move left the board. The awkward white rook stepped on the g3-square, now aiming directly at the black king, but unmoved our teammate placed his queen on the active c6-square. The players shuffled their pieces for a couple of moves, with “The Dark Destroyer” setting up a cute little tactic to win the exchange, taking advantage of a pin against the white rook with his dark-squared bishop. His opponent completely missed the threat and rushed to place a knight on d5, and before long had to part ways with his rook, taking the g7-pawn and the black light-squared bishop in the process. Up four points of material, Matt turned his attention towards the white king with Qxc2, when his opponent played the final blunder g3 to give our teammate the opportunity for a mate in 3, which the acting captain obliged to deliver.

Another brilliant performance with the black pieces from “The Dark Destroyer” who delivers again for the second team.

Borislav “The Toaster” Lazarov (Anstey 2) vs Tom Gerrard (Ashby 3) 1 – 0

In a rather grim evening for the white pieces, Boris was scheduled to play against the rapidly improving Tom Gerrard. Our teammate started with his typical opening setup with White, whereby Black replied with 3…g6, looking to fianchetto the dark-squared bishop and occupy the long diagonal. Our teammate replied with an early Nb5, putting pressure on the c7-pawn, and creating space for a c3 push to create a wall against the famous King’s Indian bishop. Pieces and pawns got shuffled on the queenside (Q-side), after which “The Toaster” decided to play the thematic h4-push. Black castled and continued to develop his pieces in a rather peculiar way, as the black knights sat awkwardly in front of the e- and f-pawns. Looking to enter the middle game by move 11, Boris decided to ignore both castling and development, and instead played f3 to take out all possible attacking squares from the black knights and keep firm grip in the centre.

Having a slight edge in the opening, Black decided to strike first with c5, to which our teammate replied with g4, a move which based on the engine (Stockfish 15 at depth = 20, powered by chess.com) evaluation leads to -1.0 in Black’s favour with equal material. Nevertheless, the players exchanged pawns on d4, with “The Toaster” keeping the firm grip on the centre. Lacking space for his pieces, Black decided to attack on the Q-side, first bringing his queen, followed by lining up his rook on the semi-open c-file and eventually pushing b5, but our teammate held everything together by placing his queen on a good defensive square and bringing back his sad knight from the rim. With the Q-side plan failed, the Ashby player who was now running steadily behind on time as well switched sides and brought his knight back to e8, and after bishops were exchanged on b7, Black completely ignored the hanging d5-pawn and stroke on the K-side with f4. What followed was a seven-move tactical sequence whereby Boris surprisingly managed to find a mix of excellent and best moves, and although the Ashby player emerged a piece for two pawns up in material, “The Toaster” had a +5.3 advantage based on the engine evaluation due to his advanced e6-pawn, significantly safer king, and more active pieces. Our teammate played energetically and brought his remaining pieces into play to support an e7-push which proved devastating to Black’s position, significantly deteriorated after the white bishop exchanged itself for the remaining black rook. A couple of checks later, the pressure took the best out of the away team player and he blundered a mater in one which Boris promptly delivered.

Another solid performance from “The Toaster” who finally showcased some tactical awareness and calculation.

Nick Wyld (Ashby 3) vs Bob “The Lawman” Grindrod (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

Finding himself again on board 3, Bob was facing his opponent from the reversed fixture, the away team captain and solid player Nick Wyld. The players engaged in the Schlechter variation of the French defence. White decided to bring his queen towards the centre of the board early on in the opening, as well as to give up his bishop pair by move 7. Our teammate missed on the very next move an opportunity to attack the Q-side pawns in the white camp and continued with development, bringing his knight on f6 in a couple of moves, and castling on the K-side. A couple more developing moves, and the players found themselves entering the middle game.

Having the castled king in an “about to open” position, “The Lawman” wasted no time and immediately stroke with e5, looking to attack the white king. White realised quickly the safety issues with his king’s position, and castled K-side. Bob created a battery on the e-file and before long opened the said file by exchanging the central pawns. White retook with one of his knights, at which point the game was equalised. Rooks were brought in the centre, the Ashby player was challenging the e-file, while our teammate was putting pressure on both white knights. A rook lift followed from Bob’s opponent, which was probably going to be doubled on the e-file, but “The Lawman” seized the opportunity to put pressure first on the d5-knight, and then on the white queen, placing his bishop on a more active square in the process. The queens were exchanged on g3 and upon retaking with his freshly lifted rook, White found himself with passive and completely uncoordinated pieces on move 22, in a position evaluated by the engine as -1.7 with equal material. With one of his knights threatened, the Ashby player tried to put pressure on Q-side, but perfect coordination of our teammate’s pieces left the said knight buried and looking to spend a couple of tempi to reroute itself. The other white knight went on to exchange itself for its black counterpart, leading to a bishop vs knight endgame in an open position, evaluated at -3.7 by the engine with equal material.

Having a clear advantage, Bob immediately placed a rook on the seventh rank, eyeing the b2-pawn in the white camp. The pawn was defended by one of the white rooks, but the bishop arrived to the party, putting pressure on the said rook. The white king activated itself by attacking the rook on c1, but brilliant tactical vision by “The Lawman” saw him winning the exchange and finally converting his dynamic advantage into material one. With a rook and a pawn versus a knight, Bob put pressure on the white Q-side pawns. His opponent brought his king to attack the somewhat stuck black rook, while our teammate tried to activate his king. A bit of harassment from the white rook and white king on their black counterparts followed, only to leave breathing space for the harassed black rook. The away team player tried to continue the harassment on the black king, but a timely f5 stopped the attack in its origin, and returned the initiative to “The Lawman” who started harassing the white pieces and pawns, eventually picking up White’s pawns on the K-side. Seeing a clear path to promotion, Harry the H-pawn started sprinting (more like jogging to be honest, pawns only progress one square at a time) towards h1. White tried to be active, but eventually realised that the pawn promotes, supported by a rook battery on the e-file which blocked the white rook, and met with the perspective of playing with a knight against a queen and a rook, the Ashby player resigned.

A well-deserved win for “The Lawman” who showcased great maturity and game management to bring another point for the B-team.

