Sutton Coldfield too strong in competitive Division 1 battle

Birmingham League Division 1

Lichfield’s Birmingham Division 1 team were out-graded on every board in their Guild Hall clash with Sutton Coldfield, and the opposition were ultimately too strong as the Lichfield team suffered a 4.5 – 1.5 defeat. The difference in strength was particularly stark on the top three boards, with Lichfield out-graded by more than 250 points on all three.

With Lichfield also missing two players from their strongest line-up, Yuriy Slobodyuk and David Pickering were very capable stand-ins on Board 5 and 6. David, playing Black on Board 6, was first to finish, playing very solidly to equalise to a drawn position within 20 moves. Yuriy on Board 5 lost a pawn in the middlegame. The game transitioned into a same-coloured bishop ending, and the extra pawn was enough for his opponent to find a way to win.

Maurice Staples, playing Black on Board 2, faced the King’s Gambit. He declined the gambit in favour of piece development, but his opponent engineered exchanges to leave himself with two bishops vs. two knights in an open middlegame position. The greater scope of the bishops made the difference and Maurice resigned with defeat imminent.

Playing White on Board 1, Ben Nevett-Farman found himself once again playing Henrik Stepanyan, graded 2279. Last year, the pair shared a ‘grandmaster draw’ in which both players achieved 98%+ move accuracy in chess.com evaluations. This year’s encounter was much sharper. Ben held an advantage in the middlegame, but then understandably declined a strong but risky-looking continuation. Henrik equalised, and the game ended in a draw by perpetual check. Another great result for Ben against a very strong opponent.

With Lichfield 3 – 1 down, the remaining games were now David Hulme’s game on Board 4, and Richard Anderson’s on Board 3. Both games concluded at about the same time, and with very different final positions. David had been under pressure early in the game but showed great resilience in fighting back. Richard had held an advantage earlier in his game, but had spent one-too-many moves mobilising his pieces, allowing his opponent to castle out of trouble, and then to sacrifice the exchange for a pawn plus counterplay.

The final stages of the two games contrasted wildly. Richard’s game finished with an agreed draw following a repetition of moves in a 2R vs. R+N + two extra pawns ending. David’s game ended with checkmate for his opponent in an amazing position where both sides had two Queens and lots of other pieces and pawns on the board! His opponent had a crucial extra tempo following pawn promotion, and caught David’s king in a mating net.

It was a great night of competitive chess at the Guild Hall, with Lichfield ‘valiant in defeat’ against one of the top sides in the league. (Match played: 29th January)