Rumours that the skipper was seen running naked down the street in celebration after the team secured its first Thames Valley Division 1 match point are greatly exaggerated! I will confess to some relief after this match, though, after a tough start to our season.

Maidenhead deserve a lot of credit for making it tough for us even though we fielded, on paper, one of the strongest sides we have put out for a long time (our 8 board average ECF grade was 187).

It seemed like that, no sooner had the match started (I think I was considering my 6^th move), that the Board 1 encounter was over. Chris agreed a draw as Black against James, which he felt was best given his position was perhaps a little worse. It took them about 15 minutes in total and I noted to Maidenhead’s captain, Tony, who I was playing on Board 6, that I was glad we weren’t paying them appearance fees! Well done Chris.

Next to finish was Nick on Board 3 who also got a solid draw as Black against John out of one of Nick’s patented opening systems. Well played Nick.

At this stage it was very difficult to predict the outcome of the match. Mark was better on Board 2, Edgar looked about equal on Board 4, Stef was in trouble on Board 5, I was about equal on Board 6, Ian was worse on Board 7 and Angus was doing well on Board 8.

As time went by Angus continued to press and secured a decisive material advantage against Nigel and really rammed it home to secure a nicely played win on Board 8. Well played Angus.

Stef’s game was up and down. He recovered from a dodgy opening, where he had looked lost, to get a reasonable position. Stef then went for a tactic which he thought would win the exchange by sacking a knight in order to skewer Paul’s queen and rook. Unfortunately, although it appeared that Paul had missed the skewer, it turned out he had a “one mover” way of saving the queen that retained the extra piece, so Stef called it a day. Unlucky, Stef.

Then, out of the blue, the decisive result arrived on my score-sheet. Ian sidled over and wrote down 1-0 to him!!! The last time I had looked he had been an exchange down but evidently he had created a tactic involving forking a rook on c1 and a bishop on h5 with his queen on g5 that turned the tables. Great resourcefulness Ian, this shows the value of not giving up and staying alert.

By this time I had missed what was close to a winning line against Tony by choosing the wrong move order in a combination. Tony defended very well to stay in touch, and although I ended up in a marginally better endgame that I had control of, it looked drawn. Edgar’s game had turned into an extremely interesting but very difficult to assess queen ending. We could not count on Edgar winning. Hence I had to play on in my own marginally better queen ending, declining a couple of generous draw offers by Tony, in case Mark went down on Board 2 in what was an approaching a time scramble.

I confess, although Mark continued to look better, I was sweating a little as the clocks ticked down and the pieces buzzed about the board. I did not fancy the long trip to Maidenhead to try to win my ending! I need not have worried, though. Mark played well right until the end and kept pressing right until the point Liam’s flag fell. Well played Mark, cool under pressure.

At this point I offered a draw to Tony and the match was ours!

Edgar adjourned his queen ending. This was his first game for us and he said afterwards that he felt a bit rusty. Despite that he kept a firm grip on the position and kept making Stephen defend accurately. The adjourned position was given a pretty rigorous analysis by the Flacker/Bruzzi/Shepherd triumvirate and we collectively concluded that it ought to be drawn with best play. However we also noted that it was a difficult defence to conduct 100% accurately and so Edgar choose a line that gave Stephen the maximum chances of going wrong. At the resumption Stephen reeled off the best defence for about seven moves but then made an error that gave Edgar a very active king and a tempo while also placing his own queen in a rather passive position. Edgar won in short order after that. Well played Edgar!

Paul Shepherd 28 November 2010