Winning at Home

The Southampton Chess League is well under way for the 2023/24 season, and after a bit of a slow start the C team managed to deliver a win in the 4th division, scoring 3 to 1 at home against Southampton Uni’s C team.

First to finish on board 4 was talented new player, Oskari. Previously winning his first rated game as a late substitution and 10 minutes down on the clock, Oskari continues to impress with another stellar performance. Coming out of the opening up a piece he sealed the deal by forking the king and rook.

Next to finish was Dan on top board. Playing a clean Caro Kann and wasting no time punishing an inaccuracy to damage white’s king side pawn structure, he quickly follows up with an attack leading to mate on move 29.

Your author Bracken finishes on board 3 next, after playing 52 moves in 2 hours and 40 minutes with another Caro Kann, this time playing very cautiously. Some chances missed on a half-open C file, he changes plan, pushes and wins a pawn. The resulting heavy piece endgame is put to an end after winning a full rook.

Finally Matthew on board 2 opens with an aggressive Vienna which becomes very complex before castling. Both players have chances at multiple points with precise play required. Unfortunately the clock put a stop to this and he flags form a decent lead on the board.

A big thanks to all the players for sharing their scoresheets, I hope to keep these updates coming as the season continues.