Report by Mike Naylor-Eade
Gambit 2’s excellent season continued on Wednesday with a 3-2 win against a full strength Ashfield 1.
First to finish was Felipe who lost to Dan Hardman after getting a bit cramped in the opening and never finding a way to equalise. The other games looked a bit more promising with Jan having a nice space advantage and Drag seeming a bit better against Jerry Herrington’s Sicilian. Pete was engaged in a complicated battle with Paul Madden (that’s code for – I couldn’t tell who was doing better), and I was withstanding some pressure from John Molyneux.
After many more moves the match began to clarify. Drag had converted his space into first one extra pawn, then another, but Jerry had drawing chances as it was Rook and Bishop vs Rook and opposite-coloured Bishop. Drag avoided the rook exchange and was able to get the more active king after which his opponent resigned. 1-1
Meanwhile, Jan had converted his space advantage into an exchange; the board 1 game was still a “complicated battle”; and John had pulled the trigger against me with a tactical sequence that gave up the exchange for a very dangerous pawn on the 7th rank and a minefield of knight forks.
A draw was agreed on board 1 so maybe they couldn’t tell who was better either. Eagle-eyed Drag pointed out a lovely tactic for Pete later though: a bishop interference at d6, instead of moving the threatened queen, which would end up winning an exchange.
My game also finished as a draw as I was forced to give back the exchange to one of those pesky forks, but got rid of the advanced pawn into the bargain. I was a pawn down in the ensuing rook + 4 v rook + 3 ending, but had the more active king and was able to parley that for one of the pawns. 2-2
The match was decided by Jan’s win on board 3. Steve Burke was defending tenaciously on his increment in a blocked up position where he had knight and rook versus Jan’s two rooks. Jan kept control of the open g-file though and eventually used it to invade with the rooks and forced a decisive win of material. 3-2 to Gambit
Next up is Mansfield for a top of the table clash!