4ncl

This coming weekend sees the final 3 rounds of the 4ncl taking place at Sunningdale for Div's 1 & 2, and Wokefield Park for Div 3. Both are just outside Reading for anyone not sure where Sunningdale & Wokefield Park are (I can't say I knew before I first played there).

The title to this post links to a summary I did just after the previous 4ncl weekend of how the south- west based teams are doing, and how they could potentially be doing after the final 3 rounds are concluded.

The fixtures for the south- west teams are as follows:

Bristol 1:
Rd. 9 v Anglian Avengers
Rd. 10 v White Rose 2
Rd. 11 v Brown Jack

Wessex 1:
Rd. 9 v Celtic Tigers 1
Rd. 10 v FCA Solutions 1
Rd. 11 v Guildford A&DC 3

Brown Jack:
Rd. 9 v FCA Solutions 1
Rd. 10 v Celtic Tigers 1
Rd. 11 v Bristol 1

Division 3 is run as a big swiss section, so only the pairings for rd's 9 & 10 are decided before the weekend. The pairings for rd.11 are done after the rd.9 & 10 results are known.

Wessex2:
Rd. 9 v Sussex Smart Ctls.
Rd. 10 v e2e4.org.uk 2

Glos. Gambits:
Rd. 9 v Iceni
Rd. 10 v The Full Ponty

Bristol 2:
Rd. 9 v Beauty & the Beasts
Rd. 10 v Guernsey Mates

Bristol 3:
Rd. 9 v Oxford 3
Rd. 10 v Beauty & the Beasts

Torbay Herald Express Chess Column, March.

Thanks to John Doidge for writing this article, and both himself and the Torbay Herald Express for giving me permission to publish it here. The title to this post links to the Torbay Herald Express home page.

Although they were only reformed in 2005, Newton Abbot has certainly exceeded all their expectations this year. In the Torbay Chess League, with a 3.5-0.5 win over Teignmouth they have won the Division 1 title. Torquay, who are Newton Abbot’s next opponents, are in second place but cannot catch the leaders. In the second division it looks as if Plymouth will win the title but Newton Abbot, with a match in hand, could still catch the leaders. Plymouth, however, have the Torquay Grammar School as their last opponents and as the school have yet to win a match in this division the odds must be on the city club getting the title.

In Division 3, the Newton Abbot Pawns still lead the way having dropped only one point throughout the season. The Plymouth Lions, however, along with the Teignmouth Knights and the Plymouth Tigers are only 2 points behind, and the Pawns have to play the Lions later in the season. It could be an extremely interesting finale.

In the Rapidplay competition Torquay have secured the title after a very close 5-3 win over Newton Abbot. Oliver Demeger, for the home club was the only one to win his two games and Torquay, with a very strong team, were good value for their win.

The Knockout Cup has reached the final stages. Torquay, with a win over the Grammar School by the narrowest of margins will meet Teignmouth later in April.

In the Devon County Chess Association competitions, Newton Abbot has won the major prize – the Bremridge Cup. Needing a drawn match at Exmouth to secure the title, the Newton Abbot Club won very convincingly against strong opponents. The Newton Abbot secretary, Trefor Thynne, has played in this competition since 1964 and this is the first time he has had the pleasure of winning the trophy that will be presented at the annual meeting later in the year.

In the second tier of matches, the Mamhead Cup, Tiverton lead the way with a 100% record but Newton Abbot along with Exmouth are equal second, and Teignmouth are in fourth place.

In the Schofield Cup, Teignmouth lead the way and stand a good chance of winning the trophy, whilst in the junior section for the Bloodworth Cup the Newton Abbot Juniors and the Grammar School both have 100% records with games still to be played.

In the individual championships, Dominic Mackle (Newton Abbot) has dropped only ½. point and leads the way with 7/8. Alan Brusey (Teignmouth) has also done well scoring 5/8. In the Intermediate Cup, Peter Halmkin and Bill Ingham, both members of the Teignmouth club, are in contention for the title.

The pride of place, however, must go to Freddie Sugden (Newton Abbot) who has won the Minor Trophy with a game to spare. A pupil at the Grammar School, Freddie takes his chess very seriously and is to be congratulated on a very fine season after earlier success in the Torbay Chess Congress.

Freddie also excelled at the East Devon Congress held in Exeter when he won the Minor tournament, with his Grammar School colleague, Alex Billings coming in a very close equal second.

