All, these were our results from Round 10 just concluded.
Games are available for perusal here, including Andrejs’s 122-move marathon.
Nakul showed us why skip isn’t playing. Skip did some “live” analysis atter 20. … Ng6, concluding that he liked 21. Bxc6+ bxc6 22. Qa6 but 22. … Qa4 and Black would be OK, so decided that a quiet move of some sort was in order. Nakul played “skip’s sequence” then produced 23. Rb4. Aaah. Carnage followed, victory being banked eight moves later. David’s win was his fifth straight, K & Ben closing out the match comfortably. Ben’s IM opp did well to find 50. Rbe4 for the draw.
Unfortunately Ox1’s win isn’t enough to get into the play-offs, for Anglian Avengers 1 beat King’s Head 3-1. Ho hum. Still, third spot after our super-slow start is pretty good!
Ox2 at one point looked like matching the first team’s scoreline, but had to settle for four draws through gritted teeth.
Dimitrios’s game descended into utter mayhem in the space of five moves from a normal-looking Nimzo-Indian at move 10. Dust settlement left him a passer up in an endgame and he converted. Chris ended his drawing streak with an emphatic win, Black allowing mate in one at the finish. Ian cashed in a draw in a 2P+ position “making sure to avoid any cock-ups after last week”, he says!
Ox4 scored their second match draw of the season, wins coming from Phil N & Kenneth. We had a Move Of The Evening last week. Let’s have another one: Kenneth’s 18. … Na1-b3.