The big day had finally arrived. KarjUra 2 vs LauttSK 2. The winner would qualify for Division 2. Both teams were in a similar predicament, since they had to send their best 8 players to their respective #1 teams on the same day. That made this essentially a test of each team's bench strength.
On paper, our team was certainly the stronger one. But in a big game, it's the nerves that matter more than rating points.
Unlike previous JSM games, this one was held in a crowded Shakkiarena with many other matches going on simultaneously. That made this a slightly different challenge. It was important to take a break from time to time to get some fresh air.
We had a pretty strong team with Timo on board 1, Mikko on 2, Kimmo on 3, myself on 4, and Arto on 5.
I didn't see much of Timo's game, but it looked like a sharp variant of the French defense. Mikko had a fairly solid position, with a superior pawn structure and control of the open files. Kimmo was his usual aggressive self, making positionally loose moves to gain attacking opportunities. My own game started off a bit nervy, but soon got under simple control. Arto looked to have lost a few pawns, but had some attacking options.
As the match progressed, it turned out that Timo lost his game on board 1, probably with some tactical error I'm guessing. Arto seemed to have won his opponent's bishop and checkmated him soon after. My own opponent started making serious errors once his attacking options had faded, and fell for a sucker bank-rank checkmate.
So with 1 loss and 2 wins, all we needed was 1 more win to qualify. Kimmo's position was favorably sharp; he had two connected passed pawns on the 6th rank with pieces to support it, but his own king was a bit vulnerable. In the end his opponent was able to exploit his exposed king and Kimmo's position deteriorated fairly quickly and the game ended soon after.
So all the pressure was on Captain Mikko once again. Only a win would do since we were behind on tie-break points. He had a fairly comfortable position without any real danger except the danger of a draw in an opposite colored bishops endgame. His opponent was convinced that this was a drawn game, and attempted to convince Mikko of this fact. He even stood up and blitzed out what he saw as "easy draw" moves. But Mikko held his nerve, politely smiled and played on, confident of the fact that the position was won since his two passed pawns were on opposite sides of the board and he had an active king. Soon enough his opponent started running out of moves and his position crumbled, forcing him to resign. Good job Mikko on clinching this crucial game!
KarjUra 1 qualified to Division 1 and LauttSK 2 qualified for Division 2. I would say this was a fair result, which reflects positively on our depth of talented players. Now the next challenge is to improve our skills so that we can qualify for Division 1 next season!
Individual results:
(Report by Ashwin Kumar.)