This congress was again extremely successful. Robert Thompson (TBGS) had a very respectable 3.5/5 and won one of the grading prizes and there was further good performances from Dominic Mackle (Newton Abbot) and Alan Brusey (Teignmouth) with 3/5 and Andy Dunn and Petre Jasyinskyj of the Torquay Club with 2.5/5. Robert Wilby of the Plymouth club was also successful in winning a grading prize in the major section of the congress.

The competition for the best club in the tournament and a prize of a new chess clock went to the Newton Abbot Club.

The final of the prestigious Peter Rooke Cup, played for by all the major clubs in Devon, will be between Tiverton and Newton Abbot. The match will be played in the middle of April and Newton Abbot will hope to successfully retain the cup that they won for the first time last year.

Looking ahead, the 63rd West of England Chess Union Congress is being held at the Royal Beacon Hotel, Exmouth from 2nd to 5th April. Those hoping to take part should get their entries in very quickly.

The 29th Teignmouth Rapidplay Tournament will be held at the Trinity School, Teignmouth on Saturday 17th April. With six matches to be played throughout the day, this has proved to be one of the most successful tournaments in the area. Entry forms can be found on the chessdevon website.

Taunton 5-1 Frome, Somerset League, Division 1.

Thanks to Nick Wilson for writing this, and Mike Richardt for forwarding it to me. The title to this post links to the Taunton Club website.

Ok, last night we travelled (yet again) to Glastonbury. Eager readers will know that last week I unluckily lost to Dave in a close game, but this time I'd be more aggressive and kick his ass on the pool table. Oh yes, and there is the small matter of the second leg of the two-match title-decider tie against Frome. You'll remember we won the first leg by 5-1, so things are heavily in our favour - a win, a draw or even scoring more than one point would secure us the hallowed and coveted Div 1 title.

Our team was the same as last week, except for Mike Redman, who sadly couldn't make it. We shifted our team up one board and Martin came in on board six - the full team list is Mark, Mike, Dave, Nick, Stan and Martin.

After last week's issues with lights I planned to arrive early (yes, a first for the whole season), firstly to see which bit of the sprawling Tor Club we'd be in, and secondly to try and ensure there was enough light to spot the dark pieces when placed on dark squares...

I wandered in - would we be in the main stage area? Poked my head round the door and... oh crap... not only was it being used, but a live band was busy tuning up!? I think someone like Fischer would probably have complained, but not us! Undeterred, I went to check the nursery bit (where we were last week)... Arrgh... lots of very talkative women in there having some sort of womens group. I don't think it was a slimming group - they didn't look fat enough for that (or maybe it was a successful slimming group). Anyway, that room was out, so it leaves, er... the toilets, um... main bar area... oh yes, and the skittle alley! Amazingly, the skittle alley was perfect - lots of space and bright lights above each table. The only issue, if I were a nit-picker, was the sliding doors - a winning combination of heavy, jarring and not particularly slideable mixed with a sound when moved that was comparable to a metal claw being dragged slowly down a blackboard - eye-watering and goose-bump inducing at the same time.

Again we had to bring 3 of our own boards. Dave was too ashamed to bring his tablecloth board again, but did bring his pieces. I proudly unveiled my DGT board only to be trumped by Martin with his luxurious triple-weighted rosewood Staunton set. Very nice. Ok, so you can talk the talk but can you walk the walk? I struggled yet again with my electric clock, trying to setup the 75/35 +15 setting, but gave up more quickly this time and settled with a boring old clock.
Frome turned up with just one change - the superfast-playing board 4 player was gone, and replaced with a new chap on the same board.

Taunton, being the 'home' team were white on evens. As we all moved up a board due to MikeRed not being there, it meant we all had the same colours again - what a stroke of luck - I have white. Do you know, I don't think it's averaged out over the season - I may have had white more than 50% of the time...

Ok, on to the games, which finished in this order

Board 6 M Worral 1 v G Udell 0
Martin's setup here was pure poetry in motion - his pieces are beautiful in already-mentioned triple-weighted rosewood, his clock was a shiny ebony with white dials and luxurious gold trim, and to cap it all, he had a pint of Guinness sat next to the board - it's white head and black body combined with a golden shamrock on the glass to complement the clock's colour scheme and just complete a picture of playing heaven. The game matched this beauty and poetry with a stunning rook sac on f7, leading to a short king-hunt, followed by a forced mate! A great game, topping a great season for Martin.
Ok, so Taunton are now 1-0 up. But I think if we'd lost the remaining 5 games and the combined two-match score was therefore level, we'd have lost due to the board count rule (remove board 6 and count again...). So we still needed half a point.

