Denton B 1.5 - 4.5 ECB

Denton were playing 3 matches last night which meant we were up against a weakened team which enabled us to record our second successive win (a rarity!).  As usual, it wasn't entirely straightforward.......

Bill was first to finish in a fairly quick game.  He was up against a Scandinavian and handled it well winning material and then jogged home.  Keven was coasting in his game too and was the exchange up.  Unfortunately (and we've all done it) he was busy thinking about his next move and neglected the fact that his Queen was en prise. 

Tudor was firing out the moves with his Alekhine and promoted a passed pawn to settle things.  David T was having a little trouble and was a pawn down before he managed to find a way of convincing his opponent that it was perpetual check.  Meanwhile Dave N, now obviously cured of his previous time issues, actually did the unthinkable - he won on time!  He put his opponent in trouble with a variety of threats for a nice win.

In the B team, we normally have an "incident" and last night it was in my game.  My opponent had clearly decided to park the bus and by about move 15, although he had castled, all his other pieces had returned to their original starting squares!  My pieces were all active so I thought a sacrifice was in order to blow away his Kingside.  I went for a combination but it self destructed.  At the end of it I was the exchange up but had only 3 pieces to his five.  Luckily he was struggling to coordinate his pieces and I managed to block his Queen totally out the game in a corner.  I started clawing back material and was almost level heading into a time scramble.....

On the old fashioned clocks I had about 6 minutes to his 4, when he made a move - and forgot to hit his clock!  I milked it a bit with much head scratching and chin stroking, making out that I was pondering over a move of huge complexity.  This charade lasted for about 3 and a half minutes until he looked at the clock closely and - in horror - realised I had been stealing his time.  We played out a few more moves before I sheepishly pointed out that his flag had fallen.  A very scruffy "win" for me and I really felt for him, particularly as the same thing has happened to me in the past and I know how bad it feels.

So all in all a good result which puts us in a very healthy mid table position.

Tudor's (more entertaining!) verdict is below the game results.

0 - 1  Stan Bradley (123) v Dave N
1/2    Phil Boyd (113) v David T
1 - 0  Ivan Urwin (111) v Kev
0 - 1  Eric Lesnik (102) v Tudor
0 - 1  Malcolm Furlong (92) v Bill
0 - 1  Stewart McIlvenna (79 v Paul
1.5 - 4.5

As per Tudor:

Denton and the time lords 

A great performance from EC B team. I relinquish the dubious title of East  Cheshire's  Houdini to captain Paul Bamber Bamford or Dave Dave Newell.  

The Bamber toyed with his unsuspecting prey giving up two pieces in anticipation of a Zugswang thirty moves later.  The plan was working to perfection.  The wildebeest was losing the will to escape its languid predator.  Then a shift of plan, and a dazzling set of 'if he does that I do that' and the wildebeest had collected a motley array of forces in exchange for a queen.  But the effort had brought the poor creature to a terminal state with  insufficient energy to reach a paw out to stop his ticker from expiring.  The ruthless Bamford watched as seconds ticked on to the last syllables of recorded time.

Dave Dave, himself prone to time yips, was also in regal form.  This time,  his opponent did remember to press his clock at the conclusion of every move, but it was insufficient.  Deadly Dave posed incalculable threats until the Denton top board sat helpless unable to decide whether to move, throw himself to the ground Eden Hazard fashion, or take an early bath.

Meanwhile Doc Tait had carried out a neat bit of keyhole surgery and went off to support the junior doctors. 

The Governor, Dave the Power Taylor,  grabbed a perpetual check that wasn't. The Denton second board had a blind spot  about  tucking his king away to safety.

To my left, old sea dog  Captain Birdseye Kev was involved in a skirmish which seemed very promising until he overlooked a sneak attack which shivered his timbers and pirated away his queen. 'I never saw it coming' said Kev ruefully. 

Which leaves me, black, playing the Alekhine. White can completely neutralize quickly  by giving up all chances of winning. Black can spend a happy three hours in a dead parrot situation seeing if something might turn up.  My main danger was falling asleep. About sixty moves later I had a solitary pawn that gradually advanced and was transformed into a full grown queen.

So it was. A victory at last.  As Doc Tait put it, no one beats East Cheshire B nineteen times in succession.