This is an unusual choice for Game of the Week. A win for a player graded 178 against an opponent graded 83 is more Goliath beats David than the reverse. Furthermore, it was the winner who submitted the game but he had his reasons as he stated: “The main point of including it would be to point out how well the loser played! In fact both players played very well, but I thought that Mike’s play was exceptionally strong for someone graded 83 (ridiculous!). White gets a slight advantage from the opening, but Black fights back hard to make things as difficult as possible. The result is only decided between moves 27 and 31. White’s 27.Bxc6 is a good shot (nothing else works) but when I missed what would have been a winning follow up (28.Bb6!) Black had his chance to escape. It’s not easy, though, especially as both players were rather exhausted by that point. Black needed to find 30…Ne4! After he chose something else, there is no escape. In the final position, 37.c4 traps the Black knight in the middle of the board.”
White: David Faldon (178) Black: Michael Jenkinson (83)
Goodall Cup