I tried something different before this match. Having seen a few of us flag in the last hour of play over the season I thought that if I provided “team bananas” they might be able to keep our blood sugar levels high enough to get us through the time scramble that is the Thames Valley knockout competition (and also a speciality of the Staines team who I fully anticipated would be seriously up for the match).

Anyway, we each lined up at the board, adjusted our score-sheets, the clocks and our bananas and began the match. I overhead one of the Staines players saying “They’ve all got bananas!” and hoped that might give us an early psychological advantage. Not quite as sinister as Karpov receiving different flavour yoghurts against Korchnoi but you get the picture. Regrettably it appears that we slipped on our own banana skins!

On Board 1 Chris ended up in a position after the opening that was very difficult to assess. He marched his King over to the queenside anticipating it being useful there in an upcoming endgame. Unfortunately, when he and Clive got down to queen and bishop vs queen and opposite bishop it transpired that Clive could go into a continuous checking frenzy, making a “staircase” for his queen, that resulted in him being able to win two vital pawns and then retreat to avoid Chris getting a perpetual. Unlucky Chris.

Board 2 was a real tragedy from a Surbiton perspective. Nick generated a huge attack against Tim’s King which persisted after the queens came off. Nick then sacked a rook believing that he was mating Tim. In fact he could have regained the rook and be two clean pawns up but he continued down the mating line until he suddenly saw a defence. Tim admitted afterwards that he had not seen it in advance. Nick was then left trying to generate threats but, with no clear win available, the rook deficit eventually told. Unlucky Nick.

On Board 3 Stef had a relatively quick draw against Peter albeit it resulted from a very sharp opening which featured an exchange sac by Peter. As Stef hadn’t been feeling well prior to the match it was very sensible to take the draw. Well played Stef.

Board 4 turned out to be our only win of the night. Ian got pressure on the queenside from the opening and managed to get his a-pawn into a significantly advanced position as he transitioned into the ending. Eventually the pawn won a piece and Ian managed to negotiate finding a mate with only a few seconds left on his clock. Breathless stuff. Well played Ian.

I was playing Paul on Board 5 and was, naturally, concerned that my score-sheet might become airborne after the match given what had happened last time we were away to Staines. I got an edge out of the opening and was winning a pawn at the first time control although Paul had good drawing chances as we were in a rook and opposite bishops ending. Paul managed to equalize but then over pressed. This allowed me to gain a very strong position again. I had something less than 30 secs left (one can never be certain with mechanical clocks) when I accepted Paul’s second draw offer. I had a completely winning position but no time left to win unfortunately..

On Board 6 Angus faced a move he was not familiar with in the opening whereby Colum gave up a pawn for active piece play. This cost Angus quite a lot of time on the clock which turned out ultimately to be decisive. Having been on the back foot for most of the game and entering the time scramble Angus caught Colum with a cheapo that won bishop and knight for a rook. A pawn race ensued in which each player missed good chances to win. Sadly, Angus’s flag fell before Colum’s. I noted afterwards that Angus had not eaten his banana. Perhaps this was the decisive error? Unlucky Angus.

This was a very close match which would have gone our way on board count if Nick had been more lucky so we should not be dispirited despite the result.

Paul Shepherd 22 April 2011