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2009-2010 Season Archive - County First Team Captain Joey Stewart National County Open Chess Championship Quarter Final on 8 May 2010 Captain's Report and Match Result - Sussex vs Warwickshire Away Venue: Bourne End If I were to say that Tony Hynes and myself were the only two players to take full points away from Sussex then I am sure you can imagine this report will bear somewhat ominous news. Going into the match with a somewhat weaker side then planned (as we had to default bottom board due to late dropouts which could not be replaced in time, and missing two of the top end of the squad) many players had to attempt to force wins from a side which outgraded us by an average of 10 points per board and most found this to be too great a task to accomplish. I did not see as much of the games as usual, feeling that I would merely add to the opposition score if I did not take my opponent quite seriously, so I will only be able to put commentaries on a few but from what I did see it was obvious that everybody who played fought hard to win and even those that were drawn were only done so at the very latest stages of the match. I did, however, manage to win the coin which gave us a marginal advantage of one extra white board (though, the fact that they started with a point in hand probably outweighed this small boon). This will be my final match report, as I shall be playing for Gloucestershire next season, so I hope you enjoy it (as best it is possible to enjoy reading bad news) and I wish my successor luck in the future in overcoming this very awkward fixture which seems to be a consistent stumbling block for the team. Board 1: John Naylor Vs Feliks Kwiatkowski I did not see much of the opening from this game, but it appeared to have been some sort of sharp Sicilian type game. John informed me at one stage that he was going to bravely sacrifice two pawns for an advantage rather then nullify the position to a draw (a very noble and team orientated act, and shared by many others in the team), this was to pay off late in the day when he was able to win back the material invested and go into an endgame with a pawn up. This was, unfortunately not quite enough to garner the full point and his opponent scraped to a draw but seemed greatly annoyed not to have won, regardless of his escape from defeat. Board 2: Tony Hynes Vs Brian Denman Tonys shift towards playing the Sicilian defence seems to have paid dividends and he scored another nice win here. The opening quickly turned into a very unique looking game, with an unusual pawn structure and both sides fighting for activity in the centre. Ultimately the game was a Warwickshire victory and, although I did not see the actual finish, I am sure it was by a fine tactical attack. Board 3: Colin Eckloff Vs Donald MacFarlane Unfortunately I saw very little of this game, as it finished shortly after my own. Colin had been promoted high into the team order due to good form, but perhaps higher then anticipated as he had to face board 3 rather than board 5, which likely made a difference to the final score. Board 4: Pablo Padilla Vs Gareth Anthony Pablo, another player whose fine results have seen him rise through the ranks, created a tactical minefield for his opponent and had good chances until things backfired and a false move saw own position explode rather then Anthony's. Board 5: Andy Baruch Vs David Grant Andy, keen to get another win against a potential future grand master (I am sure it is no secret to many of you that he scored a win against the young Nigel Short) sacrificed a central pawn and the bishop pair in an English game and was able to apply very strong pressure against his opponents relatively undeveloped position. This was not quite enough to win outright and a draw was offered but Andy very selflessly turned it down in order that the team have maximum chances of victory but was eventually defeated as black got his forces coordinated and launched a powerful counter assault. Board 6: Keith Escott Vs Peter Farr A Sicilian game in which Keith was able to grab a pawn early on, for seemingly little white compensation. The sacrifice turned out to be better than anticipated, and white steadily built up pressure until it was too late to prevent and the attacking pieces were able to dance a merry little jig all over the black king. Board 7: Dave Ireland Vs Kenneth Norman I did not see much of the opening to this game, but it soon became a queenless ending where Dave seemed to posses a pawn majority in the centre but his opponent had chances along the flanks. The game ended in a loss, though the means by which this was engineered are not clear to me, leaving me to speculate that the outside pawns were able to find their way up the board more quickly than Dave's centre. Board 8: Richard Smith Vs Peter Kemp A complicated looking Slav game, in which Black made some valiant tactical counterplay and strove to keep the position alive but eventually whites advances were too strong and he was able to find a way to win. Board 9: Alan Lloyd Vs Robert Elliston Again, a game which I was not able to have the pleasure of viewing but I can guarantee two key points: 1.Alan was white, therefore the opening was an English and 2. Black was able to rebuff this tricky opening to garner himself a full point. Board 10: Alan Agnew Vs Geoffrey James Alan has been having one of those cursed seasons we all dread where he has ended up with the black pieces every game. This was another modern defence where black was able to create some good counterplay on the kingside and looked as though he would be able to weave a mating net around the black king, what with there being only one defending piece to brave the storm. Alas, the bishop preformed its job admirably and it was possible for white to lose a small amount of material to save his king and Alan was forced to agree a draw, as time was now too short to realistically attempt a conversion of the position to a full point (also we had effectively lost the match at that stage). Board 11: Martin Smyth Vs Richard Almond It appeared that both players were keen viewers of chess broadcasts, as the opening had been seen just a few days prior to this event in the world championship. Martin went for an isolated queens pawn position in which he was able to exert alot of pressure on blacks kingside, although it did eventually cost him the aforementioned foot soldier. The price paid, of conceding the bishop pair, was still too much for black to overcome and he found himself forced to avoid opening the game up further, lest his king be attacked by the marauding bishops, and a draw agreed as white could also not make major progress. Board 12: Bob Wildig Vs Rasa Norinkeviciute Bob was put under some strain by his opponent not only playing restricting moves but, also, being one of the rare female players to compete at the open level. Some potential strong counterplay on the queenside was initiated but eventually the position simplified and Bob was able to hold a draw in the time scramble in which both players eventually found themselves. Board 13: Nick Fordham Vs Paul Batchelor Nick helped to keep his opponents Sicilian theory to a minimum by playing the very forcing smith morra gambit, a game in which white seemed to have almost unopposed control over the centre and always threatening potential breakthroughs. His opponent turned out to be quite the defender and threw in some very robust moves to keep his position safe from harm and, eventually, when he had taken a gambited piece, it was time for a counterattack which turned out to be fatal. Board 14: Simon Smith Vs Mark Broom Simon had the dubious pleasure of playing a very strong, yet underrated by 30 odd points, opponent with the black pieces. His defences looked to be holding well, and he was even able to build himself a nice space advantage in the centre, but eventually this centre suffered too much pressure from white and fell apart and a piece also lost. The endgame was quite an interesting material inbalance of a knight for two connected passed pawns and, at a glance, it looked as though the black pieces had some good swindling chances but white was too quick to push a passed pawn in the centre and the knight down was soon converted to a whole rook down and, consequently, a lost game. Board 15: Joey Stewart Vs Brian Donnelly The only game of the day which I knew exactly what happened; my opponent used the notoriously tricky Scandinavian (or centre counter, as it seems to be known on the internet) but white neglected development of pieces in favour of playing some very restrictive pawn moves and black eventually found himself in a slightly cramped position and, to compound this problem, lost a piece while trying to counterattack - this extra piece being very influential in generating a large scale assault on the black king which eventually cost his queen, and the game, to prevent. Board 16: Default. As people dropped out close to the match and I, myself, have been busy with a house move recently, there was simply not sufficient time to find a reserve player and I decided it rather more polite to let their player know in advance rather then waste a whole day travelling up for no game. I am sure I will see most of you again at some stage, but for those who I do not then I hope life works out well for you and you continue to enjoy your chess for many years to come. Board Colours: Sussex played White on ?? board numbers, while Warwickshire had White on ?? boards. Board Sussex Grade Score Score Grade Warwickshire 1 Feliks Kwiatkowski 199 0.5 0.5 195 John Naylor 2 Brian Denman 199 0 1 199 Tony Hynes 3 Donald MacFarlane 196 1 0 169 Colin Eckloff 4 Gareth Anthony 196 1 0 184 Pablo Padilla 5 David Grant 196 1 0 191 Andy Baruch 6 Peter Farr 195 1 0 186 Keith Escott 7 Kenneth Norman 194 1 0 178 Dave Ireland 8 Peter Kemp 194 1 0 177 Richard Smith 9 Robert Elliston 183 1 0 173 Alan Lloyd 10 Geoffrey James 183 0.5 0.5 170 Alan Agnew 11 Richard Almond 181 0.5 0.5 174 Martin Smyth 12 Rasa Norinkeviciute 180 0.5 0.5 179 Bob Wildig 13 Paul Batchelor 177 1 0 171 Nick Fordham 14 Mark Broom 173 1 0 160 Simon Smith 15 Brian Donnelly 174 0 1 168 Joey Stewart 16 J. Boardman 171 1 0   Default Totals     12 4     MCCU Open Chess Championship Results Table 2009-2010 The First Team plays in this regional championship against other counties from the Midland Counties Chess Union (MCCU). Position Team P W D L GPD Pts 1st Staffordshire 3 3 0 0 +7 6 2nd Warwickshire 3 2 0 1 +5 4 3rd Greater Manchester 3 1 0 2 -3 2 4th Derbyshire 3 0 0 3 -9 0 MCCU Open Chess Championship Round 3 on 13 March 2010 Captain's Report and Match Result - Greater Manchester vs Warwickshire Away Venue: Newcastle-under-Lyme This match was again troubled by the dreaded drop-outs but, fortunately, I was informed with enough notice to be able to arrange a reserve.  We were able to play with a team which was not quite as strong as it could have been but still contained enough punch on the lower boards to get the job done in this final match of the local stages and avoid the preliminary contest.  As always, the score line could have easily been much closer, had some of our scraped draws and unlikely wins gone the other way - in fact, in the final hour when we were two points up and only needing a point and a half to be safe I was still quite apprehensive as there were several games to be saved and others which could have gone either way so it was not a certainty even at that stage with Manchester putting up a valiant fight right to the end and, I am sure, will avenge themselves in future years. It will be a couple of months until the next match, and I will have to arrange a venue and get back to you closer to the time but, as always, I am hopeful that we will be able to progress further in the competition this year as the big UK Chess Challenge Megafinal event has now ceased to cast a shadow over the fixture date and we will not be needing to split county resources between these two big tournaments. Board 1: David Hulmes vs. Nick Thomas A French Tarrasch game (Nick did mention the variation but it was some strange Russian sounding name which didn’t sink in) in which white enjoyed a space advantage and some attacking chances but nick held a good tight defence and prevented any unwelcome white advances and a draw was agreed. Board 2: Russell James vs. Richard Beach The game developed into a main line Grunfeld (probably with a fancy sounding name, but as I don’t play 1.d4 I don’t have a detailed knowledge of such things) and maintained a nagging advantage to keep black under control but eventually he managed to blockade russes pawn majority on the kingside and it was better to agree a draw then risk anything going wrong in the endgame. Board 3: Steven Pickles vs. Tony Hynes Tony went for a change to his usual e5 and played a sharper Sicilian game which garnered him a very comfortable looking position with white seeming not to be causing any major troubles and having to settle for a draw before things got any worse for him. Board 4: Andy Baruch vs. Mike Surtees Andy took a sensible opening route to help keep him safe from the highly unorthodox pawn thrusts which are surtess trademark opening moves. The game did eventually open up and it appeared that white was grabbing a pawn but in fact the tables were turned and Andy was faced with a difficult situation of having to draw a rook endgame a pawn down. Fortunately, Andy’s king was much better placed and with a clever sacrifice he was able to force a position where black had to concede a draw at a very important stage of the match- this game being the one to put up over the winning line Board 5: Andy Reeve vs. Keith Escott An interesting Sicilian game where Keith made good progress on the kingside with his black forces but white managed to slip the net and evade a loss by attacking the queenside and then offering a draw, which Keith duly accepted to help protect the lead Board 6: Dave Ireland vs. Torsten Zuther A welcome return to the side for Dave, playing a very dynamic French position where white had an isolated queen’s pawn and lots of play for the potential weakness. Eventually pieces were swapped off into a knife edge pawn endgame where both sides had to tread with great caution as one slip would guarantee a loss. Though it seemed as though Dave had gained the upper hand and reached a queen endgame with a pawn up, a final twist to the tale was revealed when black was able to allow an exchange of queens and force a stalemate. Board 7: James Murphy vs. Martin Smyth A very tense Sicilian game, with Martin pressing for an attack on the queenside and white making threats against the black king trapped in the centre. Near the end of the day it appeared that martin had broken through and won a pawn but unfortunately lost a piece soon after and the