A tense day in the Munster Leagues as the relegation battle came to a head. We were behind Limerick B going into our head to head match and needed a win to boost our hopes of staying up.
In the end we did win our match 3.5 to 1.5. I had a somewhat fortunate win in my game. I think I was worse after the opening and my opponent was starting to get an attack going on my king. However I managed to get an outside passed h pawn and that proved to be my saviour as it gave me counterplay. Without that I would have been in serious trouble and I'm not sure I could have won.
That gave us some breathing room over Limerick B. Our next game was against Limerick A and a result here would have put us clear. Unfortunately we lost that match. I had a shocker in my game. I was well up and about to pick up the exchange. However I played a careless pawn move, my opponent made a knight jump which I hadn't seen and then I panicked and collapsed.
If Limerick B got a result against CCYMS, we would have been in big trouble. That match came down to the final game but luckily for us CCYMS came through. So going into the final day we are half a point ahead of Limerick B and need to match their result to stay up.
→ posted on April 30, 2017chess