TVA Match Reports (25-11-22)

Our captain Maks Gajowniczek reports on our two most recent Thames Valley A Team matches.

Richmond A v Kingston A match:

BoardHome playerResultAway playerRating
difference (Δ)
oneIM Gavin Wall s2311KIM Gavin Wall had the black pieces0-1David Henry Maycock s2336ADavid Henry Maycock had the white pieces-25
twoMichael W Healey s2250AMichael W Healey had the white pieces1-0Peter D Lalic s2314APeter D Lalic had the black pieces-64
threeAndrew Hebron s1992KAndrew Hebron had the black pieces0-1Silverio Abasolo –Silverio Abasolo had the white pieces
fourChris B Baker s1956KChris B Baker had the white pieces0-1Vladimir Li s2099PVladimir Li had the black pieces-143
fiveMaxim W Dunn s1909KMaxim W Dunn had the black pieces0-1David J Rowson s2047KDavid J Rowson had the white pieces-138
sixMaks Gajowniczek s1800K Maks Gajowniczek had the white pieces0-1Peter Andrews s2011KPeter Andrews had the black pieces-211
Mean ratingHome team: 2036.3 Away team: 2161.4Δ = -125.1

Outgraded on all boards, and heavily outgraded on boards 3-6, the chances for a win overall didn’t look too hopeful. As we were already aware, Kingston as a club has definitely improved in strength since lockdown. All this being said, we tried our best and turned up with a strong team. We lost the coin toss, so it was white for us on evens.

The first result of the match was a loss by Gavin. I didn’t have a chance to look at his game, but apparently after post-analysis it turned out that Gavin resigned in a drawn position. Presumably Gavin was under some tactical pressure, where his opponent had sacrificed some material and there was a difficult to find defensive move that would have saved his position. A bit unlucky not to find this, I guess.

Meanwhile, on board 6, I was stuck in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted position gone fairly wrong for White. I had mixed up some opening moves and was just a pawn down in a dry position, so it looked likely my game would either be a loss or at most draw. On board 3, Andrew was defending in a Maroczy setup which tends to be quite drawish but still one-sided for winning chances for his opponent. Chris Baker on board 4 ventured a Closed Sicilian setup, Mike Healey was playing his usual unusual openings and I didn’t quite catch what Maxim was playing on Board 5.

On the whole our boards 3,4,6 we were cleanly outplayed. Maxim’s game on board 5 was apparently doubled-edged but also resulted in a loss. 

The man of the match definitely goes to Mike. Apprehensive about playing a strong CM before the match, things turned in Mike’s favour. In a double rook and knight vs double rook and bishop endgame, Mike had managed to get one of his pawns onto the seventh rank. The pawn at first looked surrounded, but it turned out it was severely cramping his opponent’s position and was not easily attackable by his opponent bishop of the other colour. Soon Mike found a tactic, with his opponent in time pressure, and went on to win a piece up.

In summary, for most of us painful losses that we’d rather forget, but congrats to Mike for his win against his IM opponent. My best wishes for him to get past the 2299 rating he got up to last season.

 Surbiton A v RichmondA match:

BoardHome playerResultAway playerRating
difference (Δ)
oneDavid Scott s2094KDavid Scott had the white pieces1/2-1/2IM Gavin Wall s2311KIM Gavin Wall had the black pieces-217
twoLiam Bayly s1990K Liam Bayly had the black pieces0-1Michael W Healey s2250AMichael W Healey had the white pieces-260
threePaul D Dupré s1983APaul D Dupré had the white pieces1/2-1/2Bertrand Barlow s1940ABertrand Barlow had the black pieces+43
fourAngus S James s1972KAngus S James had the black pieces1/2-1/2Jon M Eckert s1895AJon M Eckert had the white pieces+77
fiveNick W Faulks s1956ANick W Faulks had the white pieces0-1Ian S Mcleod s1894KIan S Mcleod had the black pieces+62
sixGraham P Alcock s1825AGraham P Alcock had the black pieces0-1Maks Gajowniczek s1800K Maks Gajowniczek had the white pieces+25
Mean ratingHome team: 1970 Away team: 2015Δ = -45
match result: 1.5 — 4.5

This match went very smoothly compared to the last two. Gavin on board 1 was playing a Leningrad Dutch. Mike on board 2 and Jon’s game on board 4 looked very similar for a while, both playing the closed Sicilian setup. Bertie on board 3 was playing some kind of Tarrasch defense in a Queen gambit opening, eventually simplifying into mutually isolated queen pawns. On board 5 and 6: Ian was playing a modern/ King’s Indian defense hybrid and I was playing against a benko gambit.

On boards 1,3,4 things looked level with equal material and all three of these games resulted in agreed-draws. 

Meanwhile on boards 2,5 and 6: Mike was a pawn up, and so was Ian although he looked like he was in a very defensive position almost hanging by a thread. In my game, after some tempo-wasting knight moves by my opponent, I found a way to squeeze my opponent with little counter-play. 

Eventually my opponent was two pawns and an exchange down still playing on, but resigning soon after. Ian, judging correctly that his opponent wasn’t very tactically minded, got his opponent to use all the time on his clock looking for advantage, but in the end initiating exchanges.  Ian then turned out to have the more active position a pawn up which he converted nicely to a win. Mike was last to finish having kept his extra pawn, now bishop and queen vs knight and queen endgame. He found a clean win by trading minor pieces and immediately after trading queens into a winning pawn ending.

A very solid undefeated result.

Well played team!