4NCL: 17-18 January 2009
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WESSEX 1 |
v |
WARWICKSHIRE SELECT 1 |
|||
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1 |
w |
Lock,
Gavin R |
2243 |
0 - 1 |
Mason,
Don |
2255 |
|
2 |
b |
Simons,
Martin J |
2223 |
½ - ½ |
Thomas,
Nicholas |
2313 |
|
3 |
w |
Kawuma,
Moses |
2224 |
0 - 1 |
Pitcher,
John |
2183 |
|
4 |
b |
Kawuma,
Steven |
2166 |
½ - ½ |
Hynes,
Anthony |
2243 |
|
5 |
w |
Rutter,
Nicholas |
2187 |
½ - ½ |
Shephard,
Chris C W |
2214 |
|
6 |
b |
Yeo,
Michael J |
2120 |
1 - 0 |
Galloway,
Iain |
2131 |
|
7 |
w |
de
Coverly, Roger |
2078 |
1 - 0 |
Ingram,
Keith |
2070 |
|
8 |
b |
Thilaganathan,
Jessica (F) |
1894 |
1 - 0 |
Weaving,
Richard (J) |
1950 |
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|
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|
4½-3½ |
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|
We welcomed most of the Ugandan Olympiad team who
also happen to be the last 2 Hampshire champions. On paper this was going to be a close match
with us marginal underdogs on ratings.
In the end the difference was the “experience” on the bottom 3
boards. Roger rather greedily grabbed a
second pawn against a Petroff which encouraged his opponent into a dangerous
looking sacrifice, whereas a calmer approach would have kept reasonable
compensation. Roger emerged an exchange up and duly won. I haven’t yet verified his and Rybka’s claim
that he was never worse. Jessica endured
some characteristic Caro-Kann pain before snaffling a pawn which she kept
through to the ending. I missed a couple
of winning moves but my opponent then missed the drawing opportunities I had
allowed. Eventually I sacrificed both
rooks for a mate in 13!
Galloway,Iain (2131) – Yeo,Michael J (2120)
31...Qxd4+ 32.Kxa3 Qc3+
33.Ka4 Qxc6+ 34.Ka3 [34.b5
Qxc2+ 35.Ka5 Qc7+ 36.b6 Qc5+ 37.Ka6 Qa3+ 38.Kb7 Bd5+ 39.Kb8 Qa8+ 40.Kc7 Qb7+
41.Kd8 Qxb6+ 42.Kd7 Bc6+ 43.Ke6 Qc7 44.Kxf5 Bd7+ 45.Kxe4 Qc4+ 46.Ke3 Bb5-+] 34...Qc3+
35.Ka4 Qxc2+ 36.Ka5 Qc7+ 37.Ka4 Qa7+ 38.Kb5 Qb7+ 39.Ka5 Bd7! 40.Qe2 Qc7+ 41.Ka6
Bc8+ 42.Kb5 Qd7+ 43.Ka5 Qa7+ 0-1
Moses reached a drawn N+P ending but then got
careless. Steven had a promising
Sveshnikov position that he wasn’t quite able to win. Martin was always comfortable in his
favourite Nimzowitch that swapped down to a drawn K+P ending. 4-2 up at the time control left us needing ½
a point from the remaining 2 games. Nick
eventually obliged from a game that had already seen a couple of draw offers
declined. Gavin wasn’t quite able to
hold a R+P ending a pawn down and joined us late for dinner.
The local hostelry served some exotic dishes at
exotic Sunningdale prices, but they did have Landlord. Almost everyone had an early night which led
to some complaints regarding the absence of the usual Wessex drinking
companions in the bar.
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GUILDFORD-A&DC 3 |
v |
WESSEX 1 |
|||
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1 |
w |
Povah,
Nigel E |
2324 |
0 - 1 |
Lock,
Gavin R |
2243 |
|
2 |
b |
Thompson,
Ian D |
2261 |
½ - ½ |
Simons,
Martin J |
2223 |
|
3 |
w |
Tymrakiewicz,
Rafal |
2260 |
1 - 0 |
Kawuma,
Moses |
2224 |
|
4 |
b |
Sharpe,
Ian |
2290 |
0 - 1 |
Kawuma,
Steven |
2166 |
|
5 |
w |
Granat,
Russell G |
2257 |
1 - 0 |
Rutter,
Nicholas |
2187 |
|
6 |
b |
Anderton,
Matthew N |
2238 |
0 - 1 |
Yeo,
Michael J |
2120 |
|
7 |
w |
Jackson,
Adrian |
2215 |
1 - 0 |
de
Coverly, Roger |
2078 |
|
8 |
b |
Hunt,
Daniel (J) |
1917 |
1 - 0 |
Thilaganathan,
Jessica (F) |
1894 |
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|
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|
4½-3½ |
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There are
some famous precedents for Wessex teams duffing up higher rated Guildford
teams, for example here and here. For some time it looked as
though we might achieve another upset, but eventually our luck ran out to
provide a serious dent to our promotion hopes.
