The A team hosted Elm Mount B for their round 3 game of the BEA Cup North on the 12th of October. It was a close match, but we won in the end. The B team played Balbriggan but was unfortunately defeated.
On board 1, Kilian got a development advantage early and traded Queens in a winning position. He forced resignation after he found a tactic that won a piece and would have ended in checkmate
On board 2, Paddy lost his game.
On board 3, Oliver faced the London system as Black and won his game.
On board 4, Gary played the London opening and his opponent responded with a fianchetto counter attack and fully committed to it. Gary defended well and his opponent traded a rook and a bishop for my knight and a pawn – he explained to Gary after the game that he’d thought he would win a bishop as well as a part of this attack. Gary played solid from there, and forced a mate inside next 12 moves
On board 5, Seamus got a winning end game from a Pirc defence but blundered, lost his queen and resigned.
On board 1, Merrill played his first rated OTB game since 2021 and played against an opponent rated 400+ points higher rated. He decided to go for a familiar French Defense set-up. He fell victim to a tactic that cost him a piece, but good counter-play and luck meant he won it back. Both sides traded off remaining pieces and agreed a draw.
On board 2, Austin’s game ended in a draw.
On board 3, Martin played the Caro Kann and his opponent locked down the position. Martin managed to make a breakthrough, eventually sacking a Knight to swap Queens, and capturing a rook. Unfortunately, his opponent later won a Rook for his Bishop, removing the defender of the queening square and winning the game.
On board 4, Suzanne was initially doing ok despite an exposed kingside but then unfortunately trapped her queen and resigned.
On board 5, Ger ended up in a Scotch Variation of the Four Knights Game. Both sides played the opening well, unfortunately he made a mistake and lost a centre pawn. In the middle game his opponent won the exchange using a nice x-ray tactic and pushing a pawn to win Ger’s knight. His opponent was able to push a pawn to promotion and force resignation.