Weekend
2 round-up, 11-12 Jan 2014
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John Saunders
ISLAND OF DREAMS
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The second weekend of the
4NCL (British Team) League Season took place
over the weekend of 11-12 January 2014. As
all Brits reading this will know only too
well, the new year brought, not snow, but
rain, by the bucket-load, and I guess all
those of us who had to travel to the
misleadingly-named Hinckley Island in
Leicestershire must have half-expected to
make the last part of the journey on a car
ferry. But not so: the weather on the
morning of the Saturday was quite glorious
and my car journey from London was one of
the least problematic I can ever remember on
my way to a chess event. Thankfully, there
was no water anywhere on the road or the
windscreen. I’m still slightly bemused as to
why they call the hotel an island as it is
not surrounded by water. There’s a pond
there but not what you would call a moat.
The place is a peninsula at best. (Or do I
mean an isthmus?) Could do them under the
Trades Descriptions Act, except that I can’t
think of a material detriment to the
customer in it not being an island.
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No matter: of course, I am
just putting off the evil hour when you will
expect me to start writing about chess. Fair
enough. I’ve got more of this stuff up my
sleeve, but I’ll witter on about the hotel
being built on the site of a former
transport café another day. (Ah... so maybe
Hinckley was a traffic island.)
ROUND 3: FOOT IN MOUTH
We didn’t have to wait long
for the first blunder of the afternoon. I
made it myself. A quick look at the team
sheets for round three indicated that
Guildford meant business. The first name
that jumped off the page at me was that of
former world championship challenger Nigel
Short on board three. And they fielded a
2600+ player, Robin van Kampen, on board
four. Not mucking about, then. I happened to
be scanning this list in the company of
Chris Duncan, who was on board five for
Guildford’s Saturday opponents, Blackthorne
Russia, whose average rating was some 230
points less than Guildford’s. Making a
mental note of this, I said to Chris, “hmm,
Guildford must be playing someone monstrous
on Sunday”... instantly followed by the
horrified realisation that I had said this
aloud and that it didn’t constitute the most
tactful comment I had ever made. “You don’t
think we’re worth putting out a team
against, then, John,” said Chris, with a
broad grin. Not my finest hour. As they used
to say in the News of the World, “I
made my apologies and left.”
Despite this unforgivable
tactlessness, things did turn out as
brutally as I had envisaged. Guildford won
6½-1½. However, the ‘one’ part of
Blackthorne’s score was a notable success,
with Danny Gormally beating former British
Champion Gawain Jones. By way of expiating
my sins, I feel constrained to give at least
part of this game.
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Adam
Hunt, Danny Gormally, Romain
Edouard, Gawain Jones |
4NCL Division 1a, Round 3,
2014
D.Gormally (Blackthorne
Russia)
G.Jones (Guildford 1)
Sicilian c3
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5
5.d4 Bf5 This move seems not to have
been played much until 2009, and was then
given the seal of approval at the highest
level by Nigel Short in 2012. It should
perhaps be dubbed the Hinckley Island line
(not to be confused with the Rock Island
Line) as Nigel played it at the same venue.
6.Be3 cxd4 In the game referred to
above Nigel Short continued 6...Nf6 7.Na3
cxd4 8.Nb5 0-0-0 9.Nfxd4 Ng4 10.Qe2 Nxe3
11.Qxe3 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 e6 13.Nb3 Bc2 14.Be2
Bxb3 and now Elisabeth Paehtz blundered with
15.Bf3?? and had to resign when her opponent
played 15...Qa5, retaining his extra piece.
7.Nxd4 e6 The move 7...Bg6 looks a
bit slow; Black urgently needs to get on
with his development. 8.Nd2 8.Nxf5
Qxd1+ 9.Kxd1 exf5 was played in
Roberson-Maroroa, Bedford 2013. A family
variation? 8...Nge7 It’s tempting to
suggest 8...Bc5 is better, but that may be
‘annotation by result’ – or rather, by
foresight of the dark-square problem that
occurs in the game. 9.Qb3 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 a6
11.Be2 Nc6 After this, Black has a
long-term problem defending his isolated
d-pawn. Hiarcs suggests 11...0-0!? but
that doesn’t look entirely convincing
either. 12.Qxd5 exd5 13.Bb6 A very
decent square for the bishop, where it keeps
out of the way of the c6 knight, stops the
black bishop developing to c5, and stops a
black rook supporting the d5 pawn from d8.