position collapsed very quickly, dealing us an unexpected loss at a late stage of the match Board 8: Alan Lloyd vs. Mitchell Burke Alan’s old faithful English opening was once again wheeled out to do the business and a steady positional edge was held throughout, although his opponent did appear to have been moving towards equality at some stages eventually this did not come to pass as Alan finished things off with a tactical sequence which put the game to rest. Board 9: Tom Vout vs. Bob Wallman Bob, another new addition to the team, used a steady Sicilian defence to ward off his opponents aggressive advances and did appear to have been ok and heading for the chance to make some counter play, but this was not to be as somewhere along the line things went awry and he lost an exchange of rook for bishop and held out well for quite some time but eventually it was not his day and Mr Vout was able to grind out a win in the endgame. Board 10: Bob Wildig vs. Adam Tyton Bob opened up with a Queen’s Gambit, and got himself a very nice position indeed which, in bobs words, should have been a publishable win. So much so that he relaxed the pressure on his opponent and ended up losing two minor pieces for a rook in a fairly closed position.  This would normally be terminal for the rook player as the pieces can simply be used to pick off any pawns they want and it is almost impossible to defend. Fortunately, Tyton returned the favour which he had been gifted with earlier in the match and allowed Bobs rook to penetrate his ranks and suddenly the minor pieces were not able to hold it back as a vital pawn was grabbed, then another, and before the game could be brought to its natural conclusion we chalked up a Warwickshire victory on time (though, to be fair, it was probably a winning one anyway) Board 11: Joao Rita vs. Alan Agnew Unfortunately for Alan, I had decided to try and move him to an opposite numbered board to myself in order that he get his first taste of the white pieces but somehow the coin flip messed my system up and so he was faced with another black game. Mr Rita opened up with a very aggressive four pawn attack against Alan’s Pirc, and soon found himself with a huge space advantage and a very strong chance of winning, as black had virtually no counter play by the end of the opening and was faced with a miserable position to hold. However, white decided that the position was so good that he could afford to sacrifice a piece and open up some lines for victory, which Alan sprang into action to exploit and managed to put his newly acquired extra piece to good use in the defences of his king. As time was running short for both players and the position was now unclear a draw was offered and gladly accepted, thus saving another potential lost game for us. Board 12: Colin Eckloff vs. Aaron Webber This was probably the most exciting game of the match, with Webber giving up an early exchange in a Phillidor game but getting some serious initiative for it, and Colin having to work hard to avoid getting into trouble. As the game progressed, it seemed that was white was starting to develop some threats of his own and was even able to allow his own king to become slightly compromised as he was able to give back the exchange, diffuse blacks attacking chances, and counter attack the king which was now trapped in the centre - this attack made somewhat easier by the gift of a queen on the final move. Play through Colin Eckloff's game in the Analysis Room of the Cafe. Board 13: James Wei vs. Simon Smith Simon is another new face in the squad, whose recent string of good results (including a win over an international master) brought him to my attention and his inclusion was definitely a worthwhile one. The game was a Sicilian, with some very interesting tactical play by both sides, and at several points looking as though it was going to be a total wipe-out one way or the other. As the complications died down, Simon had emerged with an exchange of rook for knight up but white’s dangerous extra pawns appeared to be enough compensation and I thought that it might well be a loss. Coming back some time later, the endgame now was a comfortable one for black, and my mood lightened that at least we had a draw now. Further still, and it was now clear that Simon did not have a draw in mind but, rather, the full point and played an excellent endgame to avoid the many tricky moves which his talented junior opponent threw at him until he had reached a position where it was possible to give back the exchange into a winning pawn endgame and getting us a point at a vital time in the match when it allowed those still playing to now aim for draws rather than force their positions. Play through Simon Smith's game in the Analysis Room of the Cafe. Board 14: Joey Stewart Vs Mick Norris Although we have both been captaining the teams for some years now, I have always missed out on playing Mick by a board or two, so it was nice to finally