TAFCA WINTER LEAGUE ONLI NE MATCH REPORT: CF v DD
TAFCA WINTER LEAGUE ONLI NE MATCH REPORT
Thurs 17th Dec 20 – Div 2 – Castlehill E v Dundee D
Well this was the last TAFCA league match of 2020 and it could not have gone better for Castlehill E! One match started late, indeed I thought it was defaulted, but no it went ahead somehow? Apart from that match all the other matches were over by 8:30pm! Dundee D were massively out gunned and graded but then again you think…”banana skin“!
Board Four – (W) Subhayu Banerjee (1444)e v (1038) Max Whisson J15 (B)
On paper this looked a one-sided affair, with the very experienced and tricky Subhayu Banerjee versus an up and coming junior. The Pettrof Defence was used by Max and seemed to be holding up well. Yes Subhayu had a small advantage, but nothing more than that. But on move 9 Max missed an opportunity to swing the match in his favour by not playing 9…..Bb4(!), but instead played cxd5. Having said that by move 12 all was equal. Then Subhayu played a Bishop sack of sorts, but was it the wrong one?
Subhayu played 12.Bxa6?! What about 12.Bxh6!? Max played 13.Nxe3! -+ (with advantage).
But from there, Max seemed to lose his way (no plan of action!?) and on move 25 in control of the game, he made an error which brought Subhayu back into the game. To compound the error on the very next move Max blundered a piece by mixing up the combination and that was the end of that. A sore one for Max who had played well against his much stronger opponent, only to give it away at the end (snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?). Subhayu better to be a lucky player that an average “SUB”!
Castlehill E 1, Dundee D 0
Board Two – (W) Ed Walton (1481)e v (1220) Thibault Rosazza (B)
This match was more about Ed Walton’s opponent not taking him on and allowing him to almost get his perfect opening position. Moving into the middle game and Ed had the superior position and all the pressure that goes with that. So much so on move 19 it produced an error from Thibault Rosazza which lost a piece for no compensation and the game was over as a contest. Thibault did put up a gutsy fight and get back in but Ed was having none of it and steered the game to it’s end. Well played Ed, a real captain’s role!
Castlehill E 2, Dundee D 0
Board One – (W) Alan Woodcock (1343)e v (1500)e Euan Murray (B)
A fairly equal contest for the most part. Euan Murray was holding a small advantage being a pawn up. But nothing winning depending how you look at it! It’s strange how computers look at things in a different way sometimes. After 39 moves and with Alan a pawn down and only queens left for both sides, the engine had it as equal. It very well may have been but it would have required Alan to always play the perfect move and keep the queens on. On the other hand, a human would be taking a more positive view of the position as Euan was not only a pawn up, but all of his 5 pawns were connected! White’s pawns were split into two islands with the isolated pawn on d4. This would look like heaven to many black players, and uncomfortable for white! In the end that is what happened, Alan made a mistake (Now we know Alan is not perfect, but who cares!) and Euan snapped up Alan`s d pawn for nothing and Alan resigned! Well played both players, but the extra pawn and all Euan`s being connected was the decisive factor!
Castlehill E 3, Dundee D 0
Board Three – (W) Andy Kennan (1200)e v (1450)e Ognyan Kolev (B)
The match was late in starting, indeed I thought it had been defaulted, but then again obviously not! It was a cagey affair with both sides swapping small advantages until move 19 when Oggy started pulling ahead and by move 27 had a clear advantage! For some reason and only Oggy knows, he started making mistakes and by move 31 the imitative was back with Andy Kennans! Both players seemed at only 50% of their playing strength going by the way they both played? Something distracting them else where? Anyway Andy never let Oggy back in the game after that and in the end he just did enough to deserve the win!
Castlehill E 3, Dundee D 1
A expected and comfortable win in the end for Castlehill E which puts them on top of division two (tables on our home page). Guess that makes them a Christmas number one! Unlucky Dundee D who despite being out gunned, did have chances to at least get a draw out of this match. Some days it works, other days it unfortunately does not!