Mike Griffiths (Anstey 2) vs John Howlett (Ashby 3) 0 – 1

On board 4, Mike stepped in to play against the solid John Howlett after Ashby 3 decided to switch their bottom two boards for this fixture. The players engaged in the symmetrical English, and while our teammate was focused on developing his pieces, the away team player stroke in the centre with d5 as soon as move 4. Mike obliged to take the pawn, and immediately made space for his knight with the “engine-like” a3. His opponent obliged in pushing d4, taking more space, and our teammate had to place his knight on the rim, giving the advantage to Black. The players developed swiftly, with the Ashby player centralising his pieces, while Mike fianchetto-ed his bishop on g2, looking to take advantage of the overextended black central pawns. Both players decided to castle K-side and before long, a fierce middle game battle began.

The away team player brought his rook to c8 eyeing the semi-open file, while Mike pinned the f6-knight and after being challenged, exchanged itself for the horse-resembling piece. Out teammate brought his own knight back to the centre, and pushed his Q-side pawns in an attempt to execute a minority attack on the wing. His opponent accepted an isolated pawn on d4, which he rushed to support with minor pieces. Mike tried to stay active on the Q-side and following an exchange of the dark-squared black bishop for one of the white knights, our teammate lifted a rook on the sixth file. Unfortunately, from move 21 on there were several discrepancies in the notation provided to the author, so we were not able to follow on what went wrong in Mike’s game, but unfortunately our teammate was not able to hold on the black attack, most likely due to the immense pressure on the Q-side.

Another tough day in the office for Mike, but we are sure that he is going to come back stronger in the next fixture.

The procedures concluded with a 3-1 win for our B-team who are now mathematically one draw away from securing a third spot. They also find themselves one point away from Melton 2, although the team from the town famous for their pork pies has a game in hand. Nevertheless, a slip up from the team currently occupying the second place in the division will give Anstey 2 the opportunity to attack the second place in the last fixture away at Melton Mowbray. Before we get carried away, first things first, our second team will be playing again next week in their last home fixture against the solid Heathcote Arms 1 side which in its full strength looks like a team to be taken very seriously.

Greatly underrated juniors make the difference for the away team, as our B-team loses practical chances to attack the top spot in Division 2

The toughest challenge so far for our second team was on the horizon, as they welcomed the division leaders Loughborough 2 in the beginning of March. Our team found themselves with a depleted squat, as Ben and Bob were not available for the game. Fortunately, our great club is a home of plenty of members eager to compete under its banner, and two of our top players – Noor The Prodigy and Matt The Dark Destroyer, joined Brian The Griller and Boris The Toaster for the match. The Loughborough side outrated our second team on every board, with a total difference of more than 570 points based on the September 2022 ratings. Admittedly, the away team had a couple of promising juniors, Kajus Mikalajunas and Lyndsay Pyun, who had their actual ratings higher than their own top board at 2000+ and 1800+ respectively, and unsurprisingly, they made the difference on the night. Nevertheless, a valiant performance from our second team who were unlucky to lose the match.

Stephen Morris ( Loughborough 2) vs Brian The Griller Foreman (Anstey 2) 0.5 – 0.5

The Griller returned for the second team and was scheduled to play on top board against the opposition captain Stephen Morris. In a private conversation with your author prior to the game, our teammate admitted his concerns regarding facing his opponent, but the game showcased twists and turns, and Brian proved again to be a tough nut to crack. The game opened with the Queen’s Gambit (have you watched it on Netflix already?!) which was met by the solid Slav defence from our always bor…. solid top board for the second team. The players engaged in the notoriously bor…. drawish variation of the Exchange Slav and proceeded with typical development for the position. The Griller rushed to take his light-squared bishop out of the pawn chain before placing a rook on the open c-file and closing the chain with e6. The Loughborough captain developed his bishops on the second file and also placed a rook on the c-file, and with all minor pieces developed, one of the white knights attacked the light-squared black bishop and eventually the exchange happened on g6 after which our teammate swiftly castled.

With the middlegame on the run, the away team player decided that he is going to pursue a kingside (K-side) attack against the black king, to which Brian responded with the most adequate counterlpay, namely the central pawn break on e5. After pawns were exchanged on the said square, The Griller found himself with a slight advantage (-0.9, based on Stockfish 15, depth = 20, powered by chess.com and called “the engine” from now on) in spite of his isolated pawn on d5 in a position famously known as IQP (isolated Queen’s pawn, our chairman gets very excited when he sees it OTB). The players engaged in a queenside (Q-side) battle, whereby our teammate placed an amazing knight on c4, eyeing the white Q-side.With the more active pieces and massive space advantage, Brian accumulated solid advantage, evaluated at -2.6 with an extra pawn by move 20. Unfortunately, after expending quite a lot of time to get to this superior position, already under some time pressure The Griller did not find the best plan and tried to solidify on the Q-side, losing his advantage in the process, and giving fighting chances as well as a pawn back for White by move 24. The away team player not only managed to consolidate on the Q-side, but even got rid of Black’s passed b-pawn, while maintaining a “passer” on the a-file himself.

Heading into the endgame, our teammate managed to capture the white a-pawn and the players exchanged their last minor pieces to remain with a pair of rooks each, a notoriously complicated play which both players held quite well. White hurried to get rid of the IQP on d5, and a pair of rooks head to the box in the process. The Loughborough player started pushing his K-side pawns, but with an active, ever threatening rook, and a solidly positioned king, Brian held his ground and did not let his opponent to create any majority. Throughout the process, our teammate offered his opponent a draw, but the response from the away team captain was that considering the difference in time (more than 20 minutes against less than 30 seconds), he would like to play. Nevertheless, The Griller showcased great resilience to eventually sealed a draw on top board.

Another excellent performance for The Griller who has lost only one game this season, mainly due to his outstanding ability to grind out a result.

Matthew The Dark Destroyer Connor (Anstey 2) vs Kajus Mikalajunas (Loughborough 2) 0 – 1

Stepping up for El Presidente Ben, the first team captain had arguably the hardest task, facing the young star on the Leicestershire chess scene, Kajus Mikalajunas from Loughborough, who is flying high this season and already rated 2000+. The players engaged in the Scandinavian defence and before long knights and bishops were already pointing at kings and queens. Our teammate decided to make a second move with his light-squared bishop to offer exchange to its black counterpart and both pieces headed for the chess pieces’ bar. Matt quickly claimed the centre and the players finished their development, with White having the more active pieces and holding a slight +0.7 advantage.

