Published 12 May 2010

Team KO Cup 2009-10

Worcester City win Wheatley Cup

Worcester City won the 2009-10 competition, defeating Hagley on board count at Greenlands Chess Club in a close match.

Round 1

Headless Cross (home) - Droitwich (away) Headless Cross win 3 - 2
Hagley A (home) - Kidderminster I Hagley A win 4¾ - 2 on handicap


The following teams has byes in the first round: Greenlands, Hagley A, Kidderminster II, Malvern, Redditch, and Worcester City.

Round 2

Headless Cross (home) - Redditch (away) Headless Cross win 3 - 2 (3 - 2½ on handicap)
Greenlands (home) - Malvern (away) Greenlands win 3 - 2 (4½ - 2 on handicap)
Worcester City (home) - Hagley A (away) Hagley A conceded being unable to field a side
Hagley B (home) - Kidderminster II (away) Agreed date 26 Mar 2010 Kidderminster II conceded being unable to field a side.

Semi-Finals

Headless Cross - Hagley B Hagley B won
Worcester City (away) - Greenlands (home) Worcester City win 4½ - 2 on handicap)

Final

Played at Greenlands on 11 May. Worcester City 2½ - 2½ (no handicap) Hagley B. Worcester City win on board-count.

 

Hagley A - Kidderminster 1 KO Cup
Board Home team Result Away team
1
2
3
4
5

 Jim Friar (163)
Andrew Moore (152)  
James P Friar (116)
Joseph D Friar (100) 
Kyle Reed (102)
Handicap		 ½ - ½
1 - 0
½ - ½
½ - ½
½ - ½
1¾ - 0
John Wrench (164)
Dave Close (146)
Mark Riley (146)
John Varilone (139)
Tim Yates (129)
 
  Result 4¾ - 2 Played 21 Jan
Match report from Jim Friar. The Wheatley Cup first round pitched Kidderminster 1 against holder's Hagley "A". Kidderminster outgraded Hagley by 90 points and conceded a 1¾ points handicap. On board 1 John Wrench played an Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez. Moving the wrong Rook to challenge the centre allowed Jim Friar to pin his opponent's knight. Complications ensued which John defended admirably to finish with a bishop and five pawns each, after which a draw was agreed. Andy Moore defended a delayed Benko Gambit from Dave Close. Andy won a second pawn giving him two outside passed pawns. Andy won a further pawn and converted. On the bottom board there was another Ruy Lopez and there were fluctuating fortunes between Kyle Reed and Tim Yates. A draw was agreed when the major pieces were swapped. This win gave Hagley the match on handicap, but the remaining two games continued unabated. On board 3 Mark Riley gave a pawn to weaken James Friar's King side, but the attack was neutralised leaving Mark a pawn down in a opposite Bishops ending. So another draw was agreed. The final game saw Joseph Friar playing white against John Varilone's French Defence. Joseph gave a pawn away to stop mating threats and at the end both sides had a queen, bishop and rook, with Joe a pawn down. Joe had weaknesses on the Q-side, but John's king was hemmed in on h8 otherwise he would allow Joe to get perpetual check. So the final game was agreed drawn. The final result was Hagley (Div2) beat Kidderminster (Div 1) 3-2 without the handicap!
Greenlands - Worcester City KO Cup
Board Home team Result Away team
1
2
3
4
5

 Lawrence Wheatley (155)
Andrew Wiggins (149)
Ian Truscott (146)
Richard Collett (112)
Brian Allsop(105)
Handicap		 0 - 1
½ - ½
0 - 1
0 - 1
0 - 1
1½ - 0		 Peter Kitson (169)
Ray Collett (151)
Andrew Farthing (146)
Jim Keene (142)
Ed Osbourn (est 125)
 
  Result 2 - 4½ Played 30 Mar
Match report by Ray Collett. Originally awarded as a Worcester home match, Worcester agreed to play at Greenlands to facilitate the progress of a competition delayed by postponed fixtures early in the New Year. Worcester outgraded Greenlands and had to overcome a handicap of 1½ points. This they did with ease. First game to finish was Jim Keene's win on board 4. Jim obtained a massive protected passed central pawn and crashed through. This result was followed by Peter Kitson's win on board 1 against Larewnce Wheatley's Colle system. At this stage Greenlands had the advantage only in Andrew Wiggins' game, the other two games looking leaning slightly Worcester's way. On Board 3 Andrew Wiggins (Greenlands) was a solid pawn up, but was using too much time. When Andrew was down to his last 5 minutes, he made a slip allowing Ray Collett to snatch back a pawn more than equalising the position. Worcester's captain reviewed the positions in the other two games in play. Collett saw that his board 5 had the opposition in a king and pawn ending and his board 3 had an outside passed pawn so anticipated at least 1½ points from the unfinished games. Collett offered Andrew Wiggins a draw, which was immediately accepted. Worcester's remaining games did not disappoint their captain. Ed Osbourn on board 5 demonstrated fine endgame technique making the king and pawn ending win look simple. Andrew Farthing's game against Ian Truscott had reached a rook and pawn ending. Andrew had an advanced outside passed pawn and a rook on the seventh as well as an advantage in time. To finish the game he simplified to a king and pawn ending, which he won. When the players shook hands we saw that Ian had only 2 seconds left and had resigned just before being timed out! This match was also reported by Worcester News.
Worcester City - Hagley (played at Greenlands) KO Cup
Board Home team Result Away team
1
2
3
4
5

