Tag: Division 2

Cumnor 1 v Bicester 1 [Match Report]

While Cumnor 2 played an away game against Cowley 5 (see the report here), the first team took on top of the table Bicester 1.

The match was close but Cumnor came out winners 3.5-2.5.

	Cumnor 1		Bicester 1
1	Terrington, Simon (173)	1/2-1/2	Matta, Francesca (-)
2	Glenn, Liam (147)	1/2-1/2	Marlow, Mike (161)
3	Varney, Andrew (147)	1/2-1/2	Hepworth, Nicholas J (142)
4	Varney, Zoe (149)	1-0	Morton, Iain (142)
5	Sayers, Mark (139)	0-1	Beckett, Richard (141)
6	Varney, Daniel (137)	1-0	Burcham, Anthony (123)
Match played on 30 Oct 2014.		3.5-2.5

Liam and Nicholas (Andrew’s opponent), both offered draws within a minute of each other which after a quick look at the boards were accepted by both players.

Daniel’s game (which I would like to point out wasn’t the first to finish) looked to be heading towards a draw, four pawns and a knight each with the pawns creating barrier to stop the Kings getting in behind.

A moment of controversy happened when Tony thought he had gained a draw with a three fold repetition, however Daniel had triangulated his King which meant the King was not in check when the Knight came in nor was it the same position for the third time. This allowed Daniel to take a pawn and Tony resigned.

The last three games went down to the final few minutes…

Zoe won her game with an extra pawn and a nice tactic as the her opponents clock ticked down. Mark lost his Queenside pawns and had to sack a Rook for a pawn which was about to Queen.

Simon's clock as he got the draw with only 15 seconds left! — Simon’s clock – Plenty of time to force a stalemate (King, Knight, pawn on 7th rank vs King) with only 15 seconds left!

Simon’s game was a great game which swung back and forth.

Francesca got a pawn on to the seventh rank but Simon managed to deflect one of its defenders to win it. The game looked to be heading towards a draw, both players with 4 pawns and Knight each until Simon ended up defending the position and he had to sack the knight for a pawn.

Simon’s King ran into the corner blocking the H pawn, which was the last pawn on the board, and managed to force a stalemate (King, Knight, pawn on 7th rank vs King) with only 15 seconds left on the clock.

The result still keeps Bicester top and puts Cumnor into 5th in this very open league, see the league here.

Cumnor 1 v Cowley 3 [Match Report]

Thursday night saw Cumnor 1 gain another win in the league to make it 4 wins in a row.

	Cumnor 1		Cowley 3
1	Stevens, Gareth (149)	1-0	Marcus, Clifford (163)
2	Varney, Andrew (146)	1-0	Keeling, David (144)
3	Terrington, Simon ()	½ – ½	Mate, Maria (140)
4	Glenn, Liam (140)	½ – ½	Viscu, Catalin (139)
5	Varney, Daniel (133)	1 – 0	Taylor, John F (137)
6	Sayers, Mark (134)	1 – 0	Stanley, William (Bill) (128)
Match played: 23 Jan 2014		5-1

Cumnor 1 fielded an unchanged team for the match and in typical fashion the first person to finish was Daniel, his opponent blundered a Knight in the midgame. Andrew went a piece for a couple of pawns up in the opening and went on to win. Liam and Simon entered drawish endgames and both agreed draws within seconds of each other, Liam was waiting for Simon to agree a draw so that his draw wound put us 3-1 up! Mark finished next with another win to make the win safe for Cumnor and Gareth playing on top board gained his first win of the season to complete the rout. Cumnor 1 are now in 3rd, the table can be found here.

Cumnor 1 v Wantage 1 [Match Report]

Cumnor 1 made it three wins in a row on Thursday night vs Wantage 1.

	Cumnor 1		Wantage 1
1	Stevens, Gareth (149)	0 – 1	Bush, Martin L (158)
2	Varney, Andrew (146)	½ – ½	Piggott, Roly (147)
3	Terrington, Simon ()	½ – ½	Hemmings, Peter (143)
4	Glenn, Liam (140)	1 – 0	Ashford, Martin E (131)
5	Varney, Daniel (133)	1 – 0	Richards, Simon A (127)
6	Sayers, Mark (134)	1 – 0	Cordon, Ray (103)
Match played: 06 Jan 2014		3.5-2.5

The first game to finish was Liam’s, he quickly gained a better position playing against his favourite opening (the Caro-Kann) and eventually won a knight. Simon playing with the Caro-Kann as black, gained a draw against Peter Hemmings. Daniel also picked up another win to make it 2.5-0.5 to Cumnor 1. The remaining games created a tense atmosphere. Andrew lost under time pressure but Mark managed to win the endgame against Ray Corden putting us 3.5-1.5 up and winning the match. Gareth had a massive time advantage against his opponent in a complicated position but Martin Bush had just enough time to win, he had 1 minute 12 seconds left when Gareth resigned.

