On Monday, 21 October we welcomed newly-promoted Harrow 1 to the Actonians. In terms of ratings, we were the stronger side.

We made the perfect start. When winning in 11 moves there is a temptation to gloat but not Jonathan who annotates his game with refreshing honesty:

“This was actually a very poor game on my part.  My opponent met my Bird’s Opening with the From Gambit, the dangers of which I’m usually able to side-step in favour of a safe and equal line.  Here I got tempted into delaying my development for the sake of a pawn, and almost came a cropper:

1. f4 e5

2. fxe5 d6

3. Nf3 Bg4

4. e4 dxe5

5. c3 Nf6

6. Qa4+? Nbd7

7. Nxe5?

(I played this too quickly, thinking the g4-B would a valuable gain, but it’s actually nothing of the sort, and we’re now back in a standard From attack …)  

7. … Bd6

8. Nxd7? (Nf3 is better, but things are already bad; taking on g4 simply invites Black in with Q, N and B)

8. … Nxd7

(I was planning to meet Bxd7 with Bb5 and Be2, but Ng4 is a big problem)

9. e5?

(Both players at the board saw this as Black having blundered a piece, but it’s actually an excellent sacrifice: 9… Qh4+ 10. g3 Qh5 11.exd6 O-O 12. d3 Rfe8+ 13. Kd2 Ne5)

9. … Qe7 (now I’m out of the woods …)

10. Qxg4 Nxe5

11. Qe4  1-0

 So, ultimately a first-round knock-out, but I was on the ropes throughout.”

In my own game I played Black in a Caro-Kann. The position remained evenly balanced until move 29, at which point I under-estimated White’s h5 pawn advance. Mistakenly choosing to let the g-pawn fall rather than the e-pawn, allowed the initiative to pass to my opponent. With a more exposed king, a pawn down, and less than 2 minutes on the clock, I was pleased to accept the subsequent draw offer.

Reflecting on his game, Martin writes: “I was White against the Owen’s Defence (1.e4 b6), with an early d5 for Black. I played e5 and it turned into something similar to a French Advance, with Black’s light-squared bishop locked in on the queenside.  I put pressure on the kingside and exchanged queens into what I thought was a clearly advantageous endgame.  Computer analysis suggests Black could hold with precise play, but in practice White’s moves played themselves and Black’s defence was difficult. After keeping up the pressure Black eventually slipped and I was able to break through and win.

On top board Alan states: “I was playing against the Slav and seemed to get an opening advantage but after choosing an ineffective plan the game levelled out. On move 27 I forced a double bishop endgame and offered a draw which was accepted. Neither of us could achieve anything in the blocked position. An uneventful game.”

It is always pleasing to have Tony in the team who had travelled from Beckenham in south-east London to play. He comments: “I played the Cozio Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nge7) against the Ruy Lopez and decided to try a minority pawn storm against my opponent’s king side while leaving my own king uncastled. This was not only futile but positionally weakening. I then followed up by allowing my opponent to employ a two-move combo to win my e-pawn. Suddenly I had to switch from attack mode to salvage mode. Gradually my minus 5 disadvantage somehow eroded to equality, despite the material deficit. The game became tense again when my opponent queened a pawn and I had a pawn one square from promotion. Luckily the situation of other pieces/pawns meant that if he allowed me to queen, I was probably winning, so he exchanged his queen for my pawn and a draw was agreed.”

The final game to finish was Andrew’s. He explains: “I won a pawn early on as Black in an unusual French Advance with 4…Qb6 5.Qb3. The game was blocked for some time and I feared it might be heading for a draw. But I gradually swapped off pieces and pawns, helped by one illegal move from my opponent and two extra minutes, until reaching a N+3 v B+4 ending where I saw the winning zugzwang idea in the increment finish but misplayed it, allowing my opponent to reach N v B+1. Then as the draw was about to be forced, my tired opponent missed a discovered check when moving my king and countered by a check of his own instead of moving his king. This second illegal move forfeited the game. Lucky for me!”

Overall this was a solid team performance which secured our first victory of the 24/25 campaign.

Ealing 1	Rating	Result	Harrow 1	Rating
Alan Perkins	2152	0.5 – 0.5	WFM Sivanandan Bodhana	2200
FM Andrew Harley	2145	1 – 0	Rishi Patel	2022
Martin Smith	2132	1 – 0	Nevil Chan	1990
Tony Wells	2063	0.5 – 0.5	Jagdeep Dhemrait	1951
Jonathan White	1997	1 – 0	Kishan Pattni	1756
Simon Healeas	1837	0.5 – 0.5	Surjit Dhemrait	1587
		4.5 – 1.5