Round six of the Four Nations Chess League (‘4NCL’) saw all three of our Chessable White Rose teams continue their excellent form, with three more victories coming our way.
Chessable White Rose Team 1
Team 1 beat Anglia Avengers 1 by the convincing score of 3.5-0.5.
James Adair drew his game but he had to defend very well after allowing a Greek Gift sacrifice.
Meanwhile, Jose Camacho-Collados and Kamil Plichta both won very interesting games and Oskar Hackner ground out a win after 129 moves.
There were plenty of interesting moments in the match, including this one.
Black has just played 36…e6-e5, which looks like a decent way to attack White’s centre. However, Black’s coordination suddenly falls apart.
37.Ng5+ Ke7
37…Kg8 and 37…Kg7 both lose the bishop to 38.Ne6(+). Note that Black’s rook was protecting g5 just before 36…e5.
38.Nxh7+
Black is in a very bad way. The bishop is curiously dominated. It is attacked twice and defended only once, with no hope of the rook coming to its assistance.
If 38…Bg7, then 39.Rb7+ and the king can longer defend the bishop. On 38…Bh6 White can start mopping up the pawns with 39.dxe5 Rxe5 40.Rxb4.
38…exd4
Black accepts the loss of a piece and tries to harvest some pawns in return, but it was never going to be enough.
39.Nxf8 and 1-0, 42.
Chessable White Rose Team 2
Team 2 had a tough fixture against Barbican. Indeed, Christof Sielecki, Maaike Keetman and Peter Gayson all drew against titled players but the match was decided by captain Tim Wall in unusual fashion.
We are used to seeing Tim being involved in long and very complicated games, but this time he won by default.
Barbican then had to endure a 0.5 penalty point, which means Team 2 won by the very unusual score of 2.5-1.
This is an interesting position.
White to Play
A little tactic had netted Maaike a piece, but it looks like it will have to be returned. Maaike played 30.Qe2, Black took back the piece and after a flurry of tactics a drawn ending was eventually reached (0.5-0.5, 94).
Yet there was a chance here for White. 30.Rh1 is a fine move.
Now 30…hxg4 31.hxg4+ wins Black’s queen. Black’s best reply appears to be 30…Qg5 and the game remains complicated after 31.Kf1. Now one line runs 31…hxg4 32.hxg4+ Kg7 33.Rh5 Qg6 34.Qxf4, which looks very good for White.
Chessable White Rose Team 3
Team 3 are having an excellent season and are dominating all opposition. David Mooney, Jonathan Arnott, Miles Edwards-Wright and Connor Clarke all won their games to secure an impressive 4-0 victory.
David McNish – Jonathan Arnott Black to Play
Current Standings
Team 1 maintains its place at the top of Division 1, Group B. Mushrooms 1, our closest rivals, lost to CSC 1, which gives Team 1 a four-point lead at the top.
Chessable White Rose 2 are now at the top of Division 1, Group C. Barbican were the previous leaders but last night’s result changed the standings and also ended Barbican’s perfect score.
Team 3 continues to set the pace in Division 5, Group C. Six match wins from six fixtures maintains their perfect start and they are looking very likely to be the champions of the group, unless something unexpected happens between now and the end of the fixtures.
Our teams will be back in action on Tuesday 20 April and a report will follow here shortly afterwards.
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