Report – 5 September 2008

 

Allegro tournament

 

Results:

Mark Taylor 2 Joseph Curtain 0

Brian Willcock 1.5 Nathan Shaw 0.5

Tony Howes 2 Kieran Lyons 0

Andrew Robinson 2 Russell Lyons 0

Russell Lyons 2 Joseph Curtain 0

Andrew Robinson 2 Mark Taylor 0

Kieran Lyons 2 Brian Willcock 0

Nathan Shaw 2 Joseph Curtain 0

 

Tonight the club welcomed a newcomer to its rank in Joseph Curtain, who a strong player in his school. Unaccustomed to playing with the DGT, he nevertheless acquitted himself well and had winning chances in several of his games.

 

Tony decided he needed a practice game with Andrew to adjust to the quicker time controls. He lost the warm-up game, but recovered well to win his games with second seed Kieran. Kieran said that she had some combinational possibilities, but the tighter time controls in this tournament got the better of her. Brian was on the end of her vengeance; however he had already played his best games against Nathan (much to Nathan’s chagrin).

 

Brian’s report on his games: With regards to my games against Nathan… The first game was fairly equal until somehow Brian emerged into a P+K against K endgame. With the endgame technique for which he is justly famed Brian carefully shepherded his pawn up the board until he could present his opponent with a stalemate. Game two: Cunningly making his opponent over confident by what may have appeared to the uninitiated as careless sacrifices Brian was able to force the sacrifice of Nathan’s Queen (a touch of confusion here?) and wring out a win in the second game. Restored to his old form Brian entered the game against Kieran and promptly brought tears of nostalgia to all as he allowed Kieran to take his Queen. He thought he was doing quite well in the second game until Kieran’s attack swept down and his position imploded.

 

Russell kindly gifted Andrew a queen in both games, and although Andrew had the edge in each time, the queen loss avoided uncomfortable endgames. Mark also pushed Andrew, especially in the first game during which endgame experience was the telling factor in a knight versus bishop finale. The second game saw Mark with black embarked on an ambitious piece sacrifice which was fun while it lasted, but white manage to ground down black’s well positioned queen and spatial advantage incrementally with careful play.

 

Allegro Trophy 2008: Current standings

All players to play 22 games

No.

NAME

POINTS

PLAYED

1

Andrew Robinson

6.5

8

2

Kieran Lyons

5.5

8

3

Russell Lyons

3.5

6

4

Nathan Shaw

2.5

4

5

Tony Howes

2

2

6

Mark Taylor

2

6

7

Brian Willcock

1.5

4

8

Greg Colwell

0.5

2

9

Peter Ford

0

0

10

John Roper

0

0

11

Josh Ford

0

2

12

Joseph Curtain

0

6

Allegro tournament 2008 results in detail

 

 

Quote of the night

“For some reason God decided that he would win tonight” – Nathan “Adams” commenting on how divine predetermination had affected his games with Brian.

 

 

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