Jessica
went for the throat with a very early h4-h5 against a Grunfeld that she had
used before with effect. This time her
opponent was prepared and put her centre under intolerable pressure. My limited preparation ran out at move
20. I was rather regretting choosing an
ending which meant that I was unlikely to benefit from my opponent’s habitual
time trouble, but nevertheless he blundered into a lost K+P v K ending. Moses was under enormous pressure and lost a
pawn. He fought back and won his pawn
back before overlooking a tactic. Martin
had a fluctuating game that i do not pretend to understand. He claims to never have been winning despite
a GM observer’s opinion to the contrary. Gavin played the opening and a number
of other moves I would have been proud of.
His unusual attacking mode brought rewards as his Q+B trapped the White
king amongst the White pawns. Steven
generously sacrificed a pawn for some murky compensation. In mutual time trouble he blundered, but his
opponent spent too long checking that it wasn’t a trap that he left himself 2
seconds for 3 moves which proved beyond him.
3½-2½ up at the time-control,
but it wasn’t enough. Nick had had a
wonderful position that started to go downhill once he was allowed to win the
exchange. His opponents knight and
central pawns were too much for Nick’s uncoordinated rooks. Roger’s game was worse to an increasing
degree. He felt that he should have
found a better plan for dealing with his opponent’s queenside pawns than mostly
ignoring them!
At least we are safe
from relegation, but promotion will require some more inspired results.
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JUTES OF KENT |
v |
WESSEX 2 |
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1 |
w |
Williams,
Simon K |
2507 |
1 - 0 |
Jenks,
Bruce |
2134 |
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2 |
b |
Harakis,
Alexis |
2253 |
½ - ½ |
Gregory,
Keith D |
2060 |
|
3 |
w |
Mack,
Andy |
2239 |
½ - ½ |
Marsh,
Roger |
2076 |
|
4 |
b |
Naylor,
John |
2183 |
½ - ½ |
Clark,
Ian C |
2098 |
|
5 |
w |
Donovan,
Nigel |
2087 |
1 - 0 |
Krawczuk,
Michael J |
2045 |
|
6 |
b |
Rich,
Mark |
2147 |
½ - ½ |
Pleasants,
Allan J |
2080 |
|
7 |
w |
Rice,
Chris |
2120 |
½ - ½ |
Tunks,
Dominic |
1989 |
|
8 |
b |
Wilson,
Alexandra (F) |
2039 |
1 - 0 |
Norman,
Dinah (F) |
1956 |
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5½-2½ |
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Allan
Pleasants reports:
Our
Saturday match was against Jutes of Kent, who are one of the stronger teams in
the league. Despite being outrated by 140pts a board we put up stiff resistance
with many of the games very tight. Bruce looked like he had the better of the
opening, but his kingside attack seemed to stall while his opponent’s gathered
speed. Keith got our first result on either of the top two boards this season
having to defend an interesting bishop against 3 connected pawns ending. Mike
missed out on a draw when his flag fell before he completed his 40th
move. The position was completely drawn at that point. I could easily have lost
my game, but managed to hang on and get a draw. We never looked like
winning any of the boards and so perhaps the result was about right.
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WESSEX 2 |
v |
BROWN JACK |
|||
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1 |
w |
Marsh,
Roger |
2076 |
0 - 1 |
Richmond,
Peter A |
2253 |
|
2 |
b |
Clark,
Ian C |
2098 |
0 - 1 |
Hall,
Daniel J |
2133 |
|
3 |
w |
Jenks,
Bruce |
2134 |
1 - 0 |
Haydon,
Richard |
2198 |
|
4 |
b |
Pleasants,
Allan J |
2080 |
1 - 0 |
Girdlestone,
Paul |
2127 |
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5 |
w |
Tunks,
Dominic |
1989 |
1 - 0 |
Richmond,
Jane (F) |
2137 |
|
6 |
b |
Gregory,
Keith D |
2060 |
0 - 1 |
Cabero,
Pablo Padilla |
2162 |
|
7 |
w |
Krawczuk,
Michael J |
2045 |
½ - ½ |
Tomboline,
David |
2018 |
|
8 |
b |
Norman,
Dinah (F) |
1956 |
½ - ½ |
Headlong,
Fenella (F) |
1995 |
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4 - 4 |
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Allan
Pleasants:
Sunday’s
match against Brown Jack promised to be much closer, Brown Jack being in a position
where if results went right then they could end up in a promotion position.
Roger’s position looked promising, but it may be superficial and his two
bishops proved less powerful than Peter Richmond’s rook. Ian was dead and
buried, but an oversight gave him another chance. Unfortunately the advantage
remained with white and Ian couldn’t hold a draw. Bruce had a great result
against Richard Haydon, while I played one of my better games this year and
Dominic completed the middle order rout. Keith’s game could have gone either
way, unfortunately it went the wrong way. Mike’s game looked a little dull, but
he got his first result for the team. Dinah looked like she was better and may
have missed a chance to hold her opponents king in the centre. Once castled a
draw seemed the most likely result. The match ended with Ian’s game and a 4-4
draw. This was our first result in Division 2.
We
have one more hard game against top of the league Oxford and then the second
part of the season begins. We face an uphill struggle to stay in Division 2,
but let’s give it a shot. Certainly it would be nice to win the Sunday game and
put a little pressure on our fellow relegation candidates.
Last modified: January 25, 2009
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