Our seventh match of the season was a home match against Bath B on 12th December. Because this match was during the examination week, we were very strained for players. Only 3 B Team players were free, so I had to get 3 B Team subs: James and Tommy from the A Team and Alex from the C Team, all of whom ended up having Black. It is lucky that our home matches are all on Thursdays because only Friday examinations were an issue so all 6 players in this match had finished their exams by the time of the match and crucially had not decided to flee Bristol the moment they emerged from their final examination. I’ll cover the games in the approximate order that they finished.
Board 3
James had Black on Board 3 and his game started with the Bishop’s Gambit (3. Bc4) in the King’s Gambit, where White voluntarily ends up playing 4. Kf1. Since this gambit is a bit dubious, James acquired somewhat of an advantage in the opening.
However, in the above position, James played 9… Be7, losing the f4 pawn to 10. Bxf4 and all of his advantage along with it. White quickly built up a large centre and James’ pieces were forced into relative passivity.
With the king now perfectly safe on f2, White launched a queenside pawn storm towards James’ king with 16. b4. After 16… h5 17. b5, James attacked the bishop with 17… Na5, forcing it to retreat, but White set a trap with 18. Bf1.
Despite the fact that the pawn on b5 is insufficiently defended, it is tactically defended, although James missed White’s threat here and played 18… axb5. This loses a piece to 19. Bh3, pinning the queen to the king, because the only way to save the queen is with 19… Ng4+, which simply loses the knight. James saved the queen with 20. Kb8, but 20… fxg4 left him down a piece nonetheless. He tried to generate counterplay in the centre but White’s queenside attack crashed through, compelling him to resign.
Board 6
Ismail had White on Board 6 and his game started with the Fantasy Variation (3. f3) of the Caro-Kann. Black opted for a rare system with 3… Qb6 and shockingly gave Ismail a completely winning position in the opening after 7… c5.
This is a strange move because 7… Bc5 seems so natural and White has to play very accurately to survive there, whereas 7… c5 tremendously weakens the light squares in the centre. This can be exploited immediately with the extremely strong move 8. Nd5, attacking the queen and threatening a fork on c7 if the queen stops covering the square. Since 8… Qa5+ walks into 9. Bd2 and 8… Qd6 walks into 9. Nb5, the only try for Black is 8… Qd8. However, 9. Nb5 keeps the threat of the fork alive and 9… Na6 does little to stop it because White can apply even more pressure with 10. Bf4, which makes the fork completely unstoppable. Instead of 9… Na6, the only other try is 9… Qh4+, but after 10. g3 Qxe4+, White cleanly wins with 11. Qe2, since the fork is still unstoppable and 11… Qxd5 and 11… Qxh1 are both illegal because the queen is pinned to the king. However, none of that happened because Ismail missed the win and played 8. Nf3. Despite this, Ismail was still a lot better if he developed actively, but this advantage was short-lived because he responded to 8… Be6 with the inaccurate 9. Bd3.
The problem with this move is that it allows Black the option of playing 9… c4 with tempo and also re-opens up the queen’s diagonal, preventing both Be3 and 0-0 for the time being. The best move is 9. Bb5+, picking a different square for the bishop, because this allows White to castle immediately because this developing move comes with tempo and castling is possible immediately. After 9… c4, White’s position ends up cramped quickly because 10. Be2 prevents Qe2, which would prepare Be3 to in turn prepare 0-0, so 10. Bf1 would have to be seriously considered. However, Black instead played the funny-looking move 10… Ne7, and this worked out perfectly for Black because Ismail blundered the bishop on d3 immediately with 11. 0-0.
The discovered attack 11… c4+ wins the bishop because 12. Be3 is not a thing, so this was an unfortunate error. Ismail missed that this was a check initially so he played the illegal 12. Be2. After the illegal move was resolved, Ismail played 11. Kh1, and the bishop-winning 11… cxd3 followed soon after. Black smoothly converted the extra piece so Ismail eventually resigned.
Board 4
Jake had White on Board 4 and his game started with the Steinitz Attack (3. d4) in the Petrov. The queens were traded on only move 7 but the position quickly became interesting nonetheless, since Jake threatened to fork Black’s king and rook with 8. Ng5 and Black accurately responded by counter-threatening to fork Jake’s king and rook with 8… Nd4.
Black could have protected the f7 pawn with 8… Nxe5 because neither 9. f4 nor 9. Bf4 successfully displace the knight from defending against Nxf7+, but this counterattack is much more interesting and objectively better. It is worth noting that 8… Nb4 wouldn’t have been as strong because White then has 9. Na3 and the bishop on f8 cannot take that knight because Black’s knight is in the way, so 8… Nd4 deprives White of the defence 9. Na3. The forcing line 9. Nxf7+ Ke8 10. Nxh8 Nxc2+ 11. Kd1 Nxa1 leaves Black a bit better because Black has the bishop pair and 11… Bg4+ is a huge threat, which White must avoid by developing the bishop, vacating c1 for the king. Therefore, it is easy for White to go wrong there, so Jake instead played the awkward-looking move 9. Kd2 to prevent Black’s fork and Black then likewise prevented Jake’s fork with 9… Ke8. This left the e4 pawn hanging, so Jake captured it with the in fact inaccurate 10. Nxe4.
