4NCL: 16-17 January 2010
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WESSEX 1 |
v |
WHITE ROSE 2 |
|||
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1 |
w |
Lock,
Gavin R |
2188 |
0 - 1 |
Townsend,
M Paul |
2186 |
|
2 |
b |
Kawuma,
Steven Male |
2187 |
0 - 1 |
Adams,
David M |
2217 |
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3 |
w |
Simons,
Martin J |
2200 |
0 - 1 |
Arnott,
Jonathan W |
2154 |
|
4 |
b |
Rutter,
Nick J |
2189 |
0 - 1 |
Shaw,
Peter |
2156 |
|
5 |
w |
Neil,
David R |
2157 |
½ - ½ |
O'Driscoll,
Keiran |
2062 |
|
6 |
b |
Jenks,
Bruce |
2127 |
½ - ½ |
Archer,
Richard |
2066 |
|
7 |
w |
de
Coverly, Roger D |
2101 |
0 - 1 |
Webb,
Matthew D |
1986 |
|
8 |
b |
Thilaganathan,
Jessica (F) |
1900 |
1 - 0 |
Hollingworth,
Evie (F) |
1874 |
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2 - 6 |
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Travel
arrangements were relatively painless compared with what they might have been
three days earlier. Our swimmers were
able to take advantage of the facilities beforehand and thankfully on this
occasion emerged without requiring emergency additions of oxygen.
On paper,
this should have been quite a close match, so 2-6 represents a very
disappointing result. I believe the last
time we lost all the top four boards in the first team was 5 seasons ago
against Guildford 1. It is more than usually difficult to provide sensible
comments (what’s new? – Ed) about a match that I wasn’t able to witness in
person. As is traditional, the two
Wessex teams were positioned about as far apart as the venue would allow. Dave paid the second team two brief visits on
the second of which he reported that he had drawn having played his last two
moves in the wrong order. He also
reported that Roger had lost from a totally winning position:
White (to
move) is currently two pieces down, but 17.Bxg5 Ndf6 18.f3 wins them both
back. If instead 17....Ngf6 then
18.Qg6+! Kh8 19.Qh6+ Kg8 20 dxe5 dxe5 21.Rad1 is completely crushing. However, Roger played 17.Qg6+? Kh8 18.Qxh5+
which was met with 18....Bh6! and White only has time to take one piece back.
Bruce
turned down a draw offer but 5 moves later thought better of it and offered one
back. Martin also claimed to have been winning:
Indeed,
19.Bxc6 bxc6 20.Qf4 probably does snaffle a pawn and win in the long run. Instead he gambled with 19.Qh6 but after
19....Rxd4 20.Be4 Rxe4 21.Rxe4 Qxb2 he was unable to generate sufficient
threats to the Black king.
Nick also
looks to have been a bit better before misplacing a knight. Gavin gave up one pawn in a theoretically
approved fashion in a Queens Gambit, but donating a second pawn proved rather
generous. I arrived just as Jessica
converted her extra pawn advantage which at least made the scoreline a little
more respectable.
In the
evening we discovered how the local pub was able to offer meals at a ridiculous
£4 per head by virtue of only employing one bar staff.
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SAMBUCA SHARKS |
v |
WESSEX 1 |
|||
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1 |
w |
Rendle,
Thomas E |
2382 |
1 - 0 |
Yeo,
Michael J |
2153 |
|
2 |
b |
Williams,
Samuel G |
2198 |
½ - ½ |
Rutter,
Nick J |
2189 |
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3 |
w |
Roberson,
Peter T |
2221 |
½ - ½ |
Lock,
Gavin R |
2188 |
|
4 |
b |
Purton,
Ben J |
2144 |
0 - 1 |
Kawuma,
Steven Male |
2187 |
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5 |
w |
Varnam,
Liam D |
2174 |
0 - 1 |
Simons,
Martin J |
2200 |
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6 |
b |
Ackley,
Peter JE |
2095 |
½ - ½ |
Neil,
David R |
2157 |
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7 |
w |
Russell,
Christopher |
2065 |
1 - 0 |
de
Coverly, Roger D |
2101 |
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8 |
b |
Khoo,
Selina (F) |
1981 |
1 - 0 |
Thilaganathan,
Jessica (F) |
1900 |
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4½-3½ |
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Yet another disaster that probably
consigns us to a relegation battle at the end of the season. Worryingly at 11 am we were actually
outnumbered by the opposition, a surprising number having turned up on time. Nick’s opponent was the last to appear
looking as though he had probably missed breakfast as well. Nick chose an unusual line against the Sveshnikov,
but it soon petered out into a perpetual.
The opposition captain appeared not to need to spend much time thinking
about his moves against Steven, so it was a surprise to discover when their
clocks stopped working that he had already taken 43 minutes. As usual the
replacement of a digital clock proved non-trivial, but the game didn’t last
much longer after it resumed as Steven was allowed to sacrifice his rook
twice. Martin’s opponent started to have
long thinks as early as move 2. In a queenless middle game he overlooked one of
the threats behind Martin’s knight invasion after which he was tortured by
Martin’s 2 bishops. I had a perfectly
respectable opening before pressing the self-destruct button.
