Morrison rallies to edge Adu in a fiercely contested blitz match!

The Black Bear chess club is legend for their spirited matches and heated rivalry. This school is comprised of a contingent of Black chess players (primarily from the Brooklyn area) committed to providing a competitive environment for producing strong players.  In the process matches would be organized to find the "survival of the fittest."  In order to move up in the ranks, one player had to challenge the player directly above him. Well. . . the tradition lives on as FM William Morrison and IM Oladapo Adu agreed to blitz match with the winner being the first to score 15 wins. Players switched sides after every five games. 

A veteran of the Black Bear school, FM Morrison knew he had his hands full with the highly-touted IM from Nigeria.  Of course, living in the Maryland area, IM Adu had learned of the "Exterminator" legend, so mutual respect was due. The match started as both players attempted to establish a presence on the 64-square battlefield.  IM Adu broke out to a 3-2 lead with one draw, and later widened his lead to 7-4, and then seemed within reach of victory at 11-7. Being four games down to an IM is not an enviable position, and it seemed as if the "Exterminator" was being exterminated.  With his back up to the wall, FM Morrison fought and scratched his way back into the match taking four out of the next five games closing the lead to the narrowest of margins at 12-11. Hold on to your hats!!

All the Nigerian needed was to win a couple of games to stop the momentum, and then close out the match, right? Well. . . as the match was on the line, the Exterminator turned his game up a notch and took four out of the next five games! This capped off an 8-2 run in the last 10 games to ice a 15-13 match win. As FM Morrison explains it, "I had to draw from deep within to catch him at the tape."  A wise man once said, "the race is not to the fast nor swift, but to the one who endureth until the end."

Congratulations to both of these heavyweights for bringing back the spirit  of "gladiator' to the chess board! Thanks goes to Robert Cromwell played a big part in arranging the venue for this historic match. Perhaps we'll see round #2. Stay tuned!

Posted by The Chess Drum: 16 April  2001