As is customary since the Mighty Bees took up residence in WDCL Division 1, the opening fixture of the 2023-24 campaign was the local match-up of Culcheth B v Culcheth A. With a number of the usual 1st team players unavailable this was an opportunity for other club members to stand in and stake their claim for more Division 1 playing time!
The first game to finish on the night was board 1 where Ian and Rob – both intent on trying to surprise each other with offbeat and rare sidelines in the opening – succeeded only in confusing themselves and agreeing to share the spoils in an unbalanced but roughly equal position after 13 moves.
Next to finish was board 2 where Andy somehow managed to escape James’s devastating attack on his King to emerge with a Bishop for 3 pawns, and with rooks still on the board was able to complete a remarkable turn around to put the A team 1 up on the night.
On board 4 Nick C v Nick B ended in a draw shortly before Alex’s Queen and passed pawn overpowered Dan’s pair of Rooks and gave the A team an unassailable 1-3 lead with victory on board 3.
This left Phil and Vincent battling it out on board 5 where Phil’s defensive Knight positioned next to his King was rebuffing Vincent’s attack down the h file – proving the old adage that “with a Knight on f8 there cant be mate”. After some manoeuvring by both players Phil managed to untangle his Rooks, and with Vincent running low on time was able to form a mating net around white’s King and force a resignation. A consolation win for the B team meant the match finished with a narrow victory for Culcheth A.
St. Helens v Culcheth Peninsular Cup Team 2 (Culcheth C)
6 September 2023 – VICTORY AGAINST THE ODDS
The evening got off to a slightly confrontational start even before a pawn was pushed.
A week before this match I had written to St. Helens giving them details of our team and the fact that it was primarily made up of our C Team (Division 3) players – and all players were eligible for C Team matches.
The point was to agree what level of handicap (if any) was appropriate to the match. Having received no reply I raised the matter with the St. Helens captain who acknowledged that he had read my note, but was insistent that any Culcheth 2nd Team was a Division 1 team because we had 2 teams in Division 1. Intuitively this did not seem fair to me, even less so when he said that the matter should have been agreed in advance – which, if he had bothered to reply to my note, it could have been. The WDCL rules are not clear on this and rather than prolong any argument I decided to go ahead and play on the basis of no handicap and let our playing do the talking – which, of course, it did!
–Edit- The handicap issue that Nick raises in the report was infact previously raised asked and answered last season by the WDCL League Manager when it was agreed that our 2nd Peninsular cup team represents our C team and therefore does gain the 2 division handicap head start for this competition.
We were outgraded by an average of approximately 200 points per board and did not get off to the best of starts as Alex Robinson on Board 1 was first to finish having resigned against Steve Potter.
However, Jonathan Miller evened things up with a superb win on Board 3 in just 23 moves against Barry Groves who got himself into an uncharacteristic tangle in a Modern Defence opening. (annotated by JM below)
Unfortunately Dan Robinson lost his Board 4 encounter with Keith Lyon, whilst Nick Cooke dug deep to clinch a draw against Ray Smith on Board 5.
So with 4 games completed we were 2.5 – 1.5 down and needing to win both remaining games to go through to the next round.
On board 6 Phil Dawson played with immense composure and a high level of accuracy with the Black pieces in a Caro-Kann Defence eventually winning by resignation on move 42.
So that just left me to win with the Black pieces against Phoenix Lamb on Board 2. In a slightly off-beat Sicilian Defence I secured equality in the opening and having exploited a couple of his errors I had a clear initiative in the middlegame. A serious error on his part gifted me a pawn and his King was comparatively unsafe. Having played with a high degree of accuracy I blundered horribly on move 35 and should have lost a piece with just 2 pawns for compensation but on move 38 White let me off the hook and overlooked a mate in one on his very next move. 3.5-2.5 (6 – 2.5) after 2 division handicap applied, and ‘job done’, but we really do need to resolve the handicap issue before our next Peninsular Cup match.
Meanwhile….
Two days earlier our A team took on Northwich in their opening Peninsular Cup fixture. Unfortunately captain Damian had only managed to recruit 4 of the 6 required players for this fixture. Several of our usual A & B team players couldn’t play and I was not able to call upon C team players as they were cup tied to the Wednesday game.
Below for Rob’s excellent win against promising Northwich youngster Ingmar So
In the end the starting deficit proved insurmountable as Northwich managed to halve the remaining two boards to send our A team crashing out of this year’s cup.
The Mighty Bees hosted Northwich A on 3 May and even though neither team had much to play for from a League perspective it was a vigorously contested match which ended in a 3-2 defeat for us. The fact that after 9 Division One games our points deficit is only 9 is testament to how narrow most of our defeats have been.
The first game to finish was Alex’s on Board 4. With all due respect it was something of a comedy of errors and rather chaotic. Alex won a pawn early on and thought he saw a chance to win another one with a temporary Knight sacrifice. However, his idea was tactically flawed and should have lost him the Knight – but his opponent missed this. Despite his King being caught in the middle Alex looked to have the upper hand but then ended up losing the exchange for a pawn which handed his opponent the advantage. Something approaching justice was done when they agreed to draw. 0.5 – 0.5
On Board 3 Andy, playing Black, achieved a solid set up in a Kings Indian Defence against White’s g3 set up. Unfortunately he attempted a Q-side pawn break which was unsound and shortly thereafter he lost the exchange by force. In adversity Andy played actively but his experienced opponent held firm and converted his material advantage into a win. 0.5 – 1.5
My heart sank when I realised that I would be playing a junior on Board 5. Ever since I won against an 8 year-old many years ago in a congress in South Wales who burst into tears and had to be comforted by his father, I always feel that such games are unwinnable no matter what the outcome. Not that my 15 year-old opponent ever looked likely to become tearful or upset – not least because he scarcely put a foot wrong in game that remained very even throughout. He offered me a draw on numerous occasions, and after repeating moves and being utterly bereft of a plan to make progress, I agreed. 1.0 – 2.0
On top board Rob was playing a different opponent to the one for whom he had prepared – but one that he had played once before. Quite by chance he repeated the opening line he had played in their previous encounter varying slightly on move 7. Both players traded minor inaccuracies to reach a tense middlegame where Rob put into operation a plan to pressurise and break through on the Q-side with strong central pawn support. With both players running short of time Rob’s opponent went astray on move 34 losing a pawn and effectively the game. Rob’s active Rook and central pawn roller succeeded in delivering checkmate. 2.0 – 2.0
And so the match result all hinged on the outcome of Ilya’s game on Board 2 – which was a real ding-dong battle arising from the quiet beginnings of a Caro-Kann. Playing in his typically aggressive style Ilya’s pieces were very active and his opponent’s King was not able to castle. But his opponent had counter-attacking chances of his own on the K-side which Ilya neutralised with a well-considered exchange sacrifice leaving him with a almighty dark-squared Bishop. Wisely his opponent returned the exchange to get rid of this Bishop and the game remained very much in the balance. Once again the clock played a major role in the outcome as Ilya, very short of time, blundered a Rook. 2.0 – 3.0
