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Cowley 1 vs. Witney 1
1 Sanchez,
Antonio (-) 0-1 Harvey, Marcus (235)
2 Walden,
Andrew (194) ½-½ Headlong, Timothy
(187)
3 Starkie, Ray
J (172) 0-1 Richmond, Peter (187)
4 Nixon, Rod
(174) 0-1
Truran, Michael (191)
5 Burrows,
Nick (171) 0-1 Hackett, Dave G
(178)
6 Burt,
William (169) ½-½ Asenov,
Pavel (170)
(ave
grade 176)
1-5 (ave grade 191)
Match played on 24 Mar.
Another Monday, another match
at Cowley. The heating seemed even more erratic
than usual - artic before Gentleman Gerard's
intervention, tropical thereafter, and finally
back to arctic once the Rose Hill Methodist
Church Hall timers kicked in. Apart from that, a
highly satisfactory win against a strong Cowley
1 team.
Marcus' game was the first to
finish, employing his usual technique of playing
a sensible but out of fashion opening, this time
1. b3 (I was pleased to see that 1. g4 didn't
make a reappearance), thereafter playing sound
moves quickly, and seeing his opponent crumble
under the pressure. All very impressive. Tim
drew solidly after Andy's exchange sac proved
good enough for a draw but no more. Ray looked
to be holding Peter all the way - I didn't see
the end of the game, so I'm afraid can't report
on how Peter managed to notch up the win. I was
the last to finish - the Witney Gambit (9.
...... d5 in the Sicilian Lowenthal) struck
again as Rod got into a tangle in the opening
and shed a pawn, after which various ingenious
wriggles proved insufficient. As a bit of a time
trouble addict (although not in the same league
as some) it's nice to be able to bang out a long
opening sequence in double quick time. Dave
played what looked like a very controlled game
and broke through on the white squares - no
doubt mindful of the relevance to opposite
coloured bishops of Tarrasch's dictum "Before
the endgame, the gods have placed the
middlegame", this time Dave kept a few other
pieces on the board following numerous episodes
this season in which he has been thwarted in
opposite coloured bishop endgames despite being
various numbers of pawns ahead. Pavel played a
very mature main line Najdorf Sicilian and
seemed to have a winning advantage, but Will
managed to get down to an endgame when his queen
and bishop had sufficient activity for the draw.
So, once again, a match in which we weren't
worse at any point in any of the games.
So one match to go, and we
will definitely be going for a 100% match points
tally. It's quite impossible to predict what
sort of team Oxford University will be fielding
in our final match (this season the average
grade of the Oxford University teams has ranged
from 188 down to 144), so anything could happen.
Wish us luck!
- Mike
1 Harvey,
Marcus (235) 1-0 Rowan,
Paul (173)
2 Headlong,
Timothy (187) 1-0 Staples, Neil (166)
3 Richmond,
Peter (187) 1-0 Hibbitt,
Arthur (161)
4 Truran,
Michael (191) 1-0 Manley,
Nathan J (161)
5 Hackett,
Dave G (178) 1-0 Jackson, Gary
C (154)
6 Koszta,
Csaba ( )
1-0 Waddell, Mal (149)
ave
grade 196)
6-0 (ave grade 161)
Match played on 03 Mar.
A convincing enough win
against Banbury 1, as pleasant a bunch of chaps
as you could hope to meet and thoroughly
sporting losers. Dave played Witney 1's new
secret weapon 9. ...... d5 in the Lowenthal
Sicilian and got a winning position against Gary
as quickly as I had done against Robin Nandi in
the Oxfordshire Sunday League a couple of weeks
before (and, more to the point, demonstrating
the competent technique which had singularly
eluded me against Robin). Csaba also duffed up
Mal in double quick time, but the other games
took a bit longer. Marcus did what Marcus does
best, making good moves fast in a near-equal
position until Paul collapsed in a heap; Peter
does what he does best, blowing Arthur away very
flashily in a confused tactical mess; Tim did
what Tim does best, grinding away on the queen's
side before finally crashing through; and I did
what I do best, getting a won game early on and
then faffing about in an attempt to snatch
defeat from the jaws of victory.
