Match Report (by Martyn) - Ely Beet Bishops 4 v Bury Scorpions 1

A strong Bury team were despatched with relative ease in an inspired Ely performance.

The shock of the night came on board 2.  Richard, moving up a board to cover for the missing Mark, forced Alan Merry's resignation within the first 30 minutes.  The opening was routine - a closed Sicilian with Richard playing a standard plan of Be3, Qd2, h4, h5, Bh6, etc. against Black's castled king and fianchettoed dark squared bishop.  Richard duly opened the 'h' file and swapped bishops on g7, but with Alan able to recapture Richard's bishop with his kingside rook there was no danger.  Richard played Qh6, and the watching spectators idly noticed that there was no real threat of Qh8+ because after the king moves to 'f7' Black's Nc6 protects his Qd8.  Astonishingly, Alan then played Nc6-Nd4.  Richard blinked twice, played Qh8+ and Alan held out his hand, as he now loses the unprotected queen on the 'd8' square.

On board 3, Mike had a balanced position with queen, rook and knight for each player.  He then went for a combination which may not have been entirely sound, giving up his knight for some pawns and an attack.  Alan defended well and was able to force the major pieces off.  The ending looked lost for Mike, as he had only two pawns for Alan's knight.  But one of Mike's pawns was passed, and on the 'a' file, and Alan's knight was tied to the 'c2' and 'a1' squares to prevent a promotion.  The position was most probably therefore drawn.  However, Alan defended poorly and lost his knight and, soon, after the game.  

On bottom board Mike Tuplin ended up in a chaotic position with both kings exposed and pieces en prise all over the board.  Colin sacrificed to bring Mike's king further into the open, but couldn't find a way to take advantage and was soon simply a rook down.  After the game, Colin tried repeatedly to find the win, but it seems not to have been there, subject to the opinion of the silicon beasts.

Ed on top board played a quiet positional line against Martyn's Scandinavian.  White had a typical tiny edge, but Black tried to be too active with one of his rooks, losing a couple of tempi when it was then forced to retreat.  Black next went wrong with a pawn break in the centre, weakening his own pawns and allowing White to gobble up first one, then another.  However, Ed was in his normal time trouble, and in the blitz finish was only able to deliver mate with around 10 seconds left on this clock.