Our away day blues continued with a defeat at Maidenhead. This makes our Division 1 away record: Played 4, Lost 4. Unlike previous away matches we were almost at full strength but the critical moments in all of the games on the top three boards did not go our way and that was ultimately the difference.

On Board 1 Mark played well in the opening and went deep into the middle game with a serious advantage. His rooks on the a and b files bore down on the almost naked Black king which only had a bishop on b7 to hide behind. However Neil also had some play against Mark’s king due to an open h-file. The game went to a quick play finish and Mark spent a great deal of his remaining 15 minutes trying to find a winning continuation. A massive time scramble ensued, in which Mark declined a draw by repetition. Sadly his flag fell before he could work out how to win in what was still a superior position. Bad luck, Mark.

Board 2 saw Nick indulge in one of his unconventional openings. The middle game got really complex with Nick grabbing quite a bit of material but with James having serious compensation in the form of Nick’s king being stuck in the middle and subject to attack. Nick mentioned that he found many improvements to his play in the post mortem but, unfortunately, he got mated at the board. Unlucky, Nick.

Edgar played an enterprising pawn sacrifice on Board 3 against John and seemed to be getting the upper hand in the middle game. Unfortunately he played an inaccurate move that allowed John to activate his knight and get play down both the e and b files against Edgar’s king. John played the remaining part of the game very well and broke through with his queen and two rooks leaving Edgar facing serious material losses. Unlucky, Edgar.

For most of the game on Board 4 Stef had a significant advantage against Chris and this boiled down to a double rook ending with Stef having two very strong, supported, pawns on d4 and c4 which really cramped Chris’s position. Towards the end of the time control Stef liquidated some pawns and swapped off a rook to leave himself with a protected, passed, d-pawn and a rook on the second rank. At the end of the session it looked like a win on adjudication. Annoyingly, after plenty of analysis at home, it became clear that White had just enough resources to hold the game, or at least sufficient that it was not possible to demonstrate a clear win. Well played Stef, unlucky not to win.

On Board 5 the captain managed to play a reasonable game against Paul’s unusual opening. At one point Black might have done better and got an edge but he erred and allowed a menacing White bishop to appear on f6, close to his rather bare looking king. I managed to find a little sequence that won a piece.

Ian played solidly as Black against Majid on Board 6 and their game was a relatively quick draw. Well played Ian.

On Board 7 Angus went up against one of Tony’s favourite defences. He probably didn’t choose the most accurate approach (I had done the same thing against Tony at home) and was happy to take a short draw which, I think, suited Tony too. Well played Angus.

Rob fought hard throughout the session on Board 8 but was up against some good play by Charles who obtained an extra pawn and took that into a rook and opposite coloured bishops ending. In the end it was the much more active placement of Charles’ king that proved decisive. Bad luck Rob.

Paul Shepherd 4 April 2011