Match Report by John Foley

Kingston 2 only just beat Redhill 3 last night in the Beaumont Competition in the Surrey League 3-2 with one game going for adjudication. Stephen Moss holds a pawn advantage in the adjudication and will obtain at least a draw. The match was neck and neck throughout as the results came in 0-1, 1-1, 1-2 so it was only a last gasp effort by Julian Way and Nick Grey which turned the tide.

Redhill won on the bottom two boards after blunders by the Kingston players. James Foley grabbed a pawn too many in the Milner-Barry variation of the French and had to forfeit his queen. Andre Webster, playing after a break from chess of 20 years, was holding his own until the third hour of play when he overlooked a skewer. However the greatest blunder was from the player who had to withdraw from the team at short notice having only just realised it was his wedding anniversary!

Julian Way played on the passive side of solid throughout his game and offered the exchange of queens early on. In the king and pawns endgame Julian had a slightly safer pawn formation and was able to queen a tempo before his opponent. Nick Grey had complex game in which he sacrificed two queenside pawns for a lot of pressure which he converted into a piece for pawn. His piece was worth more than the three pawns in the endgame. Chris Clegg won in an even position when his opponent lost concentration and left a piece en prise.

The adjudication position
S. Moss – P. Dunican

0	0	0			0	0	0
0		0	0	0		0
0	0	0	0	0	0		0
0	0	0	0		0	0	0
	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0		0	0
0		0	0	0	0	0	0

White to play















Fritz evaluates white’s advantage as +1.2
Adjudication Decision 22 Dec 09 Win for White