Div3: TBGS v South Hams

On Board 1, Ben was in a reasonably comfortable position at the tea break, and a pawn up. Immediately on resuming he made an uncharacteristic blunder (what did they put in his tea?), resulting in the loss of two pieces in three moves.

On Board 2, Roy somehow found a way to go a piece down only to win it back, and then he finished his opponent off with a strong central attack on an unprotected King.

On Board 3, Phil’s young opponent played well until move 15 when he allowed a knight to be pinned and hence captured by Phil’s d-pawn. This pawn was definitely man-of-the-match, as it advanced to the 7th rank where the threat of Queening tied Black in defensive knots.

This meant that on Board 4 Tony needed a draw to force a team win. This game went to a tense end-game, with both players having a rook and 4 pawns. The advantage swung backwards and forwards several times before his opponent succeeded in removing the last of Tony’s pieces, with a pawn left that couldn’t be prevented from Queening.

This means that the record of the Division 3 team so far this season is Played 3, Drawn 3.