Mixed results in 4CNL Rounds 7 & 8

Crowthorne’s 4NCL team had mixed results in this weekend’s (24-25 March) matches in Division 4 South.

We started well on Saturday, beating Oxford 3 with a score of 4-2, but came a cropper on Sunday, managing to lose 3.3-2.5 to Iceni 2 – despite outgrading them by an average of 224 points (Elo, about 30 ECF). Well played by the Iceni team, who all seemed to find the right moves at the critical points.

I hope to post one or more games from the weekend in due course.

Despite this setback, Crowthorne are still well in the promotion battle, lying in 3rd= position and only two match points behind the leaders (Iceni 2!). The final weekend over the Bank Holiday weekend 5-7 May will be interesting!

Mayhem in the Colle

The recent match between Crowthorne’s all-junior C team and Godalming D saw a fascinating struggle between James Love (Crowthorne) and David Archer. Playing the White pieces, David played a speculative Greek Gift piece sacrifice which gave him lasting compensation in the form of Black’s exposed king, and which also produced a tremendously complicated position for both sides.

James defended the position actively, and his extra material prevailed after several adventures: