Worcestershire Chess Association

Summary

After much debate, Staffordshire are going to join other counties in the union stage for the 2013-4 season. They have been assured of a nomination for the national stage of the Open team tournament. The remaining counties will compete for three places in the national stage of the Minor Counties tournament. The tournament reverted back to East and West Zones and Worcestershire played in the West. In spite of the poor results and lack of match points, the first team maintained good morale. The under-120 team was outclassed in all their matches and were able to score respectably only in their first match, against Warwickshire at home. Both teams finished last in their competitions. Nottinghamshire won the MCCU Minor counties and Staffordshire the under-120 tournament.

First team

7 Dec. Staffordshire demonstrated a secure win against Worcestershire.

2 Nov. GMC beat Worcs as expected, but not without serious effort.

4 Oct. The match against Warwickshire was closely fought with Warwickshire just winning.

Warwickshire - Worcestershire

Played on 5 October at Tysley WMC, Birmingham. Worcestershire players on odd-numbered boards had white.

Report from Ray Collett. An exciting match with two early upsets. Worcestershire started in the lead helped by a default, but a Worcestershire player’s mobile sounded after about half an hour’s play and the scores were level. Play was even on most of the boards for a considerable time and as results came it it was clear there would be a close result as predicted from the grades of the players in the two teams. The final three boards to finish were boards 1, 7 and 8. In a difficult minor piece ending Martin Smith defended a pawn down to draw. On board 1 Pavel Besedin was material ahead and the game finished with only a few minutes left when his opponent allowed a double attack. The match result now depended on the Hickey-Bethel encounter. In a king and pawn ending Hickey promoted first, but Bethel had several connected advanced passed pawns and chances of a win. The queen, however, eventually triumphed with only seconds on Hickey’s clock.

Worcestershire - Greater Manchester

Played on 2 November 2013 at Newcastle-u-Lyme Bridge Club. Manchester players on odd-numbered boards had white.

Worcestershire were underdogs, but fought bravely coming just a point short. The Mancunians were hampered by delays on the M6 travelling south and several team members, including their captain, were absent at the start of play. The first games to finish were all draws and the first decisive stroke was Andrew Horton’s win for Manchester on board 1.

Harry Lamb (GMC, left) battles Peter Kitson (Worcs, right) on board 5

Manchester then maintained and extended their lead, but Worcestershire kept in touch. Alan Smith sealed Manchester’s win with his game on board 3, which was just as well because Worcester’s Peter Kitson had only to avoid perpetual check to win on board 5.

Worcestershire - Staffordshire

Played on 7 December 2013 at St Stephen's Church Hall, Worcester. Staffordshire players on odd-numbered boards had white.

Match report by Ray Collett. Midlands champions, Staffordshire, still smarting from their early loss to the Mancunians, made sure they had a highly graded team to meet underdogs Worcestershire.

Left: Captains Ray Collett and David Anderton toss for colours. Centre: Boards 1 to 8 at the start of play (Worcester players on the right). Right: Nick Arkell (left) in the endgame with Malcolm Armstrong. Pictures: David Roberts (left) and Ray Collett.

Worcestershire, at home, fielded a team marginally higher graded than those that had given both Manchester and Warwickshire hard fought matches. The first result, a draw on board 15, came after two hours play and the first Staffordshire win came a few minutes later on board 8 after David Cooper forced the win of a pinned bishop. Staffordshire went further ahead with Darren Wheeler’s win on board 1. Worcestershire stabilised their position with draws on boards 13, 9, 10, 14 until suffering a further defeat on board 12 at the hands of Simon Edwards. After three hours play Staffordshire were three up (2½ - 5½) and Worcestershire were also a piece down on board 2. There were two further draws on boards 4 and 16 before Staffordshire players Colin Davidson and Gerald Acey claimed their games to make certain of the match for Staffordshire. On board two, in a remarkable struggle, John Edge with achieved Worcestershire’s only win with a queen and advanced pawn against rook and two minor pieces after nearly four and a half hours play. Worcester, however, went further behind with Ian Jamieson’s win on time and David Anderton’s superior endgame technique gave him victory in a rook and pawn ending. The last game to finish was the Nick Arkell - Malcolm Armstrong game where Worcester’s player was a pawn up in a bishop and pawn ending. Nick Arkell eventually conceded the draw with seconds remaining on his clock after Malcolm Armstrong demonstrated the king versus king and h-pawn ending was drawn.

Under-120 team

15 Mar. Staffordshire comfortably beat Worcestershire to take the u120 championship.
25 Jan. Lincolnshire thrash Worcestershire.
9 Nov. Nottinghamshire beat Worcestershire by a large margin.
5 Oct. Warwickshire beat Worcestershire

Worcestershire - Warwickshire

Played on 5 October at Tysley WMC, Birmingham. Worcestershire players on odd-numbered boards had white.

Worcestershire - Nottinghamshire

Played on 9 November 2013 at Water Orton Methodist Centre, Warks. Nottinghamshire players on odd-numbered boards had white.

Lincolnshire - Worcestershire

Played on 25 January 2014 at Thurmaston Old School, Thurmaston, Leics. Worcestershire players had white on odd-numbered boards.

Staffordshire - Worcestershire

Played on 15 March 2014 at Bushbury, Wolverhampton. Worcestershire players had white on odd-numbered boards.