20-11-2015, 10:13 PM
Chess has been described as a cruel mistress, and so it proved today.
At one point Alan had a strong attack going, Graham was completely level while Andy M's passed pawns looked set to queen and win. Only yours truly had a bad position, and even that had decent drawing prospects.
Fast forward half an hour or so and we had lost 4-0 to Denmark.
Quite how this score-line came about is a mystery, except that whatever killer instinct we arrived with in Iceland seems to have completely disappeared. Alan ran out of gas, Graham went astray, Andy M blundered into a mate and I missed the drawing variation because I wanted to draw more quickly, and missed a trick.
Tomorrow's match sees us take on Kosovo, the only team lower seeded than we are, and I fully expect us to bounce back with a good victory - I think we deserve a bit of kindness from our mistress for once!
At one point Alan had a strong attack going, Graham was completely level while Andy M's passed pawns looked set to queen and win. Only yours truly had a bad position, and even that had decent drawing prospects.
Fast forward half an hour or so and we had lost 4-0 to Denmark.
Quite how this score-line came about is a mystery, except that whatever killer instinct we arrived with in Iceland seems to have completely disappeared. Alan ran out of gas, Graham went astray, Andy M blundered into a mate and I missed the drawing variation because I wanted to draw more quickly, and missed a trick.
Tomorrow's match sees us take on Kosovo, the only team lower seeded than we are, and I fully expect us to bounce back with a good victory - I think we deserve a bit of kindness from our mistress for once!