Rock Cup Final – Dave Wightman (165) vs Peter Banks (135)
Dave Wightman met Peter Banks in the final of the
Rock Cup at Walsall Kipping. Dave Wightman won the toss and chose the
white pieces. No clear advantage came of the opening and the game
developed into a tense, tactical struggle. Black
conceded doubled pawns in the centre in order to open up the f file
against white’s castled king and this became the main feature of the
game. Black eventually trebled his major pieces on the half open file
and exerted extreme pressure on the white position.
Eventually, though, while manoeuvring his pawns forward to completely
break open the position, black made the smallest of positional mistakes
and a pawn was lost. This halted the black pawn advance and allowed
white to play f3 in return, relieving much of
the pressure, but the game was far from won. The first time control
was reached easily by both sides, but white could only slowly take
advantage of a superior pawn structure, inching inexorably forwards.
With the pressure on the black position growing, a
second pawn was obtained and this was to prove crucial as white was
then able to simply exchange off the remaining pieces until the pawn
majority became conclusive.
So Dave Wightman wins the Rock Cup, but thanks are
due to Peter Banks for a well executed game that completely belied the
theoretical grading difference between the two sides. Thanks are also
due to Frank Wood for his extremely efficient
organisation of the competition and to Walsall Kipping for generously
hosting the event.
By Dave Wightman
Thank you Dave and very well done indeed on retaining the Rock Cup at Wolverhampton for the 3rd consecutive year.
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