Black began his middlegame with a typical pawn break on c5. At this point, our teammate spent what seemed to be an eternity, calculating all sorts of tactical shots around the board, and eventually going for the Nb5 move in preparation of Nc7, forking both black rooks and what looked like winning the exchange. His young opponent not only called the bluff, but managed to emerge out of a five-move forcing sequence with a knight and bishop for one of his rooks and the d-pawn, and most importantly with well coordinated pieces and -1.4 advantage. The Dark Destroyer found himself under immense pressure, and before long the queens were exchanged with himself left with doubled isolated pawns on the f-file, overextended c-pawn and inactive rooks.

Unfortunately for our teammate, he did not manage to find the best plan under serious time pressure, and tried to hold onto his last hope of creating a passed pawn, while the engine prefers taking hold of the open d-file where the strengths of the rooks lie. The black knight quickly hopped around the board to pick up two pawns from the white camp. Matt activated his rooks and infiltrated the eighth rank with one of his major pieces, harassing the black monarch from both ends of the board. Black tucked his king into safety and before long placed his own rook on the second rank, looking to clean the rest of the white pawns on the Q-side, and then to exchange itself for one of the white rooks. Under severe time pressure, our teammate was unfortunate to blunder his rook on the next move and swiftly resigned.

A tough day in the office for The Dark Destroyer who cannot take any blame after a game against a very high level opposition.

Glyn Ward (Loughborough 2) vs Borislav The Toaster Lazarov (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

In what can be described as a terrible evening for the white pieces, Boris The Toaster was scheduled to play with the black pieces against the solid Glyn Ward from the away team. The players engaged in the Caro-Kann, von Hennig Gambit variation, whereby our teammate felt lost straight from the beginning but still managed to find the best engine and (apparently) book moves in the opening to gain a solid -1.0 advantage and a pawn up by move 9. The players developed swiftly, with White having the more active pieces and Black having the extra pawn but left behind in development. Both sides castled promptly and before long the battle for the centre began.

Early into the middlegame, The Toaster decided to place a knight on d5 and the players engaged into a three move sequence, exchanging a pair of knights and a pair of bishops in the process. Notably, the away team player spent a substantial amount of his time on calculating variations in the combination and before long found himself behind on time. Still behind in development, our teammate brought his queen to d6, giving his opponent a significant advantage and opportunity to exchange pieces in a very favourable way and to pick up a couple of pawns on the K-side. Luckily for Boris, the Loughborough player did not see that far into the combination and instead played a passive c3, giving our teammate the opportunity to finally bring his remaining knight to the party and keep his material advantage. The players exchanged the light-squared bishops in favour of White, and before long, a rook lift occurred and The Toaster found himself under fire on the K-side. Another spell of inaccurate play from White returned the advantage to our teammate, who happily exchanged the remaining minor pieces and solidified his passive, but still advantageous position. With the extra pawn in hand, our teammate exchanged the majority of the major pieces, returning the extra pawn in the process and looking to challenge the isolated white e-pawn.

There is a saying in chess that all rook endgames are drawn, and this particular game did not seem to make any exception. Nevertheless, our teammate found himself with a significant, almost 30-minute time advantage at the beginning of the endgame, and was not looking to offer any draws just yet. The kings came to the party in the centre of the board, and our teammate started the move for the white e-pawn, while advancing his K-side majority. In a somewhat blocked position, and seeing that he loses the e-pawn, White decided to advance it, when our teammate missed a simple check to win the white rook and instead opted for taking the pawn and exchanging the rooks. The time pressure proved crucial in this king and pawn endgame, and before long White gave our teammate the opportunity to create a passed pawn on the K-side getting the famous Silman’s Fox in the Chicken Coup position, whereby the black king was looking to munch on the white Q-side pawns. In spite of Boris pressing his opponent’s clock to keep him in the game, the away team player decided that he does not want to check our teammate’s understanding of simple king and pawn endgames, and threw the towel.

Another solid performance from The Toaster, who continues to grind down his opponents with fast and solid endgame play.

Noor Datoo (Anstey 2) vs Lindsay Pyun (Loughborough 2) 0 – 1

With Bob The Lawman not available, Noor The Prodigy stepped up to the occasion and ended up being the most outrated player with at least about 400 points difference between him and his opponent, Lindsy Pyun, regardless of which rating you are looking (ECF actual rating or the September 2022 ratings which LRCA are still using for the league). The players engaged in the main line of the Italian game, and the Loughborough player snatched early the white e-pawn, putting pressure on White’s position. The players exchanged the dark-squared bishops, and The Prodigy was unfortunate to miss a nice tactic to win back the pawn by sacrificing his bishop on f7. Nevertheless, our teammate played actively and with energy in an attempt to put pressure on Black’s position, but his opponent found the best moves to repel any attacks and solidify the position.

With most of the pieces developed, the very short middlegame proved as expected to be fireworks, as two pairs of minor pieces and the queens decided to make their way to the changing rooms for the rest of the game, leaving the Loughborough player with an extra pawn, the bishop on an open board, and the better pawn structure, all equating to a -1.9 advantage for Black.

The endgame began with a few unfortunate inaccuracies from The Prodigy who had to part ways with his isolated weak d-pawn. Although down two pawns and on time, our teammate continued to fight and tried to advance his Q-side minority. His opponent, a notoriously capable endgame player and a nemesis for a few Anstey players already, brought her rooks to the second rank, forcing our teammate to exchange one of them. Unfortunately, this exchange led to the loss of the white knight, and after a couple of moves harassing the white king, the rooks also got exchanged. Credit to Noor, he tried to continue the play for a few more moves, but given the quality of play he was facing, our teammate did the honourable thing and resigned.

A hard day in the office for The Prodigy, who tried to overcome too high of an obstacle but nevertheless showcased again great play and surely is only going to get more wins for the rest of the season.

In conclusion, a difficult evening for our team, who nevertheless fought bravely and only narrowly missed on getting something out of the match, mainly due to the severely underrated outstanding juniors in the opposite side. Fortunately, the loss did not affect the team, as they went on to win 4-0 against Latimer in the following week (admittedly, Boris was the only player to have participated in both matches). With only three matches left to play, our B-team is looking to challenge Melton 2 for the second spot in Division 3. Their next game will be against Ashby 3 at home in the beginning of April.

