After my last match away at Clevedon, I was hoping for an easier journey to Keynsham. Our train was 10 minutes late and Alex Vaughan was stuck in traffic but despite that, things actually went quite well. We were missing a few A team regulars but thank you to Aaron Kelly and Andrew Porter (which I only learnt was More Salt’s real name when I was filling in the match sheet) for stepping in at late notice.
With a few missing players a hiccup was potentially on the cards, so I was relieved for the University to get to 3-0 surprisingly quickly. Dan Varney’s opponent lost material early but had ways to play on an exchange down rather than resigning. Alex’s opponent did something similar blundering a full piece, so resignation was justified. A classical Dutch against the English was looking scary for White with the f and g pawns rolling at their king. Removing one of these pawns looked tempting but there was a sting in the tail.
My own game was the next to finish when my opponent understandably resigned in a bad position despite equal material. I’ve put some comments on the game below. I was a little worried when Daniel Savidge’s opponent also flicked out a Cheeky Scandy so their top boards may know how best to play against the opening. Just had to make sure the two games diverged rather than playing Daniel indirectly. After some struggles Daniel escaped with a draw and I’ve been told just to leave it at that…
Our two stand-ins performed amazingly taking two wins. More Salt played a nice exchange sacrifice for long-term pressure. His opponent crumbled at one point looking to give the exchange back to ease the pressure, but it didn’t work out and More Salt had the compensation and the material. Aaron won a long game despite being an exchange and a pawn up in a blocked-up position. I feel bad for thinking that Aaron was a piece down after failing to count the number of rooks on the board on multiple occasions. Under everyone’s eyes, Aaron gave back the exchange and won the rook endgame, a composed finish with everyone watching.
Another excellent result for our push back to Division 1 and thank you to our opposition, especially for the lift back to the train station. Sadly, our train was cancelled, which continues my running form with transportation. One bus later, we were back celebrating with the B team in the White Harte so a good finish to the night.
Next game is away at Bath B on 20th November. Please play. Not every match can be a travel disaster.
Keynsham A 0.5-5.5 University A
George Miller 0.5-0.5 Daniel Savidge
John Kilmister 0-1 Ian Gallagher
David Jarrett 0-1 Dan Varney
Duncan MacArthur 0-1 Alex Vaughan
Lawrence Wilmshurst 0-1 Aaron Kelly
Tim Rowlands 0-1 Andrew Porter