Worcester & District Chess League 2009-10

Last updated 20 May 2010

2009-10 Season

Greenlands - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Kevin Hurney Roy Peters Ian Ellis Ian Truscott	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0	Steve Mellor Ray Collett Jim Keene John Clark
	Result	1 - 3	Played 29 Sep

Greenlands - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Kevin Hurney Andrew Wiggins Ian Truscott Steve Shaw	1 - 0 1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½	John Chester John Varilone Paul Thomas Terry Pountney
	Result	3 - 1	Played 13 Oct

Greenlands - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Roy Peters Andrew Wiggins Ian Ellis Ian Truscott	½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Geoffrey Herbert Tony Shaw
	Result	1 - 3	Played 20 Oct

Droitwich & St Johns - Greenlands			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Peter Kitson Steve James Nick Harris Gregg Dyett	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	Kevin Hurney Roy Peters Andrew Wiggins Ian Truscott
	Result	4 - 0	Played 2 Nov

Worcester Bishops - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Steve Mellor Ray Collett Andrew Farthing Jim Keene	½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0	Brian Turner Perry Walker Geoffrey Herbert Tony Shaw
	Result	1½ - 2½	Played 12 Nov
Match report from Ray Collett. With their best side, Worcester had hoped for a better result. After 2 hours play, Jim Keene was clearly better, skilfully exploiting holes in his opponent's French Defence. This was balanced by Geoffrey Herbert's ferocious attack on his opponent's king. The other two games were even. On board 2, Perry Walker had fallen behind on the clock, but his opponent missed a move trapping a bishop and failed to spot a way to bail out only a pawn down. Steve Mellor defended a Classical Caro-Kahn and Brian forced the win of a pawn, but conceded the draw in a rook and pawn ending to secure the match for Malvern.

Kidderminster Knights - Droitwich & St John's			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Wrench Jim Friar Gerald Link Frank Pickett	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	Peter Kitson Steve James Gregg Dyett John Loynes
	Result	2 - 2	Played 25 Nov
Match report based on e-mail from Jim Friar. On board 1, John Wrench defended Peter's King's Gambit missing the win of a pawn towards the end and a draw was a fair result. On board 2, Steve James defended a Queen side onslaught to salvage half a point. Towards time control Jim Friar missed a win, but as both players had 1 minute to make 10 moves it wasn't surprising they agreed a draw. Gerald Link fought on with a rook + Queen vs 2 bishops and Queen to get into a won position, but then left a mate in 1 on. Frank Pickett came out on top of a complicated middle game, winning a number of pawns and getting 2 pieces for a Rook.

Malvern - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Perry Walker Geoffrey Herbert	0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	John Varilone Paul Thomas Terry Pountney Ken Durnell
	Result	3 - 1	Played 27 Nov

Worcester Bishops - Droitwich & St John's			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Steve Mellor Ray Collett Andrew Farthing Roager Yates	½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1	Peter Kitson Nick Harris Gregg Dyett John Loynes
	Result	1½ - 2½	Played 10 Dec
Match report from Ray Collett (amended 17 Jan). The away team were favourites, but they had to fight hard for their win. On Board 1, Steve Mellor deserted his usual Caro-Khan. Peter Kitson gradually strangled the black position so that he had a clear advantage at the time control. This advantage was converted into material so that Steve looked lost as he went from one pawn to two and then three pawns down. In the time scramble of the rapidplay finish the Worcester Bishop's player won a piece, but white's pawns were marching to their coronation so Steve had to sacrifice his material advantage. The players finished with an honourable draw, each having only king and pawn. Nick Harris, playing the black side of an Alekhine's Defence soon nullified the advantage of the move and developed an initiative to attack white's central pawns. In the rush to meet the time control white found resources not seen by white, but this was not enough to save the game. On Board 3, Andrew Farthing accepted a gambit pawn and was under pressure. He lost the exchange for a pawn, but the position was strong enough to hold. The Worcester player won on time in a position which was complex and possibly balanced with the exchange for a pawn. Andrew's pawn structure was much better and the Greg's flag fell before the 35th move - bizarrely - thinking for 10 seconds or so when safe options were immediately available. Board 4 was the first to finish when John Loynes simplified to an ending where his opponent overlooked a knight fork losing a piece.

