The first round of the NECL knockout saw the three Colchester teams all playing on the same night. Both the A and B teams had unlucky draws having to play Division 1 teams. The A team were drawn against Writtle A, one of the favourites to win the cup and the B team were drawn against Witham A. The C team had a home match against Witham B. A number of players were not available resulting in the A and B teams having to poach players from the C team.
Colchester C were out-graded on three boards and lost a close match 1.5-2.5, they will now be in the plate competition. The A and B teams were out-graded on every board. Alex was on board 1 for the A team and was unable to hold a difficult position resigning when losing a piece was inevitable. John Duff-Cole played well against a much higher-graded opponent but lost a couple of pawns in the late middle-game. Felix pulled a point back with a good demonstration of the advantage of two minor pieces over a rook and pawn. Nathan then levelled the match after some unsound but dangerous tactics which gave his opponent the chance to go wrong. The final score was 2-2 with the A team winning after bottom-board elimination. For the B team Clive and Martin had solid draws, Norbert maintained his winning start as a Colchester player but result of the night was Svein's well-controlled win against an opponent graded 180 (33 points higher than his own grade) following an early piece sacrifice.
Two games are shown in the viewer below - the wins from Felix (annotated by Nathan) and Svein (annotated by Svein).
[Event "NECL Knockout"]
[Site "Witham"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kjenner, Svein"]
[Black "Coughlan, Stephen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C44"]
[Annotator "Kenner, Svein"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2015.10.14"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
{Witham A - Colchester B 2015 I did not know anything about my opponent. and
had no idea about his strength. That, I think, was to my advantage.} 1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Bb3 a6 7. h3 O-O 8. Bg5 Ba7 9. Nbd2
Be6 10. Bc2 {I read some place that it is safer to allow the exchange of the
light-squared bishops.} h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Nxg5 $5 {To me this seemed very
promising. (I am sure many will put a question mark to this move). If I knew
the strength of the player facing me, maybe I would sit on my hands and
consider more seriously to retreat the bishop.} (12. Bg3 {would be a
completely different game.}) 12... hxg5 13. Bxg5 Kg7 {During the game I got
impressed by the way my opponent manoeuvred his pieces to defend the position.
He got both rooks into play, the knight via b8 and also the bishop on a7,} 14.
Qf3 Rh8 15. Nf1 Nb8 16. Ne3 ({I also considered} 16. Ng3 {but on e3 it seemed
more flexible.}) 16... Nbd7 17. O-O-O c5 18. Bb3 ({Here, and also later in the
game, I considered} 18. Nf5+ {But here I did not feel the need to give my
opponent the chance to exchange pieces. I felt it would give him better
chances to defend with} Bxf5 19. Qxf5) 18... Qe7 19. g4 $6 ({As next note
shows, I should not allow black to play the ...c4. That's why I should have
played} 19. Bd5) 19... Rag8 ({I did not even look at the better move} 19... c4
{which my engine suggests as the best move. A line goes} 20. Bxc4 Bxe3+ 21.
Qxe3 Bxc4 22. dxc4 Qe6 23. f3) 20. Bd5 ({Maybe now its time to exchage some
pieces. It is not easy to hold the position for black. The bind is irritating
and the white initiative is dangerous.} 20. Nf5+ Bxf5 21. Qxf5 b5 22. h4) 20...
Nb6 {Here I did not even consider Bxb7.} 21. Rdg1 ({but I was tempted to play}
21. h4 {which is more to the point.}) 21... Nbxd5 22. exd5 Bd7 23. h4 Bb6 24.
Nc4 {Maybe not the best knight manoeuvre.} ({One good alternative was} 24. Nf5+
Bxf5 25. Qxf5 {The bind is still annoying black. Specially in his dawning time
trouble.}) 24... Bd8 25. Nd2 Qe8 26. Bxf6+ {The bind is no longer, so I might
as well get rid of my bishop to give room for the pawns to advance.} Bxf6 27.
g5 Be7 28. Ne4 Qd8 29. Rg2 ({My opponent had time trouble here. I should have
played} 29. h5 {which, beside being a better move, would been more difficult
to meet with little time left on the clock.} Rh7 {would have been a terrible
mistake because of} 30. g6 {and it all falls apart.}) 29... Rh7 30. h5 Kh8 {
And here Black got extra 15 minutes on the clock. To be honest I did not
expect Black to manage to get out of this, as well as he did. I think he
played these difficult positions very well. It was much easier to play the
white side.} 31. Rhg1 Qe8 $4 {The first real blunder in the game. As often it
comes just after the time control.} ({Better is to bunker in with} 31... Rgg7 {
The Black position looks solid, and it is not clear how White can improve the
position. Still I would not mind to play this positon as White. In the game I
had much better time on the clock, and new timetrouble for Black was
approaching.}) 32. Nf6 {The game is now lost for Black.} Qd8 33. Nxh7 Kxh7 34.
g6+ fxg6 35. Qf7+ Rg7 36. hxg6+ Kh8 37. Rh1+ Bh4 38. Qf3 Kg8 39. Qh5 Qf6 40.