The score remained 2½ - 1½ for
quite a long time, so much so that I left for home fearing the worst. Dave’s opponent had responded to 1.c4 with
the somewhat unusual 1....g4¾. Having gained an overwhelming position out of
the opening, Dave lost the thread and by the time control looked to be
completely lost. Somehow, he persuaded
his opponent to swap off into a N+3P v N+P ending which was also lost and then
into a N+2P v N ending which was still lost but one more mistake let Dave
escape with a draw. Gavin was under
considerable pressure but by the time control seemed to have almost
equalised. Things got worse from there
so he was obliged to agree to his opponents draw offer. Roger scared his opponent into playing 3. g3
and 4. h3 but then somehow lost a pawn to some tactics. An exchange followed
shortly after and the result was never in much doubt. The biggest tragedy was on board 8 where in a position that had been
fairly level, Jessica swapped off into an ending and then blundered a
pawn. I hope Selina got home safely as
Jessica was supposed to be giving her a lift!
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WESSEX 2 |
v |
3CS |
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1 |
w |
Yeo,
Michael J |
2153 |
½ - ½ |
Ashton,
Adam G |
2319 |
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2 |
b |
Taylor-Bowd,
Philip J |
2043 |
½ - ½ |
Longson,
Alexander |
2254 |
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3 |
w |
Tunks,
Dominic |
2076 |
1 - 0 |
Jaunooby,
Ali Reza |
2171 |
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4 |
b |
Pleasants,
Allan J |
2079 |
0 - 1 |
Bentley,
John L |
2237 |
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5 |
w |
Clark,
Ian C |
2072 |
0 - 1 |
Burke,
Mitchell R |
1883 |
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6 |
b |
Gregory,
Keith DF |
2056 |
½ - ½ |
Horton,
Jamie A |
1890 |
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2½-3½ |
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Allan Pleasants reports:
This match featured two of the top three rated teams
in the league and was extremely close.
The match progressed rather oddly with us getting the
better of the top boards where we were heavily outrated, and us doing rather
badly on the lower boards where we out-rated them.
Mike drew on board 1, but subsequent analysis revealed
he should have won very easily. Phil got an excellent draw on board two with
black and in the final position the game looked like it could go either way.
Dominic sacrificed and kept sacrificing as befits a person full of confidence
and when the fireworks ended he had a winning queen against double rook ending which
was duly converted. My game was inferior from early on when I misplaced my
Queen, and I could find no satisfactory defense after the position was opened
up. I gave up a pawn to avoid an early trip to the bar, but the outcome was
never in doubt. Keith appeared to be winning, but the advantage disappeared.
Ian was winning comfortably, but a blunder in time trouble switched the result
of the match. Ian was rather inconsolable that evening (and drunk –Ed).
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THE FULL PONTY |
v |
WESSEX 2 |
|||
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1 |
w |
Gilbert,
Jonathan A |
2058 |
1 - 0 |
Tunks,
Dominic |
2076 |
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2 |
b |
Sully,
David J |
2119 |
0 - 1 |
Jenks,
Bruce |
2127 |
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3 |
w |
Miles,
Richard |
2074 |
½ - ½ |
Pleasants,
Allan J |
2079 |
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4 |
b |
Adams,
Mark A |
2026 |
½ - ½ |
Taylor-Bowd,
Philip J |
2043 |
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5 |
w |
Dixon,
Chris |
1953 |
½ - ½ |
Clark,
Ian C |
2072 |
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6 |
b |
Gilbert,
Colin |
1864 |
0 - 1 |
Gregory,
Keith DF |
2056 |
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2½-3½ |
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Captain Allan:
Our Welsh opponents had drawn with Warwickshire Select
2 in their Saturday match and this seems like an excellent result as
Warwickshire Select 2 went on to beat 3Cs the team we lost to Saturday.
Both teams were fairly evenly matched and this
promised to be a close game. Dominic superb run of matches ended with a loss on
board 1. I hope this doesn't mark the start of a long losing streak! Bruce won
on two in another close game, but I always felt he was slightly better. I
thought I was playing ok, but perhaps my position really lacked much promise in
the long term. I managed to give my opponent the chance to go wrong and he duly
obliged and I won an exchange. However with no way to activate my rooks I was
extremely grateful when my opponent offered me a draw. Phil dropped a centre
pawn early on and had to work hard to hold the position to draw. Ian had the
better of it for the whole game, but in the end settled for a draw. On another
weekend he could easily have got 2/2 instead of a single draw. Keith's Queen
worked her way down the a-file and got behind the enemy pieces and that signaled
the end of that game.
This leaves us in 3rd equal a point behind
Warwickshire Select 2 and KJCA Kings.
Last modified: January 18, 2010
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