Worcester & District Chess League

Kidderminster Knights - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Craig Evans Joseph Friar James Friar Maurice Bissell	½ - ½ ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1	Peter Kitson David L Roberts Jim Keene Ray Collett
	Result	1½ - 2½	30 Oct
Reported by Ray Collett. After 15 minutes play and 12 moves, board 1 agreed a draw, a forced line in the Muzio Gambit. On board 2 Joseph Friar tried a King's Indian Attack and the players agreed a draw in a balanced positionafter the time control. Board three saw all the centre pawns exchanged very early in the opening. On bottom board after the opening, black offered a pawn, which white refused because it allowed too much activity. Black gained a pawn during exchanges of the centre pawns and queen. and both players thought black's bishops would be inferior to whites knights. Black found a path to unleash the bishop pair and they dominated the knights into a minor piece ending eventually trapping one of the knights in the quick play phase.. Bissell resigned with a few minutes left when it was clear black could force the promotion of a king-side pawn.

Redditch A - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Dan Lambourne Glen Cox Derek Abrahams David Smith	½ - ½ 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	Peter Kitson David L Roberts Ray Collett Rob Sutton
	Result	3 - 1	4 Nov
Reported by Ray Collett. The first game to finish was on board 2 where Glen Cox spotted a pseudo-sacrifice Nxf7 to win a pawn and expose the black king, which was later mated. There was a cautious draw on board 1. On board 3, Ray Collett had strong pressure against Derek Abraham's French Defence, but saw a mirage combination that lost him a piece in the middle game, but tenacious defence of a queen and pawns versus queen and bishop and pawns ending earned him a draw in the dying seconds of the playing session. On the bottom board, Rob Sutton, playing black fell behind in development and his king was embarrassed in the centre of the board. David Smith won material and forced the win in a rook and pawn ending.

Kidderminster Rooks - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Alan Preece John Whitehead Paul Thomas Terry Pountney	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Geoffrey Herbert Matthew Jordan
	Result	0 - 4	5 Nov
Reported by Brian Turner. The scoreline does not do justice to Kidderminster. The games were all hard fought, going beyond the time control, with two rook and pawn endings and one queen and pawn ending.

Kidderminster Knights - Redditch A			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Wrench James Friar Jim Friar Snr Maurice Bissell	0 - 1 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1	Dan Lambourne Tom Robinson Glen Cox Derek Abraham
	Result	1 - 3	12 Nov
Reported by Dan Lambourne. Redditch buoyed up by the unexpected win against Worcester travelled to Kidderminster with a strengthened team. Dan played defensively and after 15 moves the position was dead equal and John offered a draw. Dan thought it was too early to accept a draw and continued playing. This was a good decision because Dan gained space on the queen-side and John was getting short of time. John reached the time control with a minute to spare, but by then Dan had a passed pawn and John resigned shortly after when he missed a combination and lost a piece. The other games featured sacrificed exchanges for strong attacks. Maurice's attack failed and Derek converted his material into a win. James' attack looked devastating and after exchanges both players missed wins in the aftermath until they agreed the draw. The board 3 game saw much banging of the clock at the close of the session. Jim had queen, rook and three pawns against Glen's queen, bishop and four pawns and it was difficult to avoid perpetual check. During the frantic time scramble Glen won the rook with a cheap trick, only for Jim to spot that both flags had fallen, so a draw was agreed..

Worcester Bishops - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Peter Kitson Ray Collett Rob Sutton Alaric Stephen	1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0	Alan Preece John Whitehead Paul Thomas Terry Pountney
	Result	3 - 1	13 Nov
Reported by Ray Collett. Worcester's new man, Alaric Stephen put in a successful first appearance for the Bishops. His was the first game to finish, hard fought all the way to a rook and pawn ending. The younger player mobilised his queen -side majority pawns and forced a passed pawn to win the game. Board 3 ended next with a draw after a balanced game throughout. Board 2 saw a complex middllegame with all the pieces still on the board. Collett went for the break first and Whitehead missed his way and should have lost a piece, but Collett returned the compliment. After numerous exchanges players reached a minor piece ending and agreed a draw. On board 1, Peter Kitson won a queenside pawn in the middlegame and weak defence in a rook and pawn ending allowed Peter a comfortable win.

