Brown Jack Chess Club

 4NCL  04/05 -  Division 4B

We finished third in division 4B, one place off the promotion places.

 May 05 - Rounds 9, 10 & 11

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 Apr 05 - Rounds 7 & 8

Brown Jack maintained their place in the second promotion position

in division 4B after the fourth divisions 3 & 4 weekend (16-17 April)

in Telford. Tim Headlong was the team star, scoring two good wins.

Johnathan's win on Saturday was also impressive, he won in only

twelve moves!

As expected from the league's format, the promotion places will be

decided over the final weekend in May when the top 3 teams clash.

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 Feb 05 - Rounds 5 & 6

Against the Warwickshire side, the difference between the teams, both

in theory and in practice was board two. Peter went nearly an hour up

on the clock while still in the opening and was making steady progress

on the board when he was given three pawns in four moves. The other

five boards could all have had different results, but on balance the

3½-2½ score was probably a fair reflection of the play. Richard is the

first to admit that he was lucky. His opponent blundering in a position

where Richard would have been happy to hold the draw. Our 2-0 lead

was short-lived as Josh optimistically allowed the exchange of his bad

Kings Indian bishop only to find that e5 collapsed a move before his

opponent's kingside. an reached another rook ending, this time with

two extra pawns, but they  were doubled in on the b and d files.

Subsequent analysis revealed that only the immediate support of the

b-pawns with his king offered winning prospects but Dan was

distracted by the idea of invading the kingside and the game petered

out. Johnathan's game was an uncharacteristically dour encounter but

the resulting ending with two knights against two bishops was great

fun for him to play. It is difficult to imagine a pair of worse bishops

and the black monarch was simply unable to cope against a kingside

invasion by its counterpart and an assault on c6 by the cavalry.

Pablo's game was a complex and hard fought affair. A time trouble

blunder cost Pablo a pawn, the resulting ending offered no way back.

The match against Pontypridd was closer than the score suggests.

Jane blundered her h-pawn and with an exposed king was in real

danger of a quick loss. Both Hall brothers had scrappy, up and down

games but Josh always appeared stronger than his opponent and duly

put us one up. Tim's careful defence had refuted a speculative piece

sacrifice and Peter was nursing advantages of space and a better

bishop. Johnathan showed his confidence in the top two by agreeing

a draw, in a level position to 'win' the match and take the pressure

off Dan and Jane. An error duly enabled Peter to double the lead and

Tim was not required to play out R+B+N v R thus justifying

Johnathan's confidence. Jane's active and resourceful defence was

the highlight of the weekend. She gradually worked herself back into

the game and thoroughly deserved to salvage the draw. The

battle between the British U-14 and U-12 champions reduced to a

rook ending where Dan's active king proved more important than his

pawn minus.

It now appears that the two available promotion places from division

4B will probably be filled by two of the current top three teams, all so

far having maximum points (us, Slough 3 & Hilsmark Kingfisher 2).