TAFCA WINTER LEAGUE ONLINE 2020-21 Match report: KA v CC
TAFCA WINTER LEAGUE ONLINE 2020-21
Wed 17th Feb 21, 7:30pm – Lichess
Div 1 – Kirkcaldy A ½, Castlehill C 3½
Oh what a league campaign so far for Castlehill C who before this match were sitting in 2nd place behind Dundee A! Could they keep it going against Kirkcaldy A? Well it did not start off too well as they were two players down and had to call in the reserves from other teams, in this case the “D” & “E” teams. Fortunately for Castlehill C, Kirkcaldy A had their own selection wows and also had to pull in two players from their “B” team.
Board One: Ray Noble (1591) CC 1 – 0 George Herd (1598) KA (click here for game)
George took an early advantage in the opening exchanges which forced Ray to re-route his queen and lose a lot of time. But when George made a miscalculation, or just missed Ray`s reply, everything turned around in Ray`s favour and a pawn advantage. Fortunately for Ray, but unfortunately for George, he compounded his mistake with “I did not see that” move, an illusion of sorts. Ray moved his h pawn to h5 attacking g6, George thought he could take the h pawn with his knight which was defended by the pawn on g6.
It was a bit of a shock when Ray played QxK+!! George had missed that the g pawn was pinned to his king by Ray`s white squared Bishop so lost a piece and resigned. We have all done it and even easier to miss online in 2D!
Kirkcaldy A 0, Castlehill C 1
Board Two: Shivia Subramanian (1444) KA ½ – ½ Andy Rowe (1572) CC (click here for game)
This was French in the trenches warfare from both players, Talk about digging yourself in for the long haul! Both Shivia and Andy kept to their own half of the board, looking at each other with mutual respect (maybe too much!) but not willing to engage. Neither could force a weakness from the other and neither was willing to take the risk to go for it as that looked like certain death to the one that did! A draw was a fair result in the end.
Kirkcaldy a ½, Castlehill C 1½
Board Three: Keith Rose (1515) CC 1 – 0 Peter Selbie (1262) (click here for game)
These two old campaigners have been around a fair bit over the years but still enjoy the chess battle. Like gladiators with wrinkles they faced off against each other with only one thing in mind…to win!
The opening exchanges went Keith`s way as he put an end to Peter being able to castle and also swapped queen`s off early! Peter choice the wrong way to swap queens off which left his King more exposed and black underdeveloped! On move 5. Bxf7, Peter played Ke7, protecting the Queen, but there is a better line?
Yes unbelievably, 5…..Kxf7! 6.QxQ Bb4+ 7.Qd2 BxQ 8.KxB Nc6
Keith took full advantage of his superiority and converted it into a material advantage which as the game entered the endgame proved too much for Peter to overturn, but try to he did, hoping to swap rooks off at the right time and be left with opposite coloured bishops. Keith had too much experience to fall for that one and a few moves later it was curtains for Peter!
Kirkcaldy ½, Castlehill C 2½
Board Four: Alastair Wood (1028) KA 0 – 1 Euan Murray (1500)est CC (click here for game)
Both players played well but Euan from the beginning started building up a small advantage which he took his time to convert, but he was never in any danger during the match. It was one of those matches were you forget blasting your opponent off the board because you are massively out grading them, and instead get a small advantage and bring it home without giving your opponent a sniff of a chance to get back into the game! A sort of master class!
Kirkcaldy ½, Castlehill C 3½
What a great result for Castlehill C which keeps them firmly in 2nd place behind Dundee A whom they face in their next match! Well played everybody, especially Keith and Euan who stepped up to the plate from team`s “D” & “E” to help out!
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