Legal V Insurance

Match report Insurance

This Bronowski Trophy match was played at the offices of S.J. Berwin. They provided the refreshments, we provided 12 of the 16 clocks! Legal won the toss, and chose white on odds. Five of their players appeared to be ungraded, and we outgraded them on nearly every board, on some boards significantly. I could have played several boards higher but, hoping for an easy game, I played on board 15. Unfortunately, the top 12 games were played in one room, and the remaining 4 in the room next door, so I had to keep popping from one room to the other to see how we were getting on! Paul Barclay’s opponent failed to appear, so we went 1-0 up after half an hour. A crucial point, as it turned out! Ray Hamilton, on board 16, was late, having gone first to Belgrave Road! I think he arrived just within half an hour of the start, but his opponent had, sportingly, not started his clock, and had gone back to work! He was summoned once Ray arrived. Martin Page quickly got on top, and was our first winner over the board. My opponent, graded 98, played an opening I was unfamiliar with, and I quickly got into trouble. I later resigned what had been a nightmare game in a hopeless position. So much for expecting an easy game! Ian Calvert then drew, as did, much later, William Diffey, and Anthony Kent and Gary Callan won. Julian Farrand then lost on top board against Clive Wismayer, having also lost to him in the [Combined Banks and Insurance Chess] League a week earlier! David Sedgwick and Ian Hunnable drew, but Ian Reynolds lost. David Cannan was down on material, but his opponent’s king was exposed and his QR and QB were undeveloped. The king got to safety, though, the queen’s side pieces got developed and David eventually lost. Colin Bartlett won the exchange, and eventually converted this into a win David Malcolm and Michael Wiltshire then lost long endgames, which left Ray Hamilton needing to win for us to draw the match. He was two pawns up for a long time, but seemed to be doing his best to lose a won game! He nearly succeeded! He allowed his opponent right back into the game, and, near the end, offered a draw, which would have cost us the match and the Bronowski Trophy! Fortunately his opponent, by then in a much better position, declined the draw offer! At the end of the game Ray’s opponent resigned, as I think he thought he had been mated (but he hadn’t been)! So, a hard-fought and somewhat fortunate 8-8 draw, in a match which, on paper, we should have won easily. -- Geoff Naldrett https://bronowskitrophy.wordpress.com/records/competitions/2004-2005/

Daniel Lindner