Victory slips away from Cannock 3A team

Cannock & District Division 3

Victory slipped through Lichfield’s 3A's fingers as local rivals Norton Canes turned the tide late on to draw their match at The King's Head.

Board 4 was first to finish. Rob Frost, playing White, gave up a pawn for active play, which proved useful against an uncastled King. His opponent gave up a piece to get castled. From his superior position, Rob slowly pushed forward, initiating trades. The desperados were well avoided, allowing Rob to enter the endgame a Rook up. From here, it is was a routine win.

Board 3 saw Connor Whetnall, play Black, involved in a rollercoaster game against Evan Millerchip. Evan let Connor get into structures he knew, and Connor wasted no time pressing forward with a central pawn mass, exploiting a blunder on move 11 to win a piece. However, he relaxed, blundered a fork with his knight and rook not long after, allowing his opponent to equalise. Connor faced a 2 Bishops vs 2 Knights middlegame, went on to win a hanging pawn, and then ground out the game to win. Lichfield were 2-0 up.

Board 2 saw Richard Ayres, playing for Lichfield, and Mike Hoare, enter a fairly equal battle, with neither side revealing their cards too early. Richard made some early flank pushes to gain space, but neither side truly confronted the other, instead seeking to improve their positions. Unfortunately, Richard got himself in a bind in the middlegame and gave up the exchange for two pawns. Mike showed his experience by holding on and capitalising on Richard's mistakes to reach a rook-and-pawn endgame up three pawns. Mike gave up a flank pawn, and expertly pushed his connected pawns to win.

The match result therefore depended on the Board 1 match, which saw Brian Homewood make his debut for Cannock 3 against Luke Sullivan. Both players opted to get into their own setups before engaging. Eventually, their battle left both players' light-squared bishops poorly placed, but Brian took longer to activate his. Brian employed trades to simplify the position. His opponent grabbed the open file, but Brian held on and steered the game into a Rook+Bishop vs Rook+Knight endgame. A tense but drawn endgame under pressure slipped into a losing position for Brian. He fought valiantly, but eventually resigned, confirming a 2-2 drawn match. (Match played: 28th September)