County Team Championship U120: Lincolnshire - Nottinghamshire 2½:9½

Lincolnshire County Team U120 lost to Nottinghamshire 2½:9½ in the match played on 7 January 2012 at ROAB Club, Lincoln.

Hero of Lincolnshire team was Tom Claxton who scored full point after solid performance with White pieces and we will see his game below. There were three draws for our team - Charles Moss, Chris Cumbers and Will Seed. The result sheet is as follows:

Board	ECF Code	Grade	Lincolnshire	2½:9½	Nottinghamshire	Grade	ECF Code
1	115883B	116	Charles Moss	½:½	James Kenyon	119	274726B
2	222184G	105	Christopher Cumbers	½:½	Andrew Flint	117	277282G
3	281541C	104	Will Grummitt	0:1	Malcolm Hargreaves	112	125869C
4	283104B	90E	Tom Claxton	1:0	Sally McIntosh	115	155818D
5		89E	Philip Gutcher	0:1	Richard Dawson	111	165413F
6	284558B	77E	Joe Scarborough	0:1	Charlotte Attwood	110	270156L
7	283101G	78E	James Kelly	0:1	Chris Bonnello	106	282424D
8	283761C	75E	Haydn Godfrey	0:1	Stephen Morley	104	115797J
9	283099B	70E	Will Seed	½:½	Dorothy Blampied	86	106873J
10	283100E	53E	James Wilson	0:1	Steve Swanwick	95	274715H
11	284559D	43E	Karl Southern	0:1	Gregor McIntosh	62	272798F
12	283763J	34E	Nathan McKiernon	0:1	Michael Swanwick	54	278800H

 Now, the game played by Tom Claxton. Tom, playing with White pieces, kicked off with 1.d4 but game very quickly was transposed into Byrne Variation (4.Bg5) of Pirc Defence. This line is one of the most serious weapons against Pirc Defence leading to very sharp battle and White has to be careful and not to overextend himself. 
White kept small edge and then he missed his chance when he could gain substantial advantage and position became equal, however, under the pressure the Black blundered and lost exchange with no compensation whatsoever. 
Let's have a look at this game. 

Well played Tom.