As Dave, Richard, Yousef and I set off to play Carlisle A, we were under no illusion that we would likely get hammered but we were in good spirits anyway.
The match started promptly at 1 pm and it was some time before the first result. Richard, with black on board 2, outplayed George Glover to leave himself with a rook, knight and 6 pawns against George’s rook, king’s bishop and 6 pawns but all George’s pawns were on light squares, rendering his bishop virtually useless whereas, Richard’s knight was planted firmly on d4. Realising his predicament, George offered a draw which Richard quickly accepted. So, at least we wouldn’t be whitewashed.
On Board 3, Yousef had the white pieces against Alan Hiatt and his decision to abandon the Hungarian Opening, proved to be a good one. Yousef had a formidable attack against Alan’s king’s position and was a rook ahead. Unfortunately, he had to trade one of his rooks for a knight but was still a piece up with Alan’s king quite vulnerable but so too was Yousef’s and he was a few pawns down. Eventually, Alan managed to get his king relatively safe and offered a draw which Yousef accepted.
My game against Carlisle A captain, Paul Rivers, on board 1, was next to finish. Sadly, I missed a move to stay in the game on move 29. Had I exchanged rooks, the likely position after the smoke had cleared, would have been drawn but my Bc3 led to my downfall 7 moves later.
Meanwhile, on board 4, Dave had reached a drawn position against James Ovens, with opposite colour bishops and 4 queen’s side pawns each, I expected a draw at any time but both seemed unaware that the game was technically drawn and James refused a draw offer and was trying to win. Eventually, Dave’s clock ran down and he lost on time.
So, Penrith C, with a little more luck, could actually have drawn the match but alas, it wasn’t to be but we have, without doubt, won the Wooden Spoon!
See below for the latest table:
