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The Eight Board League Knockout was won by
Bath 6 - 2 at the Pulteney Arms on Wednesday 2nd May.
A strong Bath team took on the league champions
Clifton at a new location in the heart of Bath.
David Buckley with the white pieces was first to
finish so advantage to Bath. Adam Stirling quickly followed up
with another win after blasting through on the kingside against Alan
Papier's Sicilian Dragon. Jody Johnson then reduced the
defecit with a win against Andrew Gregory. Score now 2-1 to Bath
James Jackson then produced some neat tactical
tricks to catch David Collier and put the pressure on Clifton - 3-1
to Bath with four boards left.
The remaining boards were in the balance, Nils
Grotnes -( Norwegian FM ) Bath's latest recruit was taking on John
Waterfield's Benko Gambit and a draw looked unlikely. Adam Musson
looked in trouble as Igor Doklestic was applying pressure with the
white pieces. Ben Edgell was involved in a double edged Rook & Pawn
ending with Gareth Morris. Jim Sherwin was making maximum use
of his advanced 'a' pawn as the game entered a Q & P ending.
Boards 5 & 6 finished in wins for Bath as both Nils
Grotnes & Adam Musson made the score 5-1 to Bath. Nils giving
up the exchange to enter a won endgame which ended abruptly after a
knight fork. Adam turned defence into a devastating attack in an
exciting game ( see Adam's extensive annotations to his game )
Ben Edgell entered a Rook & Pawn ending that may
have been drawn but fell for a Rook check and resigned instantly as
his king would have been outside the square and unable to prevent
Gareth queening.
Last to finish was Jim Sherwin who enjoys using up
his full quota of 1hr 30 min! Jim with the advantage of an advanced
'a' pawn and looking to add a second Queen on the board for the win
was allowed to deliver checkmate to end the proceedings for the
night.
Well done to Bath,
Dave Tipper |