13...Bd6 14.0-0 15.Rfd1 Bc2 16.Rdc1
Bf5 17.Nf1! A quiet but potent move,
getting ready to attack the d5 pawn from e3,
as well as overprotect the e3 square.
17...Bf4 18.Rd1 Rfe8 19.Be3
19...Rad8? A very serious
miscalculation. Black probably has to settle
for 19...Bxe3 20.Nxe3 Rad8 21.Bf3 Be4
22.Nxd5 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Re2 when Black is a
pawn down but with an active rook as
compensation. 20.Bxf4 Rxe2 21.Ng3
Black has to lose the exchange. 21...Re4
22.Nxe4 Bxe4 23.Rd2 f6 24.Rad1 g5 25.Bg3 d4
26.f3 Bd5 27.Bf2 Bxa2 28.Bxd4 Kf7 29.Bb6
Rxd2 30.Rxd2 “And the rest was a matter
of technique.” Or perhaps should have been.
Life’s never quite so simple as in old
textbooks. 30...Ke6 31.Bc5 Bd5 32.Re2+
Kf7 33.b3 Be6 34.c4 h5 35.h4 gxh4 36.Kh2 Bf5
37.Bf2 h3 38.gxh3 Ne5 39.Kg3 Bd7 40.h4 Kg6
41.Bd4 Nc6 42.Bc3 Kf7 43.Rd2 Be6 44.Kf4 Ke7
45.Ke4 Kf7 46.f4 Ne7 47.Rd8 Nf5 48.Be1 Ne7
49.Bc3 Nf5 50.Rb8 Bd7 51.Be1 Ne7 It
still looks like a win but Gawain has
defended stoutly and Danny starts to play
sub-optimal moves. 52.Kd3 Bc6 53.Kd4 Ng6
54.Bg3 Ke6 55.Kc5 Kf5 56.Kb6 Kg4 57.Bf2
57.f5!? is a computer suggestion but the
ideas behind it don’t immediately occur to
an organic brain. 57...Kf3 58.Bd4 Nxh4
59.Bxf6 Nf5 Winning ideas are becoming
more opaque so White spins the wheel.
60.Rxb7!? Bxb7 61.Kxb7 Kxf4 62.Kxa6
62...Ke4? Black had to strike
immediately with 62...h4!, after which
White’s win has evaporated, e.g. 63.Bxh4
Nxh4 64.c5 Ke5 65.b4 Kd5 66.c6 Kxc6 67.b5+
Kc7 68.Ka7 Nf5 69.b6+ Kd7 70.b7 Nd4 and the
knight is just (if unjustly) in time.
63.b4! Ne3 If 63...h4 64.Bxh4 Nxh4 65.b5
and this time the b-pawn touches down in
time to win. 64.Kb5 Your computer
might find something quicker but this is a
straightforward way to finish the game.
64...Kf5 65.Bh4 Ke6 66.Bf2 Ng4 67.Bg3 Nf6
68.Kc6 Ne4 69.b5! Nxg3 70.b6 h4 71.b7 h3
72.b8Q h2 73.Qg8+ Kf5 74.Qh7+ Ke6 75.Qxh2
1-0
Barbican 2 versus Grantham
Sharks 1 was a better-matched encounter and
was won by the odd point by the latter.
Ameet Ghasi won a nail-biting endgame
against Graham Morrison to clinch the match.
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Justin
Tan and Andrew Greet |
There was a surprise as a
strong Wood Green 2 side, with one GM and
three IMs lost to Oxford, with three FMs and
a lower average rating by some 80 points. I
suppose it helps when you have an Armenian
player on top board. If Olympiads and other
team events are anything to go by, Armenians
play about 100 points above their rating
when playing team chess. In this case it was
FM David Zakarian on board one doing a very
effective job in beating GM Alexander
Cherniaev, although David’s rating is not
too far short of his opponent. Justin Tan
also did well to beat IM Andrew Greet on
board two. Tan was losing at the time
control but manage to bamboozle his opponent
with an outlandish knight manoeuvre. It
shouldn’t have been good enough to win but a
disheartened White went on to lose a drawn
endgame.
