Report on Schachfreunde München e.V. II and III: draw and defeat
(mh) The opponents of the 2nd team, TSV Wertingen, were on paper very strong on the first two boards and less strongly manned on the other two boards. Fabian on the fourth board was able to gain an advantage in the middlegame and then profited from a mistaken move by his opponent. Elias, by contrast, was not on such good form that day. He let himself be lured into mistakes by his flawlessly playing (unrated) opponent and then resigned, frustrated.
Jürgen was able to play himself into an advantage with a poisoned pawn and constricted his player severely. After the opponent left a bishop hanging, it stood 2:1 for us. Dimitri then unfortunately also had to concede defeat in the endgame due to a distant passed pawn, so that unfortunately we only drew 2:2. The opponent probably would not have agreed to a draw earlier, because at that point it stood 2:1 for us.
With three match points we are in any case very well placed.
The 3rd team had to deal with the Hamburg HSK VIII (!), a youth team, a very strong opponent who was also only playing their first match. Richard had arranged that we would also field youth players. In summary I think everyone played very well and the result (0.5:3.5) does not reflect the performance. Alexander played very fast and unfortunately built in a few too many mistakes. Benedikt almost pushed a passed pawn through, but was then too hasty and forgot to secure it, so that he afterwards stood against three connected pawns and had to resign. I myself also stood better and, due to a lack of time, did not dare to make a complicated move that might have decided the game in my favour. Since I (and my opponent) then only played with increment afterwards, a wild endgame developed in which I left my queen hanging.
Sinem’s fourth game became legendary. With fluctuating extra pawns (1-3 of them), Sinem went from the middlegame into the endgame, which was, however, only half the game. After the pawns had balanced out again, the opponent left a bishop hanging. She then fought passionately, however, and recovered the loss of the piece plus Sinem’s last pawn. After that she still had to fight and hold the draw, which was then agreed after 101 moves (!). So, as I said, well played but unfortunately not much won. For the third match day we attack again with a stronger line-up.