get an opportunity to have a game against him, especially with the rarity of the white pieces and, even more unusually, a theoretical line I actually knew. The game was a petroff with a new(ish) white system which does not yet appear to have a name but involves an early queen move to d4 and f4 to have it well positioned for an attack and after some rapid development of pieces it was possible to swap things off to win a pawn and go into a rook endgame where things were fairly closed and it was quite difficult for black to find a clear plan to hold his position, which eventually got worse after the entire kingside was rounded up and the connected passed pawns on the h and g files proved too much for the rook and king to prevent marching through, thus gaining us our first whole point of the match (and, also, my first win for the county team for over a year). Board 15: Johnathan Lonsdale vs. Tony Sadler A King’s Indian game where Tony tried to make some play on the kingside, and white tried to make his advances in the centre but ultimately the position became just a little too blockaded for either side to play on for a win and, therefore, a draw was agreed. At least, this is what I hope happened, as I did not actually witness the final position but I am sure if this is not the case then Tony will put me straight. Board 16: Ed Goodwin vs. Alan Beresford Ed, to some, will appear another new addition to the team but is actually an ex-open player returning to active duty after a couple of years off. The game was a Queens Gambit, where white generated a very dominating space advantage, and black seemed to be running out of moves. Things got somewhat complicated when threats of Beresford’s pieces creeping around the pawn blockade looked to be a real possibility and Ed decided to safely repeat moves rather than risk a potentially tricky counterattack. Subsequent analysis showed that he was probably still winning, but at this very early stage of the match the draw did little to improve or detract from the teams chances so was acceptable. Board Colours: Greater Manchester played White on Odd board numbers, while Warwickshire had White on Even boards. Board Greater Manchester Grade Score Score Grade Warwickshire 1 Hulmes, David 211 0.5 0.5 204 Thomas, Nicholas 2 Beach, Richard 197 0.5 0.5 197 James, Russell A 3 Pickles, Steven 196 0.5 0.5 199 Hynes, AM (Tony) 4 Surtees, Mike 194 0.5 0.5 191 Baruch, Andrew JD 5 Reeve, Andy 188 0.5 0.5 186 Escott, Keith L 6 Zuther, Torsten 185 0.5 0.5 178 Ireland, David J 7 Murphy, James 172 1 0 174 Smyth, Martin D 8 Burke, Mitchell 162 0 1 171 Lloyd, Alan D 9 Vout, Tom 178 1 0 172 Wallman, Robert J 10 Tyton, Adam 175 0 1 181 Wildig, Robert H 11 Rita, Joao 155 0.5 0.5 170 Agnew, Alan 12 Webber, Aaron e172 0 1 169 Eckloff, Colin 13 Wei, James 160 0 1 160 Smith, Simon CA 14 Norris, Mick 165 0 1 168 Stewart, Joseph J 15 Lonsdale, Johnathan 157 0.5 0.5 150 Sadler, Anthony 16 Beresford, Alan 159 0.5 0.5 156 Goodwin, Ed H Totals     6.5 9.5     MCCU Open Chess Championship Round 2 on 30 January 2010 Captain's Report and Match Result - Warwickshire vs Derbyshire Home Venue: Midland Red Social Club, Quinton, Birmingham. After last matches performance, there was little direction the team could have gone but up and they did just that.  Unfortunately, two of the top players dropped out on the day, meaning that I not only had to shuffle everyone up boards but also default a game too so things stated out very much in our opponents favour and as I was very distracted today I will not be able to provide my usual game analysis but a summary of how the match proceeded. Colin Eckloff was the first to win, with a fairly crushing mating attack from a ruy lopez game, thus overcoming the first obstacle of our default point and putting us level again. Keith Escott followed soon after when it appeared that his opponents french defence was too solid to hold against, even with the good knight vs. bad bishop. Soon after Andy Baruch, who had been dominating his opponent right from the early stages, forced a resignation. Pablo, who also had been in great command of his alekhine position from the early stages, effortlessly converted what appeared to be a tricky rook endgame with two isolated pawns and won us another full point. At this stage, things looked promising but the top boards were still very double edged and the bottom boards were fairly level so there was still plenty of work to be done. Play through the games of Colin Eckloff and Pablo Padillo in the Analysis Room of the Cafe. A while later it was reported that Tony and Phil had both won in quick succession on boards 1 and 2 - Tony playing a more patient c3 Sicillian game and eventually his extra space was rewarded by the decimation of his opponents queenside and a nice solid win, Phil’s game as one of the most interesting of the match, as it appeared as though his young opponent had a fierce looking initiative building and it would be difficult