Club Championship - part 3

The final of the club championship was between two players taking part in the event for the first time - Eldar and Nathan. During the game both players held the advantage at different stages but Eldar managed to win - maintaining his unbeaten season.

In the game (shown below) Black obtained a strong, probably winning, advantage in the opening but White slowly equalised as the game went on. Two inaccurate moves by Black let White go into a won endgame. Black made winning the endgame tricky but accurate play from White avoided any chance of Black snatching the draw.

The top 8 in the club championship were (19 players took part):

1st	Eldar Lachinov (ungraded)
2nd	Nathan Barnes (ungraded)
3rd	Mark Johnson (49)
4th	Brian Remmer (109)
5th	Martin Harris (139)
6th=	Phil Daley (124)
6th=	Pete Smith (122)
8th	John Duff-Cole (90)

Club Championship - part 2

The 3rd place play-off was also the decider for the Club Shield (awarded to the under-120 graded player with the best result in the club championship). In the game, Mark showed that he knew how to handle Brian's Grob Attack and a well-timed attack by the central pawns led to a decisive material advantage.

The top 3 in the club shield were:

1st	Mark Johnson (49)
2nd	Brian Remmer (109)
3rd	John Duff-Cole (90)

Club championship - part 1

Overall, 19 players entered the club championship this year - this is significantly higher than in recent years. The play-offs for places 5-8 in the club championship have been completed and the results are shown below.

5th	Martin Harris (139)
6th=	Phil Daley (124)
6th=	Pete Smith (122)
8th	John Duff-Cole (90)

Phil and Pete proved impossible to split - below is the first of the draws in the games between them. The advantage keeps switching back and forward after a speculative sacrifice from Black.

The top four in the plate competition were:

1st=	Clive Bellinger (139)
1st=	Dave Chatfield (ungraded)
3rd	Ed Goodman (72)
4th	John King (26)

AGM

The Colchester Chess Club Annual General Meeting will be on Wednesday 25th June at 19:30. If you are interested in taking on one of the roles in the club committee, or want to find out more about what the roles entail, please speak to Clive. The committee positions are:

• President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Match Secretary
• A Team Captain
• B Team Captain
• C Team Captain
• Tournament Secretary

Presentations will also be made to the winners of the 2013/14 season club competitions.

Final NECL matches of the season

The A and C teams have had their final matches of the season - both postponed from the end of April. The C team drew 2-2 with CRGS, finishing 3rd in their division. The A team completed their 4th 4-0 whitewash in a row against Baddow B; the A team also finished 3rd in their division.

Date: 14-May-2014
NECL League: Division 2
Brd	Col	COLCHESTER A	Result		BADDOW B	Col
1	b	Ian Gooding (176)	1	0	Richard Parker (148)	w
2	w	Eldar Lachinov (e155)	1	0	Michael Spurr (151)	b
3	b	Nathan Barnes (e145)	1	0	Tony Rawlins (88)	w
4	w	Phil Daley (124)	1	0	David Gold (76)	b
		(avg=150)	4	0	(avg=115)

 

Date: 14-May-2014
NECL League: Division 3
Brd	Col	COLCHESTER C	Result		CRGS	Col
1	b	Martin Harris (139)	½	½	Gorak Rajesh (161)	w
2	w	Brian Remmer (109)	0	1	Jeremy Hadcock (140)	b
3	b	John Duff-Cole (90)	1	0	Peter Harris (57)	w
4	w	Mark Johnson (49)	½	½	Lakdinu Peries (68)	b
		(avg=96)	2	2	(avg=106)

 

Here is Eldar's game from the match against Baddow. A kingside pawn-storm leads to a well-calculated finish in the endgame.

Southend

Two Colchester Chess Club members took part in the Southend Congress over the Easter weekend - John Duff-Cole and Martin Harris. Martin finished on 1/5 in the Intermediate section and John on 2.5/5 in the Minor. Here is one of John's wins - the shortest game this year for a Colchester player?

Colchester C v Maldon C

With this narrow win over Maldon C, Colchester C are now guaranteed to finish in 3rd place in NECL Division 3 (behind the B team and Galleywood Knights). There is still one match remaining (against CRGS next week) - if the C team win they will have the same number of match points as the B team, but even a 4-0 win would not be enough to beat the B team's board points (the tiebreaker for teams on the same number of match points).

Date: 23-Apr-2014
NECL League: Division 3
Brd	Col	COLCHESTER C	Result		MALDON C	Col
1	b	Martin Harris (139)	½	½	Keith Cook (136)	w
2	w	Brian Remmer (109)	1	0	Doug Mothershaw (111)	b
3		John Duff-Cole (90)	1	0	Default
4	w	Jake Stones (e75)	0	1	Frank Sealey (102)	b
		(avg=103)	2.5	1.5	(avg=116)