Nothing between them as Cannock Division 2 sides draw again

Cannock & District League Division 2

The brewing rivalry has ended without a victor, as Lichfield 'A' and 'B' drew 2-2 for the second time in six weeks at The King's Head. The result does not reflect the tension each game showed, as there were no straightforward game wins.

On Board 3, captains Peter Rose ('B') and Phil Sykes ('A') played a game filled with novelties and tactics. Phil made no effort to hide his intentions, initiating a kingside pawn storm on move 4 and catching Peter off guard. Surprisingly, this proved effective in dampening Whites’ kingside. Phil was too attack-minded, however, as he quickly lost a pawn to a pin. The position remained objectively level, and both players brought their pieces into the game. Peter then exploited Phil’s attempt to press forward with another pin tactic. He temporarily sacrificed the queen to win his opponent’s queen a move later, with interest. Phil resigned immediately, finishing first.

On Board 4, veteran David Fone ('B') faced League Ladder leader Connor Whetnall ('A'). Connor began familiarly with an early attack, drawing all his pieces into the fray and showing no restraint. Some repeated knight jumps from David seemed enough for Connor to start pressing the position, but David held on, skillfully rerouting his queen to defend and exchange queens. Connor still had more space and better piece placement but could not seem to break down David’s defences. David started initiating exchanges and trying to create some counterplay on the queenside, while Connor pressed on the kingside. Eventually, Connor broke through and activated both his rooks. The following sequence of exchanges netted Connor a pawn, and he would win another pawn that formed the base of David’s structure. David accepted the loss and resigned.

On Board 2, Albert Chacko ('A') and Mick Horrigan ('B') faced off for the first time. Albert opened very nicely and seemed to have a massive space and development advantage. With no easy way to break down Mick’s defence, he slowly improved his position. Mick got his pieces on the back rank and his pawn structure constrained, but he held on with some nice resources. The game took a turn when Mick seemed to trap his queen in the middle of the board. Albert saw the idea but played the wrong piece and missed Mick's escape. The sequence of trades left Albert down an exchange in the endgame. He tried some defences and tricks, but to no avail. Despite being low on time, Mick activated his king and simplified into a winning endgame.

On Board 1, Tony Green ('A') faced off against Adam Routledge ('B') in a repeat of their drawn game from September. Both started the game slowly and solidly, neither seeking to make any overt threats. After a lot of rerouting and slow play, Tony seemed to gain a little bit more space. Adam tried to generate queenside play with an early b4 thrust, which helped open the file and use his rooks. Tony unfortunately blundered the position, allowing Adam to use the newly opened b-file to sacrifice a rook, overload the queen, and win the other rook. Adam was now up a pawn and had a rook on Tony’s back rank, but the path to victory was unclear. Both players were now on low time, and the pressure was on as Tony needed to win for the match to be drawn. Adam used his newly acquired passed pawn and tried to push it while bringing his knights into the game. He placed his knight deep in the position but played a pawn move preventing its retreat, allowing Tony to initiate trades and return the position to level. After a little more shuffling, Tony opted for a queen trade, a decision made with less than 10 seconds, and a losing one! Both sides had a knight and a light-square bishop; the difference was that Adam had a passed pawn on a6 and is a keen fan of Nimzowitsch. Adam quickly got to work pushing the pawn, while Tony desperately rallied his bishop to cover the queen-side. Tony seemed to create a blockade, but it was still winnable for Adam with slow, playable and correctly timed abandonment of the passed pawn. Adam unfortunately missed the sequence; the game once again returned to level, but it was Tony in the driver's seat with a passed pawn of his own. Adam tried to alter the kingside to create some imbalance but allowed Tony to put all of Adam's pawns on light squares whilst his own were on dark squares. This was now a winning endgame, as Tony could use the passed pawn as a distraction to infiltrate the base of Adam's pawn chain and win the pawns. Tony is a great fan of Silman and used the “Fox and the Chicken Coop” concept to win. (Match played: 20th October)