On Monday the 24th of February, Naomh Barróg B played away against Elm Mount A in round 9 of the BEA Cup North. Despite facing one of the strongest teams in the league, they were able to hold them to a draw.
On board 1, John opened by taking his opponent’s e5 pawn but his opponent took it back. They exchanged Knights on that square and his opponent re-took with his Queen allowing John to bring his other Knight out to attack his Queen. They continued on with normal development until John managed to get a discovered attack on the opposing Queen and with such a big advantage, he went on to win.
On board 2, Harry’s opponent opened with d4 and they played a fairly standard King’s Indian. He won a pawn on move 10 but on move 14, he placed his Knight in front of his Queen and his opponent quickly pinned and won it. Harry was no match for his opponent down a piece and he won well.
On board 3, Gary went with the London as White and his opponent responded with the Dutch Defence. But his opponent took 28 minutes off his clock for his first 4 moves, which seemed a deliberate tactic to slow Garydown and potentially view how other boards were going. His opponent threatened a Kingside attack and while it had Gary concerned, he defended against it well. On move 23 and 3 hours after the game started, there was only 2 pieces gone off the board and neither colour with an advantage. Gary had 7 minutes left on his clock and his opponent had 4, so they mutually agreed a draw
On board 4, Shane faced a Jobava London and he misplayed the opening move order, ending up with a cramped position and paralyzed Queenside pieces, each blocking the other’s development. His opponent capitalized with a strong tactic, winning a piece. Instead of simplifying to a winning endgame up a piece and three pawns, he attempted a fancy sequence—taking Shane’s Rook with his Queen, then after the Queen recaptures he would pin it to Shane’s King with his Rook. However, this backfired, allowing Shane to save his Queen. Down material but with piece-imbalance counterplay, he maneuvered carefully out of an attempted windmill and forced a draw by repetition, salvaging the half-point.
On Board 5, Sebastian played a Queen’s Gambit and his opponent closed the centre early on. He built up a big attack and sacrificed a knight to expose the King, however his opponent didn’t take and defended well. He was unable to find the winning move after 40 minutes and traded into an endgame. He was able to win a pawn, but the opponent defended well and it ended in a draw.
The following day, the A team faced off against Blanchardstown at home. This was a vital game as Blanchardstown were joint 2nd in the league and only one point behind the A team. However, the team rose to the occasion and won a crucial victory.
On board 1, Eric had a very defensive game where both players played a very even game with an awkward pawn structure. The position looked like some strong attacks were possible for Eric’s opponent, but he lost a lot of time trying to find the right attacking moves. Eventually, as he was running out of time, Eric forced a queen exchange, leaving the players in a very open rook endgame. Under the time pressure, his opponent took a risk by pushing his King too far and ended up in a checkmate pattern he did not see, and lost the game.
On board 2, Robert played e4 and quickly got a strong pawn chain in the centre of the board with open lines for his Bishops. His opponent castled early, which allowed Robert to sacrifice his Bishop in a Greek Gift. His opponent tried to decline the sacrifice but Robert brought his Knight and Queen into an overwhelming attack. He sacrificed his Bishop for a second time to shred open the King’s defences, but again the attack was so strong that his opponent declined the sacrifice. Robert just had too many attackers against too few defenders and his opponent resigned on move 20 as mate was coming next turn.
On board 3, Paddy’s opponent opened with d4 to which he replied b6, leading to a complex double fianchetto structure against Paddy’s Queenside fianchetto, and an open c-file. His opponent missed a tactic in the middlegame, leaving Paddy a pawn up, which he held onto into a rook and 3 vs 4 pawn endgame. After a few inaccuracies from both players, his opponent captured one of Paddy’s kingside pawns but allowed him to get behind his unstoppable passed pawn and he resigned.
On board 4, Ola played white in a Budapest gambit. Without knowing all the opening theory, Ola declined the gambit and tried to go for a quieter game. Black continued playing aggressively and went all in on the attack. Initially Ola defended well, castled Queenside and intended to go for a pawn storm on the Black Kingside, which is a common theme when castling opposite sides. This lead to White getting an advantage when arriving in the middlegame, but without a clear path and plan on how to best transition the advantage to a victory. The position was very complicated with most pieces still on the board and with the White King under pressure from Black’s Bishops and an opened up a-file that Black sacrificed a minor piece to achieve. The game was going rapidly from equal to drawish to White winning or Black winning in a matter of single moves. There were so many positions requiring deep calculations that the time started to become an issue. With only nine minutes remaining Ola played an inaccuracy that Black took advantage of and ultimately resulted in a loss for White.
On board 5, Oliver lost his game after his King and Queen were forked by a Knight.