9 players from both Cumnor and Witney heeded his call and headed to The Plough on the High Street in Witney for a few friendly games in the garden.
A fun night was had by all and we played until the sun went down.
Thank you Gareth for organizing the evening.
Peter will be holding his annual simultaneous display at Witney Chess Club’s Ducklington Village Hall venue on:
Monday 14 March 2016 at 7.15 pm.
The evening is open to all Oxfordshire players, and we are very much hoping that, as with last season’s simultaneous display, it will be well attended such that further such evenings can be arranged in the future.
Adults booked in advance: £10.00 (on the night £12.00)
Juniors booked in advance: £5.00 (on the night £6.00)
We are keeping prices as low as possible (i.e. we expect to break even at best) to encourage as many people as possible to attend, and are also offering junior entries at half price in accordance with our aim of promoting junior chess in Oxfordshire.
Light refreshments (coffee, tea etc) will be included in the price.
You can find the entry forms for the Witney Rapidplay here (separate junior and senior entry forms – please also note that there are two sections in the junior tournament) and for the third Witney Congress here.
If you are able to enter online, that makes the administration easier all round! – Mike Truran
Just a quick reminder the Club reopens on Thursday night with Cumnor 1 taking on Witney 1 in the Frank Wood Shield.
See you there!
The last week saw mixed results for Cumnor 2.
Last Thursday Cumnor 2 took on Wantage 2 at home. We came out victorious with a 4.5-1.5 scoreline in our favour.
| Cumnor 2 | Wantage 2 | ||
| 1 | Sayers, Mark (139) | 0.5-0.5 | Ashford, Martin E (134) |
| 2 | Carr, Robin (124) | 1-0 | Booker, Julian (115) |
| 3 | Alvarez, Francisco (115) | 1-0 | Barker, Richard (91) |
| 4 | Ives, Marc (97) | 1-0 | Thompson, Steven (91) |
| 5 | Slade, Richard (-) | 1-0 | Cordon, Ray (85) |
| 6 | Steel, Robert (85) | 0-1 | Mahon, Paul (79) |
| Match played on 13 Nov 2014. | 4.5-1.5 | ||
Richard’s game against Ray Cordon was interesting to watch. Although Richard clearly made some blunders, he managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat after Ray failed to keep an eye on his clock.
Here are Richard’s notes on the game:
A youthful team (well minus Steve!) took on Witney 5 the following Monday evening, a close match developed however this time Cumnor 2 lost 3.5-2.5.
| Witney 5 | Cumnor 2 | ||
| 1 | Blackwell, David (123) | 0.5-0.5 | Bennett, Steven (110) |
| 2 | Tyne, Stewart (-) | 0-1 | Ives, Marc (97) |
| 3 | Dobrynin, Maxim (72) | 0-1 | Sterrie, David (78) |
| 4 | Read, William (54) | 1-0 | Ives, Leonora (72) |
| 5 | Beneat, Freddie (-) | 1-0 | Bennett Anton, Susana (44) |
| 6 | Soanes, Joshua (36) | 1-0 | Ives, Frida () |
| Match played on 17 Nov 2014. | 3.5-2.5 | ||
It was Cumnor 2’s first lost of the season, and the team currently sits in second place in the fourth division table, with Cowley 4 ahead of us on game point difference and above City 4 (Abingdon Sch), who are in third.
Cumnor 2 plays both of those teams in December which looks to be a tough month!
Congratulations to Cumnor 2 for a great win on Thursday evening, click here to see the result!
Cumnor 2 play again on Tuesday away to St. Claires, will they be able to keep the 100% winning start to the season going? Cumnor 1 start their season with a game against Magdalen College School on Thursday evening.
Zoe Varney is playing in the European Youth Championship 2014 in Georgia which starts next weekend. Andrew promises to keep us updated and we all wish her luck.
And finally, one last plug for the 2nd Witney Weekend Congress, being held at Cokethorpe School on 18-19 October. Find out how to enter and more information on the Witney Chess website.
Liam and Gareth have already put their names down in the U180 competition. I will let you know how well (or poorly) we do.
