Match Report

Match Details
Date Event Home Team Result Away Team
Thr 16th April 2009 Sheffield Division 1 University A 5-3 Barnsley A
Board Details
Board Home Player Result Away Player
1 Chakravorty Prasun ½-½ Butterworth Andrew
2 Chakravorty Mithun 0-1 Pogson Tony
3 Taroyan Youra 1-0 Hinchcliffe Gary
4 Blackburn Suzy ½-½ Hunter Ken
5 Azmiddin Mohammad 0-1 Greensmith David
6 Veledar Omar 1-0 Farrell Tony
7 Atherton Mark 1-0 Stevens John
8 Chen Yeon 1-0 Default

Match Summary

Match report by David Greensmith.

We went into this match still seeking the precious two points needed to guarantee Divison One survival. Our chances were dealt a serious blow before the match even started, when poor Martin found that the lock to his house had seized up and he could not open his door !
Fireman John tried his best to rescue Martin but to no avail, so we began the match a board down and with everybody below board two moving up a board.

Both teams top boards, Andrew Drabble and Jonathan Arnott, were absent but otherwise all regular players were available. Fortunately the University did not see a need to field either of their IM.

We lined up Andy, Tony Pogson, Gary, Ken, myself, Tony Farrell and John against Prasun Chakravorty, Mithun Chakravorty, Youra Taroyan, Suzy Blackburn, Azmiddin Mohammad, Omar Veledar and Mark Atherton.
We were heavily outgraded on every board except boards 5 and 6.

I finished fairly early, playing a good active game with black against Mohammad's awkward Trompovsky (1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Bg5). He achieved a slight space advantage but dithered and dallied, allowing me to open the key g-file with advantage and threaten mate with a powerful Queen and Bishop combined attack. He failed to find a defence and lost on time.

The first time I saw John's game he was aleady two pieces down; not sure what had happened but it was obviously very bad.

The most unfortunate result occurred on Board 6, where Tony missed a clear and immediate win after playing a strong game.
Veledar somehow grovelled out of the attack and emerged a safe piece up.

There was some explosive chess on Board 3, where Taroyan brilliantly offered up an unacceptable rook sacrifice which blew Gary away. Taroyan's great tactical awareness looked hugely impressive to me as a casual spectator, but was it all sound?

Board 4 saw a major disappointment. Ken totally outplayed Blackburn in one of my own favourite openings, the King''s Indian Attack, leaving her in a hopeless position two pawns down in a single rook ending. Then things started to go badly awry. Ken seemed unable to develop a clear winning plan, and Blackburn raced well ahead on time in the blitz play-off. Finally, Ken raised the white flag and offered a draw, which his opponent of course immediately accepted.

On Board 1, Andy seemed under a lot of pressure from Prasun in a Two Knights, but he stuck doggedly to the defensive task and eventually held on for a draw, while on Board 2 Tony once again comfortably defeated Mithun positionally, to complete a notable double over his 181-rated opponent.

So the final result was a 5-3 defeat, in a game which we could certainly have drawn and maybe even won had we taken our chances.