2022-23 Rounds 3+4 (all teams)

Rounds 3 & 4 have been and gone in the blink of an eye and our teams ... well, one did well, the rest ... not so well.

• Oxford 1 won both matches, beating Alba 5-3 and Sussex Martlets 1 6-2;
• Oxford 2 lost both matches, 2½-3½ to West Is Best 2 and 2-4 to CSC/Kingston 1;
• Oxford 3 were pummelled 1-5 against Average Wood Pushers A and ½-5½ by MASCeteers;
• Oxford 4, in the Triangle, lost both matches 0-6 to War & Piece A and 2½-3½ to SPTW Lionesses.

Individual performances come mostly from Oxford 1 as debutant FM Batsukh Anand was the only man to score a 2/2 weekend - he had to work for it, playing a total of 150+ moves! Will, David Z, Dima, Jon and Edgar all posted 1½/2, and lower down Ewan (Ox4) scored 1/1.

Highlights come mainly from Oxford 1, (a) because there are more and (b) skip saw the actual chess. He liked Dima's finish on Saturday, when Freddy missed the idea behind 22. Ne4. 26. Qh3 won the loose c8 rook indirectly via 27. Qh8+ and 28. Qxc8.

Will produced a novel self-pinning Ne2+ trick in this position to defuse some potential awkward White counterplay while he nursed an extra piece:

And we must not forget Kenneth's absolutely outrageous win on Sunday. He reached somewhere like the position left (position may not be exact - full game not yet available), trying to hold never mind win. Later it became the position on the right. How? Especially - how did the pawns become connected? We may never know.

 

Your skip considers himself educated by Kenneth's efficient finish from here. He would usually walk his king around to e2 or thereabouts, play Rd1+, swap rooks and job done. Not Kenneth, who likes playing for mate. It went 1. ... h2+ 2. Kg2 Rf4 (skip: "eh?") 3. Rb3 Rf2+ (skip: "ahh") 4. Kh1 Rf1+ 5. Kg2 h1=Q#. Much quicker than your skip's pedestrian king march!