The 2014 Witney Rapidplay was held on Sunday 28 September at The Batt School, Witney, with 3 sections: senior, Junior (Major) and Junior (Minor).
Players were given 30 minutes per game (15 mins per game in the Junior Minor section, in which two games per round with alternating colours were played).
8 Cumnor players took part:
Andrew Varney was also there with a book stall, along with some much needed advice in the analysis room. Liam Glenn and Gareth Stevens popped in during the day.
Susana, Frida and Daniel all received a medal and a certificate for their results, Andrew received a certificate for his work in Junior Chess and Steve received a certificate for captaining the Oxfordshire U125 Team.
Congratulations!
More information can be found on the Witney Chess Club site, which has also published further photos from the event.
With the Chess season ended for the summer break, One might assume that not much chess is being played however One would be very wrong.
Zoe Varney is going to play in the European School Chess Championships 2014 organised in Kavala, Greece from 16 June to 27 June. We wish to send our Good Luck to Zoe, over in Greece and we hope to hear from Andrew who is going to post some information once the tournament starts.
Cowley Chess Club invites you to its 2014 Summer Blitz Tournament, which will be held on Monday 23 June at Cowley Chess Club, with Round 1 beginning at 7.15 pm sharp. All chessplayers are welcome. During the evening we expect again to be hosting the presentation of this season’s OCA team trophies and the individual medals for the best performances in the League. Further Information including how to enter can be found here.
Witney Chess Club are pleased to announce that entries for the Witney Rapidplay taking place on Sunday 28 September at The Batt School in Witney and the 2nd Witney Tournament taking place 18-19 October at Cokethorpe School are now being accepted. Further Information including how to enter can be found here.
And last but not least The 2014 Cumnor Players Cup is in progess, an exciting race has already started with many plays hoping to gain a top 4 place. The table can be found here.
We are into the last few weeks of the season, but there is still plenty to play for.
In Division 1, Witney 1 are the champions winning 11 games out of 11, while MCS/B1 are going to be relegated back to division 2.
At the top of division 2, Witney 2 and Didcot 1 have only one game between each other to settle the title, a shoot out!
A win or draw for Didcot 1 will mean they are Champions while a win for Witney 2 means they will receive the title.
Both have been at the top of the division for most of the season with a massive 9 points between Witney 2 in second and Cumnor 1 in third, the difference between third and last is 8 points.
At the wrong end of the table it’s gone down to one game. Cowley 3 play Cumnor 1 on Monday and any result for Cowley 3 will save them at the expense of Bicester 1.
In Division 3, is all done and dusted with Didcot 2 winning the title and Abingdon School being relegated with a game in hand.
Division 4 is an all-Witney affair, at the top is Witney 4 and at the bottom are Witney 5. Cumnor 2 currently sit 4th with 5 wins 2 draws and 5 losses.
The Frank Wood Shield, in the final is between Didcot 1 and Oxford City 1.
Monday evening saw Cumnor 1 lose for the first time in 2014. Going down 5-1 to Witney 2.
| Witney 2 | Cumnor 1 | ||
| 1 | Hannon, Mark (179) | 1-0 | Terrington, Simon (-) |
| 2 | Asenov, Pavel (170) | ½ – ½ | Stevens, Gareth (142) |
| 3 | Searle, Howard AJ (154) | 1-0 | Glenn, Liam (141) |
| 4 | Weston, Richard (149) | ½ – ½ | Sayers, Mark (138) |
| 5 | O’Byrne, Daniel (143) | 1 – 0 | _default (-) |
| 6 | Edwards, Derek F (142) | 1 – 0 | Bennett, Steven (109) |
| Match played: 03 Feb 2014 | 5-1 | ||
Simon playing for the first time on board one lost his game, in a strange move Mark offered Simon a draw on move 3 (a grandmaster draw maybe). Gareth picked up a draw against young Pavel while Liam lost his game in the endgame and ended up just trying to win on time. Steve lost on the bottom board but it was Mark’s game which had the most entertaining endgame v Richard, eventually Mark offered a draw with Richard on 11 seconds left. Pako was meant to play on board 5 however due to a number of problems including a strangely acting SatNav he was unable to make it in time. The result keeps us mid-table and the updated table can be found here.
