The U6000 teams first foray into Away Games ended in a hard fought draw, with a nice mix of results across all the boards.
Board 1: K. McGarry (JL) 1486 vs S. Kane (Aigburth) 1618 0.5-0.5
A fairly typical Advance French, Milner Barry Gambit - with an interesting novelty on move 10. Sadly, not one with much bite too it and so once more Keeghan fails in his quest to get an opening named after him. Into the middle game, White continues to apply pressure as one should in a gambit and ultimately gets a good position where Blacks pieces are uncoordinated and the King trapped in the middle. A misevaluation of Blacks offered queen trade, along with some premature flank attacks, loses all the advantage and the game peters out into an equal endgame - draw offered and accepted.
Board 2: L. Kavanagh (Aigburth) 1444 vs T Francis (JL) 1587 1-0
A Modern Defence turned Ruy Lopez, with positional mistakes by both sides. This game shows the importance of understanding opening transpositions and how you can turn an opponents mistake into a favourable position from a completely different opening. Or, on the flip side, how to avoid it. Unfortunately, as is often the case, one mistake follows another and soon Blacks position was irreparable. One to learn from.
Board 3: J Walsh (JL) 1071 vs J Lee (Aigburth) 1300 1-0
A good win for our youngest player, I shall let the game speak for itself (or, rather, NM Roger Williamson speak for it through annotations)
Board 4: P Capstick (Aigburth) 1302 vs T Plews (JL) 1216 0.5-0.5
Sometimes our opponent throws us into unchartered territory and we must rely on our auxiliary knowledge. This is a fantastic game to learn from, if nothing other than how to punish our opponents dubious opening choices. Tom was able to escape an unknown opening unscathed and with a slight advantage, however the unknown middlegame positions were bound to draw mistakes. Both sides had opportunities in this game, chances to punish the others mistakes, however no one capitalised on these and the game ended peacefully in a draw.