Lichfield 'A' survive Stourbridge scare

Wolverhampton & District League Division 1

When Stourbridge arrived at The Guildhall with a weaker side than expected the ECF ratings for individual match-ups pointed towards a straightforward Lichfield 'A' victory. As the evening progressed, however, it became clear that the match would be anything but simple; all four games were still in progress as the clock ticked past 10pm. Lichfield 'A' ultimately emerged with a 3-1 victory, but that was much less comfortable than it sounds.

The one Lichfield player who looked to have a clear advantage for most of his game was Maurice Staples. Playing Black on Board 3 against John Foxall, he won a pawn early in the game and drove a passed pawn deep into White's position. Faced with inevitable material loss, John resigned.

Playing White on Board 2, Mircea Mesesan faced the solid, experienced Julie Wilson. He built a strong advantage with queenside pawn advances, but failed to find the best followup, and let his advantage slip. Julie, however, was in time trouble, and, just as the game transitioned towards an equal endgame, she lost track of time on the clock, paused for a second too long, and lost on time.

Meanwhile, on Board 1, Ben Nevett-Farman, playing Black, was in trouble from quite early in his game against Adam Ware. His King became exposed by the capture of a pawn on h7, and although Ben then succeeded in swapping off the Queens, he lost a pawn, and then a second. In the middle of the exchanges, he missed one chance to navigate into a drawish endgame, and was eventually forced to resign.

The match result therefore depended on Richard Anderson's game against Dan Jones on Board 4. Playing White, Richard exerted strong pressure on Black's position in the opening and early middlegame. It looked like the position might collapse, but Dan did well to find the correct defence. According to later engine analysis, Richard missed a fairly subtle opportunity to create a winning position. Instead, his advanced Queen was forced back from h6, and the game looked to be approximately equal. Black's Knight, however, was stuck slightly offside on h5, and when Dan mistakenly allowed an exchange of Queens, the resulting position in the Knight and Pawn endgame meant that he couldn't save a pawn from capture. Richard managed to convert his endgame advantage, exchanging down into a King and Pawn endgame where his passed h pawn was a winning diversion.

The match was further proof that, no matter what the grading difference, the moves still need to be made and the games need to be won! Lichfield's next match is against Rushall on 9th November. (Match played: 8th October)