League Division 1 Detailed Results 2002-3 Season

The results on this page were last updated 23 May 2003 and the detailed results re-formatted 19 December 2004.

Team	Matches played	Matches won	Matches drawn	Matches lost	Game points for	Game points against	Match points	Position
Halesowen I	8	5	1	2	30	18	11	1
Worcester City	8	5	0	3	23½	24½	10	2
Droitwich & St.Johns	7	2	2	3	22	20	6	4
Kidderminster I	7	2	2	3	19½	22½	6	3
Malvern	8	1	3	4	20	28	5	5
Kidderminster-Droitwich to be added. Currently 2½-2½ with one game unfinished

Home teams and captains	Away teams
Home teams and captains	Droitwich & St Johns	Halesowen I	Kidderm'ster I	Malvern	Worcester City
Droitwich & St Johns Arnold Kirkland	X	3 - 3	4½ - 1½	3½ - 2½	2½ - 3½
Halesowen I Stewart Fishburne	3½ - 2½	X	4½ - 1½	4½ - 1½	5½ - ½
Kidderminster I Maurice Bissell	2½ - 2½ 1 game unfinished	3½ - 2½	X	3 - 3	4½ - 1½
Malvern Maurice Ginger	3 - 3	1 - 5	3 - 3	X	2½ - 3½
Worcester City Steve Mellor	4 - 2	4½ - 1½	3½-2½	2½-3½	X

This was a decisive match for the League Championship. Halesowen needed to win and they fielded a very powerful side. Worcester were without Eric Myers and City's bottom boards were heavily outgraded.

Brain Turner cleaned up on top board after winning a pawn and then the exchange. The King's Indian Defenec proved the most popular opening of the match with boards 1, 3 and 4 following this line. Geoff Herbert lost control of the centre and then material before going down against Frank Pickett. Althogh gerald link got some pressure, the position became blocked and the players settled for a draw. Denis Spencer sacrificed a pawn for position, but it was insufficient and Denis went down. A French Defence was played on board 5 with black holding his own. The bottom board game was a well-contested Budapest Defence. Samuel had a hughe advanced passed pawn and used it to win a piece.

On board 1, Brian gained a positional plus in a symmetrical King's pawn opening, but it was difficult to see how to make further progress. With a cry of "Well it is Friday!", he tried a piece sacrifice. Stewart defended soundly and emerged with
a piece for 2 pawns at the end of the session. There was a Slav opening on board 2, without Geoff having any advantage. Alan managed to swap off into a drawn ending. On board 3, John Knee played a Caro-Kan Defence. John Edge spent 20 moves manoeuvring his pieces to reach their best squares and eventually won a pawn close to the end of the session. The
position is still a middle-game, but white appears to have the advantage as well as his extra pawn. On board 4, Rob Thomas playing black erred in the opening and White emerged with a pawn and space advantage. Black sacrificed the exchange to complicate and eventually emerged with a fortunate draw. Andy Ambrose played the Tarrasch against Maurice's French defence, and built up a big King's side attack, which ended in mate, when Black couldn't get his pieces back to defend the King in time.

With this shock result, Malvern haul themselves off the bottom of the table and Worcester's chances of winning the League recede. Worcester were without their two best players. On board 1, Steve defended with a Caro Kan Defence (as usual). Brian build up an initiative, but Steve claims he was never in danger of losing. Jim Keene and geoff Herbert agreed a grandmaster draw after only 16 moves. By transposition, Ray and Ian's game arrived at a Rubinstein Variation of the French Defence. Ian built up a small positional advantage, but black swapped off rooks to equalise. White followed this up with a weak and then a disastrous queen move that allowed a knight check that forked the queen. Tony and John's game on board 4 was a Queen's Pawn Game that looked even throughout. Bob Fox played a Modern Defence but lost a pawn soon after the opening, which Maurice converted to take the full point. Board 6 was a marathon going on for 80 moves, before Roger surrendered. After the 40th move Roger was the exchange up for a pawn in what looked like a won position. Unfortunately, he allowed black to win a further pawn and his passed central pawn became HUGE. Roger had to sacrifice and Maurice played out a queen versus rook ending to win.

Brian Turner played a Closed Variation against Steve James' Sicilian. Brian won a pawn, but had to give it back later and the players agreed to halve the point. On board 2, Gregg Dyett's Bird's Opening enabled him to win. Ian Clarke and Nick Harris played a French Defence and after a time scramble agreed a draw. On board 4 players attached on opposite sides, but without a decisive result. Board 5 was also a level game after a King's Indian Defence. On bottom board, Bill Watson launched a king side attack, but it never got going and Sam won material and then forced Bill's resignation.

On top board, Eric played a Schlieman Defence against the Ruy Lopez and both players rushed through 14 moves of a prepared line. After complications and an unclear position in the early middle game, however, the players agreed a draw. On board 2, Andy Taylor opened with a Réti, but neither side was able to extract significant advantage. Steve Mellor defended with a Caro-Kan and an evenly fought game ensued. Jim Keene defended the Queen's Pawn Opening with a Nimzo-Indian and won a pawn cleanly in the middle game. Jim efficiently converted this advantage into a win via a queen and bishop ending. John Gittus essayed the rare Grob (1.g4) Opening taking Ray out of his book and gaining time on the clock. The position was delicately poised with white having dangerous advanced king-side pawns, but Ray defended carefully. The Worcester player broke on the king-side and gained a dominating position on the f-file and then on the 7th rank to win a pawn. In the end-of-session time-scramble, Ray missed a way to introduce his knight into the attack and then a simple pawn grab. White was still a pawn down and hard pressed at the adjournment, but Ray offered a draw to clinch another victory for the Worcester City team.

