JSM: LauttSK 2 - AS

Isänpäivä was a tough day for us. We were only able to get 4 players to travel to Turku to play, so we immediately started off with a disadvantage. Moreover, the AS team was a pretty tough one; they had players with ratings from 1900–2050.

However, we battled hard, with bravery, and rattled our esteemed opponents. We scored 2 commendable wins, and had 2 hard fought losses. However, it was the lone forfeiture that gave AS the win.

AS – LauttSK 2, 3–2

Puhtila Marko (2056)      – Lehtinen Tero   0–1
Eriksson Tom (1949)       – Piippo Mikko    1–0
Lehtinen Tero (1903)      – Kumar Ashwin    0–1
Keto-Tokoi Markko (1931)  – Heimonen Arto   1–0
Piiroinen Tero (1841)     – w.o.            1–0

Tero Lehtinen on first board was the biggest hero. He took the battle against a very strong opponent, and just when things looked like they were about to slip away, he pulled out his finest käärmelainen moves and checkmated his opponent.

Mikko played on second board and decided to try the French defense this time around. Turned out to be the exchange variation. It looked like he had a fairly balanced position in the middle game. However, his opponent found a tactic to win an exchange and that was enough to win the game.

My third board game was against Tero Lehtinen #2. We played some kind of nimzo-indian / queen's gambit type opening. He played well, but seemed to get unnecessarily nervous when I played f3-f4, threatening f5, and spent 30 mins on the next move alone. Ultimately, he made a minor tactical error (did not spot an intermezzo check) and then followed it up with another error out of desperation. This win was a relief for me after a string of 4 consecutive draws. The game is available online.

Arto tried his best on fourth board, but it wasn't enough against a pretty strong opponent.

So, as it stands, LauttSK 2 has lost all their matches played so far in Division II, and hence we are in danger of getting pushed back down to Division III. There are 2 matches left, and we must win them both to have a chance of survival. It ain't over till its over!