Ocelots edged by Harrow 1

Tuesday 20 November, 2018

Ocelots captain Andrew Medworth reports:

“Last night Hendon 4 played Harrow 1 at home in the Middlesex League.

Harrow often struggles to raise a strong team for away matches, and I had high hopes of picking up a win here. My hopes rose further when Harrow announced they were defaulting Board 8 and that we outgraded them on all other boards.

Unfortunately, despite these advantages, we were not able to win the match. Harrow won on Boards 2, 4 and 5, and managed to establish a fortress in a king-and-pawn ending a pawn down on Board 3. Even on Board 7, we were somewhat fortunate to get a draw.”

Unusually, we do not yet know the final result of this match. This is because Jason Covey’s Board 1 game finished in unusual circumstances.

Jason was a pawn up in an opposite-coloured bishop ending. The position was a draw with best play, but his opponent was in very severe time pressure. The game ended just after this position:

The Harrow player played 62. Ke3 with just 4 seconds remaining on his clock, stopped the clocks, and claimed a draw under Article III.5 of the FIDE Laws of Chess, on the grounds that the position could not be won by normal means. (Jason had over 14 minutes remaining.)”

[After discussing the issue of Jason Covey’s game extensively with various knowledgeable parties, we reluctantly concluded that Jason’s opponent’s draw claim should be upheld. Harrow therefore wins the match 4.5-3.5.]

“All in all, not a great evening for us, but hopefully we can recover with a victory next week against Muswell Hill 2.

Many thanks to the team for playing! Thanks also to Oren Levene for turning up on Board 8. (In the end he played a graded friendly against me, which was a draw – having a non-playing captain means that we don’t have to send players home without a game in these situations!)”