Stockport B 4 ECB 2

This was a tough match on Tuesday against a strong Stockport side but we battled really hard on every board and fully deserved to get something out of this match but it was not to be.

Mike Taylor (171) 1 - 0 Tudor

As Tudor says:  "Try plan B.  No wild attacks.  Go for Q side bind and grind (QGD).  Opponent goes for wild king side attack and after much fog of war wins.  Think one weakening move h3 was the difference between his attack winning or Q side and centre plan OK.

Mike Tunstall (159) 0 - 1 Keven

Keven had a quick win here (19 moves).  His Pirc equalised easily and had useful Q side pressure and then played a tempting trap which his opponent fell into and lost immediately.

Andy Coe (155) 1 - 0 David

David:  "I played my usual Reti and the opening was fairly even. I thought I had a slight advantage (Fritz agrees, giving me one pawn equiv after 22 moves) and pressed forward with my Q side pawns.  Unfortunately he found good defensive moves and eventually I lost a central pawn.  His pieces were better co-ordinated at this stage and his Q infiltrated to pose all manner of threats. With my time running out I finally blundered catastrophically!"

 

Mike Crowther (154) 1 - 0 Alan

 

Alan gave his opponent a real match here but eventually got edged out, slightly down on material in an unbalanced game. 

Jeff Mason (150) 1 - 0 Bill

Bill: "playing as white after my e4, black played a sort of Philidor defence, followed by an early f5??

This allowed me Bxg8 and Qh5! and I thought I had won the game winning a P and R. As it turned out his R could escape so after the check I realised it would take 3 moves to get my Q back from sitting on h8. His K side would be destroyed however the centre could be his.

Nimzowitz would have been proud - I captured nothing and moved back to the centre where I was able to pin his K and win his KP. I ended up a P ahead, furthermore it was a passed P on e5, with a B on f6 to protect it. I had the initiative but the scent of victory can be a curse. I mistakenly opted for a lenghty exchange of my mobile pieces and then found my remaining N on c3 with no useful square to move to. Furthermore this N impeded my Ps and Rs - disaster.

Hubris; I lost my gains and was unable to exchange Rs. His doubled Rs broke in and he deservedly won.- Surely this never happened to Nimzowitz....so close. I didn't make a mistake with any single move; it was my strategy for forcing up my passed P which was wrong."

 

David Pardoe (142) 0 - 1 Paul

 
I played the Benko and after a tough struggle managed to create some pressure on the b file to win material.