The Halesowen captain Stewart Fishburne defended with an open King's Indian (pawns exchanged on d4) with white having a space advantage and black some pressure on the black square. White chose to exchange the black squared bishops but black utilised the time to activate his rooks and a draw was agreed in a balanced position. On board 2, a Trompowsky metamorphosed into a French-like position with blocked centre. Alan had more space and the better minor pieces, but black was solid. White found a way to embarrass the white king and broke through with a combination starting with rook takes pawn on d5. John Edge played From's gambit against the Bird and won in 11 moves! White missed a trick that opened up the black squares around his king. On board 4 Mark Bethel tried some early tactics to give white a poor pawn structure (or win a pawn). Unfortunately there was a hole in white's line of pawns and in spite of emerging with bishop pair against two knights John Knee had not castled and his king got caught in the centre. Soon the black bishops and rooks were unresistable and Mark won in 19 moves. The board 5 game was a stodgy Two Knights Variation against the Modern. Not much happened before peace broke out. On bottom board, Andy Ambrose seemed to get the better of a Sicilian Dragon and won a pawn, but a draw was agreed after many pieces were exchanged.

Halesowen had white on odd boards. Stewart Fishburn over pressed. After attained a winning position, he missed a couple of chances to force victory and allowed black to complicate. The Halesowen captain missed a further victory late on, turned down a draw offer and then lost on time, probably by then in a losing position. The game on board 2 was a blocked Bogo-Indian, and not too much has happened. On board 3, although John blundered a pawn in the opening, he obtained positional compensation. Gerald defended well, but had to concede the pawn. His opponent tried too hard and the game petered out to a draw. Rob Thomas gat a smooth win using the Modern Defence having undermined whites pawn centre from the wing. Mark played a Sicilian defence against John, but both players ran short of time and agreed a draw. Halesowen again had to concede a default and this may cost them the championship this season.

On board 1 after a Benko defence, Eric Myers won the exchange and was ahead in material at the adjournment. Andy Taylor showed that fortune favours the brave. An English Opening allowed white to develop pressure on the king side, but only at the expense of neglecting his queen side. Andy grasped the opportunity and sacrificed the exchange to force black's king away from the back row into a mating net. Steve Mellor's game was a complex affair after an Albin Counter Gambit, but Steve lost a piece for pawns just before the time control. On board 5, Ray got a satisfactory position for the black forces after a Neo-Grunfeld Defence, but one of his horses lost the way home and was captured for no compensation in the early middle game forcing black's resignation after only 22 moves. Tony Spittle's game against Bill Watson was a hard fought encounter. Tony gained pressure against the white king position and gained pawns. After the rooks were exchanged, Tony was two pawns up in a queen and pawn ending where his king was safe from annoying checks so his opponent, always the most sporting of players resigned.

With this win Worcester go top of the table. The two sides were evenly mached, but Malvern struck first with Edward Nesbit's quick win over Stuart Barber who had dropped a piece. The next game to finish was board 1 where the two top players played a Veresov opening, but were fatigued from journeys back from Paris and London so agreed a quick draw. On board 3 Steve Mellor met the Nimzovitch (Nc6) Defence and won shrtly before the end of the playing session. John Knee played an English Opening against Ray Collett and the position became blocked. White had a significant advantage in space but was not aggressively inclined and the payers agreed a draw after 29 moves. Denis Spencer played the Scandanavian (Center Counter) Defence against Tony Spittle's 1.e4 and the game was eventually drawn. Worcester received further good news when they heard Mark Bethel had conceded his game against Bob Fox in the Worcester-Halesowen match played on 5 November.

A reverse for the formbook! Worcester City are the League Champion' bête noire. The board 6 game was first to finish: a draw after a Modern Defence. On board 1, there was a wild and fierce Franco-Sicilian. Andy reckoned he was lucky to get away with what he had played, but was in the superior position when he agreed the draw to clinch thge match for Worcester City. Another fortunate City player was Ray Collett who seems to be making a habit of getting into time scrambles. He botched the defence to the tricky Trompowsky opening and was a full two pawns down after 9 moves. Rob Thomas, however, squandered his advantage by playing by mismanaging the clock leaving himself only one minute to complete 10 moves. During the time scramble, the Halesowen player's king was forced to the side of the board and suddenly Ray was back in the game. The position was immaterial, because Bob Thomas' flag fell when he was still 4 moves short. The game between Mark Bethel and Fob Fox was adjourned, but the Worcester side who were confident of the full point received confirmation when Mark Bethel decided it was useless to play on in a lost king and pawn ending. Board 5 saw the rare Nimzowich Defence where black plays Nc6 in response to white's 1. e4.

With three of their best players absent, Worcester were out-ranked in this match. Bob Fox was fielded for the first time and President of the Kidderminster Club, Maurice Bissell said Bob was a most promising player. Also representing City in County Division 1 for the first time were Pete Scullion and Stuart Barber, but like Bob they went down to defeat. It was on board 1 that Andy Taylor salvaged some honour for the visiting side converting a persistent advantage into a win. Steve Mellor began 15 minutes behind on the clock after arriving late and made a fatal error. On bottom board Pete Scullion was offered a draw in a level position, but turned the offer down before going down.