Daventry A home to Leamington A
The following took place between 7.45pm and 10.45pm last Wednesday.....*
Having butchered Leamington at their place earlier in the season by a huge 3.5 - 0.5 margin, we were confident of being able to take the spoils again (perhaps not by such a big margin this time though).
I had just lost in a league match for Northampton Chessmates the previous night so was determined to put things right. Number One (Chris Ross) had notified me that he'd done some prep and both Andy and Kevin were also in bullish mood.
To make matters worse for Leamington, they got lost on the way to our new venue (their error, not ours!). So, the match was delayed for a few minutes whilst they re-routed.
Playing on board 3, I was up against Olaleye Oladejo who I had a suspicion was weak on openings having beaten him some time ago and having watched Andy beat him earlier in the season. Olaleye is a good player though, so I couldn't take anything for granted.
In the analysis afterwards, it was clear that black (my colour) was clearly winning had 11.... Bg4 been played. Indeed, Fritz had black at around 2.5 to 3 pawns ahead. You can imagine how badly I felt afterwards then..... take a look for yourselves.
Shortly after I had come out of the room, a disconsolate Kevin emerged. Yet another loss and his form is now something of a concern and he has to buck his ideas up. A loss to Ben Graff is nothing to be ashamed of - he is playing well at the moment.
Next out of the gladiator pit was my very own "Number 1" (I've not told him "number one "what" ", but Number One he is. He's nicknamed me Captain Slouch. So there's nothing wrong with team spirit but there was definintely something wrong with Chris as he managed to chalk up his first loss in the Leamington and District League. I had a feeling that him insisting I mentioned he was on 7 points might come back to haunt him. It has. He's still on 7 points.
Last out was Old Reliable. Andy is now showing a good run of form and eaked out a draw against Steve Burnell which was a good result as Steve is a strong player. The final position was very interesting but a draw was agreed as both players were short of time.
So, our first defeat in 7 matches and back down to earth with a bump I'm afraid. 3.5 - 0.5 loss meant Leamington really did turn the tables on us. Congrats to them of course but it's taken me a while to get this blog together - partly due to other commitments but I fear mostly due to the hurt.....
We'll be back!