Malvern - Redditch A			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Turner Geoffrey Herbert Leigh Canham Matthew Jordan	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	Dan Lambourne Nigel Towers Tom Robinson Derek Abraham
	Result	2 - 2	Played 29 Nov
Reported by:Brian Turner and Dan Lambourne,

Worcester Bishops - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Steve Mellor Peter Kitson David L Roberts Jim Keene	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	Brian Turner Ian Clarke John Knee Leigh Canham
	Result	2 - 2	Played 4 Dec
Reported by Ray Collett. Board 1 players agreed a draw shortly after leaving theory in the Caro Kan Defence. Ian Clarke finished his game first after his opponent left a piece en pris early in the game. Board 3 then also agreed a draw with Worcester's player complaining: "he could not tempt his opponent into an indiscretion, but he didn't succumb". On board 4, Jim Keene developed an advantage in space and used it to launch a successful attack against the Malvern player.

Malvern - Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Brian Turner Ian Clarke Geoffrey Herbert John Knee	½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½	Jim Friar John Wrench Joseph Friar James Friar
	Result	2 - 2	12 Dec
Reported by Brian Turner and Jim Friar:

Redditch A - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Dan Lambourne Tom Robinson Glen Cox Derek Abrahams	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	John Chester Alan Preece Paul Thomas Terry Pountney
	Result	4 - 0	16 Dec
Reported by Dan Lambourne: Instead of choice of white or black on odds, Redditch were faced with the call Knights or Rooks! Both Kidderminster teams arrived to play Redditch A. After hurried consultation, Kidderminster players agreed that the Rooks ought to have what turned out to be the dubious honour of playing. Derek Abrahams struck first with a strong attack a piece down winning queen for a rook followed by further material. The other games had reached differing end games, with all the Redditch players a pawn up. Glen Cox and Paul Thomas's was a queen and pawn ending and both players' pawns reached the seventh rank, but Paul miscalculated. Tom Robinson had rook, bishop and pawns against Alan Preece's rook, strong knight pawns, but Alan blundered a rook.. On top board there was a fairly tight game: two rooks, knight and seven pawns against two rooks, knight and six pawns. Dan Lambourne had more movement and controlled the only open file. Dan forced the win using pressure on a hanging pawn which led to a his knight forking the opponent's king and rook.

Kidderminster Rooks - Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Adrian Preece John Whitehead Paul Thomas Terry Pountney	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	Joseph Friar John Wrench Jim Friar Maurice Bissell
	Result	0 - 4	21 Jan
Reported by Jim Friar.

Worcester Bishops - Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Stephen Mellor Peter Kitson Jim Keene David L Roberts	0 - 1 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0	Craig Evans Jim Friar snr James Friar John Wrench
	Result	2 - 2	29 Jan
Reported by Ray Collett. Playing their strongest team, the Bishops had to win this match to get good chances of the championship. At first all went well for the Worcester team. On board 4, Roberts won the exchange and had an outside passed pawn. His was the first decisiiove game to finish. Boards two and three drew leaving the match result depending on the outcome on top board. Mellor, playing the black side of a Caro-Kann, went for an early exchange of a queen for rook and two minor pieces, but Evans' queen was active. The queen got into black's relatively undeveloped position to retrieve a minor piece and by the time of the first time control, it was rook and bishop and pawns against queen and pawns. Evans was already more or less assured of a draw by incessant checks in the final quickplay finish and then Mellor blundered horribly overlooking a queen fork.

Malvern - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Ian Clarke Brian Turner Geoffrey Herbert Leigh Canham	1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½	Stephen Mellor Jim Keene David L Roberts Ray Collett
	Result	2½ - 1½	6 Feb
Reported by Brian Turner and Ray Collett. Herbert had an early win to give Malvern the lead. This was followed by the draw on board 4, but Worcester evened the score when Keene forced home a blistering attack on Turner's king. The match was decided in the last few seconds of the playing session with a flurry of moves on top board. In an ending with rooks and queens, Mellor has sacrificed a rook to expose Clarke's king which was sheltering behind Mellor's advanced pawn. At one stage it looked as if Mellor could force a purpetual check, which might have been a relief to both players who were short of time. Mellor varied and Clarke avoided mates and queen forks until Mellor ran out of time.

