Avengers 1: Robust Defence Earns Narrow Victory Over Alba
In R9, Avengers broke a run of 2 consecutive to losses to eek out a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory against Alba.
| Alba | 2194 | Anglian Avengers 1 | 2260 | |||||
| 111 | w | Tate, Alan | f | 2342 | ½ – ½ | Walker, Martin G | f | 2275 e |
| 112 | b | Sreeves, Clement | f | 2352 | ½ – ½ | Kanellopoulos, Panayotis | 2265 | |
| 113 | w | MacQueen, Calum | 2206 | ½ – ½ | Lewis, Andrew P | f | 2243 | |
| 114 | b | Roy, Ali | 1878 | 0 – 1 | Plueg, Andreas | f | 2260 e | |
| 1½ – 2½ | ||||||||
FM Alan Tate seemed to have Martin’s Grunfeld Defence in considerably difficulties. However, Martin defended actively, and Alan did not make the most of his attacking chances. After queens were exchange on move 23, Martin held the endgame comfortably.
Panagiotis adventurously grabbed FM Clement Sreeves b-pawn on move 7. Clement looked light on compensation, but Panagiotis couldn’t find a way to make his extra pawn count in a lengthy opposite bishop endgame.
Andy’s internet connection put him under pressure when it crashed at that start of his game. And soon Calum McQueen had his King’s Indian under even greater pressure, with Andy’s king-side play looking not nearly enough to compensation for White’s queen-side initiative. However, a bad position does not equal a lost position; and after lengthy efforts to win, Calum reluctantly acceded to a draw on move 63.
Andreas created a number of weakness in Ali Roy’s QGD Tarrasch Defense. Andreas had no trouble picking up material and his opponent threw in the towel on move 35: three pawns down in the endgame.
We are still 3rd place in
Division 1 / Group B, and 2 points adrift of 2nd place Wood Green
Monarchs. However, we are not yet out of contention for a place in the Championship play-offs.
We may win our R10 match (against Kings Head) and Wood
Green Monarchs (who are playing the competitive Warwick University) may lose. If this happens, we will be awarded the second Championship qualifying
place from our group on tie-break – since we beat Wood Green in our R2 match.
Game on!
See: 4NCL Online: Division 1 Tables