Avengers 1: Championship Play-Off Qualification
In R10, the concluding round of the group phase, Avengers 1 scored a comfortable 3-1 victory over an uninspired King’s Head.
| Anglian Avengers 1 | 2236 | King’s Head | 2128 | |||||
| 111 | w | Plueg, Andreas | f | 2260 e | ½ – ½ | McMichael, Richard J | c | 2252 e |
| 112 | b | Kanellopoulos, Panayotis | 2265 | ½ – ½ | Ward, Julian T | 2169 | ||
| 113 | w | Talsma, Paul | 2177 e | 1 – 0 | Mackenzie, Colin | 2050 e | ||
| 114 | b | Lewis, Andrew P | f | 2243 | 1 – 0 | O’Shaughnessy, Conor | 2042 e | |
| 3 – 1 | ||||||||
Richard McMichael went for a solid Classical Dutch formation against Andreas’s equally solid London System. Both players seemed content with a draw, which was achieved on move 34 after 3-fold repetition.
There are a number of ways to play an Exchange Variation against the King’s Indian. However, the one that Julian Ward choose was scarcely likely to trouble Panagiotis, with a second draw by repetition reached on move 19.
Against a Nimzo-Indian Saemisch, Colin Mackenzie was comfortable consuming several tempi to remove Paul’s c-pawn. But, he was decidedly less comfortable in dealing with Paul’s ensuing king-side initiative, his position dissolving by move 22. An astounding nine out of nine wins to “The Panzer”!
Conor O’Shaugnessy appeared to get some chances against Andy’s IQP, but was in full retreat by move 23. A nice rook sacrifice on move 27 demolished Conor’s king-side, and King’s Head’s remaining hopes in the match.
This was a critical encounter for both sides. The Avengers win made sure of their qualifying place in the 1st Division Championship play-offs. Contrastingly, King’s Head’s loss confirmed their bottom spot in Group D and earns them relegation to the 2nd Division.
Uninspired in the sense that all the Kings Head players have played well below their OTB standard. Interested to learn of any hints or tips on how to play closer to normal playing strength. Hopefully our relegation will be reviewed (but in all honesty not a major problem) Best wishes Andrew G