4NCL Division 1a, Round 3,
2014
A.Greet (Wood Green 2)
J.Tan (Oxford)
Black is a pawn down, with only a glimmer of
play for it against White’s king.
40...Nc3!? 41.Rd2 Only the second best
move. 41.Qe1! is a powerful pin. Now if
41...N7b5 42.Kc2! and White’s h4 rook covers
threats on the fourth rank. White will
follow up with a3-a4 and win material.
41...Rg8 42.Qe5 Looks good but Black has
another weird knight move lined up...
42...Nb1! 43.Rd1 Nxa3 44.Rd4 44.bxa3
Qxa3+ 45.Qb2 Rxd3 leaves Black a pawn up.
44...Rxd4 45.Qxd4 Nab5 46.Bxb5? Perhaps
shocked by the unexpected turn of events,
White goes wrong. It’s better to leave the
two knights getting in each other’s way, as
Mark Dvoretsky recommended in one of his
more memorable chapters (I say ‘memorable’ -
I can’t remember which book it appears in).
46.Qe4 retains an edge for White.
46...Qxb5 47.Qd7+ Kb7 48.Bh2 White
hasn’t got used to the changed circumstances
and is still trying to win. 48...Qxc5+
49.Kb1 Qf5+ 50.Kc1? Qg5+ 51.Rd2 Rg7 52.Qd4
Nb5 The tables have turned and Black now
has a slight edge. 53.Qe4 Rd7 54.Qf4 Qxf4
55.Bxf4 Nd4! 56.Kd1 c5 57.b4? Rf7! 58.g3 e5
Now White’s in big trouble. Bishop moves
leave mate in one on f1. 59.bxc5 Kc6
60.Rd3 exf4 61.Rxd4 f3? Black slips up.
61...fxg3! would lead to a winning endgame,
e.g. 62.Rg4 Rf3 63.Ke2 Ra3 64.Rg5 a5, etc.
62.Ke1 Kxc5 63.Re4 a5 64.Kf2 Kb5 65.Re5+
Kb4 66.Re4+ Kb3 67.Re3+ Kb2 68.Re4 Ra7
69.Kxf3 a4 70.Rb4+ Kc3 71.Rb1 a3 72.g4?
Only one move draws for certain here:
72.Ke4! White wants to advance his g-pawn
but ‘shouldering off’ with the king is
vitally important too. 72...a2 73.Ra1
Kb2? Here 73...Ra4! is Black’s only
winning move, cutting off the king from
supporting the advance of the g-pawn.
74.Rxa2+ Rxa2 75.Ke4! The only move to
draw. 75...Kc3 76.Kf5? White still
needed a few more precise moves: 76.g5! Ra5
77.Kf4! Kd4 78.g6 Ra1 79.Kf5! Kd5 80.g7
76...Kd4 77.g5 Kd5! 78.Kf6 Kd6 79.g6 Rf2+
80.Kg7 Ke7 0-1
Cheddleton have a
well-stocked team of title-holders, with
their two GMs lurking well down the order on
boards five and seven, and they were too
strong for Kings Head.
Pool B is mostly about Wood
Green 1, and their all-GM side emphasised
that point by dishing out an 8-0 hammering
to a team that might have considered
renaming themselves resigns.org.uk for the
afternoon. Tomer Eden might have rescued a
half-point but for an unfortunate blunder
against John Shaw.
4NCL Division 1b, Round 3,
2014
T.Eden
(e2e4.org.uk)
J.Shaw (Wood Green 1)
Definitely tricky but it should prove quite
hard for Black to win if White keeps his
rooks reasonably free for action.
49.Kf2?? Qb6 0-1 It must now have dawned
on White that all he could do was shuffle
the e2 rook to e1 and back whilst awaiting
the arrival of a black pawn on g3, giving
check and undermining the defence of the e3
rook. So he resigned.