Instead, Jake should have played 10. c3, kicking the knight back and making sure Nxc2 will never be a threat. After 10… Nc6, while White doesn’t just win a pawn because 11. Nxe4 is met with 11… Nxe5, White at least gets a less dangerous position with 12. Re1. However, taking the hanging pawn certainly makes sense, although this gave Black the initiative with 10… Bf5, reestablishing the threat of Nxc2 if the knight ever moves out of the way. With White’s king in the centre, this position is extremely dangerous for White, since 11. c3, which aims to eliminate the threat of the fork tactically, doesn’t really work because of 11… Rd8. This wins back the pawn after 12. cxd4 Rxd4+ and leaves White unable to defend the e5 pawn either, so Jake had nothing better than to just try to hold his position together with 11. Nbc3. Black then continued the attack with 11… Rd8, threatening a devastating discovery.
With the king unable to leave the d-file without allowing 12… Nxc2, the only way for White to stay in the game here is with 12. Rb1, depriving Black of any winning discovered checks because the rook is on a light square and the knight on d4 is on a dark square. Black can win back the e5 pawn but this would give White valuable consolidation time. In the game, Jake played 12. Kd1, which loses to 12… Nb3+, winning the rook. White has 13. Nd6+ as a last try but 13… Rxd6+ 14. exd6 Nxa1 15. dxc7 Kd7 leaves White unable to prevent the knight on a1 from escaping via c2 so this should still be easily winning for Black. Jake played 13. Bd2 so Black went up a rook for only a pawn with 13… Nxa1 and proceeded to smoothly convert so Jake resigned once a rook trade was forced.
Board 1
Tommy had Black on Board 1 and his game started with the Rossolimo in the Sicilian. Early in the game, Tommy’s moves became much easier than his opponent’s, so he soon acquired a space advantage and a slightly better position. Eventually, he was also able to win a pawn by overloading White’s rook, so the position was winning for him but difficult to play accurately because it was so complicated.
Here, in order to maintain his decisive advantage, Tommy had to play 23… Bxg2 because 24. Nxg2 loses to the royal fork 24… Nh3+ so White has to play 24. Qxf4, and 24… Bxf1 25. Nxf1 leaves Black up 2 pawns and a rook for a bishop and a knight. Therefore, Tommy understandably dismissed this despite it being winning objectively and played 23… Bh6, which allowed White to suddenly gain the initiative with 24. N3g4. The only way for Tommy to stay in the game objectively was with 25… Ne2+ because 26. Qxe2 Bxc1 forces the queen off the f-file, which is important because now 26. Nxf7 can be met with 26… Qxf7, so the best White has is 27. Nf6+. In the game, Tommy blundered with 24… Nh3+, which had a similar idea behind it to win the bishop on c1 with 25. gxh3 Bxc1 but the queen remains on the f-file in this line and this gives White a completely winning position after 26. Nxf7 Qe7.
The winning move is 27. Nfh6+ because if Black doesn’t take the knight and plays 27… Kg7, White mates with 28. Qf7+ Qxf7 29. Rxf7+ Kh8 30. Rf8+ Kg7 31. Rg8#, so Black has to take the knight with 27… Bxh6 but White simply wins an exchange with 28. Rxa1. Since Tommy’s opponent was very low on time here, the winning move was missed and 27. Ngh6+ was played instead, which gave Tommy an objectively winning position again since his king was surprisingly safe with accurate play after 27… Kg7. The winning move is 28… Nd5 with the idea to reroute the knight to f4, blocking the defenders of the knight on f7 and threatening Nxh3 ideas. However, this looks a bit slow so Tommy played the logical 28… Bxb2, threatening 29… Rxf1+ to win the knight on f7, but this position is objectively equal after 29. Rxa1 Bxa1.
To stay in the game, with barely any time left, Tommy’s opponent had to find the knight sacrifice 30. Nd6, which works because 30… Qxd6 simply gets mated with 31. Qf6+ Kg8 32. Nh6#. Assuming Tommy wouldn’t have hung mate here, he would have still had great chances to win if 30. Nd6 was played due to his significant time advantage, but White played 30. Nge5 instead. White’s attack and material quickly started to run out and fittingly White’s time also ran out in the process. With this win, Tommy crossed 1800 ECF classical Elo and finished the term with a perfect 4/4 score as a sub on Board 1 of the B Team, which, needless to say, is rather impressive.