In a close match where our second team looked lost halfway, the grit and determination of the B-team shined in the latter stages and they sealed a 4-0 win

On the International Women’s day, our second team travelled through blistering cold and snow to play against Latimer in the home team venue, the Latimer Ward Conservative club. The B-team suffered two big blows in the days prior to the match with El Presidente Ben and Brian The Griller dropping from the fixture, but the always reliable Just Mick and Mike (M&M) joined the leftovers of our second team in Bob and acting captain on the first third of the evening Boris The Toaster (BnB). Making their own way, M&M and BnB met in front of the venue at 19:25, discussed the weather for a couple of minutes and went to meet their opponents on the night. Latimer made two changes from the reversed fixture, with bottom board Roy Gurney replacing David Gamble, and the top two boards swapping places. Anstey 2 outrated their opponents on paper by a total of 515 points and they were higher rated on every board, but history has shown that this Latimer side is a lot more resilient than the rating shows. With the bottom two boards not in their best series of results and the top two boards inconsistent in their performances this season, the match looked to be a lot closer than the ratings were showing, and truth be told, apart from Just Mick every other board was looking bleak at times. Nevertheless, M&M and BnB showcased great grit and determination and not only sealed the win for our second team, but achieved the full score, getting their second “clean sheet” of the season. The match saw a single spectator in our chairman Ben, who managed to get to the venue in spite of not feeling 100%, relieving The Toaster from the captain duties about a quarter into the match.

Just Mick (Anstey 2) vs Michael Garland Sr. (Latimer) 1 – 0

After receiving the news that Brian The Griller was not playing on the night, Mick was as usual first to raise his hand and volunteer to help the B-team. Boris and Just Mick agreed to keep the board order based on experience rather than rating and our top board on the night deservedly had the rare opportunity to play with the white pieces. Across our teammate sat Michael Garland Sr. from Latimer, a solid player who was unfortunate to lose a completely drawn game against Boris The Toaster. The players started sharp engaging in the Sicilian, whereby the home team player decided to create a backward d-pawn quite early, giving our teammate a +1.1 advantage with equal material. It will be fair to say that Just Mick only built up from then on, never going back to a situation where he does not have the advantage. The players developed their pieces, with Black taking a conservative approach of keeping his pieces close to the kingside (K-side) while Mick placed his army in a position to support K-side pawn pushes and castled queenside (Q-side), creating a queen-led battery on the d-file in the process. Black accepted the challenge for an interesting game and castled short, which was welcomed by our teammate with an immediate g4-g5, followed by h4, looking to demolish the pawn wall in front of the black king.

Looking a little flustered by the attacking style of Just Mick, the home team player tried to block the pawns with g6 and then to challenge them with f6, but the white armada of pawns, well supported by the white bishop pair, marched on to occupy g5 and h5, giving Mick a +4.9 advantage with equal material. Completely suffocated by the white army, Black tried to hold the fort by bringing his rook to the seventh rank, which gave our teammate the opportunity to place an amazing knight on d5, eyeing four important squares in the enemy territory and blocking the said backward d-pawn. Finding nothing better to do, the home team player exchanged his light-squared bishop for the great-looking white knight and gave our teammate a tactical opportunity to win the exchange which Mick executed swiftly, exchanging his light-squared bishop for one of the black rooks. Interestingly enough, our teammate missed an opportunity for a Mate in 8 combination, starting by giving a check on h8 with his tower-looking piece, securing an infiltration of the white lady into the back ranks of Black’s position which is then sacrificed to ensure an Opera mate. Nevertheless, with those combinations a player find themselves more often than not in a pickle rather than winning, so Just Mick cashed in with the exchange and infiltrated the black back ranks with one of his rooks instead.

Early in the endgame, our teammate picked up one of the doubled isolated g-pawns and looked to put pressure on the black pieces when his opponent rather strangely provided Mick with the opportunity to exchange a pair of rooks and the dark-squared bishops, winning another pawn in the process and emerging from the combination a pawn and rook versus a knight. Never losing his advantage from then on, Just Mick brought his king to the party, pushed his Q-side majority and completely restricted the clumsy black knight. His opponent tried to activate the black king, but a slow and steady progress, combined with great work from the white rook to restrict both the black king and knight, saw the black pieces getting suffocated. Realising that the game is lost, the Latimer player threw the towel and congratulate our teammate for what truly was a dominant game.

Great win for Just Mick who showcased again that when it comes to attacking play with the white pieces, he is on a completely different level.

Brian Slater (Latimer) vs Borislav The Toaster Lazarov (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

Boris The Toaster found himself playing with the black pieces for a fourth time in a row, and was scheduled to play against the top board from the reversed fixture for Latimer, Brian Slater, who in spite of having a significant time advantage against Brian The Griller in that November fixture, did not find a way to get the draw for his team. Looking to redeem himself against Boris, the Latimer player opened with a Queen’s Gambit setup (like in the Netflix series, jump there and watch it, if you haven’t already), which was met with the usual solid defence from our teammate. The players exchanged their light-squared bishops swiftly and positioned their armies in a typical way for this opening, with White releasing the tension in the centre rather quickly and taking extra space on the Q-side. Both players castled K-side and The Toaster started bringing his pieces to the centre while White was looking to repel any tactical jumps with a3 and h3.

The middlegame started with a couple of important pawn pushes – White naturally started pressing on the Q-side which was answered by our teammate by a timely e5 which the home team player was obliged to take. The players exchanged a pair of knights as well when White offered a queen trade. Boris thought for a few moments and decided that he does not like the exchange just yet, so withdrew his queen to e6. The Latimer player exploited the newly created weak a1-h8 diagonal by creating a possible battery with his queen and bishop, but Boris parried the threat in its origin by centralising his f8-rook and placing his dark-squared bishop there instead. Unsure as to what to do, White played a waiting move in Ba1, when The Toaster decided to play Ne4, leading to exchanges of the remaining knights and the queens.

