The annual Second's Varsity Chess match (historically called 'Dragons and Unicorns') took place last Sunday at Sidney Sussex College. The match saw Cambridge's finest (well, second finest!) chess players demolish Oxford by a resounding eight games to two. What the match lacked in a close finish it made up for in aggressive tactical play as Cambridge launched an onslaught against the dark blues.
First to finish were the three Caians Rob Dover, Ruari Hamlin and Aloysius Han, whose ruthless assaults, while not subtle, were effective. Cambridge 3 - Oxford 0. Julie Kourtseva and Richard Lee finished their games shortly after, as both their opponents crumbled in the face of unnervingly precise positional play. At this point, Cambridge led five games to zero.
The possibility of a whitewash increased when Andre Kueh demolished his opponent with a stunning attack, causing the Cambridge University captain to remark that it was a game an International Master would have been proud of. Andre's game (shown below) has been selected to win the best game prize at the awards ceremony of the main Varsity match, to be held next Saturday, March 10th.
Steve Cairns demonstrated why he was one of this year's stars in the college league, sending a brutal wave of pawns his opponent's way. 7-0 up and fingers were crossed for the whitewash; unfortunately, it was not to be.
The two Davids (Jackson and Barraclough) were both unlucky to have Black against strong opponents and despite valiant play eventually succumbed to the joint pressure of their opponents' attacks and the clock.
This left our star turn Mykhaylo Tyomkyn to battle it out with the strong Oxford board 1 international Mike Healey. Mykhaylo delievered a victory in fine form cementing an 8-2 hammering of Oxford.
Congratulations to all involved, and special thanks to Tom Nixon for his effort in organising the match!
Board 3: Kueh,A (Cambridge) - Slater,G (Oxford)
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 b6 7.Ne2 Ba6 8.Bxa6 Nxa6 9.a3 c4 10.h4 Nc7 11.h5 h6 12.f4 f5 13.g4 fxg4 14.Ng3 Qe7 15.Qxg4 0-0-0 16.Nf3 Qf7 17.Nh4 Be7 18.Ng6 Rhg8 19.Be3 Rde8 20.0-0-0 Nf8 21.f5 Bd8 22.Rdf1 Nh7 23.fxe6 Qxe6 24.Qxe6+ Nxe6 25.Nf5 Bg5 26.Bxg5 Nhxg5 27.Nfe7+ Kd7 28.Nxg8 Rxg8 29.Nf4 Nxf4 30.Rxf4 b5 31.Kc2 Ke7 32.a4 Ne6 33.Rg4 b4 34.cxb4 Rb8 35.Rhg1 Kf7 36.Rf1+ Ke7 37.b5 a6 38.bxa6 Rb6 39.a5 Rxa6 40.Ra1 Kd7 41.b4 cxb3+ 42.Kxb3 Ra7 43.a6 Kc6 44.Rg6 Kd7 45.Rxe6 Kxe6 46.Kb4 1-0
Report by Ruari Hamlin