Author: Liam Glenn - Page 25 - Cumnor Chess Club, Oxford

A Quick June Update

Even though the chess playing season is over, the club is still open up until the end of July (closed for the Thursdays in August).

Here is just a couple of things to keep you busy over the longer summer evenings.

Cowley have their bi-annual Summer Blitz Tournement on Monday 24th June at the Cowley chess team’s home, Rose Hill Methodist Church with a start time of 7.15pm. All chessplayers are welcome.

During the evening they shall also be hosting the presentation of this season’s OCA team trophies and the individual medals for the best performances in the League.

More info can be found here

Meanwhile, The Cumnor Players Cup is as competive as usual and the updated table is now available.

Make sure you enjoy the sunshine, as I’m sure it will not last very long.

Cumnor 2, Division 4: season report for 2012/2013

With the chess-playing season over, it’s time to look back over our second team’s performance in the last year.

The second team gives a chance for the Juniors and the improving players to have a competitive game in the league, playing in OCA Division 4.

In our first game we started well with a 5-1 win over Cowley 4.

However, despite that good start there was bad news on the horizon. We lost the next 4 games against MCS/B2 (1.5-4.5), St Claire’s (2-4), Cowley Workers 2 (2.5-3.5) and City 4 (2.5-3.5).

We did manage to pick up form before Christmas with a 4-2 win over Wantage 2, and carried on after the new year with a 5-1 win over Cowley 4.

Cumnor 2 ended January with a 4-2 win against Witney 4.

A loss to MCS/B2 4.5-1.5 was followed by a 5.5-0.5 win over St Claire’s which was the highest win for either team of the season.

There was an unfortunate blip when we forgot an away fixture against City 4. As we defaulted on all six boards we were penalised one point. Ouch.

However, we picked a win against Cowley Workers 2, 4.5-1.5, and our only draw 3-3 versus Wantage 2. Our final game was against Witney 4 which ended with a 4-2 loss.

Cumnor 2 ended up finishing 6th with 12 points (one defaulted point) which means we will continue to compete in Division 4 next season.

Well done to Pako, Susana, Steve, Roger, Graham, Liam, Richard, Leo, Marc, Mike, Michaela, Nathan, Robert, David, Daniel, Zoe, Clive and Ann – who all played this season, and for the rest of Cumnor Chess Club for their support.

Stat of the season: 18 chess players competed for Cumnor 2 this season, enough for 3 teams! This demonstrates, I believe, the healthy state of Cumnor Chess Club – as we can draw on a lot of talent!

The final table can be found here on the OCA website and the scores of individual team players can be found here.

Cumnor 1, Division 2: season report for 2012/2013

With the chess-playing season over, it’s time to look back over our first team’s performance in the last year.

As the new boys in Division 2 of the Oxford and District Chess League (ODCL), we knew it was going to be a difficult season, playing against many well-established teams.

Our best hope was to finish above Cowley Workers (who also were promoted with us from Division 3 due to the leagues being rearranged).

Our first game was against Witney 2, who were clearly looking for a strong start as they put out a strong team meaning we lost 5-1.

We picked up our first point with an away draw at Bicester who were the team relegated from Division 1 last season.

Another draw against Cowley Workers didn’t really help either team pull away from each other.

This was followed by two 2.5-3.5 losses – to City 2 and MCS/B1 – and we ended 2012 at home to Wantage 1 with a 3-3 draw.

At the mid point we hade picked up 3 draws and 3 losses from our first 6 games.

The new year started with the first league win away to Witney 2, beating them 3.5-2.5. This was followed by another 2.5-3.5 loss to Bicester 1.

The Cowley Workers game looked like it could decide who was going to be relegated back to Division 3, with us on 5 points and them still on 1, a real 4 pointier.

Fortunately, we managed to scrape past the finishing post first (but Steve did make us sweat a little) 3.5-2.5. This put Cumnor Chess Club’s first team 6 points clear.

Our final 3 games were a mixed bag with a 5-1 loss to City 2, followed by a close 3.5-2.5 defeat to (champions-elect) MCS/B1.

Our final game was away to Wantage 1 in which we picked up a win, finishing the season on a high.

Cumnor 1 ultimately finished 6th in the division with 9 points – 8 clear of the relegated Cowley Workers whose solitary point was from our draw back in November – and only (!) 10 points from top.

It was our highest league finish and has kept us in the same division for next season, which is a rarity for Cumnor 1.

Well done to Andrew, Daniel, Gareth, Graham, Liam, Mark, Michael, Pako, Robin, Roger and Steve who played for Cumnor 1 this season, and everyone else for their support!

Stat of the season: Out of the 72 boards Cumnor 1 played on during the 2012/2013 season we were outgraded on 52 occasions.

