Catch-22

 This post is not so much about a game, as it is about a moral dilemma. On Wednesday, our B-team was away at Clifton F. We have had some difficulties finding a suitable venue for league matches, and it was only a few days beforehand that we managed to settle on the local Holiday Inn - the same venue as Clifton. So, I thought, it would be worth going along: we had a home match there the next day and I could see how the logistics worked, there was a significant match in Division 1 going on, and as University webmaster I could get our result promptly.

 Unfortunately, a serious problem arose: one of our players didn't turn up, and I was asked to play on board 1 as substitute. Though within the letter of the rules, it would be quite ridiculous for me to do this. You're right that I played a dozen games for the B-team last season, but this isn't a case of me becoming immeasurably more arrogant over the summer; mostly by accident, we got relegated to the 4-board bottom division, which is very much weaker - in fact none of our opponents had grades. To field a 159 would be overkill of gross proportions, and since it's now a struggle for those of us at the fringe of the A-team to get games, for the one person with control over team composition to get an extra appearance could be seen as especially cynical. The B-team is basically intended for beginning and social players to get semi-serious games not of great competitive significance; if you have a three-figure grade it's best to look elsewhere. On the other hand, to not play despite it being legal to do so would be letting the team down badly; over 4 boards, one defaulted game could be expensive. So, what to do?

 After 30 minutes of hoping in vain that our final player would show up with only the mild punishment of being shifted to the top board, I had to make a decision. Reluctantly, I opted to play the game. My ungraded opponent was Victor Gonzalez, and though the outcome was predictable the game has some instructive moments:

 My intervention helped us to a 3.5-0.5 win (WWDW) and keeps up a 100% start after two matches. But it's up to others to keep that going! Our captain was extremely lucky that circumstances persuaded me to make a bus journey to an away match...

 Some games are more interesting for the story around them than their actual content, and this is one of them. Still, the game is not entirely worthless. Usually I prefer to defend against the IQP rather than take it on, but one can hardly deny that it is a lot more fun to be the attacker. White built up a strong position quickly just with pieces; a few specious moves by black and it was all over. Black played far too passively and never had anything to threaten me with - a powerful lesson on the perils of aimlessly developing pieces.

 An easy victory, but a troubling one - I expect most people would have just subbed in without thought, but for me the choice of playing and looking silly, or refusing and looking mean, was a very difficult one. No-one really gains anything from this scenario, but the season goes on. Remarkably I'm back on schedule for the time being; my next game is on Wednesday, a long trip away to Bath.