Happily I finished up on the
right side of a time scramble with no fewer than
twelve seconds on my clock when Nathan ran out
of time (and pieces). Yes, I know that Peter
Wells can play an entire game in twelve seconds,
but he's a lot younger than me and a GM as well.
Anyway, that's the Division 1
title secure for the fourth season in a row for
the fourth season in a row (so long as we don't
rack up too many default points through Tim and
his passengers taking the scenic route to our
final two away matches.
- Mike
1 Harvey,
Marcus (235) 1-0 D'Souza-Eva,
Jon (185)
2 Headlong,
Timothy (187) 1-0 Place, John F (154)
3 Koszta,
Csaba ( )
1-0 Cole, Graham (153)
4 Hackett,
Dave G (178) 1-0 Cole, James
(135)
5 Asenov,
Pavel (170) 1-0
Bush, Ian (123)
6 Gentry, Alan
(142) ½-½
Sayers, David (119
(ave
grade 182)
5½-½ (ave grade 145)
Match played on 18 Feb.
Press ganged into being
Captain again while Mike was away on business I
was fortunate that we were playing a friendly
club from MCS/Blackbird Leys and in Dave Sayers
a player I have known for over 40 years -
frightening!
Before start of play we were
one player short as Peter did not travel because
of the sad loss of his mother. Luckily Alan
Gentry was on hand to step in on board 6.
I was paired again against
James Cole a young player with promise who I had
struggled against in the away match which ended
in a draw partly because of his good play and
the fact that Chelsea were playing a Champions
League match. This time I was ready and more
importantly I had the white pieces. James played
c5 and we entered my favourite Closed Sicilian.
The strategy James adopted was to block the pawn
chain on the queenside which gave him no counter
play as I launched my kingside attack. A neat
sacrifice on f5 opened up his king quickly and
just as mate was about to be delivered James
resigned. Nice game by me if I can be so
boastful!
The next to finish was Csabe
who with black played the following e4 e6, d4
d5, Nc3 f5!??! I am not sure how Mr T would have
reacted had he been watching. Having said that
not only did Csabe gain a large amount of time
but every time I looked at the position Black's
advantage improved with every move as clearly
Graham was in shock about how to deal with the
pawn on f5. The advantage materialised into a
win very neatly.
Marcus continued his
demolition of good 180 plus players with quick
play and exerting pressure which eventually pays
dividends. 3 - 0 to Witney.
Pavel kept his cool in a very
difficult position where clearly he had the
advantage but it would have been so easy to go
wrong. He was helped by his opponent not having
much time which meant he did not always find the
right
move but it is easy watching
from the sidelines. 4 - 0 to Witney.
Alan's game against Dave
Sayers was a classic case of lots of tactics on
both sides and certainly was a case of who dares
wins as they had both missed winning chances.
Fearing the worse and getting short on time Dave
made Alan a timely draw offer which after long
consideration Alan accepted. Afterwards it was
pointed out to Alan that he was probably winning
but given the way the game had ebbed and flowed
a draw was a fair result.
Tim was probably the only
Witney player to struggle to gain an advantage
against a very resilient John Place. John had
chances on the kingside and instead of pressing
ahead he started to defend on the queenside
which all too often is flawed against Tim's good
queenside play. John was also handicapped with
time pressure and maybe did not play the best
moves but as soon as Tim scented blood he was
not going to let John off the hook. 5.5 v 0.5 to
Witney.
All in all a fantastic
evening which made us get ever closer to
retaining the title.
- Dave Hackett
Our away match at Cowley took
an untoward turn when Tim and Csaba failed to
materialise at the appointed time and place. It
appears that an unscheduled night time trip
around of the scenic delights of Headington had
taken place, culminating in a visit to the
splendours of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.
Happily a (somewhat panicky) call to the
estimable Mrs T of Ducklington Towers, manning
the emergency switchboard for just such crises
as these, soon set them on the right course and
they eventually turned up only twenty or so
minutes late. Quite how Tim 'Columbus' Headlong
managed his remarkable feat of navigation
remains unclear, given that he has been a
regular visitor to Cowley CC's home venue for
more than a decade. Probably least said soonest
mended though, as the saying goes.