With the start of the endgame, the home team player offered another exchange, this time of the rooks, as well as a draw. Our teammate looked at the other boards and instead exchanged the rooks, keeping the play going as the bottom two boards looked rather bleak at the time. White started gaining some small advantage with better positioning of his pieces, but Boris led the game back to a complete draw with the exchange of the remaining bishops, after which the players brought their kings to the centre before our teammate offered another exchange, this time of rooks. After a couple of pawn moves, White exchanged the rooks and the players ended with symmetrical pawn structures which unfortunately for our teammate gave his opponent the opposition, resulting in a +1.0 position. Luckily for our teammate, White did not see the best play and after a nice triangulation from Boris, he ended with the opposition in the same position. After a couple of pawn-moves on the Q-side, The Toaster did the same triangulation, this time emerging with a -1.1 advantage. His opponent mentioned that the position is stalemate, when with wide eyes Boris replied that there are at least two pawns which the Latimer player can move, much to the surprise of the latter who was too occupied with his king’s position. The players engaged in the final endgame battle whereby our teammate was an important move ahead of his opponent but still managed to get himself in a losing position. Nevertheless, his opponent miscalculated the position himself, and lost his e-pawn in the process, although after picking up our teammate’s c-pawn, the game was level again. One more blunder from our teammate gave his opponent more fighting chances, but the Latimer player completely miscalculated the ending and gave our teammate the opportunity to create a queen and then deliver a final checkmate at move 82.

Another great resilient performance from The Toaster who finds himself in a rare unbeaten run this season.

Bob Grindrod (Anstey 2) vs Granville Hill (Latimer) 1 – 0

Bob returned for the second team on board 3 in the absence of El Presidente Ben. Our regular player from the B-team was scheduled to face Granville Hill who was unfortunate against the chairman in the reversed fixture. The game opened with the Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit line of the Englund Gambit (based on chess.com Opening Explorer, the author is quite confident that both players were aware of the opening line’s classification, origin, and main plans). Our teammate called the bluff and took the extra pawn which was followed by a rather passive development from him, while the Latimer player brought his pieces to active positions in line with the gambits’ philosophy. Bob decided to waste a tempo with a rather dubious attack on the black queen, while Black rushed to castle long and before long stroke in the centre with f5. Our teammate took the pawn and managed to hold on the black initiative, albeit at the expense of a rather passive position, but still holding a nice +1.6 advantage. Unfortunately, he lost it in a matter of a couple of moves, and suddenly Black found himself in the middlegame with a nice queen-led battery along the e-file, with pressure on the white pieces, and only needing his g8-knight to enter the game in order to start a promising attack.

Lacking quite a bit of space, our teammate exchanged one of his knights for his opponent’s light-squared bishop and rushed to castle after a dubious Kd7 move from Black which dropped a -1.7 advantage for the home team player. The white lady was attacked and she found an active shelter on d1, eyeing the misplaced black king. The Latimer player looked to attack the white king, but Bob found the second best move to repel the initial attack, only to miss a nice Bb4 move to pin the black bishop and attack it with the white queen. Unfortunately for our teammate, he eventually found the move in the worst possible moment, basically dropping his own bishop after a neat check from his opponent, leading to a -4.87 advantage for Black in a bishop vs pawn position. The home team player rushed to exchange pieces, starting from the queens. After some pawn and rook shuffling on both sides of the board, Black found a neat tactic to pick up a pawn, exchanging knights in the process, entering a -5.6 endgame a full piece up.

The home team player continued to harass Bob’s position and offered another exchange, this time of rooks, but our teammate, knowing that there is nothing to lose, tried to be solid and braced for impact. Bob managed to get his rook and king on slightly more active positions and attacked the black dark-squared bishop with his rook which led to his opponent dropping the piece for a pawn. Still having a -3.3 advantage, Black decided to step back a little and instead of activating his own pieces, he tried to defend his extra pawn material advantage. Our teammate’s endgame superiority showcased itself on the board, and Bob played active moves, threatening multiple targets at once. A couple of moves after the bishop was gone, Black closed his king on the queenside, returning the evaluation bar to 0.0 with extra pawn. Bob continued to harass the black king and activated his king. Under some considerable pressure, Black dropped a couple of pawns, and in spite of still being in a theoretically drawn position, the significant change from completely winning to barely holding the position proved to be too big of an excitement for the Latimer player and he resigned.

A long-deserved win for Bob, who often finds himself losing a game from a winning position, but with the help of fate finally wins a game from a losing one.

Roy Gurney (Latimer) vs Mike Griffiths (Anstey 2) 0 – 1

Finding out that two players from the second team are not available, Mike was another one to raise his hand and step up to the occasion. Our teammate was scheduled to play the Latimer sub Roy Gurney, who reportedly played at the rather admirable age of 90+ years old. We wish Roy to play like that when he is 100+ as well, and wish ourselves to get to his age and play at least half as good. Back on the game itself, the players found themselves in a very peculiar situation whereby the board was turned around, the white pieces were on the 8th rank, and their black counterparts occupied the first. Nevertheless, quite brilliant notation from Mike, who managed to follow the newly invented order without getting many wrong. The players engaged in the Sicilian (or maybe some sort of a weird Bird defence, where Black has the first move), Smith-Morra Gambit, where our teammate played a rather dubious d6 move which gave White a +0.7 advantage on move 3. The players started positioning their armies, White decided to take the centre with pawns and pieces, bringing knights and bishops to their most natural squares, and tucking his king into safety on the K-side. Mike decided to “fianchetto” his dark-squared bishop on the long a1-h8 diagonal and place his pieces in natural, albeit slightly passive squares, ending in what appeared to be a Pirc-ish setup. With the central control, king safety and space advantage, White missed the perfect moment for the e5-push, which gave Mike time to castle short himself, and before long, the evaluation bar dropped below +1.0. Following fundamental chess principles, our teammate used a gifted tempo to start pushing pawns on the Q-side, while White tried to play in the centre.

The middlegame started with a long, five-move (five for both sides, totalling ten moves) combination, which included two knight, two pawn and one rook exchanges to leave the players with two bishops, queen, rook and five pawns each. White had an advanced, albeit isolated, passed pawn on the fifth rank (or fourth rank if we follow the actual board’s coordinates, quite confusing this game), which along with the slightly more active pieces granted the Latimer player a +1.8 advantage by move 21. The home team player picked up a pawn, then forced the exchange of the dark-squared bishops, picking up a second pawn in the process. Our teammate tried his best to hold on the white army and brought his rook and queen to the K-side in an attempt to create a fortress. White brought his rook to the party, and in the good traditions of solid chess, created tactical conditions to exchange the rooks and the bishops, entering the endgame with a queen and five against queen and three for Mike.

