It was all to play for in the final round of BEA Cup North for this season, with the A team fighting for promotion and the B fighting to avoid relegation. On March 24th, the B team were away to Phibsboro.
On board 1, Harry started with d4 for the Colle system. The opening went well but he missed a chance to win a pawn early on. In the middle game he won a piece but hisKing was wide open and after many checks, both players agreed a draw.
On board 2, Seamus reached a strong position in the opening and had the opportunity of a perpetual draw at move 22 but played on and over-stretched his central position and lost a complex middle game position in a Czech Pirc Seamus
On board 3, Gary went with the London and right from the start his opponent took an aggressive approach, d5 followed by c5. He tried to launch an attack, bringing the Queen out early too, looking to pin the g-pawn to Gary’s King, with the intent of bishop to g3 and adding his Knight too. It was all pretty obvious and easily defended. He next tried to double his Rooks on c-file. Again obvious and easy to stop but both their Rooks went off during this middle period. As they were entering the endgame, Gary was very happy with his 5 pawns structure and his 1 remaining Bishop and Knight position in comparison to his opponent’s 5 pawns and 2 knights. His opponent probably thought same because he smiled and offered the draw. Gary couldn’t risk playing on and losing so he accepted.
On Board 4, Sebastian played the French Defense, his opponent played the advanced variation and traded his Bishop for the c6 knight early. This allowed Sebastian to control the center with his pawns, and take the advantage. After a trade of pawns in the centre, his opponent chose to recapture with his d-pawn rather than Knight, creating doubled, isolated e-pawns. He held the position for a while, but eventually Sebastian opened the centre and attacked the 2 Rooks, which were both on the same diagonal as his King. After being forced to give up an exchange, Sebastian won 3 pawns and his opponent resigned.
On board 5, Shane drew his game.
On April 1st, the A team faced Skerries at home in a close match that ended in victory, leaving the team unbeaten all season.
On board 1, Eric‘s game had an unusual start with the black pieces, with uneven pawn structures on both sides, delaying the possibility of both players to castle. Suddenly, Eric’s opponent decided to go for a Queenside castle, where his c-file was already open. Eric started attacking there, and his opponent reacted by trading the Queen for a Rook plus two pieces and a pawn, in a sequence of moves where both players could have had the advantage if they had made more accurate choices. Eventually Eric found himself forced to take a draw with a perpetual check, otherwise the activity of all the pieces against him would have been impossible to play against
On board 2, Robert faced off against the Petrov as White. Early on, his opponent thought he won a pawn, but missed that Robert could give check and thereby win the Knight. Robert built up a strong attack and found a tactic where Black would either lose the Queen or be checkmated. After yet another tactic, that would have left his King’s defences in shambles, Black resigned on move 19.
On board 3, Paddy agreed a draw in a position where both players had a Rook and four pawns.
On board 4, Ola played white in an orthodox Kings Indian. White put pressure on the e6 square in the early middle game, resulting in Black having to give up an exchange (rook for a knight). Ola also picked up a pawn and exposed the Black King in the middlegame. After some exchanges, White was playing an endgame with two Rooks and a Bishop against a Rook and two Bishops. With such a material advantage, Black eventually ended up in a mating net that would either mean game over for Black or giving up further material to stay alive. Black opted to resign instead
On board 5, Des opened his game open with the Sicilian and White adopted the English attack variation. Black played it completely wrong including not castling. White optained a great attack against the uncastled king and Black resigned before being checkmated.
