Cumnor 2 v Witney 5 and City 4 (Abingdon Sch)

Junior Chess is well supported in Oxfordshire. Clubs with a strong Junior section include Cowley, Witney and ourselves along with the two School teams, Magdalen College School and Abingdon School.

Whenever we have a match in Division Four between Cowley or Witney, we give the juniors a chance to pit themselves against each other.

Thursday night presented one of these opportunities when we welcomed Witney 5 to Cumnor. The teams contained nine juniors out of the 12 players.

It was an unsuccessful evening for the Cumnor team, however it was a closer match than the 0.5-5.5 scoreline suggested.

Cumnor 2 v Witney 5

Monday evening saw Cumnor 2 head to Abingdon School who are currently in pole position at the top of the table. Cumnor 2 suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Abingdon Boys, with Mark’s win on Board 1 the sole highlight of an otherwise disappointing evening.

Cumnor 2 v City 4

Old-Abingdonian Richard was particularly disappointed with his loss playing for Cumnor on board six. Not only was he playing Black for the 12th (!) match in a row, but he also found himself taken down an unfamiliar variation of the Alekhine defence which saw him sent to an early bath.

Cumnor 2 play their final game of the season at home to Cowley 4 in April – a game that the boys from Abingdon would probably like us to win, as it will help them make the jump to Division 3.

Cumnor 2 v City 4 (Abingdon School) [Match Report]

Cumnor 2 has been busy, taking on the chess teams of both City 4 and Cowley 4 in the space of five days.

The two teams are Cumnor 2’s main rivals at the top of the division 4 table, so there’s no denying the importance of these matches.

You can find out how Cumnor 2 fared against Cowley 4 here, but below you will find the result from Cumnor 2’s home game against City 4, who are made up of students and staff from Abingdon School.

Old Abingdonian Richard Slade (right), about to play Robert Jeffreys, a biology teacher at Abingdon School.
Old Abingdonian Richard Slade (right), about to play Robert Jeffreys, a biology teacher at Abingdon School.
Cumnor 2 City 4 (Ab Sch)
1 Sayers, Mark (139) 0-1 English, Andrew (127)
2 Carr, Robin (124) 1-0 Reynolds, Edward (107)
3 Bennett, Steven (110) 0.5-0.5 Ren, Ray (106)
4 Ives, Marc (97) 0-1 al-Akiti, Rafi’i (105)
5 Slade, Richard () 0-1 Jeffreys, Robert (104)
6 Flockton, Alan () 0-1 Beckinsale, James ()
Match played on 4 Dec 2014. 1.5-4.5

Richard Slade, now playing for Cumnor, used to play for Abingdon School while he was a student, and was looking forward to take on his old school. Meanwhile, Alan Flockton played his debut game for Cumnor 2, appearing on board 6.

Sadly, on this occasion, the team from Abingdon School beat the chaps from Cumnor. Better luck next time Cumnor 2!