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Here's an example of how Witney players may not
be the greatest opening theorists in the world,
but can certainly spot a good cheapo when they
see one!
This is an interesting email I received recently
from Frank Haynes, an old friend of Arthur
Mushens whom I played as a teenager back in
1972.
'Have just been looking at the Witney chess
club site and was pleased to see so many of my
old chess friends there, particularly Flt Lt
Arthur Mushens RAF retired. I was
stationed at RAF Little Rissington in the 1960s
when I took up serious chess and first met
Arthur in 1965 at the RAF Championships (he won
it of course). I joined the Dowty club in the
Cheltenham league and also played for RAF
Innsworth. After a tour of duty in Singapore I
was posted to RAF Colerne, bought a house in
Melksham and joined the Corsham chess club. At
the end of the 1971/2 season I played white
against a certain M C Truran of Kingswood
School.'
'My last game in Wilts
was when I played M E Brigden of the
Claverton CC in Feb 1972 and lost. I then left
the RAF and moved to Melton Mowbray'.
- Frank Haynes
Frank has kindly sent me our game from then;
this far on I can't remember if my 12th move was
an inspired positional pawn sacrifice or a
straight blunder (but I very much suspect
the latter). I tracked the game down to my own
scorebook at the time and note that Kingswood
School (Bath) beat Corsham 4.5:1.5 in the match.
I believe that the Corsham Club closed down in
1987, with Chippenham now being the closest
active club to Corsham (although I can't find a
record of Frank playing there now). The Dowty
and Claverton clubs to which Frank refers have
also since closed. I did play Mike Brigden (who
now plays for Downend and Fishponds in the
Bristol League) on a number of occasions and
recall having some great battles with him -
MT.
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Here's a nice
five minute game in which Alan Gentry poleaxed
me recently at the club. I usually last a bit
longer than twelve moves, so I thought
I would share the
amusement. I hope Alan will be the first to
agree that I took it in a manly fashion without
even a quiver of the lower lip.
White: Alan Gentry Black: Mike
Truran
Friendly Game, 7 March 2011
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5
4. f3 Bb4 5. Bg5 c5 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. Ne2 a6 8.
Bc6:+ bc6: 9. O-O
cd4: 10.
Qd4: c5 11. Qe5 d4 12. Nd5 1-0
... and I wasn't going to get up off the canvas
after that one.
As a postscript, in the next
game Alan tried another f3 adventure, this time
a move earlier:
White: Alan Gentry Black: Mike
Truran
Friendly Game, 7 March 2011
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 de4:
4. fe4: Qh4+ ...
0-1 after various further adventures.
Revenge is sweet.
- Mike
Upwards of 30
people attended Peter Well’s lecture, organised
by Witney CC, and a pleasant and
thought-provoking evening resulted – punctuated
by lively discussion,
tea at the interval and some post-match pub
analysis in the Bell Inn.
Click to
read Sean Terry's lecture report.
The Oxford 2 and
3 teams were in action this weekend in Division
3 of the 4NCL together with Swindon-based Brown
Jack, for whom Peter Richmond, Tim Headlong and
Mike Truran from Witney Chess Club also play.
Both Oxford 2 and Brown Jack are flying high and
are in the frame for promotion to Division 2.
Sean Terry of Oxford City Chess Club has been
kind enough to send through most of the games
from the various matches.
Mark Hannon got the only other
draw to be
achieved in the Peter Wells apart from Gareth's.
Peter Wells Simul
Gareth Stevens from Cumnor Chess Club
has
submitted his excellent draw from Peter Wells'
recent simultaneous display - one of only two
players to prevent a clean sweep by Peter.
Congratulations Gareth!
As many of you will know, Oxfordshire is
represented by Oxford (three teams) and Banbury
in the 4NCL - and Dave Hackett and I also play
for Swindon-based Brown Jack in the 4NCL. Sean
Terry of the Oxford City club has kindly sent me
a large collection of games from the various
matches played by the Oxford teams at the recent
4NCL weekend which you may find of interest. I
commend to you in particular Matt Rose's ending
against Yang-Fan Zhou (a 225 graded sixteen year
old!) as an example of how to find unexpected
resources in the most unpromising of positions.
You can find more information on the 4NCL, the
premier team event in the UK, on
www.4ncl.co.uk
- Mike
Download these (26) games in PGN
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