Category: Cumnor Chess Club

Cumnor 2 vs Cowley Workers 2 match scheduled for Thursday night

This Thursday (28th March), Cumnor 2 will be playing at home against Cowley Workers 2 in a match which was previously postponed because Cowley Workers 2 weren’t able to rustle up enough chess players.

It should be an interesting chess match – not least because Latin American legend Francisco “Pako” Alvarez (118) is lined up to do battle for Cumnor 2 against the very team that he used to play for!

Will Cowley Workers 2 know the Latin American legend’s weaknesses on the chessboard, or will they be awestruck by his opening manoeuvres? Only time will tell..

Cowley Workers 2 are currently at the bottom of the 4th division of the ODCL, with Cumnor 2 comfortably placed mid-table.

The clocks will start at 7:30pm.

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.

Cumnor chess players prepare for Chiltern League U125 final against Buckinghamshire

chessboardThis Sunday (March 17th 2013) will see chess players from Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire compete for the Chris Stothert Trophy, in division 3 of the Chiltern League. And Cumnor players are strongly represented!

Division 3 of the Chiltern League sees both adult and junior players, graded under 125, playing alongside and against eachother.

Cumnor Chess Club has no less than three adult players scheduled to play in Sunday’s match against Bucks’ juniors, and the deadly duo of Zoe and Daniel Varney will be facing adult rivals.

Oxon U125

1. Mark Creasey, City
2. Tony Burcham, Bicester
3. Bob Kilbride-Newman, Witney
4. Francisco Alvarez, Cumnor
5. Graham Cluley, Cumnor
6. Steven Bennett, Cumnor
7. James Cole, MCS
8. Daniel D’Souza-Eva, MCS
9. Joseph Truran, Witney
10. Zoe Varney, Cumnor
11. Daniel Varney, Cumnor
12. Isabel Hauer, Witney

Battle will commence on Sunday at Wellington College in Crowthorne.

The good news is that Oxon U125 has already beaten Bucks (8-4), Hants (9.5-2.5) and Berks (8.5-3.5) in the run-up to the final. Despite this excellent run of results for Oxfordshire, a quirk in the rules means that whoever wins this final game wins the trophy.

Fingers crossed, we will have some good news to bring to you early next week!

Update: Match postponed due to heavy snow

Oxford City 2 vs Cumnor 1 [Match report]

Cumnor 1 had a tough away game on Monday night, playing against a strong City 2 side.

City 2 Cumnor 1
1 Lee, Anthony (168) 1 – 0 Stevens, Gareth (143)
2 Biswas, Karl (149) ½ – ½ Glenn, Liam (129)
3 Yates, John O (141) 1 – 0 Alvarez, Francisco (118)
4 Brindley, Malcolm (137) 1 – 0 Cluley, Graham (118)
5 Brooke, Ian R (131) 1 – 0 Jones, Michael (117)
6 McLeod, Peter (133) ½ – ½ Bennett, Steven (108)
Match played: 4 Mar 2013 5 – 1

If you look at the grades, Cumnor 1 was outflanked on all boards, and we were suffering from two of our top players – Andrew Varney (143) and Mark Sayers (141) – not being available to play for us on the night.

Nevertheless, Steve and Liam performed well, capturing draws. Meanwhile, in what could have been a winning position, Graham made an unfortunate blunder ensuring the loss of a piece and forcing his resignation.

Although it’s never fun to lose 5-1, it looks like Cumnor 1 will escape relegation to division 3 as Cowley Workers remain a fair few points below us, and it seems unlikely that they will manage to bridge the gap.

This would mean that, for the first time in its history, Cumnor 1 will be remaining in the same division rather than yo-yoing up and down.

Here’s the latest standing of the OCA Division 2 teams:

Division 2, league table

Cumnor 2 vs Cowley Workers 2 – Postponed

This Thursday’s home match between Cumnor 2 and Cowley Workers 2 has been cancelled, as our friends at Cowley Workers have been unable to rustle up six players.

Although it would have been tempting to suggest that they pick up some random passers-by off the Cowley Road and use them on their lower boards, it wouldn’t have been entirely sporting.

So, the match will be rearranged for a later date.

Of course, this means that the Cumnor 2 players who were expecting a proper match will now be free to join the rest of us on Thursday at the Old School House in a regular “friendly” game, or play a round in our own in-house tournament – The Player’s Cup!

Cumnor Chess Club on Facebook

We have no idea if Mark Zuckerberg likes chess or not, but if he does – then the brand spanking new Cumnor Chess Club Facebook page is for him.

Seriously Mark, if you’re in the area one Thursday evening, hang up your hoody and come around to Cumnor Chess Club for a quick game or two.

You can find Cumnor Chess Club on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cumnorchessclub. Please like us!