Last night we travelled to the Don's venue on Plumstead Road. After admiring the front lawn, we settled down for our match: Norwich Dons Cavaliers vs St Johns Bishops.
Cristina was first to finish against Biran Shah. It looked like an exciting and lively king's pawn game with both players attacking. I've got beaten by Biran before in a similar type of game, but Cristina seemed to be doing very well in the position. Still, after a while Biran's attack got through - Cristina said she made a mistake at some point - and we went 1-0 down. Next to finish was Richard, who can describe the game in his own words: "I had my old nemesis and friend Andy Pandyian. The guy whose car I had vomited over...the guy who stopped me winning first prize twice in the Norfolk challengers ... the guy who holds a very large winning record over me ... something like five wins, two draws and a single loss. I pondered over this when he sat down to play me, with a huge, delighted smile playing around his face. I came to the conclusion that our styles were remarkably similar ... boring-static and cautious, yet he was just simply better at eeking out pawn ending wins, whilst I would get exasperated and blow myself up....ala Rumpelstiltskin. Last night I was determined not to bugger up the game in the opening as I had in my last three games ... and indeed, I emerged stronger ... and he had thirty-five minutes left against my one hour and ten minutes. He then resorted to swapping everything off the board to leave a blood-soaked wasteland of a chessboard and then offered the draw ... and shocked at him doing all the pleading ... I accepted, as with only knights and a bishop apiece plus a few pawns left, there wasn't much chance of a win left, and so we repaired to the bar to catch up on things. Actually, the new Dons place is great, and a lovely change from the fetid places they have played in for the past decade or so." Third was Simon, who had the tough job on board 1 against John Dolamore. Simon went a piece down at some point, but still managed to set up an energetic attack, breaking open his opponent's kingside and throwing pieces at the king. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and John came out better with more material. I was against Stephen Livermore and was last to finish. I had a nice queen's pawn game where I felt comfortable and managed to get in e3-e4-e5, pushing black's defending knight away from the kingside. My attack didn't give the immediate mate I hoped for, but it got me one, then two, pawns, and a superior endgame. Luckily my opponent then blundered the exchange and resigned, so we had a relatively early finish with all games over by just after 10 o'clock. Final result: 2.5-1.5 to the Cavaliers. Our next match is tomorrow at home against Norwich and Norfolk B, rescheduled as 4 out of 5 of us had COVID on the original date! Joe
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October 2022
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