A Fun End to The Friendly Shield Season

The final "First Tuesday of the month" event (06/05/26) was a themed event based on the openings of our own members. The use of digital boards this season means we have a wealth of games from which to choose.

Twelve players fought it out over previously tested ground by various team members — not all of the sequences were necessarily sound (but the positions played from were roughly level). I had to include my (in)famous new variation of the Caro-Kann, where I accidentally (?!?!) played 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nf3? — my opponent, obviously suspecting some preparation, did not play the much better 3…dxe4 and instead chose 3…Bg4?, allowing me to (partially) correct my mistake with 4.exd5.

Two players — David S and Andre — actually ended up playing on the opposite side of their own opening! They survived with a win and a draw respectively. In the end the honours were shared between Alan and Justin on 3.5 each. In the final game they played each other, and at the end Alan was a whole rook and bishop up. With time running down, Justin created a stalemate trap and Alan conceded the draw. Afterwards it was pointed out that Alan could have won — but perhaps that is a reflection of the way the Friendly Shield has been played: fun competition, not to be taken too seriously.

There was another sub-text to the evening: the overall Friendly Shield winner was still up for grabs. Asher was half a point behind at the start of the evening but played an excellent tournament to finish on 3 out of 4. This included a superb win over much higher-graded Dave W. Asher becomes the Friendly Shield winner for 2025/26!

See the full results and the current Friendly Shield table in the social pages.

Kevin 06/05/26