B is for (What Might Have) Been!

I felt a bit sorry for Frodsham tonight.  They had previously allowed us to postpone this fixture on the day it was due to take place, since I could not get a team together, while the new date was only confirmed at short notice last week and in the event due to unforeseen absences resulted in a weakened side on the part of the hosts, which was a shame since it resulted in a match that was needlessly one-sided.  That said, all was not entirely clear until the final moments. 

Neil Thorpe, making a return to Atticus this season, began in style checkmating his hapless opponent in fifteen moves.  Things were much closer of John’s board, where a London System led to an endgame where I felt John’s opponent, who was returning to competitive chess after a long break, was slightly generous to accept a draw.  Natasha showed her tactical nous to emerge a piece and pawn up out of the opening, and her technical understanding to convert this into a won rook and pawn endgame two pawns to the good. 

My game was a curious affair.  In a Closed Sicilian, the first capture did not occur until black’s twenty-ninth move by which time we both had only 20 minutes before the time control, yet by this stage white was already much worse, with a poorly placed king, an eccentric structure and little piece co-ordination.  And finally Ben broke through with a combination after a see-saw game, though not before he had caused a few jitters by only registering very late in the game that he was a half-dozen or so moves from reaching the time-control as his clock dipped below a minute.

Thus we registered our third win of the season, which keeps us healthily in third place in the table.  There is one more fixture to fulfil this season on 8^th April, at home to Wallasey, by which time I will have handed over the reins.  It has been an honour to captain this team.  In our sophomore season, our aim should have been to secure promotion.  Hopefully a new captain will be able to take up the cudgels to provide a keen and able squad with the challenges they require and deserve.