So we managed to clinch
the championship with a convincing win over
Cowley 4.
Cowley 4 vs. Witney 4
1 Hameed,
Asif (-)
½-½ Gilders Ian (113)
2 Taylor,
Simon J ( ) 0-1
Kilbride-Newman, Bob (118)
3 Dalziel,
Martin ( ) 0-1 Flory
Mark (109)
4 Forbes,
Tobias ( ) 0-1
Blackwell, David ( )
5 Abrams,
Martin (-) 0-1
Coburn, Matt (101)
6
Mitchell, James F (91) 1-0 Partridge,
Tim R (79)
(ave grade 91)
1½-4½ (ave grade 104)
Match played on 31 Mar.
The team captain got us
off to a great start by forgetting that
Cowley 4 start at 7.15, so three Witney
players turned up with 10 minutes already
gone on their clocks. Soon afterwards Tim
brought his game to a swift and unpleasant
conclusion – least said soonest mended.
David was next to finish, having coolly
withstood a ferocious kingside attack he
countered ruthlessly against his opponent’s
queenside castled king, forcing resignation:
1-1. After that it was plain(ish) sailing.
Bob finished a very controlled display with
a flourish – rook sacrifice to force mate.
After a look at the other
boards I was pleased to offer a draw and
have it accepted, with bishop and knight
against rook and pawn, having benefited from
my opponent squandering his earlier
advantage. Mark soon wrapped up his two pawn
advantage, leaving Matt to callously taunt
his opponent by delaying the conversion of
his exchange plus pawn lead – until the
clock brought the Cowley player’s misery to
an end.
With one game to go, MCS
could catch us on points but as we’ve done
the double over them, we would still top the
division. All geared up for the challenge of
Witney 3 next season!
- Ian
MCS/B2 vs. Witney 4
A very good win which
leaves us with the rather scary prospect of
promotion if we don’t slip up in our last
two games.
Bob was first to finish,
in a game he’d probably rather forget.
Something went badly wrong but I didn’t see
what. Meanwhile the rest of the boards
looked rather better, and what was pleasing
through the evening was seeing people press
home their advantages efficiently. Marianne
made short work of her higher graded
opponent. David got 3 or 4 pawns for a
piece, enough to force his way through to
victory. Mark kept it solid, offering his
opponent a draw which he was grateful to
accept given lack of time. Matt always
looked on top and so it proved. As usual, I
wanted to make the most of my alloted time,
finally pressing home the pawn advantage I’d
had since about move 8, to queen first and
win with at least a minute to spare.
So, just Wantage 2 and
Cowley 4 to go ... sounds do-able ...
1 Sayers,
David (119)
0-1 Gilders Ian (113)
2 Keane,
Alex (117)
1-0 Kilbride-Newman, Bob (118)
3
Krzysztofik, Marcin (116) 0-1 Hauer,
Marianne (112)
4 Horsley,
Keith (111)
½-½ Flory Mark (109)
5
Phillips, David (103)
0-1 Coburn, Matt (101)
6 Bossons,
Fraser (110) 0-1
Blackwell, David ( )
ECF (ave
grade 113)
1½-4½ (ave grade 111)
Match played on 05 Mar.
- Ian
Witney 4 vs, St Clare's
A disappointing night
against St Clares, who belied their gradings
with a strong performance. Well done to Jon
for a calm conversion of a winning advantage
which was not straightforward, finishing
with 3 pawns against a knight.
1 Gilders
Ian (113)
½-½ Kudlovich, Mikita (89)
2
Kilbride-Newman, Bob (118) ½-½
Kiseliov, Nichita ( )
3
Blackwell, David ( )
0-1 Celaj, Dean (73)
4 Smith,
Paul ( )
0-1 Evans, Niall (89)
5 Murray,
Jon (78)
1-0 Bernotas, Lukas (-)
6 Read,
William ( )
0-1 Monzin, Demid (-)
(ave grade
103)
2-4 (ave grade 84)
Match played on 17 Feb
- Ian
Witney 5 vs. Witney 4
Witney 4 reinforce our position at the
top of Div 4 with a win against Witney 5.
Pride of place goes to Tim for punishing me
swiftly and mercilessly after I left my
Queen prone to a skewer against an
un-protectable Bishop.
A good fight put up by other Witney 5
players too, particularly Paul and Jon who
both looked to have reached draw-able
positions, but it wasn’t to be. Bill also
made Mark work hard to gain a pawn advantage
which then soon told.
p.s. grades shown below are a bit hit and
miss as some seem to have brought through
the new ones and some haven’t.
1 Smith,
Paul ( ) ECF
0-1 Sheremetyeva, Elizaveta (123) ECF
2 Murray,
Jon (78) ECF
0-1 Kilbride-Newman, Bob (118) ECF
3
Partridge, Tim R (79) ECF 1-0
Gilders Ian (113) ECF
4 Read,
William ( ) ECF
0-1 Flory Mark (109) ECF
5 Soanes,
Joshua ( ) ECF 0-1
Blackwell, David ( )
6 Beneat,
Freddie ( ) ECF 0-1
Coburn, Matt (101)
1-5
Match played on 03 Feb.
- Ian
Wantage 2 vs Witney 4
A good solid win for
Witney 4 to take us top (for now anyway) of
Division 4.
As usual I made the most
of my time available (!) finally getting
mate with at least a minute to spare,
meaning I had little time to look at the
other games. My opponent's English opening
neglected defence of the King's side and
allowed terminal pressure down the f-file.
Bob calmly soaked up a
lot of pressure, finally locking things up
for his opponenta's queen-side attack and
bursting through on the opposite wing.
Paul unfortunately lost
his fianchettoed bishop on the king-side and
succumbed to a lot of pressure on the opened
diagonals.
David went right to the
wire, steadily advancing his single pawn
majority to a won position before his
opponent made an illegal move and gave up
with even less time on his clock than David.
Keith and Jona's games I
didn't see unfortunately as they both won
efficiently well before I did.
So, a good warm up for
next week's big match against Witney 5!
1 Booker,
Julian (110) 0-1
Kilbride-Newman, Bob (112)
2 Leake,
John (98) 0-1
Gilders Ian (113)
3 Cordon,
Ray (103) 1-0
Smith, Paul ( )
4 Rey,
Alvaro (86)
0-1 Blackwell, David ( )
5 Punter,
Derek B (66) 0-1 Broome, Keith (
)
6 Hockaday,
Derek (45) 0-1 Murray, Jon (85)
1-5
Match played 28 Jan.
A tight match to start
2014. Really we should have done better, but
Cowley Workers didn’t make it easy for us. A
good solid win for Mark after winning the
exchange and a very good draw agreed in a
complex position by Elizaveta against a much
higher ranked opponent.
1 Riley,
Adrian K (136) ½-½
Sheremetyeva, Elizaveta (114)
2
Buckland, David AS (84) ½-½ Gilders
Ian (113)
3 Jackson,
William J (91) 0-1 Flory Mark (114)
4
Courouble, John ( )
1-0 Blackwell, David ( )
5 Miller,
David H (89) ½-½
Smith, Paul ( )
6 Collins,
Lee ( )
½-½ Coburn, Matt (101)
3-3
Match played on 06 Jan.
- Ian
It wasn’t to be for
Witney 4 against a very strong Cumnor 2
side, out-grading us on every board bar
none.
David got us off to a
good start, finishing first with a win. I
was embroiled in a close game myself so
didn’t have much time to look at the others,
but all seemed close. Elizaveta had found
herself on the back foot but played on
imaginatively and sensibly, but eventually
beaten. Mark reached the endgame fairly
quickly, a pawn up but facing a battery of
strong advanced central pawns and eventually
succumbed. Matt managed to convert after
getting a piece up. I didn’t see much of
Jon’s game, but unfortunately it went the
wrong way. I was last to finish (as usual)
and although in a better position, lost my
nerve a bit as the clock ticked on, missed a
probably winning combination and fell to one
the other way.
So Cumnor go top, with
ourselves in
second place.
1 Varney,
Zoe (136) 1-0 Flory
Mark (114)
2 Sayers,
Mark (134) 1-0 Gilders Ian
(113)
3 Carr,
Robin (126) 1-0
Sheremetyeva, Elizaveta (114)
4 Cluley,
Graham (113) 0-1 Coburn, Matt (101)
5 Ives,
Marc ( )
0-1 Blackwell, David ( )
6 Steel,
Robert (87) 1-0 Murray,
Jon (85)
4-2
Match played on 07 Nov.
- Ian