to defend, but defend he did and the attack came to nothing but lost material and two more wins for us. Around this point, our winning series was brought to an end as Stewarts opponent had managed to come crashing through the defences with a series of tactical manoeuvres and his massive extra pawns reserves proved to be too much for black to maintain and we were dealt our first loss of the match. Alan Lloyds had looked quite good earlier, in one of his classical English games, but his opponent proved to be extremely resilient and was able to scrape a draw (on another note - it was Alan’s birthday today - and I am sure everyone sends their best wishes). However, our other Alan was not to be denied and converted a patient modern opening through the perils of the middlegame into a winning ending, flawlessly. Next to finish was my own game which, I thought at the time was somewhat of a lacklustre result as I was sure there had been better opportunities available earlier on, actually was quite a favourable one for me as subsequent computer analysis showed my opponent to have a far superior position then originally assessed and so the draw agreement was the right decision. Bob Wildig had been steadily converting a huge endgame advantage with his superior knight and finished the job quite soon after, to put us well past the victory line and it was now just a case of trying to extract as many additional points as possible to help our progress in the group stages. Iain Gallowys game had looked pretty steady for a long time and he was able to hold a comfortable draw in the end, however Dons game had been a major struggle with the white pieces as an attacking opening had gone awry and he was now having to defend a tricky bishops endgame to avoid a loss - fortunately the position favoured Don, as the extra pawn of his opponents was on the wrong square h file for the bishop and so he was able to draw by tactical means of threatening to sacrifice his piece for the penultimate black pawn. This left the bottom boards to finish and martin smyth was the first to do so, having entered into a difficult looking queen endgame which looked to have some life left until his opponent blundered and allowed the queens to be traded and an easily won pawn ending was swiftly converted for another win. Tony Sadler was the last to finish and pressed hard with his extra bishop, gained after surviving some unpleasant threats earlier on, but the opposing threats of winning the endgame were too great and eventually it seemed better to trade off for a safe draw then risk undue complications. All in all a fine performance and with a win against Manchester next month we will be back on course to take a swipe at the National Championship again. Board Colours: Warwickshire played White on Odd board numbers, while Derbyshire had White on Even boards. Board Warwickshire Grade Score Score Grade Derbyshire 1 Hynes, AM (Tony) 199 1 0 196 Raymond Evans 2 Holt, Philip J 200 1 0 189 Kishan Lakhani 3 Mason, Donald J 196 0.5 0.5 171 Simon Gilmore 4 Galloway, Iain A 190 0.5 0.5 165 Martin Howard 5 Baruch, Andrew JD 191 1 0 167 Raymond Gamble 6 Padilla, Pablo 184 1 0 168 Trevor Bould 7 Escott, Keith L 186 0.5 0.5 158 Derek Jarvis 8 Fishburne, Stewart K 184 0 1 e170 David Gothard 9 Lloyd, Alan D 171 0.5 0.5 163 Alan Downham 10 Agnew, Alan 170 1 0 145 Paul Sansom 11 Smyth, Martin D 174 1 0 144 Maurice Hill 12 Wildig, Robert H 181 1 0 136 Paul Kelman 13 Eckloff, Colin 169 1 0 139 David Pickering 14 Stewart, Joseph J 168 0.5 0.5 142 David Hoddy 15 Sadler, Anthony 150 0.5 0.5 138 Luke Alldread 16 Default   0 1 135 Nathan Atkins Totals     11 5     MCCU Open Chess Championship Round 1 on 10 October 2009 Captain's Report and Match Result - Staffordshire vs Warwickshire Away Venue: Bushbury, Wolverhampton. Well, what can I say except whoops!  Although the results have been very convincing wins in the last two years Staffordshire today showed that they are not a side to be underestimated and gave us a bit of a good kicking for our complacency - luckily our newest addition to the squad (Alan Agnew) managed to rescue some scraps of dignity for the team by being the only one to score a full point.  The board by board report will probably reveal that, in fact, the match may well have been much closer if it had not been for the collapse of several boards around the time trouble of the fourth hour.  