There was an all-Northern
clash between 3Cs and White Rose. The
Yorkshire-based team had an average rating
that was precisely 100 points higher than
their red rose rivals, with a particular
preponderance of strength on the bottom four
boards. However, the Lancastrians won a
famous ‘Roses match’ victory by winning just
one game, on board five, and drawing the
others.
4NCL Division 1b, Round 3,
2014
A.Horton (3Cs)
N.Croad (White Rose)
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0-0
0-0 6.b3 a5 7.Nc3 c6 8.d4 b6 9.Nd2 Ba6 10.e4
dxc4 11.Nxc4 Ra7 12.Ne2 a4 13.Qc2 Bb5 14.Bb2
Nbd7 15.Rfd1 Qb8 16.Ne3 Rc8 17.Nc3 a3 18.Bc1
Ba6 19.Qd2 Bb7 20.Qe1 Bf8 21.Bd2 Re8 22.Rac1
Cagey stuff to here, but now the game opens
up. 22...e5 23.d5 Nc5 24.Bf1 This
allows Black some play along the h1-a8
diagonal but White is not without
counterplay. 24...cxd5 25.Nexd5 Nfxe4!
26.Nxb6 Nxc3 27.Rxc3 Ne4? Black missed a
difficult chance here: 27...Qd6! and Black
is on the attack. For example, if 28.Nc4 Qc6
29.f3 e4! and White is in real trouble.
28.Nd7 Qd6? Black should be OK after
28...Qa8 but perhaps, as the higher-rated
player, he didn’t fancy giving White a
repetition with 29.Nb6 Qb8, etc. 29.Be3!
Qg6?? A disastrous move. Black was still
in the game after 29...Qb4 30.Rc4 Qxe1
31.Rxe1 Raa8, though White looks a fair bit
better. 30.Nxf8 Rxf8 31.Bxa7 f5 Maybe
Black had hallucinated and thought he had
something after 31...Nxc3 32.Qxc3 Qe4 but of
course 33.f3 shuts Black out and wins.
32.Bg2 Ra8 33.Rc7 Ba6 34.Rdd7 1-0
Cambridge University 1 were
a fair bit stronger on paper than Grantham
Sharks 2 and this translated into a 5½-2½
success. It looked pretty comfortable and
unremarkable.
The final match of the pool
was Guildford 2 versus Barbican 1. Despite
this being Guildford’s second team, and
Barbican 1 being a traditionally powerful
side, there was very little difference in
strength between the sides in terms of
rating. However, Guildford 2 won at a
canter, by 6-2.
ROUND FOUR: STEAMROLLERS
KEEP RUMBLING
The Guildford 1 steamroller
carried on its serene way over the
unfortunate Barbican 2 on the Sunday
morning, winning 6-2. It wasn’t a bloodless
victory, with a surprise result between two
England women internationals on the bottom
board. Kanwal Bhatia defeated Dagne Ciuksyte
via a rather horrid blunder by the latter.
Wood Green 2 completed
rather a miserable weekend, losing 3-5 to
the pretty useful Cheddleton team, a result
which was good enough to take Cheddleton
ahead of Guildford 1 by half a game point.
David Eggleston was a casualty for the
winning team, getting outplayed by Jovanka
Houska and finally allowing a mate in two
tactic, but the Cheddleton engine room, the
bottom three boards, ground out three wins
to convert the result. Fiona Steil-Antoni
has started the season with four straight
wins, and this was the game of a confident
player in form.
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Keith
Arkell alongside Fiona Steil-Antoni |
4NCL Division 1a, Round 4,
2014
F.Steil-Antoni
(Cheddleton)
C.Maduekwe (Wood Green 2)
1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4 I
remember having this sprung on me by Ray
Keene when he was giving a simul back in
1969. It leads to some lively chess.
4...cxb4 5.a3 Nc6 6.axb4 Bxb4 7.c3 Be7 8.d4
f6 9.Bd3 fxe5 10.dxe5 One of the points
here is that Black has to develop the knight
via h6. Other ways of untangling the
kingside leave various weaknesses.