Rxh4 Re7 41. Rg3 {Several moves were better, but I saw this forcing line and
did not really consider anything else.} Bf5 (41... Be8 42. Qh7+ Rxh7 43. gxh7+
Kf7 44. h8=Q) 42. Rf3 1-0
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.10.14"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Smith, Ivor"]
[Black "Schnell, Felix"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C02"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[Annotator "Barnes, Nathan"]
[EventDate "2015.10.14"]
{C02: French: Advance Variation} 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 e6 4. Nf3 Nc6 5.
cxd4 d5 6. e5 {The opening has transposed from a Sicilian to a French (Advanced
Variation).} Qb6 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. Bd3 Bd7 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 Nge7 11. O-O O-O $2
12. Bxh7+ $146 {The Greek sacrifice is sound - it is a good move in the
position but there was a better one.} ({One example of how dangerous the
position is for Black...} 12. Rb1 $1 Qc7 13. Bxh7+ Kh8 14. Ng5 g6 15. Qf3 {1-0
(15) Albu,M-Lecoq,E Huy 1993}) (12. Rb1 $142 $1 Qa5 13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14. Ng5+ Kg6
15. Rxb7 $18 f6 16. Qd3+ $18 {and the rook along the 7th combined with the
open kingside leads to a clear advantage for White}) 12... Kxh7 $16 13. Ng5+
Kg6 $8 {Almost always forced after the bishop sacrifice on h7.} ({Obviously not
} 13... Kg8 $4 14. Qh5 Rfb8 15. Qh7+ Kf8 16. Qh8+ Ng8 17. Nh7+ Ke7 18. Bg5+ Nf6
19. Qxg7 Kd8) 14. Qg4 f5 15. exf6 Kxf6 $14 (15... gxf6 $2 16. Nxe6+ Kf7 17.
Qg7+ Kxe6 18. Re1+ Ne5 19. dxe5 $18) (15... Rxf6 $4 16. Nxe6+ Kf7 17. Qxg7+
Kxe6 18. Re1+ Ne5 19. Rxe5+ Kd6 20. Qxf6+ Kc7 21. Qxe7 $18) 16. Nh7+ $6 {Solid
play from Black has panicked White into trying to recover the sacrificed
material - it would be better to have just kept the pressure on the black king.
} (16. Qf3+ $142 Kg6 17. Qd3+ Kf6 18. Rb1 $14) 16... Kf7 $15 17. Nxf8 Rxf8 {
White's attack has gone, the Black king is safe now despite the open nature of
the kingside. Black has two minor pieces for a rook and a pawn which is
normally enough for a decisive advantage in the middlegame.} 18. Bd2 Kg8 19.
Rfb1 Qc7 20. Qg3 Qxg3 21. hxg3 {Exchanging the queens helps to consolidate
Black's advantage.} b6 22. Bf4 Rc8 23. Kf1 Na5 $19 24. Bd2 Nc4 25. Ke2 Nf5 26.
g4 Nfd6 $19 27. f3 Kf7 (27... Ba4 $5 28. Rb4 a5 29. Rxa4 Nxd2 30. Kxd2 $19 {
The rook on a4 is trapped.}) 28. a4 $17 Nxd2 29. Kxd2 Nc4+ 30. Kd3 Kf6 31. Ra2
Be8 32. Rc1 $2 Bg6+ {Black is winning but missed a nice tactic to increase the
advantage} (32... Bxa4 $142 $5 33. Rca1 (33. Rxa4 $2 Nb2+) 33... b5 34. Re2 $19
) 33. Ke2 Rh8 34. Kf2 a5 35. Re1 Be8 36. Rb1 Bd7 37. Re1 Rc8 38. Rc1 Rb8 39.
Rb1 Kg6 40. Kg3 b5 41. axb5 Rxb5 $19 42. Rxb5 (42. Raa1 a4 $1 $19 {the a-pawn
can safely advance}) 42... Bxb5 43. Kf4 a4 44. Ra1 a3 45. Kg3 Kf7 46. f4 Ba4
47. f5 Bc2 48. Kf4 Bb3 49. fxe6+ Kxe6 50. g5 a2 51. Re1+ Kf7 52. g4 Bc2 53. g6+
Bxg6 54. Kg5 Bc2 55. Rf1+ Ke6 {White resigns} 0-1
| Date: Oct-2015 | ||||||
| NECL Knockout Round 1 | ||||||
| Brd | Col | COLCHESTER A | Result | WRITTLE A | Col | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | b | Alex Orava (165) | 0 | 1 | Dave Kraszewski (183) | w |
| 2 | w | Nathan Barnes (158) | 1 | 0 | Jim Howson (167) | b |
| 3 | b | Felix Schnell (e155) | 1 | 0 | Ivor Smith (160) | w |
| 4 | w | John Duff-Cole (89) | 0 | 1 | Robert Rodie (139) | b |
| (avg=141) | 2 | 2 | (avg=162) | |||
| Date: Oct-2015 | ||||||
| NECL Knockout Round 1 | ||||||
| Brd | Col | WITHAM A | Result | COLCHESTER B | Col | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | b | Stephen Coughlan (180) | 0 | 1 | Svein Kjenner (147) | w |
| 2 | w | James Steele (162) | 0 | 1 | Norbert Voelker (e140) | b |
| 3 | b | Chris Darbon (134) | ½ | ½ | Clive Bellinger (130) | w |
| 4 | w | Dave Pearce (130) | ½ | ½ | Martin Harris (120) | b |
| (avg=151) | 1 | 3 | (avg=134) | |||
| Date: Oct-2015 | ||||||
| NECL Knockout Round 1 | ||||||
| Brd | Col | COLCHESTER C | Result | WITHAM B | Col | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | b | Phil Daley (120) | ½ | ½ | Barrie Quin (121) | w |
| 2 | w | Pete Smith (119) | 0 | 1 | Keith Husband (114) | b |
| 3 | b | Brian Remmer (109) | 1 | 0 | Peter O'Malley (113) | w |
| 4 | w | Mark Johnson (100) | 0 | 1 | John Staplehurst (101) | b |
| (avg=112) | 1.5 | 2.5 | (avg=112) | |||
