Atticus
2 Match Reports, 2008/9
.
by team Captain
John
Carleton
Mon 1st
December 2008 -
Atticus 2 v
Prescot
1 - Result: 6-2.
The evening started brightly for Prescot with
Atticus new boy Attila on board 6 apparently
gaining a small edge but thereafter walking his
queen into a trap. Gradually Atticus moved
forward after this set-back. Mike on board 7
gained a pawn and then gradually dominated the
whole board as his opponent's position crumbled
thus netting Mike the win he has been
threatening in recent weeks.
Pasquale on board 8, although full of cold
played a characteristically bright game.
Meanwhile, Richie on board 4, who seems to play
black every match these days[!], had not
particularly enjoyed the opening and struggled
to equalise. Once this happened he gradually
took the initiative and landed the point in a
well played ending. My game saw me with a space
advantage and both sides manoeuvring. Kevin
decided to go for a break out and may have
missed a chance in the complications before
finishing in a straightforwardly lost ending.
Jim on board 5 took potential pawn weaknesses to
clamp down on the centre and this strategy
enabled him to dominate the queenside to garner
game winning material; for sustained logic this
was the best game of the evening.
This left two games in play; each had started
promisingly for Atticus. Tom had obtained a nice
semi-bind with what appeared a good knight
against a passive bishop and plenty of
weaknesses to aim for. Steve and his opponent
went into one of those long Closed Lopez lines.
Steve seemed to be playing in true grandmaster
style with a nice attack building. However,
things are rarely completely predictable over
the chessboard and as the match entered its
closing stages both contests seemed to have
dramatically turned towards Prescot. Mike had
broken out against Tom, not only gaining a pawn
but forcing Tom onto the defensive. Steve's
attack had not been flowing too smoothly and he
felt the the need [still in grandmaster style
but not so convincingly] to fuel the attacking
engine with two exchange sacrifices. When a
piece went as well things were looking black
indeed.
Suddenly Tom pulled off a tremendous escape, his
army bursting into life with plenty of targets
to aim at and the draw resulted. If this was
surprising Steve's draw was stunning indeed. The
players felt it was a draw by perpetual and
although most of the spectators didn't believe
it the players 'won' the brief after-match
analysis session!
Thus somewhat scant reward for Prescot who could
be pleased with their performance on the night
and are justifiably proud of their battle to
honour their fixtures despite the horrendous
problems they are facing.
Thu 20th
November 2008 -
Wallasey A v Atticus 2 - Result:
4-4.
A night that started with confusion and panic
etched on Richie Noonan's face as he realised
that for the first time in living memory he was
going to have to play with the black pieces soon
settled to a tough battle, the characteristic
feature of the majority of recent encounters
between these two teams.
First blood went to Atticus when Steve Connor,
having just about kept his white piece edge,
benefitted from a blunder from his opponent. Jim
on board 8 was meanwhile throwing his pieces in
the direction of the Wallasey skipper's king but
cool play by Mark saw the match back to level.
On board 7 Mike equalised comfortably and even
appeared to get an edge before admitting he
could not make progress and agreeing the draw.
Richie and I on board 1 had been going in slow
motion trying to come to grips with a complex
position but now were speeding up after Richie
won a pawn. This had spurred me into life and my
compensation was growing when Richie skilfully
offered a draw, accepted because a pawn is a
pawn and we seemed better in 3 of the remaining
games [and worse in 1].
First of these to finish was Jim on board 6.
Dave Welch, sporting a pretty nifty electronic
scoresheet took the match to Jim with some
dynamic ideas for black. However Jim remained
calm, repudiated the immediate threats and then
played an attractive ending in which Dave was
helpless to stop him picking off the pawns
weakened in black's attacking phase. Richie
Noonan had quickly come to terms with having to
play black and obtained a promising edge but
this fizzled out and we were thus one up with
two in play. This became one up with one in play
when Tom agreed a draw in a messy position. Tom
had gained a lot of pawns for the exchange but
gradually these had started to drop off as Tom's
pieces became more active. The players sensibly
decided that discretion is the better part of
valour.
