HA's Newbies Lose to Red Admiral

Last night, HA took on the Red Admiral in the Harrod Cup. We had two debutants, together with one player playing their second match and a welcome re-appearance of Pete Arland, who had had one happy season playing with Stan, Ray & I for Littlethorpe a few seasons back. Red Admiral tried to put out a suitably matched side as there were no possibilities of either team making an impression in the Harrod.

Unfortunately, the Admiral side was somewhat stronger than hoped, due to unavailability of one of their juniors. Andy Carter played on Board 1, Amber Carter on 2, Stan "the Man" Parsons on 3 and David Watson on Board 4.

Clearly, the HA side were in for a tough time, and so it proved. In the first round Michael lost on Board 4 to David (who was celebrating an impressive collection of A* & A Grade A-Levels), and Stan's knight wreaked a certain amount of havoc on Drew's king-side before mating him. I didn't see a lot of Gary's game against Amber, but he fought hard. On the top board Pete was in a strong position against Andy, but Andy swindled a half by virtue of a repeated check using his lonesome queen.

In the reverse fixtures, the three bottom boards all lost a second time, but the struggles were closer, and the play generally better, forcing their opponents to win rather than losing by making a mistake. On the top board Pete this time mated Andy.

Pete Arland (90) - Andy Carter (100) 0.5-0.5/1-0
Gary Sanders (U/G) - Amber Carter (90) 0-1/0-1
Drew Bubb (U/G) - Stan Parsons (90) 0-1/0-1
Michael Bubb (U/G) - David Watson (U/G) 0-1/0-1

Final score 1.5 -6.5

Well done to everyone - for our two debutants it was the first game where they had to use clocks. In the HA tradition, as long as it was enjoyable experience, then it was a good night. Pete Arland so impressed Stan & Andy that they immediately tapped him up to play for them in the upcoming season. We are looking forward to the transfer fee as a club, and I am looking forward to my 5% as Pete's agent.

Ray & Colin also played their County Championship match - it was (based on a casual viewing) a bit of a bore draw without any gambits, sacrifices or the like (sorry chaps!). It does nothing for either player's chances of bring the Cup to the Arms either.