Malvern - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Ian Clarke Geoffrey Herbert Matthew Jordan John Knee	1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	John Chester Alan Preece John Whitehead Paul Thomas
	Result	2½ - 1½	20 Feb
Reported by: Brian Turner

Kidderminster Rooks - Worcester Bishops			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Chester Alan Preece John Whitehead Paul Thomas	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ ½ - ½	Stephen Mellor Peter Kitson Jim Keene Ray Collett
	Result	1 - 3	Played 4 Mar
Reported by Ray Collett

Redditch A - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Daniel Lambourne Glen Cox Derek Abraham Andrew Wiggins	0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½	Ian Clarke Brian Turner Geoffrey Herbert John Knee
	Result	1 - 3	10 Mar
Reported by Daniel Lambourne

Worcester Bishops - Redditch A			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Peter Kitson Jim Keene Ray Collett David L Roberts	0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0	Daniel Lambourne Nigel Towers Andrew Wiggins David Smith
	Result	2 - 2	19 Mar
Reported by Dan Lambourne: A complete whitewash! All players with white won. It was obviously a day for white, as all white players got advantages out of the opening and didn't relinquish them. I didn't get to see most of the other games, as my game had the smallest advantage of only a pawn, but when I did get up, it didn't look promising for any black player. Worcester took the early lead on board 4, and then doubled the advantage, but by then Andrew was a piece and a couple of pawns up, and I was finally moving my pieces around my spare pawn. I managed to get a second pawn, and was able to move into an easily won bishop-and-two-pawns-against-bishop endgame. Both games finished around the same time to level the match.

Kidderminster Knights - Kidderminster Rooks			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Craig Evans John Wrench Jim Friar Maurice Bissell	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	John Chester John Whitehead Paul Thomas Terry Pountney
	Result	4 - 0	8 Apr
Reported by: Jim Friar.

Kidderminster Knights - Malvern			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Wrench James Friar (jnr) Joseph Friar Maurice Bissell	½ - ½ 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0	Ian Clarke Brian Turner Geoffrey Herbert John Knee
	Result	2½ - 1½	15 Apr
Reported by Jim Friar

Redditch A- Kidderminster Knights			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	Dan Lambourne Glenn Cox Derek Abrahams Andrew Wiggins	1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	James Friar Jim Friar (snr) John Wrench Maurice Bissell
	Result	2½ - 1½	21 Apr
Reported by Dan Lambourne. Andrew Wiggins secured first blood, after Maurice seemed to underestimate his attack. John Wrench was slowly grinding down Derek, whilst James Friar was succesfully swapping off pieces but getting short of time. Meanwhile, Glenn had given up a bishop for several pawns in a very sharp game. James made a small mistake in time trouble to give up a pawn, which was enough of an advantage for Dan Lambourne to convert to a win at the same time that John Wrench had won his game. This left the very sharp game, where Jim Friar had managed to stall Glenn Cox's attack and launch several of his own. Glenn beat back most of the attacks, and with both players short of time, and Glenn still having the material advantage from the earlier exchange, he offered the draw which was accepted for Redditch to win the match.

Kidderminster Rooks - Redditch A			Division 1
Board	Home team	Score	Away team
1 2 3 4	John Varilone Dave Spowart Michael Kitchen Terry Pountney	0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0	Dan Lambourne Tom Robinson Glenn Cox Derek Abraham
	Result	2 - 2	29 Apr
Reported by Dan Lambourne. Redditch came into the match knowing that any match win would secure the league title and were confident facing the bottom team. The Rooks put out a team with three new players. Things started off well for Redditch with slight advantages on boards 2 and 3. Then Pountney won the exchange. Kidderminster struck gold when Spowart benefitted from a bad blunder snapping up Robinson's queen in a previously bad position. Cox made good for Redditch, but Abraham also went down. Board 1 was level on material and clock time. Just after the time control Lambourne won a pawn and exchanged to a rook and pawn end game. With Varilone down to his last few minutes, he made a small mistake that enabled Lambourne to win more pawns and the game, to tie the match. After some mental arithmetic, Redditch thought they had won the league on game points having the same number of match points as Malvern.