Post by jocls on May 13, 2014 18:12:30 GMT
The Sussex County's premier club KO event over six boards is normally contested between the leading clubs Brighton & Hove CC and Hastings & St. Leonards CC. In 2013/14, as in the previous season, our side had to meet Haywards Heath at the initial, semi-final stage.
I fell ill before the match arranged for 5th March, so the first-team captain Howard Tebbs stepped in to captain the team. It was a case for him of 'above and beyond the call of duty' since, as team driver, picking up players in Hastings/Fairlight and points West, he left home at 17.15 and got home to Bexhill the following morning at 1.10 a.m.!
Haywards Heath have four players graded above 170, but their grades then fall away quickly. It was a blow when their own captain Viv Cole, grade 172, was also unable to play due to attending a long business meeting in London on the day. Their bottom three boards were ungraded, 131 and 124. All three lost, with substitute Paul Kelly, Bob Elliston and Howard winning, the first two quite quickly. For a description of the drama on the top three boards, please see Howard's report on the club web site.
Suffice it to say that a 'normal' outcome on top board was distorted when Feliks Kwiatkowski ran short of time against John Sugden and had to agree a draw, much material up. At a sensible time limit John would have had to resign long before that strange end. Chris Howell also fell victim to a time scramble, while Ollie Willson even had to reconstruct the whole game on another board to establish that he had won on time.
4.5-1.5 to the visitors, convincing enough in the end.
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THE FINAL: played 10th May at the Hove Bridge Club venue; 4½ hours session. 35 in 105 minutes and 30" to complete.
Brian Denman (W) 204 DRAW Francis Rayner 199
Geoff James 191 W/o John Sugden 183
Paul Batchelor 186 1-0 Ollie Willson 183
John Henshaw 175 DRAW Bernard Cafferty 178
Mustafa Othman 182 DRAW Robert Elliston 182
Chris Lowe 175 DRAW Andrew Fleming 175
So, the home side, lacking Luke Rutherford, unwell, won 4-2.
A prompt 14.00 hours start saw two of the visitors still absent. Andrew, coming in due to the non-availability of Chris Howell and Howard Tebbs, got under way at 14.10. John Sugden never turned up! It seems he forgot about the fixture, not having marked the date in his diary when notified of the arrangements some weeks earlier!
The grading-wise anomalous pairing on Board 4 was due to the successes both players had had in the MSL season. Playing on Brighton's bottom board, John Henshaw had made seven wins and two draws! Playing on boards 2-5, I had scored six wins and one loss. The pair had a canny draw in a line of the King's Indian Defence which was popular when I was learning chess some 70 years ago!
Francis also had steady equality in a Sicilian, while Ollie looked under pressure when he captured away from the centre by e7xf6 after White went Bg5xNf6 early in the opening. White broke through on the b-file against the castled king. Andrew's game was a draw when his slight initiative against a Centre Counter fizzled out. Robert's was the most promising game for us when a Modern Defence, in which Black castled very late, led to the win of a pawn. White always had some nasty threats. In neutralising a dangerous passed pawn at c5, Black had to allow simplification. The extra pawn was doomed, play was confined to just one side of the board with a minor piece and two pawns each. Naturally, as there was no time shortage, Robert offered a draw, a very obvious outcome, but the Nigerian refused and ploughed on till just bare kings were left on the board!!
(Bernard Cafferty, 12.45, May 11th)
I fell ill before the match arranged for 5th March, so the first-team captain Howard Tebbs stepped in to captain the team. It was a case for him of 'above and beyond the call of duty' since, as team driver, picking up players in Hastings/Fairlight and points West, he left home at 17.15 and got home to Bexhill the following morning at 1.10 a.m.!
Haywards Heath have four players graded above 170, but their grades then fall away quickly. It was a blow when their own captain Viv Cole, grade 172, was also unable to play due to attending a long business meeting in London on the day. Their bottom three boards were ungraded, 131 and 124. All three lost, with substitute Paul Kelly, Bob Elliston and Howard winning, the first two quite quickly. For a description of the drama on the top three boards, please see Howard's report on the club web site.
Suffice it to say that a 'normal' outcome on top board was distorted when Feliks Kwiatkowski ran short of time against John Sugden and had to agree a draw, much material up. At a sensible time limit John would have had to resign long before that strange end. Chris Howell also fell victim to a time scramble, while Ollie Willson even had to reconstruct the whole game on another board to establish that he had won on time.
4.5-1.5 to the visitors, convincing enough in the end.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FINAL: played 10th May at the Hove Bridge Club venue; 4½ hours session. 35 in 105 minutes and 30" to complete.
Brian Denman (W) 204 DRAW Francis Rayner 199
Geoff James 191 W/o John Sugden 183
Paul Batchelor 186 1-0 Ollie Willson 183
John Henshaw 175 DRAW Bernard Cafferty 178
Mustafa Othman 182 DRAW Robert Elliston 182
Chris Lowe 175 DRAW Andrew Fleming 175
So, the home side, lacking Luke Rutherford, unwell, won 4-2.
A prompt 14.00 hours start saw two of the visitors still absent. Andrew, coming in due to the non-availability of Chris Howell and Howard Tebbs, got under way at 14.10. John Sugden never turned up! It seems he forgot about the fixture, not having marked the date in his diary when notified of the arrangements some weeks earlier!
The grading-wise anomalous pairing on Board 4 was due to the successes both players had had in the MSL season. Playing on Brighton's bottom board, John Henshaw had made seven wins and two draws! Playing on boards 2-5, I had scored six wins and one loss. The pair had a canny draw in a line of the King's Indian Defence which was popular when I was learning chess some 70 years ago!
Francis also had steady equality in a Sicilian, while Ollie looked under pressure when he captured away from the centre by e7xf6 after White went Bg5xNf6 early in the opening. White broke through on the b-file against the castled king. Andrew's game was a draw when his slight initiative against a Centre Counter fizzled out. Robert's was the most promising game for us when a Modern Defence, in which Black castled very late, led to the win of a pawn. White always had some nasty threats. In neutralising a dangerous passed pawn at c5, Black had to allow simplification. The extra pawn was doomed, play was confined to just one side of the board with a minor piece and two pawns each. Naturally, as there was no time shortage, Robert offered a draw, a very obvious outcome, but the Nigerian refused and ploughed on till just bare kings were left on the board!!
(Bernard Cafferty, 12.45, May 11th)