Worcester & District Chess League 2001-2 Div 2 results

Published 30 December 2011

2001-2 Division 2 match details

Redditch Raiders - Worcester Bishops			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Drummond Phil Church David Dixon Mark Robinson	0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1	Steve Mellor Alan Copeman Ken Tyson John Clark
	Result	1½ - 2½	30 October 2001
Reported on Communigate. Worcester Bishops sent an experienced team to Redditch and came back with the points. Little did they know they were playing ungraded players all except one. Redditch enjoyed the challenge and nearly achieved an unbelievable win! Mark Robinson, on board 4 playing John Clark gave his bishop away to open the h file and his sacrifice could have paid off- shame about a poorly place king!!! David Dixon, on board 3 playing Ken Tyson managed a solid draw, stopping a past pawn from queening. Phil Church on board 2 stole a victory when Alan Copeman lost sight of his queen. Brian Drummond playing a Silician made a good start but cracked under severe pressure from the talented young chessman Steve Mellor.

Malvern Sharks- Redditch Raiders			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	George Probyn Sam Tombs John Bowen Robert Saunders	0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½	Gary Jackson Phil Church Ed Nesbitt Mark Robinson
	Result	2 - 2	16 November 2001
Reported on Communigate. Sam 'Houdini' Tombs saved the match for Malvern. Sam playing Phil Church on board 2 escaped from an embarrassing king displacement and a possible mating attack. His win gave Malvern a well deserved draw. Malvern fielded a new ungraded team on boards 2,3 and 4. George Probyn, Malvern's captain on board 1 lost to the Silician Dragon master Gary Jackson. John Bowen playing Ed Nesbitt on board 3 and Mark Robinson playing Robert Saunders, board 4 were evenly matched and produced solid draws.

Headless Cross Youth - Worcester Bishops			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Dave Richardson Default David Pemberton Ben Mills	0 - 1 0 - 1 1- 0 0 - 1	Steve Mellor Peter Scullion Stuart Barber Pat Greenow
	Result	1 - 3	22 November 2001
Reported on Communigate. Worcester Bishop's top the league table with yet another win. They sent a mainly ungraded team to play the Headless Cross Youth team knowning that they were giving away a one point handicap to the youngsters. Sadly Headless Cross Youth were unable to field a full team. Peter Scullion playing for the Bishops on board 2 won by default. David Richardson had a real battle on his hands playing Steve Mellor evenso he took his a defeat with a smile on his face. David Pemberton Headless X Youth Captain gave Stuart Barber an excellent game escaping a back rank mating threat to promote a pawn to a queen helping to secure a comprehensive win for his team. Ben Mills Headless X's youngest player, lost but did not disgrace himself. He played a strong game against Patrick Greenow's Four Knights and had some interesting threats countered.

Headless Cross Youth - Kidderminster Rooks			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Dave Richardson David Pemberton Ben Mills Michael Lovett	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	W (Bill) Pugh Ken Durnell Clive Billinge Terry Pountney
	Result	0 - 4	6 December 2001
Reported on Communigate. Kidderminster Rooks gave the Headless Cross youth team a master class in how to play chess. Bill Pugh on board 1 turned a queen's pawn opening into a French Defence. David Richardson missed his chance to take control of the b file and was overwhelmed by a Pugh special. Ken Durnell board 2 was more than happy for David Pemberton to play the Queen's Gambit Accepted. David soon found his position cramped with both bishops boxed in. Clive Billinge allowed Ben Mills to enter the Four Knights then opened up the d file, Ben was soon down a piece. Terry Pountney, board four was confused with Michael Lovett's opening gambit. Michael must have thought he was playing white, sadly moves for black don't work the same way especially if you open up the f file to an immediate king attack. The Youth team gave it their best shot but lost all four games to experienced 100-plus-graded chess masters.

Malvern Sharks - Headless Cross Senior			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Geoffrey Herbert George Probyn Sam Tombs Robert Saunders	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	Jason Cole Mark Hore Penny Wood John Holmberg
	Result	1½ - 2½	14 December 2001
Reported on Communigate. Geoffrey Herbert on board 1 resigned from a hopeless position. He had no choice but to refuse the bishop sacrifrice of Jason Cole's otherwise it could have been mate even earlier. George Probyn played Mark Hore on board 2, their game was very close but George finally cracked and fell for another mate. Sam Tombs on 3 was all over Penny Wood and should have finished her off but for a loss of concentration. Penny got off lightly with a fantastic draw. Robert Saunders played John Holmberg on board 4 and gave no quarter beating John easily.

