With four straight wins since the start of the new season and a superb 5-1 demolition of Bath the previous week there was a positive buzz around Trowbridge ahead of the visit of a strong Nationwide side. Such was the anticipation at the Conservative club that when I arrived, barely five minutes before kick-off, I was concerned that I might not get in. A flash of my trusty press pass got me through the door, but it was standing room only for the horde of spectators.
Trowbridge’s early season form looked likely to face a stern test against a Nationwide team that on paper appeared to have a healthy grading advantage. With Paul Girdlestone absent it fell to Derek Rothwell to try to produce a miracle on board one against Nationwide captain Sven Zeidler. The mercurial talents of Paul Hatvany were closely matched on board two against Fenella Headlong, and there was a similarly tight match on board three with Mark Leonard facing up to Adrian Champion. The line-ups were rounded off with Gareth Williams pairing up with David Parsons on board four. With a probable loss on board one, Trowbridge would need two and a half out of a possible three on the lower boards if they were going to maintain their 100% start to the season. The pressure was on!
There was a solid start on board one, where Derek’s black pieces were looking to contain Sven with the Sicilian, whilst Paul Hatvany had opted for the equally standard Giuoco Piano. It was slightly less orthodox on board four with David Parsons choosing to decline Gareth’s queen’s gambit, but the early fireworks were definitely coming from Adrian and Mark’s game. 1: g3!!?! had sent murmurs of excitement through the crowd and this Benko’s opening (not to be confused with the equally exciting Benko gambit) quickly led to a highly unusual Bird's or Reversed Dutch.
Unsurprisingly Mark had quickly fallen behind on time and was trying to resist heavy pressure against his pawn on d5. Paul had castled quickly, cunningly doubling a pawn to try to exert some pressure down the f-file and there were more doubled pawns on board four. Gareth had already exchanged the queens and looked to have a marginal advantage on what was quickly becoming a very open board.
Derek was feeling the pressure on board one with his king stuck in the middle of the board and a threatening enemy pawn on e6. Sven offered up a bishop to try to blast open the board and it didn’t look like Derek’s king was going to make it to safety anytime soon. Gareth had no intentions of castling either, as a pair of rooks exchanged off leaving a confusing jumble of doubled pawns and minor pieces heading into the end game.
Mark had steadied the ship against Adrian, but any attempts to counterattack were being delayed by his slow development. A topsy-turvy middle game on board two had seen Paul and Fenella winning and losing pawns left, right and centre. Paul declined an offer of a draw as Fenella scrambled to the time control; this game could still go either way.
With his position crumbling, Derek bowed to the inevitable and conceded his match to Sven. One – nil to nationwide, but with the three remaining boards all close, there was still hope for Tony that his team might escape with a result. A mass exchange of pieces on board three looked promising, as Mark emerged with six pawns against five, but with a rook each still on the board it was far from over. Gareth seemed to be edging his game too, with David’s knight struggling against a dominant white bishop.
Solid defensive play from Adrian Champion had levelled things up on board three. With little opportunity to attack Mark was forced to settle for a draw: a shrug from Tony told the story – this one was slipping away from Trowbridge. Moments later the finishing blow came! As Fenella marched a pawn unstoppably up the board. With no defence Paul conceded his game and with it the match, even a win for Gareth on board four wouldn’t be enough.
With the match decided some of the spectators started to drift away missing the most dramatic finish of the night. David’s centre seemed to have collapsed under pressure from Gareth’s bishop, but the black h-pawn was marauding down the board at a dangerous pace. If Gareth could prevent it from queening then the game would be his, but it wasn’t to be. With the result of the night David Parsons had completed a famous victory for Nationwide.
Final score at the Conservative Club: A disconsolate Trowbridge 0.5 – A Jubilant Nationwide 3.5