Next match will not be until the New Year so I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy (early) Christmas and let’s hope that the New Year brings us the success that we deserve. Board 1: Nick Thomas vs Lawrence Cooper Nick seemed doubtful of my curse of the black pieces going into this match but, sure enough, it struck again and he was gifted with the white pieces (my board being an even number) and set about one of his usual Giuoco Piano games, with an ambitious concession of the bishop pair to compromise blacks pawn structure. In the end, however, a draw was agreed fairly early into the match before black had got a chance to activate his pieces. Board 2: Tony Hynes vs Paul Wallace White opened with a Ruy Lopez, only to have nice peaceful positional squeeze disrupted by Tony’s Schliemann counter attack (which can be most off-putting when you are a more steady type of player). This did not deter Mr Wallace from his ambitions to keep things sensible and he forced an exchange of queens vie a cunning check on e6, the bishop on d7 powerless to make a capture due to a pin, and after this the resultant endgame seemed to just be that much better for white for the duration of the match - Tony tried hard to stir up some complications but eventually whites active rooks, coupled with a nasty looking passed pawn, were enough to force a resignation. Board 3: Phil Holt vs Darren Wheeler Phil put in a good performance in trying to prevent Wheelers drawish tendencies from becoming a reality and went down one of the main lines of the French Tarrasch theory, maintaining pressure against black’s backwards e-pawn and trying to build up pressure against the relatively undefended kingside. Black decided that this was going to be a good time for some counterplay and made some attacking moves with his bishop on the f file but ultimately the players decided to settle on a peaceful solution to their problems and a draw was agreed. Board 4: Don Mason vs David Anderton After the last match Don was sure that he would face an improvement on his previous winning line and chose to emulate the great Garry Kasparov and played one of the lines which brought him success in his recent games against Karpov. As it turned out, David had also followed these matches and had even come up with an improvement on Karpov’s play which helped to get him quite a nice looking... Board 5: Iain Galloway vs Nick Walker Iain opened up with his English/Sicilian hybrid system which was met with fairly active pawn play by his opponent who refused to allow white to gain much of a permanent blockade established. This meant that after the white centre was reformed, the position had become a little unstable and a draw was agreed. Board 6: Pablo Padilla vs Alan Crombleholme This game featured the fairly rare Englund gambit, as played by Pablo.  White seemed to be fairly well versed in the tricky ways of this system and managed to hold the pawn stubbornly, despite ending up with some fairly messy looking doubled ones of his own. The pawn advantage proved not to be sufficient to achieve a win for white and the game was decreed to be a draw. Board 7: Dani Malik vs Alex Richardson Dani attempted to spice up the, usually dull, Caro Kahn opening with the fantasy variation - a dangerous system full of traps and tactics.  Black had to work quite hard to avoid the worst of the attack and even netted himself a pawn for some time but the active white bishops were able to overcome the slow cumbersome knights to keep Richardson from being able to convert this advantage and a draw was the eventual result. Board 8: Mark Page vs Craig Whitfield One of the most exciting games of the day, Marks attacking Najdorf was the first to find a target down the b file - right where white’s king was sitting. Although the game looked clearly better for black for almost the entire playing session, whites tenacious defences kept him safe consistently and, just when it appeared he had spent too much time defending and would not have the seconds left on the clock to make the time control it was actually Marks flag which fell first and a potential win was turned into a loss for us. Board 9: Kaiser Malik vs Lee Grinsell Kaiser tried to gain an advantage against his opponents Sicilian by playing a c3 system and getting a pretty good looking pawn centre.  Black, not feeling in the mood for much of a battle, chose the safe option of blocking the position up and making it almost impossible to make any worthwhile progress and so another draw was agreed. Board 10: Stewart Fishburne vs John Turner Stewart played a modern defence and, although the game was never in any great danger of looking like a loss, whites play seemed to be far more geared towards steering things into drawish territories then trying to win and ultimately he got what he wanted as another draw was agreed. Board 11: Bob Wildig vs David Cooper Bobs queens gambit opening worked out pretty well, especially after blacks attempts to undermine the pawn centre left him with doubled kingside pawns and bob was effectively a pawn up with a nice comfortable looking game. Things took a turn for the worst when the exchange of a rook for bishop was forced (possibly it may have been a deliberate thing, as I was not looking at the exact time it happened) but by this time whites king had penetrated blacks pawn structure and things started to look very favourable. Sadly, the pawn advantage was not quite as telling as it could have been as Bob ended up losing his bishop in a bit of time trouble and the passed pawns, strong as they were, were not quite far enough advanced to force through for a win and were duly rounded up, leading to another potential full point lost. Board 12: Alan Lloyd vs Patrick Bennett Things looked ominous here, even before the game had started, when Alan told me he had a fairly bad record against this particular opponent and then ending up with the black pieces against an English only made things harder. Things did not look quite so bad in the opening stages, and the black counterplay on the queenside appeared to be getting the better position. Somewhere along the way, unfortunately I missed the exciting bit here as well, white sacrificed the exchange for some very powerful passed pawns and actively placed pieces and, try as he might, Alan was just not able to cause any major problems from then on and eventually had to resign as the queen and bishop set themselves up a mating net. Board 13: Martin Smyth vs John Mangwengwende The game here went down a more closed route, as black’s Kings Indian attempts to free up the kingside for f5 were squashed out and the whole kingside was gridlocked by pawns. While attempting to prepare for a sacrifice, Martin wandered his king into the centre away from the coming melee but this proved to be a big mistake as black managed to crack the d file open and his powerful looking bishops checked the king right back into submission, black even refusing to win an exchange of bishop for rook in favour of maintaining the strong initiative. This attacking play was rewarded in the minutes before time control as a natural looking defensive move, in fact, allowed a mate in one which was duly taken. Board 14: Alan Agnew vs John Keaveney Alan’s modern defence proved to be quite superior to the attacks his opponent could muster and the position soon reached that resembling a Sicilian. The exchanges of pieces seemed to be fairly favourable to black and he was eventually able to reach an ending where, due to whites doubled pawns on the e file, he was effectively a passed pawn up and in the ensuing rook and queen endgame it made quite a nuisance of itself, so much so that white had to swap off rooks and continue to play a pawn down. As blacks queen was better placed, and the passed pawn not yet dealt with, a strong attack loomed which white decided was too much to handle and resigned (although, subsequent analysis showed that it might have perhaps been possible to have escaped with a draw). Board 15: Colin Eckloff vs David Pritchard Colin’s c3 Sicilian was met with aggressive counterplay by black, in the form of an early e5 pawn push. This attacking play did come at a price, and blacks pieces ended up somewhat haphazardly placed, with the potential of an 'accident' looming. At one point it appeared that Colin had managed to snare himself one of those loose pieces but due to some resourceful play by black he was only able to win a pawn and trade off into a bishop + rook vs.. knight+ rook endgame which may have been winnable had it not been for the fact that white was desperately short of time and a long way from the time control so ended up having to return the pawn in order to reach equality and draw the game. Board 16: Joey Stewart vs John Staniforth My opponent informed me that he has won all his games against Warwickshire in the previous year’s play so I felt obliged to put a stop to that, even if it meant holding him to a draw. As it happened, the opening went down a relatively untrodden route (for myself) as I was keen not to allow too much of an early attack so played a little too safely. After some advances on the queenside, it did start to look as though the tables might be about to turn and a win was in the pipeline but in the end I just couldn’t find a move which created sufficient threats that he could not prevent them all in any given turn, and the 'advantage' slipped away until I had to play for a draw to avoid getting squeezed out of a cramped position. Board Colours: Staffordshire played White on Odd board numbers, while Warwickshire had White on Even boards. Board Staffordshire Grade Score Score Grade Warwickshire 1 Lawrence Cooper 209 0.5 0.5 204 Thomas, Nicholas 2 Paul Wallace 198 1 0 199 Hynes, AM (Tony) 3 Darren Wheeler 198 0.5 0.5 200 Holt, Philip J 4 David Anderton 192 0.5 0.5 196 Mason, Donald J 5 Nicholas Walker 189 0.5 0.5 190 Galloway, Iain A 6 Alan Crombelholme 186 0.5 0.5 184 Padilla, Pablo 7 Alex Richardson 185 0.5 0.5 188 Malik, Dani 8 Craig Whitfield 185 1 0 180 Page, Mark E 9 Lee Grinsell 183 0.5 0.5 180 Malik, Kaiser 10 John Turner 175 0.5 0.5 184 Fishburne, Stewart K 11 David Cooper 175 1 0 181 Wildig, Robert H 12 Patrick Bennett 174 1 0 173 Lloyd, Alan D 13 John Mangwengwende 173 1 0 174 Smyth, Martin D 14 John Keaveney 165 0 1 170 Agnew, Alan 15 David Pritchard 163 0.5 0.5 169 Eckloff, Colin 16 John Staniforth 157 0.5 0.5 168 Stewart, Joseph J Totals     10 6

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