10...Nh6 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.0-0 This
has all been played before. Black has the
extra pawn but his king position looks a bit
draughty. 13.Na3 Bd7 14.Nb5 a6 15.Nbd4
Kh8 16.Qb1 Qc7 17.Re1 Rf7 18.Nb5 Qb8 19.Nbd4
Qa7 20.Qc1 Bf8? Black plays passively
where he could have gone for an initiative
with 20...Nxd4 21.Nxd4 Bc5, followed by
22...Raf8. 21.Qe3 Rc8 22.Reb1 Bc5?
It’s now a bit too late for this change of
plan. 23.Qxh6 Nxd4
24.Ng5! There’s no time like the
present: 24.cxd4 Be7 would put a dampener on
White’s attack. 24...Nf3+ The only
move. 24...Rg7 and White finishes with
25.Nxh7, etc. 25.gxf3 Rg8 26.Kh1 Rxg5
27.Qxg5 Be7? Black needed to swing his
queen across to the kingside with 27...Qb8,
though 28.Rg1 Qf8 29.Rg2 leaves Black with
insoluble long-term problems. 28.Qh5
28.Qh5 After 28...Rg7 29.Rg1 and White’s
mating attack soon breaks through. 1-0
Grantham Sharks 1 completed
a 100% weekend by beating Blackthorne
Russia. Tom Rendle beat top English woman
player Harriet Hunt’s Caro-Kann, with some
steady positional play, while Clement
Sreeves and Veronica Foisor added two more
wins.
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Tom
Rendle vs. Harriet Hunt |
Kings Head slightly outrated
Oxford on average but they suffered their
second heavy defeat of the weekend. One
small consolation was Jochem Snuverink’s
intriguing win against David Zakarian.
4NCL Division 1a, Round 4,
2014
J.Snuverink (Kings Head)
D.Zakarian (Oxford)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 d6 4.d4 cxd4
5.Nxd4 e5 6.Nf5 This has been played
before, notably by Karjakin and the late,
great Vugar Gashimov a couple of years ago,
but it represents a fairly unorthodox
approach to the Sicilian. 6...Bxf5 7.exf5
Qd7 8.g4 h5 9.g5 White gambits a pawn
but gets some compensation in terms of
development and play on the light squares.
9...Qxf5 10.h4!? Previously White has
interpolated 10.Be3 here. 10...Nd4
11.Be3!?
Looks like a beginner’s move, allowing a
family fork on c2, but there’s a powerful
point to it. 11...Be7 Black tries to
throw White off balance but he should
perhaps bite the bullet: 11...Nxc2+ 12.Kd2
Nxe3 13.Qa4+ Kd8 14.fxe3 gives White good
compensation for the two pawns but Black
would still be in the game. 12.Bxd4 exd4
13.Qxd4 Qe5+ 14.Qxe5 dxe5 15.0-0-0 White
is ahead in development and is going to
dominate on the light squares. 15...a6
16.Bg2 Rb8 17.Rhe1 f6 18.Nd5 Black’s
immovable knight on g8 renders his position
as good as lost. 18...Bc5 19.gxf6 gxf6
20.f4! Bf2 21.Re2 Bxh4 22.fxe5 Bg5+ 23.Kb1
f5 24.Rf1 Nh6 25.Bh3 Rf8 25...0-0 26.Nc7
and the e-pawn advances. 26.e6 Rc8 27.Rd1
Be7 28.Bg2 f4 29.Be4 Rf6 29...Nf5
30.Nxf4 is equally hopeless. 30.Nxf6+
Bxf6 31.Bg6+ Kf8 32.Bxh5 Rc5 33.Bf3 Rb5
34.c4 Rb4 35.b3 Nf5 36.Rd7 Be7 37.Re4 Bd6
38.Rf7+ 1-0
Turning to Pool B, Wood
Green 1 carried on their triumphant way with
a 6-2 win against the unfortunate White
Rose, with four wins and four draws. The
Yorkshire didn’t have the rub of the green
on a few of the boards. Jean-Luc Weller
looked a bit unlucky against John Emms,
gradually getting outplayed from what looked
like a solid edge to an endgame loss, but
that is what GMs do to you.
