Following the visit of Warley Quinborne last week, Redditch faced another stern test on Monday evening when they visited Kynoch. Kynoch have arguably the strongest team in the division and they mustered their full strength side for this match. The match got off to a somewhat intersting start when when Andrew Wiggins failed to arrive on time for Redditch on Board 4 and David Ireland and Ed Goodwin for Kynoch on Boards 1 and 5 - one of whom would definitely come to regret this later on.
Board 3 was the first game to finish. Kynoch's Keith Ingram played his favourite Bishop's Opening against Dave Spowart. a greater familiarity with this opening and a 30 point grading difference proved to be too much to handle and Dave found himself facing an uncomfortably short defeat. Whether or not Ed Goodwin's late arrival had an effect on his play is unclear; however, he showed signs of rustiness in his first match of the season against Peter Seeley on Board 5. After losing swiftly to a player graded 157 last week, Peter had joked before this game that he should have an easier game against 155-rated Ed. He certainly hadn't expected to face a lacklustre Trompowsky Attack and a draw after 24 moves to record his best result to date! Tom Robinson continued his run of good form on Board 2. Nick Roberts castled into an attack against him and Tom recorded yet another victory - this one against a player ranked ten points higher. Unfortunately for Redditch, two wins followed for Kynoch. Andrew Wiggins held on until the end against an opponent graded 30 points ahead of him in Tony Hickey when he dropped a bishop. Giles Stanton made a great start against Larry Wright's Philidor Defence, winning a pawn. However, he could not hold this and ultimately had to concede defeat. With Kynoch two points up, the match was sealed but play continued on Board 1 where Daniel Lambourne was a pawn down against David Ireland in a Rook & Knight endgame. David seemed to have an initiative; however the 25 minutes he lost at the start as a result of his late arrival had an impact and Daniel was able to claim a victory in a time scramble. Although they lost the match, Redditch can atke heart from an excellent display.
Tuesday saw the Division 4 side commence their league campaign with a trip to Olton B. Having unfortunately lost his resumed match to hand Olton 2 a 4-2 victory in the Townshend Trophy last week, Derek Abraham faced a trip to Olton for a third successive week. His most recent trip, however, was a much happier one as he soon found himself a rook up against Bramwell Garner. Coupled with a lead attack, this led to a swift and much-needed victory for Derek. This victory was followed by three draws on the top three boards. Steve Crockett and Kevin Day on Boards 1 and 2 both won pawns but were unable to capitalise. Peter Seeley dropped a pawn in the opening but soon won this back and then went a pawn up himself at the cost of a weakened pawn structure in the endgame. After he felt he was winning the game, he made an innacuracy to promptly had the pawn and the initiative back to experienced opponent Tom Evans. However, Tom once again conceded the initiative, allowing all pawns to be exchanged off, resulting in a draw. As the end of the session approached, Giles Stanton and Richard Evans looked to be heading into an endgame that could only result in a draw. However, Richard made the classic mistake of leaving his back rank unprotected, allowing Giles a mate-in-one opportunity that was promptly snapped up to claim the match for Redditch. Michele Clack was a pawn down at the end of the session with the match to be completed at a later date.
Redditch continue their Division 4 campaign next week, welcoming Solihull. With Redditch having won their opening match and Solihull having lost theirs, a repeat would certainly be appreciated!
Closing thought: "Life is like a game of chess, changing with every move." - Chinese proverb
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