Worcester Bishops - Kidderminster Rooks			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Steve Mellor Ken Tyson Ray Fisher Ken Burrows	1 - 0 0 - 1 ½ - ½ ½ - ½	Bill Pugh John Varilone Ken Durnell Terry Pountney
	Result	2 - 2	17 January 2001
Reported on Communigate.

Worcester Bishops - Headless Cross Senior			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Ken Tyson Ken Burrows Stuart Barber Ray Fisher	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	Mark Hore Penny Wood Louise Woodcock John Holmberg
	Result	1 - 3	24 January 2001
Reported on Communigate. Headless X Senior played the league leaders and secured their second consecutive victory. Their win puts them a point behind the leaders after having defeating two of the strongest teams in Division 2. Redditch are hoping to put a spanner in the works when they meet in their arch rivals in THE local derby. Headless Cross were dreading their visit to Worcester Bishop's knowing that they have a very strong player in Steve Mellor on board one and without their own board one player Jason Cole who will be sadly missed for the rest of the season. Nappy changing for him! John Holmberg playing white on board 4 was first to finish and went for his favourite opening the English. Louise Woodcock went straight for the attacking Centre Counter and also secured a win. Penny Wood even though being a pawn up agreed a draw. Mark Hore was totally confused with Ken Tyson's unusual c3!? opening. He was soon a knight down just before he declined to take a pawn for nothing. Mark fought back and was offered a draw which he accepted but in hindsight the final position was in black's favour.

Headless Cross Senior - Redditch Raiders			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Mark Hore Mike Daniels Penny Wood John Holmberg	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ ?1 - 0	Gary Jackson Phil Church Brian Drummond Mark Robinson
	Result Redditch won	?1½ - 2½	28 February 2002
Reported on Communigate. Redditch secured their first win of the season against their arch rivals. Redditch Raiders were looking to reverse their embarrassing lost last season. The much awaited local derby was an exciting and nail-biting clash. Headless X were hoping that a win against the Redditch Raiders would put them top of the Division 2 table. Headless X were unable to field their strongest player Jason Cole and so the captain Mark Hore played top board. He brought out the Alekhine Defence which Gary Jackson had to play against with real care. Mike Daniels, fresh from down under, on board 2 decided that the Torre would give Phil Church more than a few headaches. Penny Wood accepted Brian Drummond's Queen's Gambit and John Holmberg opted for his favourite English. John gave Mark Robinson a hard time collecting loose pawns and threatening to promote his own. Mike didn't allow Phil Church the chance to develop any of his pieces as soon as they got to active squares they were exchanged. The final rook exchange was a blunder and the end game came to down to a typical pawn and king ending where Mike's King was left in an embarrassing dilemma – move it and Phil would mop up or resign. Mike gracefully opted to resign. Brian and Penny battled on even though the game look very drawish – insufficient mating material later confirmed the draw. The most exciting game took place on the top board. Mark gave his white bishop away for two pawns activating his black bishop. With less than a minute left Mark was up against the wall – Gary was able to promote to a queen and to rub salt into the wound Mark's flag fell.

Worcester Bishops - Malvern Sharks			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Alan Copeman ken Burrows Stuart Barber Pat Greenow	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	Maurice Ginger George Probyn Ed Nesbit Sam Tombs
	Result	1 - 3	1 March 2002
Reported on Communigate. Malvern Sharks' victory over Worcester Bishops has opened up the Division 2 league table to all comers. Worcester still heads the table, but with only 5 points and no more games to play. Redditch Raiders put a spanner in the works for Headless Cross Senior who are currently second with 4 points with two more matches to play. Redditch are out of the race after their clash with Kidderminster Rooks. Kidderminster are now joint leaders with Worceter Bishops with two more matches to play. Malvern, Headless Cross and Kidderminster Rooks are all in with a shout!

Redditch Raiders - Kidderminster Rooks			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Phil Church Brian Drummond Mark Robinson Chris Chambers	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	Paul Thomas W (Bill) Pugh Ken Durnell Terry Pountney
	Result	1 - 3	5 March 2003
Reported on Communigate. Kidderminster were always going to be a tough battle for the Redditch Raiders. Last year the Raiders were delighted to hold the Rooks to a draw. The match had a promising start with a surprising win for Phil Church on board one against Paul Thomas who walked into a smothered mate on move 8! Brian Drummond played a solid Reti against Bill Pugh sadly Brian lost his knight in the end game and the game collapsed. Mark Robinson played the King's Indian against Ken Durnell. Another close call which went the distance but Ken had the edge. Finally we recuited Chris Chambers formally of the disbanded Bromsgrove Team to played against Terry Pountney. They played a very close Italian game with plenty of counter threats but Terry is on form this season and is a hard man to mate. Chris lost an exciting game but is looking forward to playing for Redditch Raiders in the future. Paul Thomas went home with mixed feelings knowing that his team had won and that he had fallen for a typical Budapest trap and zap.

Headless Cross Youth - Malvern Sharks			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	David Pemberton Richard Gibbs Ben Mills James Dean	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ? ?	George Probyn Sam Tombs Ed Nesbitt Barry Stone
	Result	½ - ½	28 March 2002
Reported on Communigate. Malvern beat the Headless Cross Youth team and are in line for the becoming Division 2 leaders this season. Kidderminster Rooks will be pulling out all the stops to beat them and take their place at the top. One team Headless Cross Senior will be hoping to throw a spanner in the works by putting their money on a draw between Malvern and Kidderminster and taking their own win against the Headless X Youth team. The Youth team are more than capable of causing an upset this season. They were unable to field their strongest team againt Malvern- one rumour was that a team member was 'grounded at home'. David Pemberton responded correctly to George Probyn's Ruy Lopez and managed to achieve a good draw. Richard Gibbs a new club member was quickly beaten by the up and coming Sam Tombs. Ben Mills declined Ed Nesbitt's Queen Gambit and James Dean was unable to break through Barry Stone's solid play.

Kiddereminster Rooks - Headless Cross Senior			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Paul Thomas W (Bill) Pugh Ken Durnell Terry Pountney	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ ½ - ½	Jason Cole Mark Hore Penny Wood John Holmberg
	Result	1 - 3	4 April 2002
Reported on Communigate. X Men Champions! In the big match played on April 4th, Kidderminster Rooks lost to Headless Cross Senior team producing a stunning victory for the X Men. They now top the table with 6 points. Paul Thomas was once again defeated by Jason Cole's Caro Kann. Bill Pugh suffered under the strain of a typical Mark Hore unorthodox game and Ken Durnell v Penny Woods, Terry Pountney v John Holmberg were happy to escape with draws.

Kidderminster Rooks - Malvern Sharks			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Paul Thomas W (Bill) Pugh Ken Durnell Terry Pountney	1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½	Sam Tombs Ed Nesbit George Probyn Robert Saunders
	Result	2½ - 1½	18 April 2002
Reported on Communigate.

Headless Cross Senior - Headless Cross Youth			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Jason Cole Mark Hore not reported not reported	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0	David Richardson David Pemberton not reported not reported
	Result	1 - 3	? late April 2002
Reported on Communigate. It is Official The X Men are the New Champions The Youth team were looking forward to their own local derby against the Senior team. Boards 1 and 2 fought a very close battle and the X men were starting to sweat! Could the Youth Team deprive them of the championship? With a one point handicap anything is possible. Boards 3 and 4 collapsed and the X Men had two points in the bag. Mark Hore offered David Pemberton a draw which was reluctantly accepted. Once again all eyes were on the top board David Richardson managed to steal a piece right under Jason's nose with correct play he could have gone on to win. But Jason was having none of that, he hung on for a well deserved draw. The Youth Team have one game left to play against Redditch and are looking forward to their second win of the season. Not if the Raiders can help it!

Redditch Raiders - Headless Cross Youth			Div 2
Board	Home team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Drummond Phil Church David Dixon Mark Robinson	? 0 - 1 ½ - ½ ?	David Richardson Ben Mills David Pemberton James Dean
	Result Redditch won	? - ?	? late April
Reported on Communigate. Redditch Raiders were saved from an end of season embarrassment by securing a win against an up an coming Headless X Youth team. David Richardson who has been on form for the Youth team struggled against Brian Drummond's Reti - like most who are faced with this opening for the first time are easily confused. Ben Mills responded to c5 with the Anti-Siclian and quickly went into exchange mode displacing Phil Church's king - Ben could have had the better of the game if he had castled first before pushing his e pawn. David Pemberton had lost in his previous match against David Dixon but decided that the same thing was not going to happen again! Pieces were quickly exchanged and a draw agreed. James Dean met another new defence for him in the form of Mark Robinson's French Defence. Once again all players new to the French are in for some nasty surprises! - So the Redditch Raiders got off easily this year but I doubt if they will next season!