The final table for Division 2 can be seen here on the ODCL website, and players’ scores can be found here.

The Frank Wood Shield

During the year, The Frank Wood Shield (The Oxfordshire chess equivalent to the FA Cup) was a welcome distraction from the league. We had a bye in the first round so our first game was in round two versus Witney 3 who we beat 4-2.

Our next game in the cup was the quarter-final where we played Witney 2. Witney 2, who were eventual finalists, beat us 4-2 which ended our little run.

Cumnor 2 beat a sorry Cowley Workers 2 [Match Report]

Cumnor 2 finally managed to get its game against Cowley Workers 2 on Thursday evening.

You may recall that the match was originally scheduled to be played earlier this month, but had to be postponed due to a lack of players on the Cowley Workers side.

Unfortunately, Cowley Workers 2 still only managed to bring five players with them to last night’s rescheduled match – meaning they had defaulted one board from the beginning.

Robert and Graham finished their games first, both with wins and with oddly-similar mates involving both Bishops (see the final positions in the diagrams below).

Liam also got a win making it 4-0 to the Cumnor team playing at home.

Pako picked up an endgame draw but unfortunately Mike lost.

	Cumnor 2		Cowley Workers 2
1	Glenn, Liam (129)	1 – 0	Matilal, Tamal (128)
2	Alvarez, Francisco (118)	½ – ½	Cartwright, Paul (113)
3	Jones, Michael (117)	0 – 1	Miller, David H (91)
4	Cluley, Graham (118)	1 – 0	Buckland, Chris ( )
5	Steel, Robert (89)	1 – 0	Joy, Nathan ( )
6	Bennett, Steven (108)	1 – 0	_default_ (-)
Match played: 28 Mar 2013		4½ – 1½

Final board position for Graham Cluley (Cumnor 2) vs Chris Buckland (Cowley Workers 2):

Final board position for Nathan Joy (Cowley Workers 2) vs Robert Steel (Cumnor 2):

Updated Players Cup results

With spring on its way (!) and the season coming to an end, the Players Cup tournament at Cumnor Chess Club is starting to heat up and it’s going to be a close competition again this year.

Here are the latest standings:

# Competitor Pl  W  D  L  PF
1 Liam        6  5  1  0  5.5
2 Gareth      6  5  1  0  5.5
3 Steve       5  3  1  1  3.5
4 Mark        3  2  1  0  2.5
5 Andrew      2  2  0  0  2
6 Pako        2  1  1  0  1.5
7 Roger       3  1  1  1  1.5
8 Graham      3  1  0  2  1
9 Daniel      3  1  0  2  1
10 Mike       2  1  0  1  1
11 David      2  0  0  2  0
12 Ann        4  0  0  4  0
13 Marc       4  0  0  4  0
14 Robin      1  0  0  1  0
15 Richard    1  0  0  1  0
16 Clive      1  0  0  1  0
17 Robert     2  0  0  2  0
18 Zoe

For those who aren’t aware, Cumnor Chess Club runs a “Players Cup” tournament every year, where Cumnor players battle against each other to find out who is the champ.

Close but no Cigar… Cumnor 1 vs MCS/B1 [Match Report]

Cumnor 1 lost a very close match last night against Champions elect Magdalen College School Blackbirds 1 (MCS/B1).

	Cumnor 1		MCS/B 1
1	Varney, Andrew (143)	0 – 1	Daggitt, Matthew (186)
2	Sayers, Mark (141)	0 – 1	D’Souza-Eva, Jon (191)
3	Stevens, Gareth (143)	½ – ½	Cole, Graham (137)
4	Glenn, Liam (129)	1 – 0	Ward, Eric (140)
5	Carr, Robin (128)	1 – 0	Sayers, David (124)
6	Jones, Michael (117)	0 – 1	Bush, Ian (120)
Match played: 21 Mar 2013		2½ – 3½

Robin was the first to finish (a small surprise) when David Sayers miscalculated and called a check when there was none, allowing Robin to take his Queen.

Gareth managed a draw with black, while I won a piece and my opponent resigned putting us 2.5-0.5 up.

However, Mike lost a piece, and Mark lost the exchange and was always going to have a difficult game from then on.

Andrew was the last to finish with a very complicated endgame with very little time for either players, and went on to lose on time.

Our last game of the season is away to Wantage in a month’s time.

Cumnor 1 play top of the table MCS/B1, but are safe in Division 2

Cumnor 1 are playing their penultimate game of the season tomorrow (Thursday) night at home, against top of the division MCS/B1. It will be a hard match – without a doubt.

However, whatever the result, it looks like Cowley Workers will be relegated from division 2, which will mean Cumnor 1 staying in the same division two seasons in a row for the first time.