NICS @ Bangor

NICS travelled to Groomsport for the 2nd match-up against league leaders Bangor. Admittedly Bangor are well clear in the Division but considering the previous meeting at the seasiders, NICS could be in with a chance.
NICS @ Bangor

Boards in play

Both teams fielded 6 boards on the night with Bangor dominating all the boards except number 1 which was weighted in favour of NICS captain Mark Newman. Drew Ferguson opening on board 3 for NICS crashed and burned in disastrous fashion to Walter Wilson. Looks like Drew will be looking for something better to open with after a very poor showing in the past few weeks. Despite Walter's claims that he cannot play fast, the game was played at a quick rate with aggressive-play from Walter pushing White back dictating a defensive position. Drew just about weathered a frontal attack but miscalculated a trade missing a check to lose an exchange. With his defences in disarray as well, White capitulated.

On bottom board, Pete Storey defended against Ashley McWhinney who claimed an extra advantage with a 200 rating point difference. Pete castled K-side early and this perhaps let Ashley gain advantage on the Q-side as Pete's pawns started to fall; White castled Q-side too evidently expecting no real threat. However, both Black's Bishops sat in front of their King aiming straight at the White King. It looked like a stand-off in the centre as the Queens faced each other. Pete calmly moved his Queen sideways onto the a-file threatening all sorts of nasty things if he could get behind Ashley's King on the back rank; White parried with an effective a4. But Ashley didn't realise the Black Queen was also attacking the White pawn on d2 - assisted by a forward Knight and one of Black's Bishops. Worse, the Knight move not only exposed a check but in his attempts to limit the damage, Ashley let his Queen get caught in a horrible fork. A excellent manoeuvre from Pete to claim the game and balance the match.

Adrian Donford-Smith was also giving up a couple of hundred points to Gary Johnston on board 4. In an aggressive flurry of activity pieces came out fighting, and falling, at a rapid pace while most pawns were rooted to their starting squares. Not so the e-pawns which both disappeared to leave the file open. In what is now becoming somewhat typical for Adrian, a wonderful tactic pushed a lone Knight and in two bounds caught Gary in a double-fork with check. Adrian nearly took both Gary's remaining pieces in the exercise and Gary capitulated soon after. NICS take a surprise lead.

On board 2 Alan Burns defended against Alan McConnell. Mr. Burns was giving up almost 400 points and promptly dropped a Rook to give White a distinct material advantage. But both player's pieces were poorly placed to let a lost Rook seal the game. Instead, Black charged down the K-side as usual, targeting the h3 pawn with long-range pieces in attendance. The pawn fell and as ever Black marshalled his pieces for a coup de grace. White calmly did his own marshalling: pushing a pair of pawns to the sixth rank, teaming up Queen and Rook on the a-file and the final straw, exchanging Bishop for Knight to demolish Black's ambitions on the White King. White was now attacking on so many fronts with the advanced pawns restricting the movement of the defenders; its was not long before the pressure turned into mating threats. Bangor win to balance the match at 2-2.

Geoff Hindley defended against Ken Browne on board 4 giving up almost 300 points as well as white advantage. The position was balanced till Ken forced an exchange that removed most of the major pieces and all of the minor pieces too with a couple of open files; more importantly he had a pawn advantage going into the end-game. Some deft play from Geoff got his Rook behind the White King pinging a few backward pawns as he did so. Ken pushed his pawn majority but too slowly letting the Black King get active with the result that Geoff won a pawn back and stalled White's progress. After a bit of posturing it became clear that neither player had winning possibilities and agreed a draw.

It came down to the final board on 1 to determine the match. Mark Newman opened to Paul McGuigan. Paul had established a long diagonal, pawn chain more or less restricting Marks activity to the half-open e-file. But with a canny Knight move Mark's white Bishop targeted the pair of Knights at the root of the pawn chain while simultaneously Queen, Rooks and an advanced pawn pushed-down on Black's exposed King. In uncharacteristic fashion Mark committed to attack forcing exchanges and reducing his own forces to a single Knight fronting his Queen while Paul retained 2 Knights, a Bishop and a Rook. Black's King was in the open though and the two White pieces were able to co-ordinate to pressure the King. But there were too many Black pieces soon consolidated in defence when Paul arranged his Knights to defend each other making them more or less invulnerable. Mark came very close to committing a draw by repetition but instead tried to open the game and entice Paul into an unforced error as both clocks wound down. But Paul had more sense and the game closed up again. Eventually, at the second time of asking, Mark accepted the inevitable draw.

Sadly despite his frisky finish Mark could not get more than a half-point to balance the match over the 6 boards but in the league match, Bangor won out 3-2.

Navigation
News
Owen Wilson awarded Honorary Membership of Bangor Club on 28th Sept 2023 On Thursday 28th September 2023, on the 20th anniversary of first playing for the club in autumn 2003, it was with great... Sep 29, 2023
ECF National Club Championship An opportunity for UCU League Clubs to enter a prestige tournament in England Sep 27, 2023
Walter Wilson awarded ‘Special Lifetime Membership’ of Bangor Chess Club. Bangor Chess Club celebrates one of its much loved members Walter Wilson with a "Special Lifetime Membership Award" Sep 24, 2023
FIDE Rated City of Bangor Congress 23 Sept 2023 Bangor Chess Club continues to deliver top tournaments and brilliant opportunities to play chess. Brendan Jamison report... Sep 24, 2023
ECF : Online School Chess Events 2023/24 Information from the ECF on Online School Chess Events 2023/24 Sep 23, 2023
More news…
« October 2023 »
October
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031
Upcoming Events
FIDE Rated Groomsport Blitz Championship 2023 Oct 05, 2023 07:30 PM - 10:15 PM — Church of Ireland Parish Hall, 30 Main Street, Groomsport, County Down, BT19 6JR, Northern Ireland
LJCC - Belfast Qualifier 2023: 7th October An opportunity for Primary Students to Qualify for the London Junior Chess Championships and for Secondary pupils to enj... Oct 07, 2023 09:15 AM - 05:00 PM — Methodist College,1 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 6BY
FIDE-RATED Belfast City Royal Avenue Rapid Championship 2023 Event 4 of 10 in the FIDE rated NI Rapid Grand Prix 2023/2024 Oct 14, 2023 10:30 AM - 05:00 PM — 2 Royal Avenue
Ladies Day #1 at QUB Returning for another season, we are once again ready to host Ladies Day at QUB Chess. Oct 15, 2023 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM — Drawing Room, QUB Students' Union, 1 Elmwood Avenue, Belfast, BT9 6AZ
FIDE-RATED City of Bangor Autumn Rapid 2023 Oct 19, 2023 07:30 PM - 10:30 PM — Church of Ireland Parish Hall, Groomsport
Upcoming events…