Kidderminster Knights - Greenlands			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Wrench Jim Friar Maurice Bissell Gerald Link	1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0	Kevin Hurney Andrew Wiggins Ian Truscott Steve Shaw
	Result	3½ - ½	Played 20 Jan
Match report from Jim Friar. Gerald Link was first to finish, winning the exchange in a Queen's Gambit Accepted. In a complicated ending, he finally trapped Steve Shaw's Knight, going a full rook up. On board 3, Maurice and Ian Truscott had castled on opposite sides and both were attacking the kings. Whose attack would get through first? Maurice swapped both rooks for Ian's queen, but after a number of checks, Maurice forced Ian onto the back row. Maurice's bishop was defending at b7 and made only its second move to give a winning check on a6. Jim Friar won a pawn in the centre and offered a draw to clinch the match for Kidderminster. Earlier John Wrench also offered a draw to win the match in a stronger position, but the offer was declined and Kevin payed the penalty. Kevin was a piece for three pawns down, but the pawn chain was on oppositely coloured squares from the bishop, which blockaded them. If Kevin had just left the position intact the draw was probably there. Instead he pushed pawns on the opposite side and allowed John to infiltrate with rook and knight. John trapped Kevin's King on the h-file, and Kevin was powerless to stop a mating attack.

Malvern - Droitwich & St Johns			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Perry Walker Geoffrey Herbert	0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 ½ - ½	Peter Kitson Nick Harris Greg Dyett John Loynes
	Result	2 - 2	Played 22 January
Match report from Nick Harris. Peter Kitson played a splendid game against Brian Turner, sacrificing fearlessly in a King's Gambit. Clarke-Harris fizzled out early. Greg Dyett was winning, the exchange and a pawn up, until he became carried away by his attack and left his own king open to a series of killer checks from Perry Walker. John Loynes had the better of his encounter with Geoff Herbert, but conceded the draw a pawn up in an endgame with bishops of opposite colours.

Worcester Bishops - Greenlands			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Steve Mellor Ray Collett Andrew Farthing Jim Keene	0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0	Kevin Hurney Andrew Wiggins Ian Ellis Ian Truscott
	Result	2 - 2	Played 28 January
Match report from Ray Collett. The first game to finish was on Board 2. Andrew Wiggins played a French Defence and players quickly swapped minor pieces in the opening, but white had a very slight initiative. Black chose to fianchetto his queen's bishop and Ray Collett siezed the chance to plant a knight on e5, preventing black devloping his queenside. Black found himself without moves and resigned when faced with the loss of piece. Jim Keen was the nxt to win for Worcester. White established a commanding bishop on d6 and then won with an attack on the king. This was followed by a Redditch win. On board 3 black captured a gambit pawn, held it, and overturned white's initiative, but Ian Ellis's opponent blundered in a strong, possibly winning, position and allowed a decisive tactical finish. Steve Mellor's game looked good for Worcester, but Kevin swapped a piece for pawns to expose black's king. After a check, Steve should have moved his king back into the corner and conceded a draw by purpetual. Instead the monarch advanced towards the centre and was gunned down by white's heavy artillery. [Apologies for earier incorrect result and report and thanks to Andrew Farthing for correction - Ray]