This left Dave on board 2 battling on. Having
got the worse of the middlegame skirmishes Dave
had gradually fought back but with the drawing
post in sight he faltered [echoing the earlier
Wallasey blunder] and we had a drawn match, a
just return for the battling performance of the
home team. We were left to rue our missed
chances and wash away our temporary
disappointment at the well appointed bar.
Mon 27th
October 2008 -
Atticus 2 v Aigburth
1 - Result: 3-5.
Approaching the start of play the sad demise of
Liverpool 1 was on everyone's lips with some
speculation amongst the home contingent that
some ex-Liverpool players might even appear in
this match. These speculations proved unfounded
but there was an impressive debut on board 2 for
the visitors [more later].
Some 5-3 scorelines are real nail-biters and
some are relatively comfortable [the same
applies to 4½-3½, just ask the reigning
champions, Atticus fourteen and a half as they
are known]. This one we have to admit was one of
the pretty comfortable variety. Aigburth got off
to a flyer with snappy white wins on boards 6
and 8. On 6 Jim was a little too passive in the
opening and was swept aside when the kings
castled on opposite sides. Mark on the other
hand [on board 8] went into aggressor mode too
early and although his early attack yielded
material he was soon suffering from a ruinous
lag in development. These were not, however the
first results of the evening; Ian Campbell on
board 5 had shut up shop so effectively that
Richard was quickly convinced a draw was in
order. If Atticus were to make a fight of it we
needed a win in short order and Steve provided
it on board 4. He won a pawn and inflicted
structural damage on the white position early
on; Steve's astute manoeuvring ensured that
white's temporary initiative was insufficient.
Next result as the first time control was
reached was on board 2 which was undoubtedly the
game of the evening although boards 3 and 7
could claim to run it close. Dave countered his
opponent's king side pawn storm with a counter
in the centre and to this viewer at least it
looked unclear for a while. White prevailed
after sacrificing/losing the exchange and with
impeccable timing and powerhouse play smashed
through to Dave's king.
This left Atticus in a tricky situation not
improved when my game flattened out into a
bishop of opposite colour end after brief and
probably unsound skirmish; the draw was
inevitable. Tom was next to finish, expecting to
have to dig in to try and save a looming tricky
ending, he instead walked into a nasty tactic
thus postponing the test of his resolve. This
left Pasquale in play against Martin Cooksey on
board 7. Pasquale had a juicy discovered check
lined up but the view amongst the spectators was
that Martin could deliver mate in about 8-10
moves without the discovery ever happening. The
only thing the spectators could not agree upon
was the first move of the sequence to bring
about the mate. Unsurprisingly the players were
really suffering, the suffering being as ever
magnified by the accelerating passage of time. A
truly random element took control with a random
win on time for the Atticus player.
And so Pasquale's grit and determination helped
save us some face though impressive Aigburth
had the majority holding not only in these
qualities but in flair over the evening.
Wed 8th
October 2008 -
Widnes 2 v Atticus 2 - Result: 3-5.
An evening that should have been remembered for
a fighting display by the out-graded home team
was spoiled for many by an extremely unpleasant
incident in the early stages of the match.
The first manoeuvres saw the foundations laid
for a tough evening. On board 2 Dave, visibly
upset by the aforementioned incident quickly
blundered a piece but grabbed a couple of pawns
to allow him to continue playing however
forlornly. Tom had walked into another tricky
variation on board 3 but the complications were
unclear. Boards 6 and 8 were going very smoothly
for the Atticus players, Richie grabbing 2 pawns
and Pasquale grabbing 1 with each maintaining
the initiative. The remainder of the games
appeared balanced.