The endgame began with Mike activating his king and playing under the pressure of +2.8 advantage. The situation for our second team player looked quite desperate, but somehow his opponent managed to greatly misplay the last six moves, much to the delight of Mike and the overseeing El Presidente Ben. Starting from an unnecessary, yet useful queen exchange, the home team player gave away his advanced d-pawn. The players activated their kings in a situation where White had an extra pawn, and engaging the kings on the Q-side would grant him the win by creating a passed pawn on the K-side where the white majority was. Fortunately for our teammate, the white king completely abandoned the Q-side, unaware that the black b-pawn (on the night g-pawn) will be a lot faster than the slow and steady attack from the white majority on K-side. Nevertheless, on move 39 White still had the opportunity to launch his f- and g-pawns in an attempt to create the “passer” but a moment of hesitation with a king move granted Mike the opportunity to snatch the white b-pawn and ensure a clear shepherding corridor for the “golden sheep” on b5 (g4). Realising the gravity of the situation, the Latimer player graciously resigned.

Excellent comeback for Mike who in spite of playing under +5.0 or worse evaluation, endured the storm to emerge victorious and grant the “clean sheet” for the B-team.

The match ended 4-0 for Anstey 2 in front their rather delighted captain, the chairman himself. This win places our second team temporarily on the second position with the two teams around them with a game or two at hand. Nevertheless, another brilliant performance from the B-team, who in spite of the odds are still playing toe-to-toe with the big guns in the division. Anstey 2’s next fixture will be against Ashby 3 at home on the 6^th April. A well-deserved break for the busiest team so far who have only three games left to play.

Following a disappointing result in the reverse fixture, a determined El Presidente secured the win for his team

Last Thursday (16/02/2023) our second team travelled to Ashby for their away game against the hosts’ second team. A strong team on the night was elected by El Presidente Ben, who was joined by Brian The Griller, Boris The Toaster and the super-sub Just Mick. After a request from the home team to arrive slightly earlier in order to avoid disturbing the snooker players, The B-team was ready and set for their games at 19:25, waiting for the home team to take their places. The Ashby team was on paper (admittedly, based on September ratings) equal to our own Anstey 2, with average ratings of 1665 to 1660 in favour of the home team. The rating equality showcased itself over the board as well, with three games finishing with a draw on the night, but the valiant efforts of our chairman El Presidente secured our team the win on the night.

Brian The Griller Foreman (Anstey) vs Christopher Tipper (Ashby) 0.5 – 0.5

Our regular top board Brian The Griller was scheduled to play the solid Christopher Tipper who he drew in the reverse fixture. The home team captain played the Dutch against our teammate’s d4 which The Griller attacked with the Staunton gambit. Both players took their knights out to challenge the centre and Brian threw another pawn in the battle for the centre, exchanging it for Black’s e5-pawn. The pair of light-squared bishops left the board to hit the chess pieces’ pub and the players continued the battle for the centre. Brian’s knights put significant pressure on Black’s doubled isolated pawns on the e-file which his opponent tried to ease by opening the d-file and exchanging queens. After eleven moves of knight and pawn battle, the players found themselves in a completely drawn position (literally 0.0 engine evaluation based on Stockfish 15, depth = 20, powered by chess.com) when The Griller decided to castle kingside (K-side). Both players finally decided to start developing their armies with the Ashby player castling queenside (Q-side), and with the open central files and still plenty of pieces on the board along with opposite side castling, it looked like there will be fireworks on board one, albeit in a drawn position based on the engine evaluation. Surprisingly, Brian decided to offer his opponent a draw and being the captain of his team, the Ashby player went to check the other boards. With the second board players already agreed the draw and gone through the game analysis, he was not satisfied with the match situation and decided to think about it, only to eventually succumb to the pressure and accepting the half point.

Although it was a shame to stop the game at a dynamic point after only 15 moves have been played, brilliant strategy was showcased from The Griller which eventually paid off.

Paul Gibson (Ahsby) vs Borislav The Toaster Lazarov (Anstey) 0.5 – 0.5

Although Boris The Toaster found himself in the same team as Just Mick, the close rating between the two players granted the latter the opportunity to get the white pieces only for the third time this season. And in all fairness, there was fire on board 3 throughout their game which will be discussed below, but in a nutshell Boris was scheduled to play on his regular spot on board 2. The website maintenance guy was facing again Paul Gibson in a rematch from the reverse fixture. The Ashby player opened with the king’s pawn which was met by Boris with his regular Caro-Kann defence. White engaged in the Exchange variation and played an early Bf4 which was followed by normal development from both players, following book lines until move 9 when the Ashby player decided to retreat his dark-squared bishop to g3 following an exchange offer. Our teammate took the bait and doubled his opponent’s pawns on the g-file, and after a quick “engine move” a6 and White castling K-side, The Toaster played a rather dubious b5 instead of tucking his king to safety with 0-0 (K-side castling). White hurried to occupy e5 with his knight which led to the light-squared bishops shaking hands and leaving the board, followed by a pair of knights. Looking to quickly equalise (completely oblivious of the fact that he already had secured a slight advantage a few moves earlier before the dubious b5), Boris offered an exchange of queens. White instead attacked the black g-pawn, and with the open f-file and the threat against the f6-knight in cases of short castling or the rook protecting the pawn, The Toaster’s only good move was to move his king to f8, which surprisingly he found. Our teammate followed with another best move to kick the queen away, and then gave his opponent a 1.9 advantage with equal material with a weird-looking Ke7. Fortunately for Boris, his opponent never looked on the queenside to activate his knight and pawns, and instead shuffled his major pieces, trying to create double and triple batteries on both the e- and f-files. The Toaster brought his major pieces to the party and held the fort throughout a shuffling sequence of four moves for each player, with our teammate offering a draw (still at +1.9 evaluation) which was refused with the words “Too early”. On move 24, White finally decided to bring his knight to b3, aiming at rerouting it to c5, only to face an exchange offer with Nd7 from Black. The Ashby player decided to exchange the knights, losing a fair chunk of his advantage based on the engine evaluation. With White trying to challenge the black pawns on the open files, it took four moves until the evaluation was complete equality, and after a couple more moves, at evaluation of 0.0 the Ashby player said “I would take that draw if it is still on offer” and the players shook hands.

A solid draw for our teammate who managed to escape a defeat with some timely play.

