With a bit of beginner's luck and much more skill into the Oberliga (for now with a young rapid chess team on board!)
Yesterday the time had come again. The Bavarian rapid chess teams of the Landesliga Süd met on Saturday in the Hainhalle in Ismaning. We competed with a team whose average age was 15.5 years and whose DWZ average was about 1850! I could not be there from the start. In any case we reckoned on some chances. I joined later in the fourth round, and the match against city rivals SK Tarrasch was just under way; they had a clear overall DWZ advantage, as boards 3 and 4 were much better staffed. Leon was the quickest to finish here and had to give way. On board one, Niklas drew in a tense and nerve-racking game against Arthur; he had to defend skilfully with a bishop against passed pawns. Tugrul won on the second board against Markus Lipinsky. The biggest surprise, however, was achieved by Ardian against the Munich chess legend Manfred Tauber, who had almost 500 points more on his DWZ account. That was a narrow key win that moved us towards the upper half of the table.
Bayerwald were next up as opponents. Armin sat out against Niklas and a match on equal terms developed, as Leon on the last board and Ardian on the third board lost while Niklas and Tugrul took the points. That was already the third draw — we had also drawn against Augsburg2 and Kriegshaber2. The final round would be something like the little final. Either Gröbenzell2 or MSA Zugzwang would be next. It turned out to be the city rivals after all, who likewise seemed clearly better positioned on three and four. First Leon reported in with a confident look; he won surprisingly clearly. That’s how he is — sometimes he loses against a 1500 player and then takes the point against nearly a 2000 player. With Ardian it was the same: when it matters, he is there and takes the important points. Both ended up with three points each on their accounts. Niklas and Tugrul did somewhat better on the front boards, taking 4 and 4.5 points respectively. In the final round both drew; Tugrul in particular must be highlighted here — in a rook endgame with four pawns he let his clock run down to 10 seconds in order to later prove that he could hold the draw with the increment. Niklas did have a small advantage in the endgame, but Edwin was able to neutralise it. We could be fully satisfied with the result and celebrated 3rd place and qualification for the Oberliga at a nearby American fast-food restaurant.