Time to catch up with the progress of our three teams in the Four Nations Chess League (‘4NCL’).
Round Two was played last night and it saw all of our teams pick up important victories.
Chessable White Rose Team 1
Our first team continued their winning ways with a resounding 4-0 victory of Sussex Starlings. James Adair, Peter Wells, Kamil Plichta and Oskar Hackner were all on target.
We outgunned the Starlings by a considerable amount, according to the respective ratings. However, chess games don’t win themselves and our players had to be on good form to make sure of securing wins on all four boards.
Sometimes it takes just one tactical shot to ensure a winning advantage appears on the board.
Kamil Plichta – Daniel Finn
White to play
Black’s pieces look well-coordinated but Kamil is alert to a powerful opportunity.
31.Rxb7! Rxb7
32.Bc6 Rc7
33.Bxd5 Rc2
34.Be5
It is clear that the bishop pair is stronger than the lone rook in this position and Kamil made no mistake in converting his advantage. (1-0, 45).
Chessable White Rose Team 2
Team 2 produced an excellent performance to beat Oxford 1, with a professional 3-1 result.
The was achieved thanks to wins – as Black – from Maaike Keetman and Tim Wall, plus draws by Peter Gayson and David Mooney.
Tim potted a pawn, with help from a little tactic.
Ben Savage – Tim Wall
Black to play
23…Nxd4! Destroying one of the knight’s defenders and opening up the rook on c8.
24.Nxd4 Rxc5 Black now has a safe extra pawn and there are further weaknesses to target too. The pawns on a4 and b2 didn’t survive much longer and Tim’s endgame technique was more than up to the task of converting the advantage; (0-1, 48).
Chessable White Rose Team 3
Team 3 had a tough battle against Redbridge All Sorts 1. The respective ratings slightly favoured our team and victory was secured by the tightest of margins; 2.5-1.5.
There were wins for Graeme Oswald and Tom Wills, a draw for Rayelynn Posadas and a defeat for Connor Clarke.
Tom’s game featured some very interesting moments.
Tom Wills – Ian Hunnable
Black to play
The threat is Bb4, pinning the black queen against the king. Black responded with 22…a5 to defend b4, but Tom played 23.Bb4 anyway.
There followed:
23…axb4
24.axb4 attacking both queen and rook.
24…Qc6
25.Rxa8 b5
A resourceful try by Black.
26.Rxc8 Qxc8
27.Bxb5
White’s material advantage – coupled with the vulnerable position of the black king and Black’s incomplete development – certainly enough to enable Tom to win the game (1-0, 48).
Engine-fiends will no doubt tell you that 23.Rxe5 is a quicker way to win. But then, engine-fiends say a lot of things, don’t they?
Current Standings
Team 1 tops Group B of Division on game points, with Warwick University breathing down their necks as the only other team on two wins from two matches.
Our Team 2 still shares fourth place in Group C with Brentwood A.
Team 3 is now in second place in Division 5, just behind Warley and Quinborne on game points.
Our teams will be back in action on Tuesday 23 February and they will be hoping to build upon their solid starts to the season.
For further information on our teams, follow Chessable White Rose on Twitter.
