John Littlewood CC scored its first victory with the first team overcoming Wallasey 1 4.5-2.5. The final result perhaps flattered us slightly, but there was enough good (in Jamie's case excellent) chess played by the home team to justify it.
Board 1: D. Clark (2060) (Wallasey) 0-1 R. Williamson (2212) (John Littlewood)
I was the beneficiary of a very early blunder by Dave - so early as to have been made on autopilot. In a playable ...Bc5 sideline against the King's Indian Attack in the French, black got an attack in on f2. The consequence of this was a long-term positional disadvantage for white from which he never recovered.
Board 2: J. Kumar (1921) (JL) 1-0 P. Davies (1914) (W)
This was the win of the night. Jamie is a notorious expert in the f3 Nimzo-Indian, so it was slightly surprising to see Phil castle into the kingside attacking machine that the closed variations of that line represent. Once you're tangled up in the gears, you can't get out. Stockfish nitpicking aside, it's hard to see how Jamie could have played his attack much better. Black eventually just ran out of playable moves and had to resign.
Board 3: M. Coffey (1872) (W) 0.5-0.5 J. Erskine-Pereira (1972) (JL)
Jack, playing his first game of the season, slid into a bad position right out of the opening. It's a quirk of chess psychology that strange things tend to happen when you have to face your own line. Such was the case for black here. London player vs. London player led to a rather bad French-type position. Mike then played very well for long stretches to arrange a winning ending, but he was denied victory by one of the more dramatic stalemate tricks yet seen on hallowed ground. Given that we play in a church, I'm tempted to call it sacrilegious in its contempt for any notion of universal justice in our game. Fortunately for us, chess is neither excessively fair nor holy, and you get (half) points for spotting the most profane of resources. Mike, a queen, bishop, and rook up in the final position, took it with admirable equanimity.
Board 4: J. Lee (1759) (JL) 0.5-0.5 R. Kelly (1859) (W)
Not quite as surreal as above but getting there. This one was agreed drawn early on when our captain failed to realise/remember he was a clear pawn up. Good enough for us, as it turned out, but we hope that our fearless leader puts his 'C' at GCSE Maths to work in our next fixture. (Note: I also got a 'C').
Board 5: P. Brine (1813) (W) 0.5-0.5 R. Frith (-) (JL)
This was a grim defence by our player. An unusual line in the QGA led to a Ruy Lopez-type middlegame where white's knight was perpetually threatening to trample black's light square bishop into the marble floor. Phil missed a great chance to get his kingside 4 v. 3 pawn majority rolling. Rob, after more than an hour spent clinging on, then managed to equalise. There was still time for reciprocal blunders, but the very welcome appearance of a drawn ending gave us the match win.
Board 6: J. Ormrod (-) (JL) 1-0 T. Vydovicia (1781) (W)
Joe registered his first - but no doubt not last - aesthetically pleasing gambit win of the season. Titas had his chances to break free, but pinned to his back two ranks he lashed out with ...e5 and found his king fatally trapped in the middle. Looking at the game afterwards, some of the complications that did not come to pass were so cold and unfathomable as to potentially conceal the Loch Ness monster. For the sake of my nerves as a tourist surveying the landscape, I hope Nessy remains a wholly mythical creature, even if I don't expect Joe to start playing the English any time soon.
Board 7: P. Owen (1735) (W) 1-0 S. Hanlon (1722) (JL)
This one contained so much actual chess as to be daunting to this writer of match reports. So I'll spare you the best/worst of it. Suffice to say Phil was the deserved winner, but Shay was still also a little unlucky to lose. However, as the meme goes, every day is a school day. Whether one is the chess master or the chess pupil can sometimes depend largely on seniority. No doubt the young Mr. Hanlon will be handing out more detentions soon enough.