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Match report Insurance

Two players failed to appear. Julian Farrand arrived, saying that Ian Reynolds had been caught up in a fire on the Jubilee Line. I left a message on his mobile, but it was too late by the time he was able to respond to it. I had thought that Ian Hunnable, who also did not show, was affected by the same incident, but it transpired he had simply forgotten the match! He was most apologetic. I won the toss for a change, so chose white on odds. The rules specify that reserves must be applied from the highest vacant board downwards, so, with two non-arrivals and only myself in reserve, after half an hour I had to step in for Ian Reynolds on board 3, against A. Ashby (169, but had been 190) and we defaulted board 4. The match was once more split between the kitchen and the Pensions Ombudsman’s meeting room, on the 6th floor, and the ground floor room. I played an English as White, which turned into a Queen’s Indian. Ian Calvert quickly drew again against Bertie Barlow – their third hard-fought draw in a week! Most of the other top boards then drew not too long afterwards (Messrs Rich, Sedgwick, Kent and Valentine), leaving my game as the only one still going on on the PO meeting room! I got to move 30 and he had a passed pawn on d2, attacked and defended by queen and rook. He couldn’t make any more progress so, when I offered him a draw, which he accepted! Julian eventually lost on board 2 – our only other loss, whereas downstairs the games were more hard-fought. David Malcolm and John Philpott drew, but Martin, Tony and Paul managed to win, giving us the 7 points we needed to regain the Bronowski Trophy. In the last game to finish, Michael’s game, they played on in a time scramble until neither had mating material left, so that game was drawn and we won the match by a point. -- Geoff Naldrett https://bronowskitrophy.wordpress.com/records/competitions/2006-2007/

Daniel Lindner