Droitwich & St John's - Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Peter Kitson Steve James Nick Harris Gregg Dyett	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	Maurice Bissell Jim Friar Gerald Link Mark Riley
	Result	4 - 0	Played 1 Feb
Match report combined from those received from Jim Frair and Nick Harris. Droitwich St John's brushed aside Kidderminster in their bid to retain their Division 1 title. Things got off to a bad start when Kidderminster arrived at the wrong venue. As a sporting gesture the Home side didn't start the clocks till 8 o'clock while Kidderminster raced across the county. Board 1 saw Peter defending Maurice Bissell's Queens Gambit. Maurice captured a poisoned pawn and shed material when Maurice missed a Zwischen move that gave Peter engineered a double attack against unprotected rooks and won the exchange. Careful defence neutralised white's hoped-for counterplay based on an advenced pawn on e6. On Board 2 Jim Friar won a pawn towards the endgame but was too preoccupied stopping Steve's perpetual check and avoiding the draw that he dropped a piece. The board 3 game Nick Harris - Gerald Link finished first. Nick replied with a Kings Indian to Gerald Link's QP opening. Players attached on opposite wings, but slip by Gerald left him unable to make progress on the queenside, while black won with a typical King's Indian pawn storm and bone-in-the-throat-at-g3 mating attack against a defenceless king. Mark Riley's position looked promising against Greg Dyett's Bird's Opening and the game was lond and messy untill the time control. Having to make 10 moves in a few minutes, Mark was unable to exploit Greg's awkwardly placed pieces. Mark's position deteriorated as he lost 3 queen-side pawns. The rest was a matter of technique.

Kidderminster Rooks - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Clive Billinge Mike Kitchen Terry Pountney Ken Durnell	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	Brian Turner Perry Walker Geoffrey Herbert Tony Shaw
	Result	0 - 4	Played 10 February
Match report from Brian Turner. The highlights of this match were a Greek Gift sacrifice by Tony Shaw on h2 (Tony was black) and a well played rook and pawn ending by Geoffrey Herbert to conclude a hard-fought game with Terry Pountney.

Kidderminster Rooks - Greenlands			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Varilone (139) Mike Kitchen (119) Terry Pountney (115) Ken Durnell (111)	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1	Kevin Hurney (180) Andrew Wiggins (149) Ian Ellis (146) Ian Truscott (136)
	Result	½ - 3½	Played 17 February
Match result from Kevin Hurney.

Malvern - Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Geoffrey Herbert John Knee	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0	John Wrench Jim Friar Gerald Link Frank Pickett
	Result	3 - 1	Played 19 February
Match report from Brian Turner. Kidderminster knights made it through the Malvern snow for the W&D Division 1 match. On board 1, John Wrench gained an advantage with white from a Four Knights Game, but Brian Turner was able to consolidate his position for the draw. Ian Clarke played a quiet Queen's Pawn Game against Jim Friar. Nneither side could make progress and peace was signed. The last game to finish was board 3 where Geoffrey Herbert, playing black, retained a Queen's Gambit pawn. Gerald Link strongly resisted and Geoffrey had to play well to convert the rook and pawn then king and pawn endings to win. On board 4, John Knee established a passed pawn on c6 against Frank Pickett. John reinforced it with a queen-side breakthrough and won with conneced passed pawns.

Kidderminster Knights - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Jim Friar John Wrench Maurice Bissell Frank Pickett	0 - 1 ½ - ½ ½ -½ ½ -½	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Geoffrey Herbert John Knee
	Result	1½ - 2½	Played 3 Mar
Match reported by Brian Turner and Jim Friar.

Greenlands - Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Andrew Wiggins Ian Ellis Ian Truscott Steve Shaw	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½	John Wrench Jim Friar Maurice Bissell Frank Pickett
	Result	1½ - 2½	Played 9 Mar
Match report from Jim Friar. Board 2 was the first to finish. Ian Ellis played a King's Gambit, but allowed black to attack his d-pawn. After its capture there were massive complications. Ian exchanged pieces and lost a second pawn. Attempting to win a pawn back, Ian missed a back row mate. On board 3 Ian Truscott tried a Slav Defence against Maurice Bissell's Queen's Gambit. Missing an intermediate move, Ian lost a pawn and then a full piece. Later Maurice a trapped a lone rook to clinch the win. After the time control on board 4, Frank Pickett and Steve had exchanged off only a bishop and a couple of pawns in a Colle System with too much play left for the 5-10 minutes they both had left so they agreed a draw. Andrew Wiggins played the black side of a French Defence and players castled on opposite wings. John opened the h-file with his rook on h1 and also got a rook on a7 so that both attacked h7. In spite of this pressure Andrew Wiggins found a killer knight sacrifice that allowed Andrew to win the rook on a7 to win.

