What were the odds on this?
Battersea’s collective brain was too big for the Ginger GM and his posse last night as south London’s super chess hive-mind triumphed in a live-streamed consultation match. Majority UK betting sites have chess betting option provided for their users.
Replay the match on Twitch:
Watch Tune it to some chess with the GingerGM – Simon Williams!! from GingerGM on www.twitch.tv
The 40/30 match, broadcast over Twitch, saw 30-odd Battersea players take on the might of GM Simon Williams and his army of followers.
Each move was voted on by both sides – so Simon can’t be held entirely responsible for the loss – and then played by the “captain”.
Simon took the helm for his team, while Chris Beckett and newly-titled FM Adam Taylor did the honours for Battersea.
Do we want a draw??? NOOOO pic.twitter.com/xfm8Q6tXm6
— Battersea Chess Club ♞♜♛♚ (@BatterseaChess) October 2, 2018
The match followed our first attempt at a live consultation game which saw Battersea get walloped by ChessPatzerUK and his faithful team of followers.
Simon’s team opened with a French Advance – our friendly GM, of course, is famous for his spicy approach to playing the French – but appeared to make weakening move, or as the popular GM called it “a mouse slip” with the odd-looking f5.
That proved to be the fatal mistake as Battersea moved in for the kill. Our London League first team captain Midhun Unnikrishnan suggested the brilliant 11.Nxd5 which destroyed Simon’s position and he was on the back foot after that.
Maybe he was responsible then? You’ll have to ask him.
As the noose tightened, Simon got desperate. With one minute left on our clock and mate in 2 on the board, Simon called up on Skype.
Asked whether he was resigning, Simon joked: “I, I just wanted to have a little chat first. Grandmasters don’t resign Aldo, can I just make that clear, you should know that.
“Do you guys want a draw, maybe?”
The collective answer from Battersea was in the negative!
Gracefully Simon allowed checkmate to happen, with a pawn, rather than throwing in the towel.
Around 30 people attended the night for us, regulars and new players, plus hundreds tuned in on Twitch to watch from Simon’s side. Keep an eye out on Simon’s YouTube channel for the round up video.
See the game below:
