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09.4.13 - Witney 2 vs. Witney 1
(Final)
1 Bourne,
Johnathan (169) 0-1 Harvey, Marcus (223)
2 Gentry, Alan
(159) 0-1
Girdlestone, Paul (189)
3 Searle,
Howard AJ (153) 0-1 Richmond, Peter (197)
4 Edwards,
Derek F (139) 0-1 Truran, Michael
(189)
5 Moss,
Patrick (147) ½-½
Headlong, Timothy (186)
6 Weston,
Richard (142) 0-1 Hackett,
Dave G (183)
½-5½
- played on 8 Apr.
This was the first time since
1993 since Witney had both teams in the final.
Four players from the 1993 match played in this
year's final (Mike Truran, Tim Headlong, Howard
Searle and Derek Edwards), with Danny O'Byrne
(who also played in the 1993 match) making an
appearance as a very welcome spectator.
Eheu! Fugaces, Posthume,
Posthume labuntur anni.
As so often this season, the
match was closer than the score suggests (Alan G
said I would write that - Alan, glad not to
disappoint), and it was only in the last third
of the match that the Witney 2 players started
to tire. Indeed, after walking round and seeing
Dave and Tim worse against Rick and Patrick
respectively and Paul struggling to make
progress against Alan I had some doubts as to
whether we would reach the 4-2 score we needed
to win under the FWS's handicapping system.
Things though improved for Witney 1 thereafter.
Marcus and Peter won smoothly, Johnathan
allowing a troublesome rook to drop in on his c2
square to unpleasant effect and Howard saddling
himself with a horribly bad bishop. Tim battled
back to halve the point with Patrick soon after,
so 2½ out of 3 with the Black pieces was a
pretty good start. Derek played the Benko Gambit
against me (I had completely forgotten that he
played the Benko despite having see him play it
only a couple of months before) but failed to
make much headway in return for the pawn and his
position rather fell apart once his advanced
knight on d3 was undermined. Paul sealed the
match when Alan dropped a piece in a still
defensible position, leaving Dave to scramble
back from his poor opening and see Rick off in
rook endgame in which to be fair Rick probably
missed a couple of draws. However, yet again the
OCA's unforgiving time control played havoc with
the standard of play in the last few minutes.
Then off to the pub for a few
drinks afterwards. Alan told me he was going to
refuse to write a report about the match, but I
think there was a twinkle in his eye as he said
it.
So another cracking year for
the club, with the Division 1 title and the
Frank Wood Shield secured, Witney 2 still in the
hunt for promotion to Division 1 and both Witney
3 and Witney 4 acquitting themselves well in
their respective divisions. Next up is the
annual Summer Rapidplay, when the thrusting
young Turks of the club get to measure
themselves against the old lags. I'll be sending
round an email about this shortly.
02.3.13 - City 1 vs. Witney 1
1 Manley, Jon
P (192) 0-1 Wells,
Peter (225)
2 Hayward,
Philip (180) 0-1 Harvey,
Marcus (223)
3 Rajangam,
Karlmarx (175) ½-½ Truran, Michael (189)
4 Dixon, Leif
(167)
0-1 Headlong, Timothy (186)
5 _default (-)
0-1 Richmond, Peter (197)
6 _default (-)
0-1 Hackett, Dave G (183)
½-5½
- played on 25 Feb.
So the Frank
Wood Shield final will be
contested by two Witney teams -
huzzah! But in truth Witney 1's
task in the semi-final against
City 1 was much easier than
Witney 2's against Wantage 1 as
our opponents defaulted not just
one but two boards against us,
so the match was pretty much
over before it started as we
also outgraded them heavily on
the remaining four boards.
Still, as they say, you can only
beat the opposition put in front
of you. Three of our four
players won smoothly enough, and
it was left to yours truly to
spare the blushes of the City 1
team by plummeting new depths of
incompetence when two pawns up
in an overwhelming position and
with half an hour on the clock
against my opponent's five
minutes. To be fair, being
abroad on business for the whole
of the previous week together
with travelling to and from
Daventry twice to play two tough
4NCL games over the weekend did
finally catch up with me.
All this whingeing rather
puts me in mind of the lamest excuse in history
for not winning. After losing to Lasker,
Siegbert Tarrasch blamed his loss on the
influence of sea-air. The match began at
Düsseldorf, 100 miles from the coast. As
Tartakover also said, "I never defeated a
healthy opponent".
So onwards to the final. It's
excellent news that the club has already bagged
a big trophy already this early in the season,
and well done to Witney 2 for their fine win in
the other semi-final.
17.1.13 - Witney 1 vs. City 2
1 Harvey,
Marcus (213) 1-0 Terry,
Sean (170)
2 Richmond,
Peter (200) 1-0 Lee, Anthony
(-)
3 Hackett,
Dave G (189) ½-½ Biswas, Karl
(151)
4 Headlong,
Timothy (187) 1-0 King, Simon E (149)
5 Hannon, Mark
(184) 1-0
Yates, John O (140)
6 Smith, Paul
(-)
½-½ Brindley, Malcolm (137)
5-1
- played on 14 Jan.
This was an absurdly
flattering result which did no justice at all to
a battling City 2 team which looked for most of
the evening as if it might win the match, let
alone score the 2½ points it needed to progress
to the next round. As non-playing captain for
once I popped in to the club expecting the lads
to do the business in double quick time and
allow me an early evening for a change. Half-way
through, however, the wheels looked like they
were well and truly coming off; although Mark
had a healthy advantage, Tim and Paul (on his
debut for the club) were a pawn and a piece down
respectively and we were not particularly better
in any of the other games.
So it looked as if your
esteemed reporter was going to finish the
evening in an even grumpier state of mind than
usual (which I know many of you will find hard
to believe). Happily for my blood pressure,
however, City 2 managed to snatch defeat from
the jaws of victory, imploding spectacularly in
the last half hour or so; although Mark won
efficiently, picking off various errant pawns
that John offered him, and Marcus gradually
developed an advantage as Sean drifted and
finished off with a nice mating attack, the
remaining four games saw Oxford score one point
when 3 1/2 points would have been a fair return.
Malcolm generously returned his extra piece on
bottom board and took the draw that a mightily
relieved Paul offered him, Anthony stumbled into
a one move mate in an ending which he should
have held comfortably, Simon dropped a pawn and
a bishop in successive moves when still a sound
pawn up against Tim, and Karl offered Dave a
draw in a position in which Dave had seriously
over-reached.
So we stagger into the semis
bloodied but unbowed, where we will play either
City 1 or Banbury 1.
- Mike
13.12.12 - MCS Blackbirds 1 vs.
Witney 2
1 D'Souza-Eva,
Jon (192) 1-0 Kennedy, Jonathan
(162)
2 Place, John
F (144) 0-1
Gentry, Alan (161)
3 Cole, Graham
(143) 0-1
Searle, Howard AJ (151)
4 Ward, Eric
(143)
½-½ Edwards, Derek F (141)
5 Sayers,
David (127) 0-1
Weston, Richard (131)
6 Cole, James
(125) 0-1
Kilbride-Newman, Bob (117)
1½-4½
- played on 26 Nov.
Well done everybody, a great
result in the FWS, especially after losing to
them last week. The night began when Alan’s
opponent overstretched and found his Queen
trapped and resigned after 19 moves. Jon,
playing on board 1 against the highly graded
D’Souza-Eva, and with the black pieces, went
down in a Rook ending, unable to prevent pawn
losses. Derek and Eric then managed another
draw, being equally matched, as they exchanged
into a Queen and 3 pawns ending where neither
could make progress. Bob played a nice tactical
game, sacrificing a pawn to open up his heavy
pieces against his opponent’s uncastled King and
breaking through with the humble pawn to force
resignation.
Richard played
conservatively(!) and made use of his 3-1 pawn
advantage on the queenside with pressure from
pieces on both sides of the board, eventually
going 2 pawns up and allowing no counterplay. A
good win. Finally, Howard eked out a win in a
drawish position with a risky manoeuvre in which
he won 2 pawns but gave away 2, one dangerously
passed. However, Howard won another while
getting his Rook behind the passed pawn and with
that the game was won. Next game away at Wantage
on Tuesday, 4th December.
- Alan G
27.11.12 -
Witney 1 vs. Banbury 2
1 Richmond,
Peter (200) ½-½ Poderico,
Francesco (137)
2 Girdlestone,
Paul (194) 1-0 Rumsby, Stephen (127)
3 Hackett,
Dave G (189) 1-0 Fox,
Chris (97)
4 Truran,
Michael (189) 1-0 Hurst,
Andrew (100)
5 Headlong,
Timothy (187) 1-0 Campling, Michael
(79)
6 Default (-)
1-0 Default (-)
5½-½
- played on 26 Nov.
This was a match we had to
win 4½-1½ under the Frank Wood Shield's
handicapping rules (Banbury 2 being in Division
3), but the team came though in fine style and
were never in much trouble other than a wobble
on board 1 where Peter, after allowing Francesco
rather too much play for a piece, looked to me
to be rather lucky to scramble a draw in a
rather whiffy rook endgame. Banbury 2's
defaulting on board 6 didn't exactly help their
cause either. Our next round opponents will be
either City 2 or Bicester 1 in the New Year.
Well done by the way to
Witney 2 on a cracking win against MCS
Blackbirds 1 in the Frank Wood Shield; their
reward in the next round is a very winnable
match against Cumnor 1 (who rather luckily
eliminated Witney 3). No doubt Alan and Roger
will be reporting on these matches in due
course.
- Mike.
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