Kidderminster Knights - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Jim Friar Maurice Bissell Gerald Link Frank Pickett	0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	Steve Mellor Ray Collett Andrew Farthing Phil Smith
	Result	2½ - 1½	Played 17 Mar
Match report from Ray Collett. First game to finish was board 4 when Frank Pickett made short work of black's Caro-Kahn Defence. By that stage, Worcester Bishops were also reeling on board 2 where Maurice Bissell, refreshed from his holiday in New Zealand, overwhelmed black's King's Indian Defence with an early Bg5. Andrew Farthing and Gerald Link agreed a draw in a blocked position and board 1 also looked to be heading for a draw. Fortunately for Steve Mellor, his opponent blundered, and Kidderminster Knights remained on top.

Malvern - Greenlands			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Geoffrey Herbert Tony Shaw	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	Andrew Wiggins Ian Ellis Ian Truscott Richard Collett
	Result	4 - 0	Played 19 Mar
Match reported by Brian Turner

Droitwch & St Johns - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Peter Kitson Steve James Nick Harris Greg Dyett	½ - ½ 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	Steve Mellor Ray Collett Andrew Farthing Jim Keene
	Result	3 - 1	Played 22 Mar
Match report from Ray Collett. Both teams deployed their best artillery for this local Derby. The St Johns side went into the lead when Steve James crushed Ray collet with a Four Pawns Attack on a Kings Indian Defence. Greg Dyett, playing Bird's Opening, got the advantage and won on time in a superior position. Andrew Farthing played his trademerk 1.Nc3 and the players agreed a draw in an even position. The last game to finish was board 1: a draw leaving St Johns match winners.

Kidderminster Rooks - Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Varilone (b) Pauk Thomas Terry Pountney Ken Durnell	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ -½ ½ - ½	John Wrench (w) Jim Friar Maurice Bissell Frank Pickett
	Result	1½ - 2½	Played 24 Mar
Match report from Jim Friar. What looked on paper an easy match for the Knights turned out turned out to be a tough win. On board 2, Paul Thomas (Knights) wasted time capturing Jim Friar's (Knights) white-squared bishop. Jim counter-attacked in the centre. Paul pushed his d-pawn forward, but it was difficult to defend it. Then Paul castled into an attack and couldn't stop mate. Next game to finish was board 4. Frank Pickett (Knights) had an even game against Ken Durnell (Rooks). Ken ended with queen and two bishops against Frank's queen, bishop and knight. Neither player could pass the pawn barrier separating the pieces and they agreed a draw. One board 1, John Varilone (Rooks) found a brilliant knight move against what looked like a winning attack for John Wrench (Knights). John Varilone decided to win a rook and missed a move that would have won a piece. Taking the rook allowed John Wrench a perpetual check. The last game to finish was a titanic struggle between Terry Pountney (Rooks) and Maurice Bissell (Knights). Terry had queen and bishop against Maurice's queen and knight. Maurice had a passed c-pawn, but could not make progress. For over thirty moves Maurice tempted Terry to move the pawns defending his King but to no avail and the point was shared. (amended 5 April).

Droitwich & St John's - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Peter Kitson Default Nick Harris Greg Dyett	1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0	John Varilone Paul Thomas Terry Pountney Ken Durnell
	Result	3 - 1	Played 30 Mar
Match report from Nick Harris. Outgraded, Kidderminster Rooks went down, but put up stout resistance.

