The U12 team makes it to the semi-finals!
It was by no means a foregone conclusion yesterday that we would qualify. Unlike the past two years, we went into the match as underdogs. We do have a broad squad, but at the top Lukas stands alone. Against the nominally weaker Vaterstetten players, it ended in a clear 4-0. Lukas needed the longest; only shortly before his opponent’s time ran out was he able to deliver checkmate. This emphatic win was not a given — both of the other favoured teams gave up a full point or half a point respectively.
It bordered on a surprise that in the next round we drew 2-2 against Gräfelfing. Above all when, after Lukas’s surprisingly quick win, we looked at the other boards. Chris was down a piece and a pawn, and his opponent was freeing himself. But he omitted some decisive moves that would have led to the exchange of a strong bishop, and after a further lapse Chris was able to launch his attack on the king. The tide had turned. After Saksham’s interim defeat, it stood 2-1 in our favour. Vedarth played a rook endgame a pawn down and could have held a draw. Two oversights in the endgame led to defeat.
In the next encounter against Garching we needed at least 1.5 points to maintain our lead over Gräfelfing. Chris brought us closest to this goal fastest; after a short time it was 1-0 for us. Barbara lost, however, so Garching equalised. Vedarth did better this time and drew against Garching’s overwhelming favourite. Unfortunately, Lukas on the first board could not take the point this time. But it no longer mattered — we had qualified and look forward to the semi-final on 26 June. Joining us are TV Tegernsee, SC Garching and Bayern München!