Barbican 1 came roaring back
after their Saturday debacle, beating
Cambridge University 6-2. It featured a very
attractive win by Sam Franklin.
4NCL Division 1b, Round 4,
2014
S.Franklin (Barbican 1)
A.Eckersley-Waites
(Cambridge University)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4
Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.Kb1 a6 13.h4
h5 14.g4 hxg4 15.h5 Nxh5 16.Rdg1 Qa5 17.Bh6
Bf6 18.fxg4 Bxg4 19.Bf4 e6 New territory
at last. 19...Kh7 20.Qg2 e6 21.Nd5 exd5
22.Bxe5 Bxe5 23.Qxg4 Bxd4 24.Qxh5+ led to a
win for Gopal against Javakhadze a few years
ago. 20.Bxe5 Qxe5 21.Rxg4 Qxd4 22.Qh6 Bg7
23.Rxg6! In truth, White has to go
for it or Black will smash through first
(after, say 23.Qg5 ), with 23...Rxc3!
23...fxg6 24.Bxe6+ Rf7 25.Qxg6 Rcc7
25...Qf6 is Black’s best chance of survival:
26.Qxf6 Bxf6 27.Bxc8 and he’s only a pawn
down. 26.Rxh5 Kf8 27.Bxf7 Rxf7 28.Rf5
Bf6? 28...Rxf5 29.Qxf5+ Ke7 is not as
bad as it looks. 29.a3 b5 30.e5! 1-0
There was another reversal
of fortunes in the ‘Alphanumeric Derby’
(e2e4 v 3Cs), with the former side gaining
5½ more game points than they had on
Saturday. Peter Sowray suffered a senior
moment against Adam Ashton but otherwise
things went swimmingly for e2e4.org.uk.
Finally, Grantham Sharks 2
found Guildford 2 a little hot to handle,
losing 1½-6½. As so often, there was just
the one surprise result, with Claudio
Mangione of Italy beating Aman Hambleton of
Canada, rated 300 points higher. It just
goes to show, you should think twice before
playing an intermezzo against an Italian as
they know what the word really means.
4NCL Division 1b, Round 4,
2014
C.Mangione (Grantham Sharks 2)
A.Hambleton (Guildford 2)
30...gxf4? Black tries to slip in a
pawn capture but he should probably have
played 30...Bxg2 31.Kxg2 and then given up
the exchange for a pawn with 31...Rxd6
32.cxd6 Qxd6, which gives him some sort of
chance. 31.Nef7! Now the two knights
cooperate effectively in the midst of
Black’s position. 31...f3 32.Bxf3! Bxf3
32...Rf8 33.Bxd5 exd5 34.Qe6 is
hopeless. 33.Nxd8 e5 34.Ne6 Qb8 35.Qf2 e4
36.dxe4 fxe4 Momentarily the black pawn
centre looks menacing, but White can
dismantle it easily. 37.Nxe4! Nxe4
38.Qxf3 Qe5 39.Nf4 Nc3 40.Ra8+ Kf7 41.Qxb7+
Be7 42.Qf3 1-0
Positions after Round 4
Division 1, Pool A:
Cheddleton 8(24½), Guildford 1 8(24),
Grantham Sharks 1 6(18), Oxford 4(14), Wood
Green 2 2 (14½), Barbican 2 2(12½), Kings
Head 0(7½).
Division 1, Pool B: Wood
Green 1 8(26), Guildford 2 8(24), Barbican 1
6(18), e2e4.org.uk 4(12½), 3Cs 2(13),
Cambridge University 2(9), Grantham Sharks 2
0(10).
Division 2, Pool A:
Warwickshire Select 8(21½), Anglian Avengers
6(21), KJCA Kings 6(17), Cambridge
University 2 4(17), Bristol 4(13½),
Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg 2(10½), Wessex 1(13½),
Poisoned Pawns 1(12½).
Division 2, Pool B: The ADs
8(20), BCM Dragons 4(16½), Bradford DCA
4(16½), South Wales Dragons 4(16), Barbican
Youth 3(16), Hackney 3(14½), White Rose 2
3(14), Brown Jack 3(14).
Photos ©
John Saunders
Annotated games from the
above report |
Download
in PGN |
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