After that things progressed
much more smoothly. Tim and I agreed relatively
quick draws in even positions (Tim at least
having the excuse of somewhat unsettled nerves
after his nocturnal peregrinations), but the
other four games were all to our advantage, and
it was something of a surprise to the spectators
that only Csaba (apparently entirely unruffled
by all the pre-match excitement in Tim's
company) was able to bring home the full point
after smoothly converting a couple of pawns'
advantage. Dave was somewhat unlucky, finding
himself in a technically drawn opposite coloured
bishop ending despite being two pawns up; Pavel
offered the draw to secure the match for us (but
in truth by then most of his winning chances had
evaporated); and Marcus hammered away
enthusiastically for most of the session before
'Doc' Walden convinced him that two pawns for
the exchange (including a protected passed pawn
on the seventh) were sufficient to secure the
draw.
So we remain four match
points clear of the field, and two wins out of
the remaining four matches will do the job. With
two home matches to come against MCS and Banbury
we remain heavy favourites for the title, but as
we know nothing is certain in this life except
death and taxes.
1 Walden,
Andrew (194) ½-½
Harvey, Marcus (235)
2 Wang, Maria
(176) ½-½
Headlong, Timothy (187)
3 Waugh, Bob
(-)
½-½ Truran, Michael (191)
4 Wang, Anna
(155) 0-1 Koszta, Csaba ( )
5 Nandi, Robin
J (153) ½-½ Hackett, Dave G
(178)
6 Rasell,
Geoff C (144) ½-½
Asenov, Pavel (170)
2½-3½
Match played on 10 Feb 2014.
- Mike.
Witney 1 vs. OxUni1
If there can ever be an
unconvincing 6:0 scoreline, this was it. Tim
hung a rook at the end of his game; his
opponent, instead of taking it, exuberantly
played Rf8 ch to clear a path for his queen to
mate on g7. Unfortunately for him, Tim's reply
Rxf8 was also check. Worse still, Tim's opponent
then picked up his queen to deliver mate. Tim's
observation that he therefore had to fend off
the check (by interposing her majesty) brought
proceedings to an abrupt end. I spent an hour
and a quarter of my allotted time finding a
series of entirely indifferent moves,
culminating in a howler which allowed my
opponent to either win my queen or mate in two.
For once my luck was in, and thereafter I
decided that it wasn't worth wasting any more
time actually trying to calculate good moves.
Unsurprisingly my play improved no end from then
on. Csaba, our new recruit - welcome on board
Csaba!), and Peter R managed to eke wins from
rook endings, at least one of which (Csaba's)
was clearly drawn at one stage. I didn't see
much of Peter W's game, but he told me
afterwards that he too had been affected by the
general malaise after a smooth start to the
game. Only Marcus seemed to win entirely
convincingly.
Still ...... our destiny
remains in our own hands, and if we can see off
City 1 next Monday we will be odds-on for the
title.
1 Wells, Peter
(234) 1-0 Chiu, Howard (204)
2 Harvey,
Marcus (227) 1-0 Alsamra, Eyad (-)
3 Headlong,
Timothy (188) 1-0 Brackmann,
Hendrik ( )
4 Richmond,
Peter (188) 1-0 Lim,
Sean (149)
5 Koszta,
Csaba ( )
1-0 Bentham, Sam ( )
6 Truran,
Michael (188) 1-0
Bhalla, Krishan ( )
6-0
Match played on 21 Jan.
After the fiasco of Witney
1's default against Wantage 1 in the Frank Wood
Shield (many thanks to Wantage CC for their high
standards of sportsmanship and willingness to
play to the spirit rather than the letter of the
rules
it was nice to meet up with our old friends at
Banbury, a club with the refreshing attitude of
actually wanting to play chess. It was even
nicer to see that the lighting was much
improved, new tables had been purchased and the
21st century had arrived in the shape of a new
set of digital clocks. So all in all a much
improved experience over previous visits to the
Frozen North.
The match itself went very
well, with no serious wobbles on any board.
