Friday, 17 February 2023

Stop All the Clocks!

Aberystwyth Town's "home" match against Carmarthen A on Monday 13th February at the Emlyn Cafe, Tanygroes, was a convivial affair like the old days of the Dyfed League, with the University team's match against Carmarthen B taking place on adjacent tables. On Board 1, Murray Smith reached a rook ending a pawn up against Ewan Ferguson's Grand Prix Attack in the Sicilian Defence. White looked able to hold for a while, but once the rooks came off the win followed quickly. In the only non-Sicilian of the match, a Scotch Four Knights, Luis Sanchez also had an extra pawn and the initiative, but Black's position looked solid until a blunder which should have cost him material. White went wrong in the complications that followed but clinched the win anyway after another error by his opponent.Peter Windows was facing the sharp Smith-Morra Gambit for the first time on Board 3, but White was too generous with his pawns and the attack didn't materialize: by the time White had recovered some material the Black passed pawns were unstoppable. I missed a chance for an advantage with my Closed Variation of the Sicilian against Grenville Brazener and the game was level until I was able to break in the centre. Both players were down to their last few minutes, with the top three boards having already finished when the team captain, Murray, came up and asked if we knew that the clocks weren't giving us the intended 20-seconds per move increment; they're new and we hadn't set them properly. Fortunately for me, I was now in control of the game if not the technology, and mate followed shortly. It was a good night for the Aber teams, less so for Carmarthen, with 4-0 whitewashes in both matches.

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1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 Sicilian Defence, Grand Prix Attack. g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.0-0 a6 7.Be2 e6 8.d3 Ne7 9.Nb1 Intending to kick the annoying knight with c3, but it's a loss of time. d6 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.c3 Nxe2+ 12.Qxe2 b5= 13.Qe1 Nc6 14.Ng5 h6 15.Ngf3 f5 16.e5? Losing a pawn for no clear compensation. dxe5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.fxe5 Qxd3 19.Rf3 Qd5 20.Rh3 Qxe5 The flaw in White's plan - while his rook can penetrate the kingside, he allows the queens to come off, and remains a pawn behind. 21.Qxe5 Bxe5 22.Rxh6 Kg7 23.Nf3 Bf6 24.Rh3 Rh8 25.Rxh8 Kxh8 26.Be3 c4 27.Bd4 Kg7 28.Rd1 Bb7 29.Bxf6+ Kxf6± Black has an extra, passed pawn and a powerful long-range bishop, but there's still a lot to do to win the game. 30.Kf2 Bd5 31.h3 g5 32.Rd4 Rg8 33.h4 Bxf3 33...gxh4 34.Rxh4 Rd8 keeps the bishop on the board. 34.hxg5+ Rxg5 35.gxf3 Rook endings are tough to win, and Black no longer has a passed pawn. Rh5 36.Kg2 Ke7 37.a4?! Too committal. White should stay put and wait. Rh8 38.axb5 axb5 39.b3 Rc8 40.bxc4 Rxc4 41.Rxc4? 41.Rd3! is White's only chance. 41...bxc4 42.f4 e5 43.fxe5 Ke6 and White resigns. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBRes
Ferguson,E1800Smith,M22000–1
Sanchez,L1950Narayan-Taylor,R14221–0
Hopkins,M1400Windows,P17000–1
Francis,M1648Brazener,G11751–0

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