On 10 March we visited the Wheatsheaf in central London to play Albany. Like us, they are fighting hard to stay in the first division. On virtually all boards there was little in the way of rating differential.
Acting captain Mark, as Black, played a Pirc that transposed into a Closed Sicilian. In his own words: “My opponent was too slow in the centre which led to the win of a pawn but I should have opened the centre before capturing it. Instead the position got bogged down; with just queens, rooks and pawns remaining, I couldn’t see a way to win and even thought he might be able to develop a kingside attack. Although the computer says I was up at the end, we agreed a draw.”
Jonathan also put in a sound performance, stating “My game was simple and solid. My opponent chose to meet the Bird’s Opening with a low-key set-up, and pieces were quietly exchanged. The computer sees no particular errors on either side, and in a position evaluated 0.00 we agreed to a draw.”
It was good to see Jack return to the team. He comments on his game: “I played the Reti against my opponent’s Semi-Slav setup. Black pushed with e5, but White exploited a pin on the c-file to switch to a favourable Sicilian structure. White had two strong fianchettoed bishops with powerful knights on e4 and d4 – a very dominant position. Overconfident, I opted against a key prophylactic move, and the advantage dissolved, while Black snatched the e-pawn. My opponent steadily improved his position in an opposite-coloured bishop middlegame, and then seized victory with a neat queen and knight checkmate.”
Reflecting on his game, Alan writes: “For the third Albany match in succession I was up against Maxim Dunn whose ECF rating has been rising steadily. He started with the Reti (1.Nf3) and the game transposed to a King’s Indian, Makogonov Variation (6.h3). I hadn’t looked at this for a long time and I struggled in the opening, using up a lot of time. He developed a queenside initiative but just as things were looking bad for me he lost his way. After he exchanged his black-squared bishop for my knight the position was about equal. I was unable to profit from this reprieve because I immediately went wrong with …f5 allowing him to activate his rook on g1 after gxf5. After further errors his other rook arrived on a7 and his two rooks combined to pin and win my bishop on g7.”
On board four, Tony observes: “I played Black against the Four Knights in a variation that can also be reached via transposition from the Scotch. Fairly early the queens were exchanged and further material thereafter. I think my opponent held a slight advantage at one point in the endgame but the exchange of his better pawn for my more vulnerable one, made the position level. With just a rook and a couple of pawns each, we agreed to split the point.”
The last game to finish was our top board, Andrew, who played well against the respected IM, Thomas Rendle. Andrew summarises his game thus: “After a complex Spanish middlegame, a temporary pawn sac with e4-e5 d6xe5, Nc3-e4 enabled my two knights on e4 and c5 to dominate his two bishops, but cost me a lot of time on the clock. A few moves later, with me likely to come out a pawn ahead, but with two minutes remaining to his 10, I was happy to accept his draw offer, judging his time advantage to be worth about a pawn in a still complex position.”
Although this 4-2 defeat was a disappointing result, we retain good chances of competing in the Middlesex first division next season.
| Albany | Rating | Result | Ealing | Rating |
| IM Thomas Rendle | 2428 | 0.5-0.5 | FM Andrew Harley | 2164 |
| Maxim Dunn | 2182 | 1-0 | Alan Perkins | 2143 |
| Vincent Sagues | 2034 | 0.5-0.5 | Jonathan White | 2015 |
| Robert Stern | 1967 | 0.5-0.5 | Tony Wells | 2000 |
| Iozeph Okosiemev | 1909 | 1-0 | Jack Sheard | 1878 |
| Howard Groves | 1898 | 0.5-0.5 | Mark Winterbotham | 1847 |
| 4-2 |