Back down to Earth with a bump: Lichfield 'A' whitewashed by Sutton Coldfield

Birmingham & District League Division 1

After an outstanding result the week before against Tamworth, Lichfield 'A' were brought back down to Earth in a 6-0 whitewash by a strong Sutton Coldfield side. None of the team of Ben Nevett-Farman, Maurice Staples, Richard Anderson, Adam Routledge, Tony Green and Albert Chacko were completely outplayed, but whether through poor time management, poor decision-making at key moments or through missing opportunities, they were all defeated.

First to finish was Albert Chacko. Outgraded by 250 ECF points, Albert, playing White on Board 6 against Jacob Barker, had a good position in the opening, but was gradually forced back onto the defensive by his young opponent. When he missed a tactic and lost a pawn, the resulting endgame position was lost, and Jacob set about mopping up additional pawns. Albert resigned with defeat inevitable.

On Board 1, Ben Nevett-Farman, playing Black, faced a familiar foe in Henrik Stepanyan, graded 2260. The start of the game followed Ben's pre-game prep, but when it diverged, Henrik managed to secure a dangerous advanced pawn, and the pressure was ultimately too much.

On Board 2, Maurice Staples, White, also faced a 2200+ player in Tomasz Sygnowski. The game was a tight, manoeuvring battle which eventually transitioned into a bishop endgame. Tomasz kept probing for weaknesses, and managed to find a way to make life increasingly awkward. A position that initially looked drawn turned, and Maurice was forced to resign.

On Board 5, Tony Green - not for the first time this season, he will freely admit - was hampered by poor clock management in his game with Shahab Quraishi. In a drawn position with Black, but desperately short of time, he froze for a moment, and his clock fell.

The wildest game of the night was Adam Routledge's on Board 4. Playing White against Golam Ali, Adam's Kingside castling position came under attack when the 'g' file opened up. Adam battled hard, and the complications kept the result in the balance, but the essentials of the position always favoured his opponent, and Golam broke through to win.

The one Lichfield player on the night who most definitely should have won was Richard Anderson, playing Black on Board 4 against 2000-graded junior Kanvansh Dhingra. Richard successfully navigated some awkward opening moments, and consolidated his position successfully to exchange into a Knight ending. When Kavansh mistakenly allowed an exchange that gave him an isolated pawn, Richard pushed forward, tying his opponent's King to the defence of the weak pawn, then exchanging into a position with a passed pawn. With the pawn blocked, he advanced on the other side, but the only winning technique was a tricky but common tactic that he had not seen ("I had tunnel vision"), and the win slipped away ... and then, with both players short of time, Richard blundered the resulting drawn position too.

A disappointing end to a disappointing evening. Next up for Lichfield are the powerful Solihull team, on Wednesday 11th November.

(Match played: 2nd November)