Just Mick Sandham (Anstey) vs Lawrence Hayden (Ashby) 0.5 – 0.5

Super-sub Just Mick was scheduled to play the solid Lawrence Hayden whom Ben drew in the reverse fixture. Unlike the top boards, Mick and his opponent engaged in a sharp battle, which was so intense, the board 4 players spent considerable time spectating. Our teammate’s e4 was met by the Petrov’s defence, led down the Four Knights game road and taken onto the Scotch route by the Anstey player. Black snatched the d-pawn, probably expecting from Mick to take back with his c3-knight, but the Anstey Tiger threw in his surprise weapon – the Belgrade Gambit. Looking at the sharp position on the board, the Ashby player mumbled that he has no idea what to do in this position, to which Just Mick graciously replied that he is completely lost and both players had a short chuckle, joined by their neighbours on board 4. (The Toaster probably would have laughed too, but he was busy trying to survive his opponent’s attack) Black brought his knight to b4, challenging the strong white d5-equivalent in the hope that Mick will take it and give Black the opportunity to develop his dark-squared bishop. Our teammate took the black d4-pawn instead and after a series of exchanges, two knights left for the stables and Just Mick emerged a pawn down. Although the engine evaluation slightly favoured Black early in the opening, Mick played energetically and started pointing all sorts of pieces towards the opposing king, developing his dark-squared bishop and queen quickly, and castling Q-side with the idea to start his typical K-side attack. Black managed to “park the bus” and stay solid, deterring the white pieces from storming just yet. Just Mick slowed down just for a second, playing h3 instead of the recommended by the engine h4, giving again slight advantage for Black based on engine evaluation, after which the Ashby player managed to ease up the pressure slightly by exchanging the second pair of knights. This gave our teammate the opportunity to gain a tempo against Black’s light-squared bishop, followed by a queen swing to the Q-side, looking to infiltrate the back ranks of Black’s position. The Ashby player looked to activate his bishops which were aiming at the white king from their long diagonals and pushed f5, giving our teammate a slight advantage (still a pawn down), but Mick missed the opportunity to either bring his light-squared bishop to the party or open the position in front of the white king, and instead pushed his g-pawn, giving back the advantage to Black. Nevertheless, the energetic play from our teammate had his opponent on the back foot, and Black tried to exchange queens and ease up the tension. Unfortunately, in the crucial position Just Mick missed two interesting ideas – pushing a4 to control b5 (preferred by the engine) and continuing the K-side expansion with h4. Instead, Mick played his rook back to d1, X-raying the black queen, but easing the pressure exerted on the black light-squared bishop. This gave Black the opportunity to push his d-pawn and bring his queen to the party, eyeing now the fort in front of the white king with all his diagonal controlling pieces. Our teammate tried to shuffle his queen out of danger on an active square, threatening infiltration on the Q-side, but with a few pawn pushes the Ashby player cleared out the danger on the Q-side, gaining a crucial tempo in the process to pick up the white rook on h1. Just Mick finally developed his light-squared bishop on c4, hitting the black equivalent on e6, and the black queen on h1. There was only one good move for Black – Qb7 which would have given him a -7.7 advantage, but low on time the Ashby player did not find it and instead took the second white rook on d1, followed by a bishop exchange on c4, ending in a +1.3 position for our teammate. With both clocks running down, the players were moving quickly, and Mick missed the crucial pawn push b4, challenging the Q-side pawn structure to open lines for the powerful white queen, and instead gave his opponent a tempo to bring the black a8-rook into play. At the end, in a -0.8 position, two points of material down, and hearing that about 0.87 seconds earlier Ben had won, our teammate offered the draw. His opponent thought of taking is straight away with about 3 minutes left to play (quite tricky when you have a queen vs two rooks on the board), but the home team captain reminded him that this would mean a loss for Ashby. There was a short discussion between the two of them, and eventually the Ashby player took the draw.

Another spectacular game from Just Mick, who is looking very sharp over the board these days. And the author must admit, games like this and the following one are what brings him joy when doing the reports.

Les Fancourt (Ashby) vs El Presidente Ben Vaughan (Anstey) 0 – 1

The bottom board game was El Presidente Ben against Les Fancourt. Our chairman was looking to get a revenge for the loss in the reverse fixture and it is fair to say that he did just that in a splendid manner. Our captain met the 1.e4 from his opponent with his characteristic French (used to be, now he plays the Scandinavian). The players engaged in the Advanced variation, with our teammate challenging the centre immediately and bringing his b8-knight into the action. His opponent played the Paulsen attack with Nf3, and El Presidente replied with Bd7, leading the game into the Euwe variation, easily equalising, albeit with less space. The players continued their development with Bd3 and Qb6, and after White took on c5, giving Ben the opportunity to develop his dark-squared bishop with a tempo, the Ashby player castled K-side. Our captain on the night immediately put pressure on the lonely e5 pawn which had to be supported by a rook move. White looked to create counterplay by expanding on the Q-side, but El Presidente’s “engine move” a6 stopped the expansion before it went too far into Black’s territory. The players focused again on the central battle, with the white dark-squared bishop and black e7 knight joining the party, when Ben decided that his king needs to be moved somewhere safe and also castled K-side. Finding himself with almost a +1 advantage at the end of the opening/beginning of the middlegame, White developed his last minor piece with Na3 in an attempt to continue his expansion on the Q-side. Our teammate shuffled his pieces and created a battery on the c-file, while White continued to push his Q-side pawns, losing his advantage and gaining it again in a matter of a couple of moves. The white c-pawn kept marching down the board in an attempt to restrict the black dark-squared bishop, but our teammate created a nice battery on the b8-h2 diagonal, hitting the still lonely and weak white e5-pawn. Instead of going after full expansion with the engine recommendation h4, White decided to push his b-pawn and the battle on the Q-side started. El Presidente wisely decided to bring his e7-knight back to the queenside with a timely Nc6, blocking the white light-squared bishop and leaving his opponent with a close to terrible pawn structure, with weak e-pawn and isolated a- and c-pawns. Looking a little flustered by the great manoeuvring skills from the Anstey captain, the Ashby player blundered his a-pawn and gave our teammate a -1.4 advantage after the dark-squared bishop picked up the pawn with a tempo. on the e1-rook. Unfortunately, Ben lost a fair chunk of his advantage after he brought his bishop back, although he himself knew that Bb4 is the correct move (which was reflected on his scoresheet where he wrote “Bb4?”). The players shuffled rooks and queens in a four-move sequence where El Presidente had two opportunities to pick up the e5-pawn, but none were executed. Eventually, the pressure on the Q-side proved to be too great for the player with the white pieces, and he exchanged his light squared bishop for one of the black knights, giving our teammate a -1.4 advantage, with White being down a pawn, and having two big weaknesses on c5 and e5. Ben immediately attacked the c5-pawn and in an attempt to defend it, his opponent blundered the exchange by lining up his queen and rook on the d1-a4 diagonal, waiting for the black light-squared bishop to attack them, but our captain saw what he described as “ghosts from Qxb7” which otherwise led to a queen exchange, followed by Bxc2 Nxc2, leaving Black in a winning position at -4.6 evaluation. Instead, El Presidente attacked the a3-knight with a queen-led battery, which his opponent defended with Rc3, only to be hit by the top engine move d4, followed by Be4, restricting the d3-rook’s ability to defend the knight and X-raying the second white rook on b1. Seeing that the exchange is lost, White attacked the black queen with his knight, losing the c5-pawn, exchanging the knight for the black dark-squared bishop, and losing the exchange in a resulting position, evaluated at -7.0 by the engine with Black up four points of material. Naturally, our teammate immediately offered a queen exchange which was naturally declined, only to be seconded by a forced rook exchange on the weak back rank. The rooks were swapped off and Ben mercilessly started pushing his d-pawn towards d1, supported by his queen and rook. With the white minor pieces paralysed on f3 and g3 since move 13 (currently at move 36), the white queen tried its best to contain the pawn, but it was too little, too late. White shuffled his queen on the first rank, but eventually sacrificed the knight for the d-pawn, moving the minor piece for only the second time that evening. Finding himself with a bishop, a queen and four pawns against the overwhelming combination of a queen, a rook, a knight and five pawns (one of them a passed pawn), the Ashby player threw the towel.