Malvern - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Geoffrey Herbert Tony Shaw	½ - ½ ½ - ½ ½ - ½ ½ - ½	Ray Collett Andrew Farthing Jim Keene Ed Osbourn
	Result	2 - 2	Played 9 Apr
Match report from Ray Collett. Without their best player and outgraded on all boards, Worcester were expected to lose this match. All games were even throughout. Last to finish was Board 1, which went to the final 2 minutes of play. Brian Turner, Malvern as black, played an unusual variation of the Steinitz Defence Deferred in the Ruy Lopez. Ray Collett's pieces looked a little tied up at one stage defending the e4 pawn, but he found a way to simplify to an end game with queen and knight each and symmetrical pawns on both sides. By this stage the other three games had been drawn and Brian had an advantage in time so he played on, refusing the Worcester man's offer of a draw. Queens were swapped and it looked at first as if black's more active king would infiltrate, but Ray defended carefully and the draw was agreed with both players having knight and three pawns.

Droitwich & St Johns's - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Peter Kitson Steve James Nick Harris Greg Dyett	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Perry Walker Geoff Herbert
	Result	1 - 3	Played 12 Apr
Match result from Brian Turner.

Worcester Bishops - Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Ray Collett Andrew Farthing Jim Keene John Clarke	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	John Wrench Gerald Link Mark Riley Dave Close
	Result	1 - 3	Played 15 Apr
Match reported by Andrew Farthing.

Worcester Bishops - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Ray Collett Andrew Farthing Jim Keene John Clark	½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	John Varilone Paul Thomas Terry Pountney Ken Durnell
	Result	3½ - ½	Played 22 Apr
Match report from Ray Collett. At the tail end of a poor season for Worcester, an emphatic win for the Bishops. The board 1 game went to the final seconds of the first time control when Collett (Worcester) with a rook esconced on the seventh had to submit to perpetual from Varilone's (Kidderminster) marauding queen and knight. Andrew Farthing got a bind and squeezed Thomas by advancing king-side pawns. Eventually the pips squeaked. Jim Keene won material and went into a winning minor piece ending two pawns up to win.

Kidderminster Rooks - Droitwich & St Johns			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Varilone John Chester Paul Thomas Ken Durnell	0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½	Peter Kitson Nick Harris Greg Dyett John Loynes
	Result	1 - 3	Played 21 Apr
Match reported by Nick Harris

Kidderminster Rooks - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	Paul Thomas Default Terry Pountney Ken Durnell	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ -½	Steve Mellor Ray Collett Andrew Farthing John Clark
	Result	½ - 3½	Played 28 Apr
Match result from Andrew Farthing and report from Ray Collett. Outgraded and starting without a player, Kidderminster Rooks duly went down to Worcester Bishops. Steve Mellor won through a king-side attack. Andrew Farthing and Terry Pountney's game started with Andrew's trademark 1.Nc3 and Andrew secured a clear positional advantage. This went to a rook and pawn ending with Terry trying to defend isolated triple f-pawns. The position could not be held and Terry conceded to the Worcester's captain. On board 4, there was a temporary hiatus while both players tried to correct their scores. The game started with a Dutch Defence and was fairly level throughout.

Kidderminster Knights - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home Team	Result	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Wrench Jim Friar Maurice Bissell Mark Riley	1 - 0 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	John Varilone Clive Billinge Paul Thomas Terry Pountney
	Result	3½ - ½	Played 18 May
Match report from Jim Friar. The world championship influenced board one's game, players following a Queen's Gambit. There were pieces and pawns as far as the eye could see in a very sharp and tactical match. In the end John Varilone (Rooks) had given up too many pawns for the complications. Clive Billinge (Rooks) sacrificed a pawn in an irregular opening. The game ended with a queen and pawn ending, but Clive unable to stop Jim Friar's passed pawn. Board 3 saw sacrifices from both sides in a very interesting Exchange Variation of the French Defence. After all the dust settled, neither player had advantage and the game was drawn. Mark Riley (Rooks) played an exchange Ruy Lopez to perfection. His peices were all mobilised allowing him a temporary sacrifice which led to an overwhelming position.