WDCL Home Last updated 21 June 2013 Worcs Chess

Joseph Friar wins Ball Cup

The competition

The Ball Cup is a trophy for the best league player graded under-150. Entry is free for anly player of a club affiliated to Worcester & District Chess League. The current holder of the trophy is Andrew Farthing and you can see the names of previous winners since 1947 on the roll of honour.

Structure of the 2012-13 competition

The competition will takes a similar form to last year.The preliminary rounds are run as all-play-all tournaments for small pools of players so that every entrant gets at least two games. The winners of the pools competed in the knock out stages.The arrangements are shown below

  • Four all-play-all groups of 3 or 4 players each;
  • The winner and runner up of each group qualified automatically for the knockout phase;
  • The knockout phase will consist of quarter finals, semi-finals and final.

Results of the group stage

The group stage was completed dead on time on 15 February - a big thank you to all competitors for playing their part in keeping to the event timetable! Details of the results are shown below

GROUP A was a very tense affair (at least from where I was sitting!), following my defeat to Matthew Jordan in the opening game. With two games remaining, several permutations were possible. In the end, John Varilone and I finished tied for first on 2 points. Under the rules, the first means of breaking ties is the result of the game between the tied players. Since I was fortunate enough to beat John in our game, I qualified in first place.

GROUP B was also very close. The critical game proved to be that between Andrew Wiggins and Peter Seeley. By winning this, Andrew secured first place on 2½ points, with Joseph Friar second on 2.

GROUP C was even closer, with three players tied on 2 points. Under the tiebreak rules, preference is given to the lowest graded player, so Ian Clack qualified in first and Ian Truscott came second. Commiserations to Tony Shaw, who was eliminated as the highest graded of the three tied players.

GROUP D, like Group A, was a bloodthirsty contest, with no draws. James Friar came first, with the distinction of being the only player across all four groups to emerge with a 100% score. Ray Collett was clear second on 2 points.

Group A
Player   AF JV MC MJ Total Place
Andrew Farthing 148   1w 1b 0w 2 1st
John Varilone 131 0b   1w B 1  
Michele Clack 115 0w 0b   1w 1  
Matthew Jordan ug 1b W 0b   1  
Group B
Player   JF AW PS BS Total Place
Joseph Friar 148   ½b ½w 1b 2 2nd
Andrew Wiggins 130 ½w   1b 1w 2½ 1st
Peter Seeley 118 ½b 0w   1b 1½  
Barry Stone 90 0w B 0w   0  
Group C
Player   TS IT IC CV Total Place
Tony Shaw 148   ½w ½b 1w 2 1-3rd
Ian Truscott 130 ½b   ½w 1b 2 1-3rd
Ian Clack 107 ½w ½b   1w 2 1-3rd
Colin Vernon 69 B 0w B   0  
Group D
Player   RC JF GS RS Total Place
Ray Collett 143   0b 1w 1b 2 2nd
James Friar 142 1w   1b 1w 3 1st
Giles Stanton 113 0b 0w   0b 0  
Rob Sutton 100 0w 0b 1w   1  
 

Quarter final draw and results

Players with the white pieces in first game named first):

Andrew Farthing ½, ½ - ½, ½ Joseph Friar 17 and 24 Apr.
Joseph won the tie-break Armageddon game in a dead drawn position. Close!
John Varilone ½, 1 - ½, 0 Andrew Wiggins 10 Apr
Ian Clack 0 - 1 Ray Collett on 2 April
James Friar 0 - 1 Ian Truscott on 1 March

Semi-final Draw

John Varilone 0 - 1 Ray Collett on 23 Apr
Ian Truscott 0 - 1 Joseph Friar on 22 May

The semi-finals are scheduled to be completed by 31 May please. If the game is drawn, a replay should be arranged with colours reversed. If the replay is also drawn, there should immediately follow a blitz 'Armageddon' game - with a toss for colours - in which White has 6 minutes to Black's 5, but White has to win to go through. A draw counts as a win for Black.

Final

Ray Collett 0 - 1 Joseph Friar

20 Jun. The delayed final was hosted by the Friars at Bewdley. Joseph defeated Ray Collett in the final in a topsy turvy-game. Both players had decisive positions at various stages of a game. Joseph outplayed his opponent in the opening and appeared ready to launch an unstoppable attack on the king side only for Ray to open the queen side and win a queen for a rook in the middle game. Exchanges left the Joseph with a fortress and threats with co-ordinated rooks against Collett's cramped and disorganised forces. To make progress, Collett returned the queen for a rook and pawn, but then blundered a vital pawn in the rook and pawn ending and Joseph cleaned up in a king and pawn with two minutes to spare. Joseph is the youngest winner of the Ball cup for at least 30 years and possibly the youngest ever player to win this trophy.

Click here for the rules for the Ball Cup.

  • Games in Pools A, B and C should be completed by 15 January.
  • Quarter finals should be completed by 1 March
  • Semi-finals should be completed by 15 April
  • The final should be played by 31 May