Hertfordshire chess

Barnet last year successfully won Division II of the Hertfordshire chess league last year (1996).

This year Barnet faced very strong challenges in every match in Division I. Nevertheless Barnet is guaranteed at least 2nd place in the league!

The fixture list for Division 1 and results is as follows:- (Thanks to Paul Georghiou our team captain for providing this information). The Hertordshire chess association web site will eventually have the full Hertordshire league table results.

Date	Against	Result
29th September 97	Barnet vs Hoddesdon I	Barnet won 3-2
13th October 97	Royston I vs Barnet I	Barnet won 3.5-1.5
10th November 97	Barnet vs St Albans I	Match drawn 2.5-2.5
18th November 97	Hertford I vs Barnet	2.5- 2.5 Games to look at! See below
1st December 97	Barnet vs Watford I	Barnet won 4-1
8th December 97	H.Hempstead vs Barnet	Barnet won 3.5-1.5
22 January 98	Hoddesdon vs Barnet	Barnet won 3.5-1.5
23 February 98	St Albans I vs Barnet	Barnet lost 4.5-0.5
9th March 98	Hertford I vs Barnet	Barnet won 4-1- report with pictures to have a look at!
16th March 98	Barnet vs Royston I	Barnet 4-1
23rd March 98	Watford I vs Barnet	Barnet won 3-2
30th March 98	Barnet vs H.Hempstead	Barnet won 4.5-0.5

This was a fiercely contested match, where Barnet faced the reigning Herfordshire League Division I champions. Indeed their top three boards:- Simon Knott, Paul Byway, and Swanson are also the top three boards for the Hertfordshire county team! We were fortunate in that they did not have Simon Knott on the night against us. Our new recruits which include Natasha Regan, Eddie Holland, and Peter Coleman helped Barnet put up a solid performance on the night.

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c6 3.e4 d6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.Nge2 0-0 7.0-0 Be6 8.d3 Qc8 9.f4 Bg4 10.Be3 Nbd7 11.h3 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 a5 13.d4 Ne8 14.d5 Bxc3 15.bxc3 cxd5 16.exd5 Ng7 17.g4 Qc7 18.Bd4 Rae8 19.f5 gxf5 20.gxf5 f6 21.h4 Ne5 22.h5 Rc8 23.h6 Ne8 24.Rab1 Kh8 25.Rf4 Rg8 26.Bb6 Qd7 27.Bxa5 Qa4 28.Bb6 Rxc4 29.Rxc4 Qxc4 30.Qxc4 Nxc4 31.Bd8 Ne3 32.Rb2 Nxf5 33.Rxb7 Ne3 34.Rb2 Nxd5 35.c4 Nec7 36.cxd5 Rxd8 37.Rb7 Na6 38.Rxe7 Nc5 39.Bh3 Ra8 40.Bf5 Kg8 41.Rg7+ Kh8 42.Rxh7+ Kg8 43.Rg7+ (sealed move) 1-0

Natasha Regan on board 2 held a drew against Paul Byway:-

0-0 9.Qb6 Qc8 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.e3 Nd7 12.Qb4 Nxc5 13.Be2 f5 14.0-0 Kh8 15.a4 Bg8 16.c4 Na6 17.Qxe7 dxc4 18.Ne5 c3 19.bxc3 Qxc3 20.Ndf3 Bf6 21.Qd6 Rbd8 22.Nd7 Rf7 23.Nfe5 Rff8 24.Rac1 Qb3 25.Bc4 Bxc4 26.Rxc4 Nb8

This is the critical position where white could have played Rc7 instead of Rc1. If after Rc7 for example, Qxa4 then Nxf6! is winning. If Na6 then Nxf6 is again winning!.

27.Rfc1 Nxd7 28.Nxd7 Rf7 29.Rc8 Rxc8 30.Rxc8+ Kg7 31.h3 Qxa4 32.Nxf6 Qa1+ 33.Kh2 Qxf6 34.Qb8 Kh6 35.Rg8 Re7 36.Qf4+

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 Qb6 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.cxd4 f6 10.exf6 Nxf6 11.0-0 Bd6 12.Bf4 Bxf4 13.Nxf4 Qxb2 14.Re1 0-0 15.Nxe6 Bxe6 16.Rxe6 Rae8 17.Rxe8 Rxe8 18.Qc1 Qb4 19.Rb1 Qa4 20.Bb5 Qxa2 21.Ra1 Qb3 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Rxa7 Ne4 24.Ra3 Qb4 25.h3 Ng5 26.Re3 Nxf3+ 27.gxf3 Rc8 28.Qa1 Rb8 29.Qa7 Qd6 30.Re1 Rf8 31.Re7 Qf6 32.f4

Black can play g5! to which white does not seem to have any defence, eg f5 Qxf5 Rxg7+ and then white is in trouble.

Rf7 was played, and a draw was agreed however! Eddie can be forgiven because he was down to his last minute on the clock!.

draw agreed

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 c6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Nge2 Nf8 9.Qc2 h6 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.e4

I believe now that this is not such a great move. By releasing the tension in the position, it becomes difficult to stop the game from "fizzling out".

Paul Georghiou told me afterwards, that he thought this was going to be a nice win for me. Unfortunately black can play very solid moves!..If cxd5 then Bb5+ looks like fun for example.