Champions Continue to Struggle 14/1/19

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Created on Tuesday, 15 January 2019 13:18

Last Updated on Saturday, 19 January 2019 02:25

Written by sjb

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Atticus 2 continued to struggle this time against a Liverpool Team with 2 players missing.With some Atticus players unavailable due to illness Ben Ellington made his debut and nearly came up with a vital victory.On board 2 Steve Kee having come into the match on 4/5 was off form tonight and overlooked one of his opponents threats, however Steve despite being 3 pawns down almost produced an amazing victory as Mike Clarkes clock was running out.However Mike held his nerve with seconds remaining. On Board 3 Tom Bimpson had the edge over Nick Hawkins to give him our only victory of the night. On Board 4 Brian Ewart was on the back foot out of the opening and his opponent made no mistakes. On Board 5 Dave Stuttard came up against a very good Spanish (Female) FM who held firm against his attacking ideas and she was left with a very strong passed pawn early on.On Board 7 Jim managed to survive some early pressure out of the opening and looked to be heading for an equal end game but his opponent found some good tatics. On board 8 Ben seemed to have good chances and was well ahead on the clock but his opponent found some remarkable moves with only seconds remaining. The team need to regroup quickly before the big internal derby in a couple of weeks!

Scrapping it out

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Created on Tuesday, 08 January 2019 09:16

Last Updated on Tuesday, 08 January 2019 09:21

Written by John Redmond

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Not much to say about this match. Southport weren’t at full strength but were still pretty strong. We had lost Mark Wadsworth for this game but gained Dave Begg so can have no excuses.

Good performances from Luke, Tom and Howard, with Dave Begg and Mike also played well but couldn’t get across the line.

Dave Hurley and me were on another planet and got blown away.

We are now scrapping it out at the bottom of Division 2 with Atticus 4 so we need to improve our game a bit if we are to avoid relegation.

Our next match is away to…. Atticus 4 (although obviously, still at the Cross Keys) on Monday 21^st January.

Jim Wiseman (Captain)

Atticus 1 in the Wirral League

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Created on Saturday, 15 December 2018 18:17

Last Updated on Sunday, 16 December 2018 13:30

Written by SK

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Up to this point, home matches in the Wirral League truly have been 'the precious' and we tried to make the most of this one before someone informed us that we really should be playing 50 miles away in Mordor tonight. Perhaps home/away makes little difference in the long run, but I think our visitors tonight may have been the worse for wear, as we quickly seemed to find promising positions on each board. My game saw me make the most out of greater piece activity facing the Grand Prix Attack, whilst Luke's turned out to be a king-hunt, ending with the inevitable gotcha. Brian's game seemed unclear to us all, but unfortunately for his opponent, the Wirral time control of 35 moves in the first 75 mins was also unclear, as David thought it was 30 moves instead, and duly faced the consequences. Jim's game seemed the sort of position from which Karpov usually creates a win – so in other words, it was a stonewall draw! Tom was clearly material down at one point, but miraculously ended up in a winning position, but the team player in him knew a draw would be of immediate benefit to the team.

And so it was written, thus did Atticus 1 emerge from the whipping-boy role into the dawn of a brand new era!

Atticus 2 in the Wirral League

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Created on Saturday, 15 December 2018 12:04

Last Updated on Saturday, 15 December 2018 12:04

Written by SB

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A night of “if only”s and “what might have been”s. We got off to a fast start when Steve Winstanley demonstrated you should not accept a Smith-Morra Gambit lightly. Pushing e5 before the usual 0-0, Qe2, Rd1 manoeuvre looked a little premature yet the next time I looked at the board, Steve’s rook was on d8 and black’s queen was at the side of the board. I was not clear whether his opponent had simply blundered or it was a beautiful tactical coup, nevertheless Steve’s value to the team, both in terms of points, influence and not least transport, is invaluable.

Neil Tabor was the next to claim a decisive result to take us into a 2-0 lead. I did not see much of Neil’s game, so cannot really do it any justice. However I note he has only lost once this season, and looks on course to add to his +18 improvement in the last twelve months when the new grades come out in January.

Next to finish was yours truly. After an inaccurate opening, I felt fortunate I had not been punished, but thereafter a positional pawn sacrifice led to middlegame domination. Yet I could not put my opponent away as chances came and went and on move 35 as we reached the time control a catastrophic lapse gifted the full point to Wallasey.

This left just Natasha and Ben. Natasha had found herself at a material disadvantage after the opening but had fought stoically in search of counterplay and took the game deep into the ending before material simplification allowed her opponent to convert.

So back to 2-2, all eyes turned to Ben, who was in a closed middlegame position following a King’s Indian Defence. His opponent seemed happy to keep the game quiet, and Ben told me afterwards he had been looking at sacrificing either knight to create winning chances but could not find a way to make it work. With time ticking down, he agreed to suspend hostilities and a draw meant we tied the match.

A frustrating way to lose our 100% record, yet we stay unbeaten and half a point behind Wallasey at the top of the table, with a game in hand. We had a strong squad of improving players and simply need to find a level of consistency and we will surely maintain our promotion challenge into next year.