Marcus insisted on playing 1. g4 amidst much
tutting from the assembled greybeards (i.e. me)
- but of course when you're as strong as Marcus
is you can (usually) get away with pretty much
any old rubbish in the opening. Peter played
solidly, picked up a couple of pawns and won
smoothly. Nathan either blundered or sacrificed
a piece in the opening (if the latter, maybe
'post hoc ergo propter hoc') and got three pawns
for it, but once I managed to untangle his game
rather fell apart. Tim picked up a pawn from
nowhere and converted easily enough (helped by
Neil's time trouble it has to be said). Dave's
Advance French worked very well, and although
Nick's position may have been tenable the
pressure finally told. On bottom board Pavel
justified our high hopes for him as he won a
piece fairly quickly and was never in trouble
thereafter.
So the start of December sees
us handily placed two points clear of the
chasing pack. A win against Cowley 1 next Monday
will consolidate the position in the run-up to
Christmas, but, as they say, 'there's many a
slip .....'
1 Hibbitt,
Arthur (161) 0-1 Harvey,
Marcus (227)
2 Rowan, Paul
(161) 0-1
Richmond, Peter (188)
3 Manley,
Nathan J (159) 0-1 Truran, Michael
(188)
4 Staples,
Neil (158) 0-1
Headlong, Timothy (188)
5 Martin, Nick
(148) 0-1
Hackett, Dave G (183)
6 Rumsby,
Stephen (137) 0-1 Asenov,
Pavel (147)
0-6
Match played on 03 Dec 2013.
- Mike.
MCS/B1 vs. Witney 1
Witney 1 maintained their
unbeaten start to the season and are already in
the lead in Division 1 after only three matches.
I was away on business so can't comment on the
result in too much detail, but from the look of
the match card the pre-season relegation
favourites, although heavily outgraded on all
boards except the first, put up a hard fight and
it was down to our Witney 2 volunteers Alan and
Derek to see us home on the night. Many thanks
both! - Mike.
1 D'Souza-Eva,
Jon (185) ½-½ Headlong, Timothy (188)
2 Place, John
F (149) ½-½ Richmond,
Peter (188)
3 Cole, Graham
(147) ½-½
Girdlestone, Paul (183)
4 Cole, James
(126) ½-½
Hackett, Dave G (183)
5 Bush, Ian
(126)
0-1 Gentry, Alan (152)
6 Sayers,
David (121) 0-1 Edwards,
Derek F (143)
2-4
Match played on 06 Nov.
City 1 vs. Witney 1
1 McKenna,
Jason (195) 0-1 Wells,
Peter (234)
2 Hayward,
Philip (176) 1-0 Harvey,
Marcus (227)
3 Terry, Sean
(171) 0-1
Headlong, Timothy (188)
4 March, Mike
(170) 1-0
Truran, Michael (188)
5 King, Simon
E (143) 0-1
Richmond, Peter (188)
6 Yates, John
O (142) 0-1
Hackett, Dave G (183)
2-4
Match played on 07 Oct.
Witney 1 vs. Cowley 2
1 Richmond,
Peter (188) ½-½ O'Reilly,
Gerard (190)
2 Truran,
Michael (188) 1-0 Lang,
Heather LE (186)
3 Headlong,
Timothy (188) ½-½ Burrows, Nick (168)
4 Hackett,
Dave G (183) ½-½ Nandi, Robin
J (154)
5 Hannon, Mark
(181) 1-0
Rasell, Geoff C (147)
6 Asenov,
Pavel (147) 1-0
Mate, Maria (140)
4½-1½
Match played on 14 Oct.
Highlights:
-
Oxford City have had their
premises (partially) refurbished - new lights
and new chairs. No new players unfortunately.
And the playing conditions are as cramped as
ever. Happily (well, unhappily in my case) Peter
R and I finish early, which eases the congestion
considerably.
-
The Cowley 2 match sees
beards (maybe for the first time ever) on the
first two Witney boards. Peter R has now had his
beard done professionally, and very smart it
looks too.
-
Pavel makes his first
appearance as a Witney 1 regular against Cowley
2 and wins impressively. Various greybeards on
both teams are observed nodding their heads
appreciatively (and hopefully sagaciously).
-
Shock horror - Marcus
loses his first game for some time in the City 1
match. Even more surprisingly, he loses on time.
He'll be back though.
-
Mark has a very nice game
against Cowley 2.
- Mike.
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