Worcester Bishops Win 2003 Knock-out Final!

The build up

Worcester City teams had been pipped at the post in both the County League and in the Worcester & District League this season. This time City were determined to bring home the silver from the final of the Worcester & District Chess Team Knock Out tournament. The club President, Ray Collett, fielded a strong side to meet Malvern Dolphins at the Rifleman's Arms, Droitwich. Worcester had star player Eric Myers on top board, but it all looked as if Worcester would be denied again. At the start of play, 7:30pm, Worcester's number 2 had not arrived.

Boards 1 an 2 above left and boards 3 and 4 above right. Pictures Ray Collett

The start of play

Geoffrey Herbert, Malvern's Captain and strong county player, called heads at the toss for colours, but fortune smiled on Worcester and Ray Collett (intending a non-playing role this evening) chose white on odd boards for his players. Eric Myers again trusted the Veresov on board 1 and both players, who have met over the board many times, rattled off the opening moves. Geoffrey Herbert, without an opponent on board 2 at the start of play, began 1.d4 and pressed his clock. On board 3, Jim Keene also began 1.d4 and Ian Clarke defended with the King's Indian, which Jim attacked with the classical Four Pawns Variation. On bottom board, Sam Tombs began circumspectly with a restrained Queen's Gambit against Tony Spittle.

The middle game

After 15 minutes of play, there was still no sign of Worcester's number 2. Ray Collett decided to step in and took over the game with time down on the clock, a big disadvantage in this match with 90 minutes for the complete game. Ray met Geoffrey's Queen's Pawn Opening with a King's Indian Defence and Geoffrey steered the game into a quiet system where white gets slow positional pressure. Meanwhile the pace of play had slowed on the remaining boards as players got out of their 'opening books'. On top board, Eric Myers and Brain Turner had reached a tense and unbalanced position with black a pawn up and white with a strong initiative. Jim Keene had an impressive, but fragile pawn centre against Ian Clarke on board 3. On Board 4, Tony Spittle and Sam Tombs had reached an evenly contested middle game with an isolated queen's pawn.

First results

On Board 2, the Malvern Captain, Geoffrey Herbert, had built up a menacingly quiet game with latent power typical of restrained openings and Ray Collett, starting with a big time disadvantage, had fallen even further behind on the clock. To try and generate some counterplay, the Worcester player placed his queen to attack white's queen side pawns and white's bishop on the far king side. After some thought Geoffrey defended his a-pawn, completely missing the attack on his bishop, which black accepted. In the next few moves, white gamely advanced his queen side pawns, but black's extra piece and pressure on the centre soon forced a win. On top board, Eric and Brian, both seasoned campaigners, agreed a draw after material had been equalised and the initiative neutralised. With Worcester 1½-½ up there was still all to play for.

The ending

There were tense struggels on boards 3 and 4. On bottom board Tony Spittle had piled up pressure on a pinned night, but Sam Tombs could defend. The players settled for a draw. Jim Keene and Ian Clarke left themselves with little time to see their way through complications and Jim, attacking fearlessly on the king side stripped away black's pawns defending the king. White's king was also exposed and both players had yet to develop on of their remaining minor pieces. At the first time control, Jim found a splendid move to get his bishop developed to bear down on the black king and threaten mate. White had to retreta to defend and Jim Keene swapped off to a won ending.

Match score sheet

Worcester & District Chess League 2003 Final Played Monday, 7 July at the Rifleman's Arms, Droitwich
Worcester Bishops	Result	Malvern Dolphins
Eric Myers (white)	½-½	Brian Turner
Ray Collett (Capt)	1-0	Geoffrey Herbert (Capt)
Jim Keene	1-0	Ian Clarke
Tony Spittle	½-½	Sam Tombs
	3-1