It was a long time before any results came but
like the 86 bus once one arrived there was a flurry
of activity. Pasquale got the ball rolling
converting his advantage in a rook and pawn
ending. After some confused play by myself and a
murky ending in prospect, Martin offered a draw
which I was pleased to accept, not least because
board 2 had swung dramatically our way. Shortly
afterwards Dave smashed through. Some took this
as convincing evidence that their is a deity and
that he/she is just. Briefly a counter-argument
was raised suggesting an inconsistency with the
continuing success of Chelsea and Man Utd but
the overall consensus in our camp was that this
was a superb illustration of fighting spirit and
raw determination from Robbo.
Thereafter the draws flowed thick and fast.
Steve's game on board 4 saw a trip into some big
Dragon theory finally resulting in a tense queen
and bishop ending but this flattened out
considerably with the exchange of bishops, each
side having a pawn majority on one side of the
board, but each majority well contained. Mike on
board 7 pushed throughout without creating a
decisive advantage and accepted the inevitable
when a bishop of opposite colour endgame
arrived. Richie's early advantage evaporated
when a false combination cost him the exchange.
When his extra 2 pawns dropped as well it looked
bleak but Richie's active king and a scrambling
knight convinced Frank he could not win in his
available time. Andrej's game on board 5 was
interesting throughout; black's 2 bishops
balanced by White's space advantage. A tactical
melee lead to Andrej emerging the exchange for a
pawn down but pushing hard in the ending. A
dynamic equilibrium eventually arose. Last to
finish was Tom on board 3 who bucked the Atticus
trend for the evening by being the exchange up
[a cool sacrifice by his opponent when his
attack looked to have run out of steam]. By the
end Tom had no real winning chances, his
wide-open king and opponents extra pawn meant if
anything that he stood worse.
And so we may conclude that the Atticus 2
"machine" is slowing revving up and starting to
motor. We anticipate a gradual increase in
momentum in our forthcoming chess challenges.
Nonetheless despite the generous provision of
sandwiches by the hosts the abiding memory of
the evening is that of a nasty taste in the
mouth.
Mon
22nd
September 2008 -
Atticus 2 v
Widnes 1 - Result: 2½-5½.
The prospect of Widnes unveiling their
summer signings brought a coterie of informed observers to
the Adelphi, as the visitors, a la Manchester City perhaps,
attempt to cement a top 4 place in the League. [Maybe they
have even loftier ambitions?]. With Widnes bringing their
usual loyal following and two other Atticus matches
[guinea-pigs in the great "black at home" adventure] there
was a real zing of anticipation and activity around the
club. In fact the activity spilled right into the lounge.
As a genuine contest the match lacked
edge as the visitors slipped apparently effortlessly into a
3 point lead. Tom on board 3 walked into a very hot prepared
line and was soon in trouble. Steve on board 2 tried to mix
it with Nigel but there was no strategic basis for his play
and the Grandmaster won in style. I completed the trio of
reversals at the top of the team, blundering when faced with
the prospect of being ground down by Keith in a 75:25 ending
[thus doubtless saving myself a great deal of suffering at
the hands of one of England's great end-game grinders].
The rest of the team offered grounds for optimism without
really threatening the outcome of the match. Andrej on board
5 showed the value of central control and mopped up buckets
of material as his opponent tried in vain to create
counter-play. Mike on board 7 created [in conjunction with
his opponent it must be admitted] an interesting position
where his chances were certainly no worse but ring-rustiness
took its toll and the point slipped away. Pascal pushed on
board 8 but the game was never seriously unbalanced and the
draw was a fair result.
Richie on board 6 played as he did throughout most of last
season with a commendable blend of control and aggression
until the passage of time reduced the game into a chaotic
scramble. The win arrived on time with Richie having kept
the initiative throughout but having lost his
earlier material advantage and a still unclear position on
the board. Perhaps the best of the close battles was that on
board 4 where Jim gave up castling rights early on to try to
maintain a central grip. This did not appear an unreasonable
concession at the time but Mark was able to maintain parity
in the centre and gradually opened up one flank to expose
Jim's king. At the finish the Atticus player was forced to
resign with his monarch under a withering attack.
After the match the view was being
expressed that this result was maybe not just down to
Atticus 2's traditional slow start to the season, but we
don't believe that!