Step forward I'll-get-the-draw-for-the-match-Stan!

Board 5 S Wojick 0.5 v G Berryman 0.5
Stan had been under some pressure during this game. Nothing he couldn't handle of course, but if did mean he was spending time dealing with the pressure rather than dishing out the pressure. I noticed Dave giving this game a lot of attention - had he spotted some combination we'd all missed? Or was he simply assessing the game for our team's overall chances? Then it dawned on me! He was keeping a close eye on his pieces.. they were playing using his set...pawns can go missing so easily.. Anyway, in the game, Stan dealt with the pressure, offered a draw and it was accepted! Thank you Stan - that was the draw we needed to secure the title!

Now with the title safe, we wanted to win the match to win properly, rather than by a tie-break rule.

Board 4 N Wilson 1 v K Paine 0
I really need to buy a book on openings. On move 4 in a Gucio Piano / Two knights defence, I played the commanding d3. Good God, I was doing this aged 5 when I first learnt to play... have I learnt nothing in the intervening years? Anyway, after developing, I gradually moved over for my predictable k-side attack. Normally, when I do this, I either win quickly when an opponent makes a mistake, or I lose due to all the weakness I accept in the centre and Q-side. But today was different. My opponent crammed his k-side with pawns and pieces. How am I supposed to have a quick, flashy win when he does that? What a spoilsport.. Luckily I had a knight sac that opened him up and he resigned a few moves later. I had thought it'd be enough to win the 'man of the match' award, but not only did Martin better me with his board and board/drink combination (I only had a meagre shandy...) but his sac was of a higher value too (rook v knight)... However, somewhat unfairly, I am the sole man of the match judge, and I am extremely biased. I'll reveal the winner at the end of this report...

Board 1 M Hassal 1 v C Purry 0
Mark was very pleased with this win, and rightly so. He turned an advantage in the opening into a middle game combination that picked of first pawns and then netted a whole piece and with a strong looking attack. Very impressive, but I couldn't help but notice there weren't any rook or knight sacrifices here...tut tut..

Board 3 D Littlejohns 1 v M Leonard 0
Dave played his solid Caro-caan, but white was constantly pushing for initiative, which cost him a pawn or two. Dave simplified to what seemed a won ending, but white had a strong rook and active knight. Dave managed to dodge a few nasty looking tricks and eventually won due to his extra pawns and white's horrible time-trouble.

Board 2 M Richardt 0.5 v G Jepps 0.5
Mike had an extremely long day's travel back from Germany to make this match (big thank-you for all the effort!), and he was looking very tired. This tiredness lead to a mistake in the opening and he dropped a central pawn. Gerry pressed into the ending, still a pawn up. But Mike had a good knight v Gerry's bishop, and with correct play, this was a draw.

So, final score - Taunton win 5-1 (again!) and are undisputed Division One Champions! Hoorah!!!

Annoyingly, I didn't get a chance for a pool rematch with Dave...

Huge thank-yous to everyone tonight and those who have played in previous Div 1 matches to make this happen - its been a long time since Taunton won, and it feels great!!!

Man of the match - I award it to every player tonight(!). Early on, all the games had looked double-edged and I feared a 0.5 v 5.5 drubbing like we'd had against Glastonbury, but we all fought hard, turned it round and came out completely on top - we are deserved champions!!

Tiverton 2 Sidmouth 2 (Exeter & DL Div 3)

Thanks to Ivor Annetts for sending me the following piece. The title to this post links to the Tiverton Club website.

On Wednesday 14th April, Tiverton was home to Sidmouth in an Exeter & District League Division 3 match. Although the visitors arrived one man short, giving Tiverton's board 4, Alan Brinkley, a walkover victory, the home team could only manage a draw.

Sidmouth's top two boards heavily outgraded the Tiverton players, meaning that it was likely that for a drawn match, John Wheadon would have to win on board 3.

On board 1, John Knowles (Tiverton, Black (see photo 3)) played the French against the 186 graded Ken Derrick. John played extremely well and held his opponent throughout the game, although Ken managed to win a pawn early on. This advantage lasted into the endgame when pieces were exchanged and a standard king and pawn ending resulted in a Sidmouth win.

Derek Allen on board 2 (see photograph 2) - outgraded by 30 points by his opponent S Stone - faced a Sicilian dragon. Mr Stone won the exchange and this proved to be decisive.

On board 3, John Wheadon (see photograph 1) played 2 Bc4 against R Cubbon's Sicilian. Mr Cubbon won a pawn early on but later John won the exchange and this proved sufficient for victory.

