It promised to be an epic night and not a one of us disappointed in that. Mine was the first game to finish. I got an early advantage with a two pawn lead, but it meant my Queen was chased around with Brian gaining development with each move. He played smartly and I missed the way to win, making two inaccurate moves that allowed him back in and I had to settle for a draw. I could have dropped the exchange to keep the game alive but didn't fancy it. I could perhaps have won on time, given he only had half an hour left. I played quickly, finishing in around 20 minutes, hence missing the winning move. I need to learn to slow down. But perhaps it isn't that, I do use my opponents time to figure out variations, so really I used just as much time as my opponent. Here's the game:
Excellent
24
25
Good
2
1
Inaccuracy (?!)
1
2
Mistake (?)
1
0
Blunder (??)
0
0
Forced
0
0
Best Move
73.9%
87.0%
CAPS
98.63
99.38
Avg. Diff
0.10
0.09
Agh! What a bloody idiot. I knew where I needed to get to, I just didn't see the quick way to get there. I really should have won that, but all credit to Brian, he played brilliantly to stay in. Many would crumble in his position and I played super strong. At least for the first 20 moves.
Pete finished next with another draw in an opposite coloured bishop endgame with doubled pawns and one man down. However, to my eye, which is not so good, it still looks like a draw to me. All of Pete's pawns are on the correct squares and his king is active. Try it out. Click the icon with the magnifying glass and go into Stockfish analysis mode. You'll see that the computer shows Mr Short as winning, but engines tend to count material. I've seen plenty of drawn positions shown as winning by an engine just because of an extra pawn. Here's his game:
Finlay finished next with another draw after facing a very solid slav-like set up. Finlay should be disappointed with his performance. He didn't play as strong as he usually does. Making two mistakes that certainly cost him the win. e3 was simply terrible. There's no point in sacrificing the c pawn if you're not going to play e4 in response. It seemed to me that Finlay wasn't up for it last night and instead played for a draw He had no need to be afraid as he was the better player on the night - if we take the stats in mind. Here's his game:
Excellent
21
15
Good
7
12
Inaccuracy (?!)
1
3
Mistake (?)
2
0
Blunder (??)
0
0
Forced
0
0
Best Move
55.6%
37.0%
CAPS
91.46
60.08
Avg. Diff
0.19
0.23
It was looking as though this drawing trend was going to continue but then John Southcote popped up with a win. No sheet to hand, but if you want to send me the moves I'll put the game up. Not sure how the game went, but I was pleased to have a win. Surely John Davis would win too.
However, the worst thing happened. John D actually lost! His first loss of the season. I didn't see the game, but I know he was mated, although he resigned a move before the inevitable.
So it was all on Windsor. If Windsor lost, so did the whole team. We made the decision not to tell him as he was in a winning position and we didn't want to affect his concentration. According to Finlay, he missed a forced mate in 2, but I suppose he had so many ways to win he was spoilt for choice. He settled instead for winning his opponent's queen and more slowly crushing his will to play on. Eventually he gave in and resigned. We had done it, division 5 champions!
Looking forward to division 4 next season. If we keep the same team, there isn't any reason we can't win that too.
It promised to be an epic night and not a one of us disappointed in that. Mine was the first game to finish. I got an early advantage with a two pawn lead, but it meant my Queen was chased around with Brian gaining development with each move. He played smartly and I missed the way to win, making two inaccurate moves that allowed him back in and I had to settle for a draw. I could have dropped the exchange to keep the game alive but didn't fancy it. I could perhaps have won on time, given he only had half an hour left. I played quickly, finishing in around 20 minutes, hence missing the winning move. I need to learn to slow down. But perhaps it isn't that, I do use my opponents time to figure out variations, so really I used just as much time as my opponent. Here's the game:
Agh! What a bloody idiot. I knew where I needed to get to, I just didn't see the quick way to get there. I really should have won that, but all credit to Brian, he played brilliantly to stay in. Many would crumble in his position and I played super strong. At least for the first 20 moves.
Pete finished next with another draw in an opposite coloured bishop endgame with doubled pawns and one man down. However, to my eye, which is not so good, it still looks like a draw to me. All of Pete's pawns are on the correct squares and his king is active. Try it out. Click the icon with the magnifying glass and go into Stockfish analysis mode. You'll see that the computer shows Mr Short as winning, but engines tend to count material. I've seen plenty of drawn positions shown as winning by an engine just because of an extra pawn. Here's his game:
Finlay finished next with another draw after facing a very solid slav-like set up. Finlay should be disappointed with his performance. He didn't play as strong as he usually does. Making two mistakes that certainly cost him the win. e3 was simply terrible. There's no point in sacrificing the c pawn if you're not going to play e4 in response. It seemed to me that Finlay wasn't up for it last night and instead played for a draw He had no need to be afraid as he was the better player on the night - if we take the stats in mind. Here's his game:
It was looking as though this drawing trend was going to continue but then John Southcote popped up with a win. No sheet to hand, but if you want to send me the moves I'll put the game up. Not sure how the game went, but I was pleased to have a win. Surely John Davis would win too.
However, the worst thing happened. John D actually lost! His first loss of the season. I didn't see the game, but I know he was mated, although he resigned a move before the inevitable.
So it was all on Windsor. If Windsor lost, so did the whole team. We made the decision not to tell him as he was in a winning position and we didn't want to affect his concentration. According to Finlay, he missed a forced mate in 2, but I suppose he had so many ways to win he was spoilt for choice. He settled instead for winning his opponent's queen and more slowly crushing his will to play on. Eventually he gave in and resigned. We had done it, division 5 champions!
Looking forward to division 4 next season. If we keep the same team, there isn't any reason we can't win that too.