Commercial V Insurance

Match report Insurance

I got a stronger side out than I did against the Legal League, but still struggled in the end to get 16 players, again with no reserves. Messrs Berry, Farrand, Hunnable, Philpott and Barclay were available for this match, but Messrs Rich, de Coverly, Aldred, Wiltshire, Harris, Barrett, Kent, Humphrey, Callan and Bartlett weren’t, as well as some lower-rated players. Fortunately Brian Atkinson hadn’t had the operation in hospital he had been due to have, so was free to play. William Diffey cried off on the day, as he was at home on holiday, but Jim Roberts happened to be in London that day, and put off his game with Eric Lovegrove to play for me instead. Kevin Parrott was happy to be a “floating” reserve, but had to be pressed into action! Insurance had a slight grading edge on the higher boards, but Commercial had more strength in depth, so a very close match (we needed to win) was in prospect. Commercial won the toss and chose white on odds. Ray Hamilton failed to appear, due to a misunderstanding, which put us 0-1 down after half an hour. Brian Atkinson then drew, and Ian Reynolds had a quick win on board 3 against a 189 to level the match scores. Jim Roberts then lost, having conceded 26 grading points on board 14. Tony Paish then won, Ian Calvert drew (after very nearly two hours’ play!), and David Sedgwick won to put us into the lead for the first time. Julian Farrand, Martin Page and Stephen Berry then all won, and John Philpott drew, to give us 7½ points, with just one more point needed from five boards for us to retain the Bronowski Trophy. We almost had the trophy within our grasp, when I heard that Paul Barclay and David Malcolm had lost. My game was clearly lost in the latter stages, and Ian Hunnable’s position had looked hopeless for some time, so I told Kevin Parrott that he needed to win. He looked to be winning, though he was conceding 9 grading points, but the position was complicated. Kevin took my advice and then did indeed win, to secure the Bronowski Trophy for us for the fourth consecutive year! The hero of the hour! Well done, Kevin! Ian Hunnable then announced that he had drawn, to give us 9 points. I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t! He had played on a minor piece down for some considerable time, as his opponent was short of time, and somehow managed to save the game. With the pressure off I could then lose on time, in a clearly lost position, to their captain Mike Wickham, knowing the match was already won. I seem to be making a habit of playing in the last game to finish! Mike had sacrificed a bishop for two pawns in front of my king, and it looked good for me until I did an incorrect king move, allowing him to win material. A very good team performance, particularly from our top five boards, who garnered four points for us! -- Geoff Naldrett https://bronowskitrophy.wordpress.com/records/competitions/2003-2004/

Daniel Lindner