Ian Davies, B Team Captain, reports:
“Your illustrious B team climbed into second place in division 2 after it secured a 3½-1½ victory over Telford C on 28th Nov.
Mark Smith continued his superb form after a win on top board. Playing black in a Queen Pawn opening in which White obtained a slight advantage but then went wrong, Mark showed all his experience by winning a King and Pawn end game. I then made it 2-0 after winning on board 4 against newcomer Rae Roberts. After I made a right mess of the opening, when my opponent could have simply won a pawn, I couldn’t believe my luck when he gifted me a piece. After that, though, I gave a master class in attacking chess against an exposed King and finished the game off by winning the Queen by forcing his King onto a square where I could fork both pieces with my knight. Tal would have been proud!! Ivor then agreed a draw on board 3 in another King and Pawn endgame, when he couldn’t force his passed Pawn through against Andy Jones.
Norman then secured the points after an excellent combination resulted in the demise of his opponent’s Queen. Lovely to watch how he did it. Tony was having a torrid time of it on board 5 where his opponent played the quite rare King’s Indian attack as White. Tony was holding his own quite comfortably until he trapped his own Queen in a very complicated position and was mated after putting up a valiant resistance. Not a good night for the Queens as it turned out!
Next up are Wellington B on December 10th where we could go top. Watch this space!”