Board 5
Alex had Black on Board 5 a week after winning a C Team game amusingly quickly, and his game started with the English, which transposed into the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. The game remained balanced until Alex hung a pawn with 19… a5.
Due to White’s battery on the c-file, 20. Nxd5 wins the d-pawn because the queen on c7 is insufficiently defended. While losing this pawn was quite a setback, Alex generated counterplay by infiltrating on the 2nd rank and this pressure eventually became sufficient compensation for the pawn after 34… Qxf2.
In the above position, the only move that doesn’t lose for White is 35. Rc1 with the idea to respond to 35… Nf4, threatening 36… Qxg2#, with 36. Qc2 and then to respond to 36… Ne2, threatening 37… Qg1#, with 37. Qc5. In the game, White played 35. Qd1, which has a similar idea but it doesn’t quite work. Now if 35… Nf4 is played, White can prevent 36… Qxg2# with 36. Qd2 and after 36… Ne2, White can prevent 37… Qg1# with 37. Qe3, but there’s a subtle difference when White defends this way. Black then has the winning move 37… Ng3+ because White’s knight cannot take without hanging the queen and 38. Kh2 is met with 38… Nxf1+, which crucially is a check so Black’s queen isn’t hanging and this just wins a rook. Understandably, Alex didn’t see all of this and played 35… Qa2 instead. After rerouting his queen back to the kingside, Alex performed a rook lift to continue his attack, but he in fact ended up with a losing position once be completed the rook lift with 41… Rg6.
The winning move for White is 42. Nf5, which forces 42… Qg5 because the queen needs to defend the knight and of course 42… Rxf2+ doesn’t work at all. White then has 43. g3, which forces a queen trade because the knight has to move, and since White is up a pawn and suddenly more active, White should win. However, White instead played the losing 42. Nf1, which allows 42… Rxf2+. After 43. Qxf2 Nxf2 44. Kxg2, Alex emerged with a queen for a rook and a knight, which should be winning, and Alex indeed successfully converted his decisive advantage into a win.
Board 2
I had White on Board 2 and my game started with yet another Alapin Sicilian. I had the more pleasant position out of the opening but my pieces eventually became so well-placed that I ran out of ideas. As I hesitated to commit to a concrete plan, my opponent seized the initiative with 19… f5, threatening to trap my bishop. I defended with 20. h3 Rxc1 21. Rxc1 Qg5 22. Rc2, but after 22… f4, I had a decision to make.
The only move that maintains equality is 23. Bh2, but 23… Bxe5 24. dxe5 Qxe5 just wins the e5 pawn, so I played 23. h4, believing that it was better to lose a rook’s pawn than a centre pawn. Either way, I went down a pawn after 23… Qe7 24. Bh2 Bxe5 25. dxe5 Qxh4 so I figured I didn’t have much hope to survive. After trading queens and rooks, however, I had the bishop pair against a bishop, a knight, and an extra pawn, but I found a way to win the pawn back if I surrendered the bishop pair and entered a far-from-simple opposite-coloured bishop endgame. I went for this but Black’s king got active and it proved to be difficult to monitor the passed d- and h-pawns, so my position quickly became objectively losing.
However, in mutual time pressure, my opponent played 45… d3 here, which objectively blunders a draw, but after 46. Ke3 Kg4 47. Be1 h4, I still thought I was dead lost because the h-pawn is just running and I have to monitor the d-pawn simultaneously.
While the position is still very bad for White, drawing chances remain after 48. Bb4. If Black rushes with 48… h3, it is unclear how Black makes progress after 49. Bd6, and if Black tries to escort the pawn with 48… Kg3, the position after 49. Be1+ Kg4 is just the position after 47… h4 so this is a repetition. Therefore, Black has to step in front of the h-pawn to make progress. After 49… Kh3, White has ideas of boxing in the king on the h-file using the king and the bishop, so there are still drawing chances here but even the engine isn’t convinced. I didn’t find this idea in the little time that I had so I just played 48. Bxh4 and promptly resigned.
Summary
While we lost the match 2-4, we were outrated so that is a fair result, especially considering that everyone was objectively dead lost at some point in their games. Now that the first half of the season is over, we are 6th on 4 points, ahead of Yate on 3 points and Clevedon on 1 point, so it seems likely that we will get 6th at the end of the season, but we should not take it for granted. We have scored 17/42 overall, which means we have lost 8 more games than we’ve won, and Yate and Clevedon have scored 15/42 and 14/42 respectively so we are presently favourites on tiebreaks too. Thank you to all of the players who have played for the B Team this term. It will be interesting to see what happens in the second half of the season. Our first match next term is an away match also against Bath B on 22nd January, so the next match report will be posted soon after that.