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Division 3n, Weekend 5, Wychwood Park,
Crewe, 30 Apr-2 May 2016
by Andy
Mort
Writing informed reports on two
matches has been more difficult this year,
especially when, as this weekend, the teams have
been playing in separate rooms. Consequently,
this final report is of a more general nature –
helpfully, perhaps, as it might draw a veil over
an undistinguished weekend chess-wise. Socially,
the weekend has been as enjoyable as ever, both
at the venue, where we have forged strong social
links over the years with players from Bradford,
Cheddleton and Jorvik in particular, and in the
chosen restaurants, of which more later.
Achieving Division 1 status for
our A Team, however, may have induced a euphoria
which has led to an Icarus-like outcome. We seem
to have used more different players in our squad
than has any other team, the result of which is
that, whilst the B Team has consistently fielded
6 players strong enough to hold its own, the C
Team line-up has often not been finalised until
a few days before the weekend, and there has
been little continuity.
The B Team will be disappointed
by its final position in the Promotion table,
the result of too many drawn matches and narrow
losses. In this final weekend, the defeat of
Broadland, based on a strong performance on the
bottom boards, gave us a promising start. We
were not disgraced by a narrow defeat to 3Cs
on the Sunday in a match in which 5 games were
drawn, the key game being the last to finish,
that of David Phillips. David battled for nearly
6 hours (eat your heart out, Mike Johnson) to
convert a won ending and level the match, only
to have his last pawn needlessly eliminated in a
momentary lapse in concentration.
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B & C (Rounds
9-11,
30 Apr-2 May) |
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On Monday, we were simply
‘battered’ by Cheddleton, a 5-1 loss being
easily the heaviest of the season. Tom was very
much the pick of our generally off-form players,
scoring 2/3 by playing energetically and
achieving active positions as he has done all
season.
The C Team lost all 3 matches,
to Bradford B and C and Manx Ravens, the pattern
of game results being typical of the season: we
could not hold the top boards or generate enough
wins lower down the order – though John came
close to winning on Board 1 with a bold and
convincing-looking piece sacrifice in the last
round. We won on just two boards all weekend,
and only Keith will be satisfied by his return
of 2/3. Having said that our lowly position in
the table was disappointing, with hindsight our
original seeding ultimately proved pretty
accurate.
An army marches on its stomach,
they say, and no-one could criticise our
determination to seek alimentary fuel. On
Saturday we returned to The Hand and Trumpet, a
real gastronomic ‘find’, with excellent real
ale, wine, food and service; a pity that Crewe
will not feature as a venue next year. Saturday
was more disappointing, the curry house we had
chosen living up to its reputation for slow
service more accurately than its reputation for
good food, which was generally judged to be
average. Graham, newly press-ganged, made a
welcome addition to the group, and the ‘craic’
was, as ever, enjoyed by all, though I may be
biased, as I was fortunate enough to be seated
at one end of the table, the optimum distance
from some Bacardi-fuelled verbal hooliganism
from our resident Crewe representative, rashly
let out without driving responsibilities by his
wife.
Our thanks are due to those
volunteer drivers who during the season have
provided the flexibility necessary to enable
eating arrangements to run smoothly, especially
John. A general policy re-think for next season
may now be in order, particularly if there is an
impact on personnel following our brave A Team’s
narrow relegation.
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Foreground: Bd1
Rokas Valantinas v Paul Wallace and
Bd2 David Roberston v Alex
Richardson |
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Photo by Lara Barnes |
More
here |
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