Both Colchester teams in Division 1 finished in the top half of the table. Colchester A finished 4th (6 wins, 1 draw, 3 defeats) with their best results being 4-0 wins against Braintree and Billericay. Overall, the A team have had a great season as they won the knockout competition but their league result was not quite as strong. There were a number of good individual performances - the A team were unbeaten on board 4 and only lost one game on board 3. Matt Stemp won all his games on the top two boards.
Colchester B finished in 6th place (with 5 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses). Their best results were a surprise 3-1 win against Writtle A and a 4-0 win against Billericay. Again there were lot of strong individual results; the B team scored more than 50% on boards 2 and 3.
The combined A/B team player statistics (by board) in the league are:
| Board 1 (Total 10/20) |
|---|
| Nathan Barnes | 4/8 |
| Matt Stemp | 3/3 |
| Ian Gooding | 2.5/6 |
| Svein Kjenner | 0.5/2 |
| Norbert Voelker | 0/1 |
| Board 2 (Total 10.5/20) |
|---|
| Norbert Voelker | 2.5/6 |
| Matt Stemp | 2/2 |
| Svein Kjenner | 2/2 |
| Michael Catabay | 1.5/2 |
| Mike Wagstaff | 1.5/3 |
| Felix Schnell | 1/4 |
| Nathan Barnes | 0/1 |
| Board 3 (Total 14/20) |
|---|
| Svein Kjenner | 5.5/7 |
| Felix Schnell | 3/3 |
| Norbert Voelker | 2/2 |
| Mike Wagstaff | 1.5/2 |
| Nathan Barnes | 1/2 |
| Matt Stemp | 0.5/1 |
| Clive Bellinger | 0.5/2 |
| Phil Daley | 0/1 |
| Board 4 (Total 12.5/20) |
|---|
| Nathan Barnes | 5.5/6 |
| Clive Bellinger | 2/4 |
| Pete Smith | 1.5/3 |
| Michael Catabay | 1/1 |
| Felix Schnell | 1/1 |
| Mike Wagstaff | 1/3 |
| John Duff-Cole | 0.5/1 |
| Phil Daley | 0/1 |
Below is the finish from the game on board 4 in the Writtle A - Colchester A; tripled pawns aren't always bad. The match finished in a draw.
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.05.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Barnes, Nathan"]
[Black "Forrester, Andy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Annotator "Barnes,Nathan"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3r1k1/p2n1n2/1p1q1p2/3ppNp1/3P2P1/P1PP1P2/3B1Q2/R3R1K1 b - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
26... Qf8 $6 {The queen is awkwardly placed here; it looks sensible as it
seems to help strengthen the defence around the king but it is almost trapped.}
27. c4 $1 a5 {Best} (27... dxc4 $2 28. Bb4 $1 {[%csl Rc5,Rd6,Re7,Rf8,Rg7,Rh6]
Black has to give up a piece as his queen has no where to go.} Nc5 29. dxc5 a5
30. Bc3 bxc5 31. dxc4 $18) 28. cxd5 $14 {White has gone a pawn up, the tripled
pawns are actually quite strong as they control the centre of the board.} Nd6
29. Ng3 {Re-routing the knight to e4.} b5 $6 30. Ne4 exd4 31. Qxd4 Ne5 32. Kg2
$16 {Strengthening the defence before carrying on.} Rec8 $2 (32... Nxe4 {
was Black's best option, though White still has a nearly winning position.})
33. Nxf6+ Qxf6 34. Qxe5 {Good enough} (34. Rxe5 {was slightly better than the
queen capture} Rc2 35. Rd1) 34... Qxe5 35. Rxe5 Rc2 36. Re2 {with time
starting to run out I decided to play simple, obvious moves that maintained
the advantage.} (36. Rxg5+ {is clearly the best move.}) 36... Re8 37. Kf2 Kf7
38. Rae1 Ra2 $2 39. Bxa5 $1 Rxa3 40. Bb4 Rxe2+ 41. Rxe2 Ra6 42. Re6 Ra2+ 43.
Ke3 Ne8 $2 (43... Nc8 44. Rc6 Ra8 (44... Na7 45. Rc7+ Ke8 46. Bc5) 45. Kd4) 44.
Re7+ Kf8 45. Ra7+ 1-0