Change of secretary of Gillingham & Shaftesbury Chess Club‏

There are a few changes taking place at Gillingham & Shaftesbury Club. Trevor Stacey has moved home and the new secretary of the club is Richard Quin. Richard's email address is g&scc[at]quinrw[dot]clara[dot]co[dot]uk. The title to this post links to a page containing the contact details for all of the Somerset League clubs, including Gillingham. At the time of me writing this it wasn't updated to show the changes at Gillingham, but the webmaster is aware and it should be done shortly.

Bristol League, Horfield results.

Thanks to Andrew Russell, Howard Millbank, and John Richards, for the following match reports. The title to this post links to the Horfield Club site.


19/4/2010 Division 4

Nailsea Horfield D
1 b Terry Stone 0-1 Andrew Russell
2 w Bert Higgins 0.5-0.5 Dan German
3 w Mike Orr 1-0 Terje Sjostrom
4 b M. Grigg 0-1 Stephen Xiong
1.5-2.5

With both Stephen and Terje in at the last minute we were worried about facing Nailsea. Terry missed some tricks and instead of going the exchange down allowed the mate. In a closed game that I would have been proud of, Dan offered an early draw. Stephen was well up in his game and the feeling was Terje was in a strong position in his, the draw was accepted. Stephen finished his opponent off and Terje unfortunately lost his rook and resigned shortly after. A good win for the team. (AR)


20/4/2010 Division 2

Horfield C Grendel
1 b Jim Boyce 0-1 Alistair Gilbert
2 w Harvey Atkinson 0.5-0.5 Roger Hardy
3 b Howard Millbank 1-0 Pat Flexman
4 w Alex Dunn 1-0 default
5 b Graham Strickland 0.5-0.5 Jennings
6 w Terje Sjostrom 1-0 E. Flexman
4-2

An unfortunate final League result for Grendel. Jim lamented his performance against Alistair, who gave him no second chances ; but our other lads acquitted themselves well. Patrick outplayed me for two and a half hours, but failed to take a knock-out sacrificial opportunity and paid the ultimate, cruel price in the last game to finish. That, plus the default, made all the difference. (HKM)


21/4/2010 Division 1

Bath A Horfield A
1 b Jim Sherwin 0.5-0.5 Steve Dilleigh
2 w D Andreown 1-0 Derek Pugh
3 b David Buckley 0-1 Chris Jones
4 w Andrew Gregory 0.5-0.5 John Richards
5 b Adam Stirling 0.5-0.5 Phil Nendick
6 w Ron Gregory 1-0 Harvey Atkinson
3.5-2.5

Chris got us off to a very good start - David Buckley does not lose many games. I was a bit foolhardy, deciding I could take a (very) poisoned pawn, but managed to scramble for a draw. Steve and Jim's game petered out, leaving us 2-1 up.

But, Bath were not giving up. Boards 2 and 6 looked bad for Horfield, and Phil's position wasn't looking too healthy either. But Phil did get the draw, while the others lost. Now five matches without a win - I can't remember a run like it! A good job the season's nearly done. (JR)

Somerset League, Division 3 West

Thanks to Roger Fenton for the following reports on matches in the Somerset League, Division 3 West. The title to this post links to the Glastonbury Club website, which features these and many other match reports.

In the pursuit of their fourth successive Division 3 (West) league title Glastonbury had seen off all of their challengers except Weston-super-Mare (B). So, when their remaining rival visited Tor Leisure last week the match could not have been more crucial.

But, despite the bonus of a default win for team captain Ralph Carver and hard-fought draws from Paul Moody and Nigel Dicker, the Thorns failed to deliver the knock-out blow. The shared points meant that the season would be decided by the two sides final contests, though Glastonbury had a valuable one-point advantage.

Match Result: Glastonbury 2 Weston-super-Mare (B) 2

Three days later the Thorns travelled to Chard & Ilminster needing only a draw for the title. But in a disastrous evening, where almost everything went wrong, Glastonbury were trounced by the home side, with only Martin Willis’s draw preventing a total whitewash.

Match Result: Chard & Ilminster 3.5 Glastonbury 0.5


It seemed almost certain that the team’s worst performance for over five years would result in a final league position of second. So it was with a mixture of amazement and delight that Glastonbury discovered Weston (B) had also lost their final match (at home, to the bottom club.)

The winner’s laurels that the Thorns had almost thrown away were handed back to them. Champions in 2004 and 2006-2010, a remarkable achievement for all concerned, but particularly a tribute to the astute captaincy of Ralph Carver.