Onliners, we recorded these results tonight:
Our games are available for persual/analysis here.
Ox1: Jan sent his king up for the endgame prontissimo. His Maj executed two Black pawns for nothing more than being there. K won, after a bit of heavy breathing in a game skip didn’t understand. As usual. Kenneth won efficiently, but his game caused skip some concern as he had not watched moves 12, 13. “He’s a pawn down. Why is he swapping everything off?” It was only when three minor pieces each were on the board that it occurred to skip to count those pieces. One more for Kenneth, as of move 13. Aha. Understanding dawns.
Ox2: Graham drew with Julien Shepley as our first result of the evening. Probably Julien was relieved to escape unscathed from a second meeting with Oxford troops after Shambavi’s demolition last round! Phil, in his first game of the season, picked up a free bishop after Black forked himself. Neil won an exchange & change with 26. Nxd5, a manoeuvre that reminds skip of his similar OTB tactic at the weekend. Skip’s trick was only for a pawn, though. Note to self: must learn how to make these tricks more effective. But hey, Oxford 2 beat Guildford 1! Enjoy it while it last, troops.
Ox3: Andrey’s opponent slipped up with the unnatural 15. … Rxc5. That had a flaw exploited by Andrey, who picked up an exchange. Kev (B) lost an exchange but his Q-side counterplay caused White’s Maj to evacuate to the kingside. While Operation King was in progress White’s knight found itself stranded offside. More (mis)adventures later led to an endgame where Kev was sunk, but White was blissfully unaware of this fact and contented himself with a perpetual. Phew!
All in all, a good round for Oxford – two match wins, one draw.
Oops, skip pressed the wrong button in the Ox2 result. It should be 2.5-1.5:
