Going into the final weekend, the e2e4.org.uk second team had a chance of gaining promotion, but there was little room for error. KJCA Kings and North East England were leading the league on 14 match points, followed by AMCA Rhinos on 13, and we were joined on 12 by Wessex and Anglian Avengers 2. We had already lost to KJCA Kings and beaten Anglian Avengers 2 in earlier rounds, but had not played any of the other leading teams, so we would have the chance to get ahead of at least some of them by defeating them directly.
In round 9, we were paired against AMCA Rhinos. Although the average grading difference between the teams was not huge, the match turned out to be very one-sided, as we thrashed them 5-1, with victories for Mark Josse, Claudio Mangione, David Coates and me, and draw for Alan Byron and Andy Talbot.
My game saw me gradually building up pressure with White. Although my opponent defended well for a while, eventually he cracked in time pressure.
I give the game below with some notes.
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