Cumnor 1 v Bicester 1 [Match Report]

Cumnor 1 picked up another win on Thursday night vs Bicester 1.

Our second league win of the season was helped in part due to Bicester defaulting on two boards. Liam and Mark sat out meaning we started 2-0 up.

	Cumnor 1		Bicester 1
1	Stevens, Gareth (149)	0 – 1	Hepworth, Nicholas J (156)
2	Varney, Andrew (146)	½ – ½	Burcham, Anthony (133)
3	Terrington, Simon ()	1 – 0	Earl, Chris (115)
4	Glenn, Liam (140)	1 – 0	Default
5	Varney, Daniel (133)	0 – 1	Corduff, Ian ()
6	Sayers, Mark (134)	1 – 0	Default
Match played: 05 Dec 2013		3.5-2.5

Daniel lost his game while Simon playing his first game for Cumnor, won after gaining material in the opening. Gareth lost his game in a drawn endgame. Andrew agreed a draw in spite of there still being play in the position, to win the match for Cumnor.

Cumnor 1 vs Oxford City 2 [Match Report]

Last Thursday saw Cumnor 1 gain their first league win of the season at home to Oxford City 2.

After suffering a couple of heavy losses in recent weeks, it was Cumnor’s turn to move up a gear and win handsomely.

	Cumnor 1		City 2
1	Stevens, Gareth (149)	0 – 1	Smith, Roger A ( )
2	Varney, Andrew (146)	1 – 0	Biswas, Karl (147)
3	Glenn, Liam (140)	1 – 0	Yates, John O (142)
4	Varney, Daniel (133)	1 – 0	Godfrey, David (140)
5	Sayers, Mark (134)	1 – 0	Smith, Lucy K (125)
6	Carr, Robin (126)	1 – 0	Brooke, Ian R (109)
Match played: 21 Nov 2013		5 – 1

The first to finish was Daniel who played the Smith-Morra gambit as white. He sacrificed two pieces in the build-up to the mate.

Gareth on top board played against a Smith-Morra and suffered the same fate, 1-1.

Andrew won a piece early in the game and went in to win, while Liam was under a lot of pressure but wiggled his away out to end up in a better position.

Robin and Mark also won to produce a 5-1 win for Cumnor 1!

Even more shocking is that this win puts us up to 4th place (for now at least) in Division Two.

Cumnor 1 vs Witney 2 [Match Report]

Cumnor Chess Club’s depleted first team lost 5-1 on Thursday night at home to Witney 2.

	Cumnor 1		Witney 2
1	Stevens, Gareth (149)	0 – 1	Truran, Michael (188)
2	Glenn, Liam (140)	0 – 1	Weston, Richard (157)
3	Carr, Robin (126)	0 – 1	Searle, Howard AJ (147)
4	Steel, Robert (87)	0 – 1	O’Byrne, Daniel (143)
5	Ives, Marc ( )	½ – ½	Edwards, Derek F (143)
6	Ives, Leonora ( )	½ – ½	Smith, Paul ( )
Match played: 31 Oct 2013		1 – 5

Games against Witney 2 are always difficult, and this time things weren’t helped by a number of Cumnor 1 players being unavailable due to holidays, work and sickness.

Gareth Stevens played against Mike Truran on top board, a close game was played out between the two players however Mike had enough to win.

Liam Glenn had a great game with Richard, both players went on the attack very early. However, a small miscalculation by Liam allowed Richard to gain a tempo and went on to win. Richard pointed out that the last time they played, they where playing on board 6 of their respective teams!

Both Robin Carr and Robert Steel had hard games against much stronger players, and both went on to lose.

It was Marc Ives and young Leonora Ives who stepped up to the mark and gained some points for Cumnor 1.

Marc had a close game and got the draw as Derek was slipping into time trouble and Leonora was winning her game but her opponent managed a repetitive check. He was very complimentary about her game.

Our next game is Wednesday against Didcot 1 who have won both of their games so far this season. We have sadly lost both. :(

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.