Thursday 26 January 2012

Another game from Matt Ward

Another annotated game from Matt Ward. Many thanks to him.

Thursday 10 February 2011

Introducing Matt Ward

Hampshire's Matt Ward has kindly agreed to contribute some pieces to this blog; here is a recent game of his that he has annotated.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Westcountry player draws with British Champion

GM Michael Adams did a simul at the Paignton Congress recently, and Will Taylor was one of the players who managed to draw with him, as detailed here. Here's the game:

Saturday 4 September 2010

World University Championship

Some news about the World University Championship, which starts tomorrow. England have a team of four players in this, three of them at Westcountry universities: Peter Poobalasingam is at Bath, Sarah Hegarty at Bristol and Hannah Dale at Exeter. Good luck to them.

Monday 2 August 2010

British Championships

Apologies for the long delay from my last postings. I've been a little busy trying to organise the Jonathan Latham Memorial Congress. Now that that's up and running I can get back to the important busy of reporting on south- west chess.

There are several people from the south- west competing at the British Championships currently taking place in Canterbury. Please note that it doesn't show any players' clubs as best I can see on the site, so if I miss anyone let me know and I'll update this.

Firstly, the week 1 rapidplay.

Cornwall- born, but now Scotland- resident, IM Andrew Greet was favourite on paper to win this, with a very impressive rapidplay grade of 221. Unfortunately a loss in round 5 against eventual winner Chris Briscoe put paid to his chances, and he finished on 4.5/6.

Millfield pupil Rhys Cummings was jointly- leading the field after 4 rounds, with a perfect score. Sadly losses in the last 2 rounds saw him finish in a tie for 8th place. Nevertheless, he managed 198 grading- performance, well above his rapidplay grade of 185.

Newton Abbot's Trefor Thynne started with 2.5/3 before 2 losses and a win saw him finish on 3.5/6.

Also from Newton Abbot, youngster Freddie Sugden had a rollercoaster of a tournament, starting and ending with 2 losses, and with 2 wins sandwiched in the middle. 2/6 saw him perform slightly above his published grade.

In the Atkins (Open) Weekender, the results only show up to the pairings for round 4. Angelo Castruccio of Clifton was on 2/4, with a half- point bye in round 4. In rd.1 Angelo beat Stephen Pride (grade 155), before losing in rd. 2 against G James Danneberg (187), and then drawing in rd. 3 with Peter Ackley (180).

In the Yates (u125/ 1450) Weekender, Freddie Sugden was on 1.5/3 going into Sunday morning's fourth round. So far he has defeated Phillip Green (81 grade), had a half- point bye in round 2, and lost against Alexander Harwick (131). His opponent in round 4 was David Everitt (123).

In the Major Open, Hannah Dale, who I believe is a student in Exeter, is currently on 2.5/6. She has scored several notable results, including beating someone 237 points higher rated then herself, and drawing with 3 other much higher rated opponents.

In the British u16 Championship, Millfield student and Downend club member Megan Owens became the British u15 Girls' Champion, scoring 3.5/7. Also in the u16 Championship was Freddie Sugden of Newton Abbott. Freddie scored 2.5/7, scoring wins against 2 opponents who were both nearly 300 points higher- rated then him, and drawing with someone 200 points higher- rated.

In the British u140/ 1600 Championship, Tom Thorpe of Pete's Potential club scored an undefeated 3/5, with 1 win and 4 draws. I should also mention that Tom passed his arbiters exam whilst at the British, and so there may very well be a newly- qualified Arbiter in Bristol in the near future.

In the British u180/ 2000 Championship, Jerry Humphreys of Downend scored 2/5, losing once and drawing the other 4 games. Also playing in this tournament was Trefor Thynne from Newton Abbott, who also scored 2/5, wining once, drawing twice, and losing twice.

In the British Senior Championship, David Collier from Clifton is currently on 1.5/2, and faces Aiden Corish (estimated rating 1890) today.

In the British Championship there are many entrants from the south- west this year. England no.1, and Taunton- resident Mickey Adams is currently leading the field by a clear point, with 5.5/6. Today he faces GM Stephen Gordon with black.

On board 5, Swindon- based GM Peter Wells is on 4/6, and today faces IM Paul Littlewood.

Next up is Bath University student Chris Dorrington, also on 4/6. He has a tough game today against IM- elect Jonathan Hawkins on board 8.

On board 10 is Paignton- based GM Keith Arkell. Keith hasn't had the best of tournaments so far, and is lagging somewhat behind on 3.5/6. It's certainly not for want of trying, however. In round 5 he made George Salimbeni play an ending on until move 160 before finally acquiescing to a draw. Today he faces 2233- rated FM Dave Ledger.

On board 11 IM Andrew Greet, who drew an epic 100-move+ game in the last round, faces 2208- rated John Anderson today, with both on 3.5/6.

Millfield student Rhys Cummings is next, on board 20. He's performing well above his 1986 rating thus far, and today faces 2244- rated David Spence, with both on 3/6.

Next board to them is an all south- west match, with fellow blogger IM Jack Rudd facing Bath University student James Jackson. Jack had a tremendous start, defeating 2 GMs and an IM, but has slipped back since then. Nevertheless, it's impressive that this will be the first game at this years Championships where Jack's opponent won't be a titled player. For James' part, he'll be looking to bounce back today after a loss against fellow Bath University student Chris Dorrington yesterday.

Devon- based Dominic Mackle is currently on 2.5/6, and today faces 2173- rated Peter Shaw. Dominic has twice beaten higher- rated opponents, and also drew with an opponent rated 200+ points higher then him, and is having a good tournament so far.

On board 32, WECU Congress qualifer Paul Helbig is currently on 2/6. He hasn't had the best of tournaments thus far, performing a bit below his rating, and will be looking for a decent latter few rounds.

On board 37, Frome Congress qualifier Alan Pleasants is currently on 1.5/6. Alan is performing around about his own rating, having been outrated in every game thus far.

Finally on board 38 is Yeovil Congress qualifer Patryk Krzyzanowski, currently on 1.5/6. Patryk scored his first win in the last round, and will be looking to build on that today against similarly- rated Chris Fegan (2051).

The Jonathan Latham Memorial Congress

The Jonathan Latham Memorial Congress takes place from Fri. 22nd- Sun. 24th October, at Gordano Community School, St. Mary's Road, Portishead, Bristol. BS20 7QR.

Any profits from this event will be donated to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The title to this post links to a page where the entry form can be downloaded.

Tuesday 20 July 2010

South Wales International results

The South-West players who played in the South Wales International had varying results. The full crosstable is here; I shall mention below the region's players who ended up in the prize list:

2nd Keith Arkell (Devon) 7
3rd= Peter Wells (Wiltshire) 6½
Best= untitled player and best= Welsh u-2300 player Allan Pleasants (Dorset) 5½
Best= untitled player and best= English u-2300 player Jeremy Menadue (Cornwall) 5½
Best= English junior Robert Thompson (Devon) 4

I myself had a frustrating tournament, passing up a golden opportunity to beat the eventual winner in round 2; I only had one game I was really satisfied with. On seeing the final table, some might argue that this game ended up being irrelevant.

But it's not irrelevant, it's a hippopotamus.