Uckfield 2 v East Grinstead 2

At the last club session, our second team had a really good night against East Grinstead 2, who appeared to have brought in extra strength from their first team to have a strong board 1 and an experienced team. That did not do them much good, as Benedict continued his great form with what looked like a very routine win on Board 5, and yet again completed in time for his parental collection time ! That said, from what I saw he did not rush but once he gained the advantage he finished with strong technical skill.  My game was strange as my higher rated opponent started offering a draw from about move 15, which I thought interesting as I knew him to be a strong player and time was not a factor. He had the best of the opening, which he wrote on his score-sheet as the Reti converted to a Benoni variation, whatever that means !  At the start of the middle game I felt I had regained stability and then he started offering draws, but I felt as the captain I could not agree without checking the team was in a good position, so I delayed agreement. Everyone else appeared strong though, so when he swapped off queens and rooks and it was apparent no-one could try for advantage without risk, I accepted the draw. Steve’s game on board 4 was very entertaining and at one stage he looked to be under great pressure, but when his opponent faltered Steve took the initiative and showed all of his former strengths, demonstrated for me by one move where on analysis a knight fork seemed obvious, but Steve reasoned otherwise and correctly pushed a pawn instead which gave him greater momentum and led to a very good win.  Artur’s game saw his experienced opponent mysteriously give away a piece and though he fought on and hard, Artur steadily pushed home the advantage to yet another very strong win.  Michael’s game I thought was even from the opening to middle with both having doubled pawns in sequence, first Michael then his opponent. Michael’s I thought was weaker but he converted to a stronger pawn structure and then showed he patience and tenacity he has displayed all season, incrementally increasing his advantage by degrees to yet another very solid win. 

So we won by a resounding 4.5-0.5, which I am still being ribbed about as having messed up the perfect score and thereby let the side down !  We are now sitting on top of Division 4 with a very healthy game points total.  I do think that we can and ought to be caught by other teams but that said, there is still a mathematical chance they may cancel each other out and we could hang out for at least the second promotion place, with our own last match being in March.