Another excellent performance from our chairman, who is having a great season so far and deservedly occupies the second place in the Anstey performance rankings.

A happy team left the venue shortly after 10pm and headed to the team buses. After this result, Anstey 2 find themselves on third position in Division 3 of the Leicestershire Chess League. In their next fixture, the team will be playing against the leaders Loughborough 2 who are flying high with their youthful talented team, but after a narrow loss in the reverse fixture, the B-team will be looking to get another win under their belt.

Wednesday 1st February

Anstey’s 2nd team were involved in their first game for nearly a month as they made the long haul trip over to MH to face their 3rd team, El Presidente had selected a bit of a makeshift team, albeit a good team as making the trip over to MH was The Griller, Just Mick, El Presidente and The Prodigy. Boris the Toaster, Mike and Daddy Valdas were all unavailable for selection so Just Mick stepped in, along with Noor.

On arrival, we were let into the venue by Robert Mills – one of the nicest guys on the chess scene in the County who was only too happy to play doorman. We met up upstairs in the room, with MH3’s skipper Rene Butler (another sound guy) announcing that the MH team were understrength for the evening and that El Presidente would be facing him in the battle of the skippers. Indeed Anstey did heavily out grade MH on paper – we all know that the game isn’t played on paper.

Board 1

(B) Ron Cooper (1518) v The Griller

The Griller on board 1 was facing up against Ron Cooper who, according to Rene, has ties to Northamptonshire chess and was helping MH3 out on this occasion. Regretfully, I do not have any notation from the game – maybe I can add this at a later date. All that I did see was that towards the end of the game The Griller had 3 pawns advancing to the first rank, backed up by a Rook and well placed Bishop, defended only by a Rook and Knight which eventually led to Ron buckling and throwing in the towel.

Board 2

Conor Hackett (E1300) v Just Mick

Just Mick on board 2 was facing off against young Conor Hackett – a face that I have never seen before. Mick had the black pieces, which I am reliably informed he does not get black very often!? The game was incredibly sharp with Mick applying his favoured opening and young Conor really took Mick on, advancing his pawns to try and break up Mick’s structure. This led to Knight sac on f7, enforcing a fawn pork, gaining back the piece. Fireworks followed in the middle game with pieces being exchanged and Conor was lucky that an Ne4 move followed by Qd4+, hitting King and Knight, could be met with Nf2, blocking the check and not losing the piece.
What followed was a couple of inaccuracies from Just Mick, which allowed a crucial move Ng5, hitting Queen and Rook and thus led to material loss. What followed was a lost endgame for Just Mick and he resigned in a lost position.

Board 3

(B) Rene Butler (1294) v El Presidente

El Presidente and Rene faced off in the battle of the skippers on board 3. Many an online game had been played between the two, particularly in friendlies during lockdown and after. The game was a Sicilian Najdorf and El Presidente employed his favourite attack against it but slightly mixed up the move order. Rene played very well out of the opening and even picked up a crucial e-pawn. Rene had a choice between material and practical gain and went for material which post game hindsight might have been inaccurate. Rene looked to consolidate and later in the game played the inexplicable Ke7 (post game chat revealed that e7 was the wrong square – perhaps a mouse slip!), which allowed El Presidente the chance to attack the cramped position. Rene offered a draw after Qb6+ and after El Presidente had considered the other boards, was declined – for now. El Presidente centralised Rooks and spent around 15 minutes calculating Rxe5 when perhaps Bxf6 was cleaner and better – even more so after Rxe5 Kd7 was played.
Having spent so much time on Rxe5, El Presidente had no time to find the correct moves after and with Rene declaring that the ‘draw offer was still open’, this was taken with El Presidente down to 3 minutes on the clock.

Board 4

Robert Mills (1338) v The Prodigy

Again, your report author hasn’t seen much of the game but having had sight of the scoresheet, the game took a Queen’s Gambit declined, Marshall defence. Unfortunately, the Prodigy played a move order inaccuracy which lost The Prodigy a piece and a significant advantage for his opponent. There is a slight notation error mid-way through the game but at this point, Noor is +8 down – practically speaking it doesn’t look that bad, albeit black is a piece down. What I saw was The Prodigy was still losing but the Bishop and Rook of White were trying to contain the centralised connected passed pawns of The Prodigy – far from easy. The game concluded with the Bishop being given up for the two pawns and instead of advancing his own a+b pawns, Robert walked into a checkmate in one on the h file.

El Presidente told British Chess Magazine:

“Credit to MH, they fought very hard – epitomised by their captain – and it was a tough game. Very happy to come away with the match win for the team and the two points against a team in the top 3”.