U20 league ends with a surprise, our team is Munich Champion!
We took part with four teams; I must admit that, despite our many young members, we cannot yet adequately fill every board and that more support staff need to be present with such a number of new players. So much for the overall situation. Now to the promotion thriller of the first team.
In the first encounter we faced the MSC München, the league leaders, with the line-up Elias, Ardian, Flo and Tugrul. Florian was the quickest to reach a good position, the exchange up, and was able to take his first point for the team and for himself in the match, congratulations on that. On the fourth board Tugrul, with his pair of knights, was in a balanced position but with an immense time advantage; the opponent’s time was really melting away and in his haste he did not find the best moves, so that this point too was ours. Ardian, in his usual manner, manoeuvred the game safely into a favourable endgame; the opponent had to accept that he would have to sacrifice his last piece, his rook, for Ardian’s last pawn in order to enter the endgame with bishop and knight and test his opponent on a problem on which even chess masters have broken their teeth. Ardian managed to drive the king to the edge, but he had chosen the wrong corner and through a moment of carelessness caused a stalemate; this game was also watched closely. Despite the disappointment, the half point secured us two match points. One more win on the first board and we would have drawn level with the MSC even on board points, to within half a point. Elias stood a pawn up in the rook endgame, but his time melted away and he found no effective means against the tenacious opponent. In the end the game was even lost. But we had drawn level with the MSC on match points and led Zugzwang and Tarrasch by one point. The last opponent, Höhenkirchen, seemed at first glance a solvable task, since the team had collected only three board points. But we had to replace two boards: Elias and Flo had to leave. Fortunately there were still the other teams and I could judge who was in form. I especially liked the performance of Dominik and Maxim. Dominik managed a draw against 1300 and up, and Maxim scored points against opponents of up to nearly 1200. I was to be proved right. Maxim came straight to the second board and had Sebastian, a passive member of ours, in front of him. They had often played together online and also trained together with Felix and Christian; they had met, after the hybrid match in the summer, I think for the second time. Now the draw looks as if they had concluded an armistice agreement. According to Ardian’s report, however, the underdog Maxim was winning and allowed the equaliser through a mistake. I congratulated them both; with this half point we were through and had done the bare minimum for success. Ardian also drew. But we still needed help from Zugzwang, who were playing against the MSC. Here too we had a stroke of luck: the MSC’s top board was 10 seconds late after the grace period and lost! Zugzwang led 1-0, only one more point and we would be champions! The lads played well and took another 1.5 points, so that they became runners-up, congratulations to them and also to the third-placed MSC.
On the question of whether we have six boards and how things continue. With Niklas Heinisch, who has already played for us in the adult section and is now allowed to play in the youth section as an active player, we have a further reinforcement for the Landesliga. With Elias, Niklas, Ardian, David, Lukas and Vroni we would have an average of around 1650 on six boards! That should surely be enough, especially since further good players are waiting for their chances on the bench with Moritz, Tugrul, Dominik, Flo and so on at around 1400 DWZ. The promotion of the second team is a foregone conclusion. The first date in the Landesliga is 20 November; we need this large squad, since the Munich U14 and U16 championships will also take place in November. So, just as it should be in chess over a whole season, action every weekend. On top of that come the D teams in the Munich Team Championship, in which many youngsters will also take part.
We are proud of the team and also of our young club with many youngsters. It is the third team trophy within three months:
German runners-up U10, Bavarian Champion U12, Munich Champion U20!
11.10.2021** Successful restart of the rapid tournaments in Munich and simultaneous online tournament**
Results over-the-board tournaments:
Results online tournaments:
https://lichess.org/team/moosacher-online-open-getrennt-nach-altersklasse
09.10.2021
A moving day today, final preparations for the Open tomorrow and three teams in action in the U20 league. - Nerve-racking thriller in the first round of the first team against Zugzwang; the adversaries Elias and Edwin have to face each other again, Elias stands worse but it comes down to a time-scramble battle, he wins with 3 seconds on the clock! (So the duel series now stands 3 to 1 for Elias; the games are always exciting). Lukas takes both points confidently on his first appearance in the U20 team and also plays brilliantly with the big ones between the rounds; the team convinces and gives hope for a good result; the next opponents are Tarrasch, Garching2 and Aschheim/Feldkirchen/Kirchheim2
03.10.2021
David also makes Bamberg unsafe! Two first places within two days! Inspired by the Bavarian Championship with the U12 team yesterday in Postbauer-Heng, he also takes gold in the individual event in a dramatic final against Benedikt!
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