The omens for this match did not start well tonight. First David was held up at work and was running late and had to make his own way to Saxmundham.
Adam was caught up in London traffic and was likewise running late, but as he was providing the transport, that meant Andy and Phil would also be late.
John and Jim were therefore our only two players on site at 7.30, but as Saxmundham didn't appear to be in any hurry for a prompt start, we weren't
either. Meanwhile, our three top boards managed to make up some time on their way and arrived just before the match got under way (was that Adam's
driving, or just an empty road?). Unfortunately David was not so lucky and also had a problem locating the venue and went home a very unhappy bunny.
Omens not withstanding, we managed our first win in this competition, at least the first win we can find a record of. Last year we drew both of our
matches 3-3, and before that we have to go back thirty six years before we can find a record of Manningtree appearing in this competition, and we
lost that match 4-2. Of course, we may have made other appearances that have yet to be unearthed that may show us winning, but one thing's for
certain, this is the first time Manningtree have reached the final of the Suffolk section of this cup.
Jim finished first and faced 1.b3, a move that seems to be having something of a renaissance. Steady development on both sides led to a rather bland
game, and with an early exchange of queens and three minor pieces the prospects for fireworks were virtually zero. John followed in similar fashion
and after thirty moves was offered a draw. After looking at the other games, and being unable to determine if they would deliver sufficient points
he turned it down, only to offer it himself several moves later when the position had become even more sterile.
Phil then levelled the match. From a Scotch Opening by transposition, he eventually won his opponent's a-pawn and advanced his own a-pawn to the
seventh rank, tying his opponent's queen rook to passive defence. His opponent tried a counter action on the king's side with queen, rook and h-pawn,
but Phil responded with an advance of his e and f pawns, creating a passed e-pawn, which also reached the seventh with decisive threats, forcing
immediate resignation.
Adam now put us in front with a somewhat unconventional opening, but very active piece play in which Adam was "forced" to sacrifice the exchange.
Mind you, his opponent was unwise to accept it, and while the ending looked doubtful to most of us (even though Adam now had two pieces for his rook)
Adam was in no doubt, he saw the win and executed it with his usual precision.
We now had the minimum three points we needed to progress to the final, as board elimination would see us through in the event of a tied match.
Although at this stage the tie-break appeared purely academic as Andy was cruising to victory (or so we thought). After a long game, with two
extra pawns in a Q+B v Q+N endgame, Andy appeared to be making slow, but inexorable, progress towards victory. In an easily won position,
Andy sacrificed queen for knight to force home his passed a-pawn, expecting his opponent to resign. But wait: the queen capture prevented
the pawn's advance, leaving Andy with a lost position! However, his opponent (perhaps rather generously) felt that he did not deserve the
full point, and sportingly accepted Andy's draw offer.
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