 Peter Kitson (169)
Ray Collett (151)
Andrew Farthing (146)
John Clark (109)
Ed Osbourn (120 est)
Handicap		 1 - 0
½ - ½
½ - ½
0 - 1
½ - ½
0 - 0		 Jim Friar (165)
Andy Moore (152)
James Friar Jnr (136)
Joseph Friar (126)
Kyle Reed (109)
 
  Result 2½ - 2½ Played 11 May
Match report from Ray Collett. The pre-match meeting of captains was tense. Hagley won the cup from Worcester last year after their three-year tenure: City were determined to get it back. The handicap format of this tournament means that teams often drop higher rated players and bring rapidly improving players into their side. Hagley deployed on top boards their most experienced players and were clearly hoping their juniors would deliver the goods as they have in so many matches this season. Worcester decided to use three of their five best ranked players. It turned out that both sides had nearly equal grades so a straight win would be sufficient. In the event of a drawn match board count would decide. A thrilling match with spills galore ensued. Andy Moore, Hagley's Captain, won the toss. The first surprise was Hagley's decision to choose black on odd boards so only two Hagley players had white. This was a strange choice because white is reckoned to have a slight advantage. When players had emerged from the opening stages of their games, Hagley had positional advantage on board 2, and on board 5 Hagley had a two pawn advantage. The other games were even. The first result was after only an hour's play when Andrew Farthing and James Friar agreed a draw after early exchanges has produced an even endgame. By this stage, Worcester's chances looked bleaker because Collett on board 2 had just blundered the exchange against Andy Moore. The remaining four games went to the wire. Board 1 was the next to finish. Peter Kitson (Worcester) had employed his favourite King's Gambit, which was accepted by Jim Friar (Hagley). Peter had a positional advantage, but James defended staunchly and players entered a minor piece ending with James having a knight against Peter's bishop. Peter's original plan to win a pawn did not suceed because of the knight's activity. Peter switched plans trying to trap the knight on the edge of the board. In the time scramble Peter won. So first blood to Worcester! Board 2 was next to finish. Ray had doggedly played on the exchange down for a pawn, but Andy Moore's pieces had plenty of activity. With an inspired sacrifice of rook for pawn on e6, it looked all over for Ray Collett and Worcester's chances.

Moore-Collett, 2010 Wheatley Cup match final

Moore (Hagley) - Collett (Worcester City)
Wheatley Memorial Cup Final 11 May 2010. Board 2

Here white played 29 Rxe6!

This should be a winning move. Andy missed the best line, but it was still very difficult for black to defend in actual play.


White's bishops' fire raked a denuded black king position. Ray just managed to avoid immediate mates and Andy was having to think longer as black consolidated his position. Then Ray blundered allowing Andy to force a series of exchanges leading to a position where both sides had bishop and queen with Andy having the attack and extra pawns. By now Andy had only 2 minutes left whereas Ray had a quarter of an hour. Andy saw no immediate prospect of a win. When Ray offered a draw it was accepted immediately. Post-game analysis, however, showed that Andy had missed a forced sequence that should have mated or won Ray's queen. Meanwhile Worcester's Ed Osbourn, short of time, was still two pawns down on board 5 and Joseph Friar (Hagley) had a positional advantage on board 4. Ed Osbourn flashed out moves in the last seconds to get a drawn king and pawn ending on board 5. For Hagley, Joseph Friar's pieces were gradually forcing back John Clark's. As the game entered the final minutes, young Joseph Friar proved to be better in the time scramble. Joseph claimed victory to level the match score when John's flag fell. The match tie-break, board count, gave Worcester a narrow cup win. Hagley's Captain, Andy Moore congratulated the Worcester team and Worcester City's Captain Ray Collett thanked Laurence Wheatley for organising and controlling the competition. (Report amended 13 May)