In our 4th game of the season, the first team travelled to Corstorphine.
With most of our players outrated by around 200 points, we knew it was going to be tough. And that certainly looked the case when we started with a quick loss on board 5.
Dougie steadied the ship with a draw on board 2 – in his first competitive game in 8 years.
And, with Steve winning on board 3, we’d evened up the scores. But things weren’t looking so great in the remaining games…
Mike’s opponent had turned down a draw. Shahul had a losing position. And David G was struggling. So it looked like we were circling the drain.
Then our luck started to change…
Shahul’s opponent dropped his knight in a R+N+p v R+p endgame – resulting in a dead draw.
Mike won.
So we were 3-2 up and David’s position started to look less clear. He had B+2p v R+p but had advanced his two connected passed pawns. The position looked like a draw – or maybe even a win for David. He even turned down a draw.
Harry Houdini, eat your heart out!
But then David miscalculated and his position was lost.
So, a 3-3 draw.
In the end, a good result against a strong team.
3rd December, 2019