Worcestershire Chess Association

Nine games were submitted in this season’s competition. The judging panel was John Peters, Cory Hazlehurst, John Edge and Carl Hibbard. Of the subnitted games three stood out: Joe Friar vs Matt Gilling in a Worcestershire Championship League game, RJE McNally vs Peter Kitson in a Birmingham & District League game, and Joe Frair vs Keith Baxter in a WCA Bennett Cup game. Although the vote was not quite unanimous, judges agreed Joe’s game against Matt should win the prize. The remaining two games were highly commended. The judges wrote about the winning entry:

"White played a bold and enterprising queen sacrifice on move 8, rarely seen before and quickly departing from theory. This was followed by impressive coordination of minor pieces in the rest of the game to turn the speculative compensation into a victory. Under sustained pressure, Black resisted well and did not make any major mistakes until move 23. White then showed vision and tactical acumen to take full advantage."