Jamboree Tournament

David Faldon reports:

Jamboree tournament? Let’s define the general by the specific: six teams of six players, one round of games. The Broadstairs board one with black against the Folkestone board one, the Broadstairs board two with white against the Bridge board two, the Broadstairs board three with black against the Sheldwich board three and so on. The evening got off to a great start for us when our board two, Trefor, crashed through to win with a huge kingside attack before I’d had a chance to see what was going on outside my own game. I then checked the other games: our board three had a good position and our boards four, five and six were already winning. Maybe this would be our night? And so it proved. Paul on board four, Chris on board five and Mike on board six all won quickly in rather one-sided fashion. Richard on board three came up against much tougher opposition from young Oli Garrett (ten years old?) but prevailed in the end with an extra pawn or two in a long rook ending. That meant Broadstairs could guarantee winning the tournament with a draw on board one, so when my opponent offered me one I could not refuse. Congratulations to all. Many thanks to Graeme Boxall of Bridge for running the event, to Margate for hosting the event (with free tea, coffee and biscuits) and to Andy Flood (playing as a guest for Folkestone) for giving me a lift home.

Team results

1. Broadstairs 5½ points
2. Woodnesborough (Harry Sharples etc) 4 points
3. Folkestone (Jim Bayford etc) 3 points (including one default)
3. Bridge (Richard Eales etc) 3 points (including one default)
5. Margate (Colin Gregory etc) 1½ points
6. Sheldwich (Patrick Burns and five youngsters) 0 points

Broadstairs results

1. David Faldon ½ Jim Bayford (181, Folkestone) ½
2. Trefor Owens 1 Jeff Green (154, Bridge) 0
3. Richard Clement 1 Oli Garrett (76, Sheldwich) 0
4. Paul Johnson 1 Roy McAloney (96, Margate) 0
5. Chris Stampe 1 DanielAllen (64, Woodnesborough) 0
6. Mike Doyle 1 Chris Wyer (17, Margate) 0

Editor’s note: In addition to Andy Flood, Michael Jenkinson and Michael Doyle were also reserves, drafted in to play for Bridge and Broadstairs respectively so thanks and congratulations to all involved. Sadly, there was no official photographer on hand to record the winning team so instead here is a photo of the Editor with former Broadstairs Chess Club member Michael Page watching England thrash West Indies at Southampton on Friday.

 

 

 

Millar Cup v Bridge (h)

                                         Broadstairs  5        Bridge   2

1 David Faldon (174) ½-½  Richard Eales (193)
2 Trefor Owens (167) 1-0  Patrick Burns (166)
3 Shany Rezvany (163) ½-½  Jeff Green (144)
4 Bob Page (141) 0-1  Graeme Boxall (93)
5 Paul Carfrae (140) 1-0  Ray Rennells (80)
6 Chris Stampe (124) 1-0  Darren Coker (40)
7 Paul Johnson (116) 1-0  Conor Gorman (27)

David Faldon writes:

This match was way too exciting. At about 30 minutes in our board 3, Shany, suddenly found himself struggling to breathe. Luckily we had a doctor on site and after a quick check of Shany’s symptoms, Dr Jenkinson persuaded the ambulance service that we had a real emergency. The ambulance arrived almost immediately and Shany was taken to the QEQM Hospital in Margate. The latest news is that Shany is still unwell, but in stable condition. After that, the match was rather secondary. Shany’s opponent, Jeff Green, sportingly accepted the draw offer that Shany made on his way out of the room. An hour or so later we were 3½-½ up as our boards 5, 6 and 7 used their extra experience to crash through with three rather one-sided wins. On board 1, I had a good position but an opportunity arose where I could force a draw by repetition. After checking the outstanding games I decided to take the draw, leaving us 4-1 up with two to finish. Next, Trefor on board 2 confounded my doubts by convincingly finishing off a well-played positional game: 5-1. The final result (board 4) was a bit disappointing but Bridge’s captain, Graeme Boxall, played excellently and deserved his upset victory. Many thanks to Bridge for bringing a full team despite trying circumstances and for their support (and use of a phone!) during the emergency. This is our last Millar Cup match of the season and the result leaves us joint top on eight points level with Folkestone, though Folkestone do still have two games to play. Of course Folkestone could lose their remaining games to Bridge and to Margate, but I’m not holding my breath for that – sorry, Shany!

Ed: the latest news on Shany is that he was discharged on Tuesday afternoon. He thanked everyone for their support and apologised ‘for disturbing and interrupting the match’!

Millar Cup v Folkestone (h)

                                            Broadstairs  2        Folkestone   5

1 David Faldon (175) 0-1  Jim Bayford (181)
2 Trefor Owens (167) ½-½  Martin Cutmore (177)
3 Shany Rezvany (163) ½-½  David Shire (169)
4 Arnaud Wisman (155) 0-1  Kevin Smyth (165)
5 Bob Page (142) 1-0  John Atherton (161)
6 Paul Carfrae (141) 0-1  Matthew Cussens (152)
7 Richard Clement (129) 0-1  David Erwee (100)

David Faldon writes:

Two strong teams fought out a close match, and in the end the better team won. What’s not to like, apart from the fact that the better team on this occasion was Folkestone. The first result in was a hard-fought draw on board 2, then came a win for Broadstairs on board 5 when Bob calmly took advantage of his opponent’s time pressure. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Broadstairs as the next four results were all wins for Folkestone. Shany’s stubborn defence an exchange down (bishop for rook) on board 3 saw him save the draw, but that was too late to turn the match. A clear three point margin sounds a lot, but we were very close to winning on boards 1 and 4, which would have been enough to turn the match in our favour. Still, we have to congratulate Folkestone who have thereby taken what looks to be a decisive lead in the race for the Millar Cup. Folkestone have 3 wins from 3 games, we have 2 wins from 4, Bridge have 1 win from 3 and Margate just the 2 losses so far. Folkestone only need one win and a tie from their last three matches (one against Bridge and two against Margate).

Millar Cup v Bridge (a)

                                                Broadstairs  4        Bridge  3

1 David Faldon (175) 0-1  Vishnu Singh (210)
2 Trefor Owens (167) 0-1  Richard Eales (193)
3 Shany Rezvany (163) 1-0  Patrick Burns (166)
4 Arnaud Wisman (155) ½-½  Alan Atkinson (166)
5 Bob Page (142) 1-0  Jeff Green (e135)
6 Chris Stampe (124) 1-0  Tim Spencer (118)
7 Gary Hilleard (118) ½-½  Peter Blundell (117)

David Faldon writes:

It’s not a misprint and it’s not fake news – Broadstairs have won an away Millar Cup match at Bridge! This is the first time this has happened since, well, ever. Hearty congratulations to all the players, and especially to the five who actually won or drew. Bob’s win on board 5 got things rolling in the right direction. Bob won a pawn early and then a piece and the game was over before some of the other players had swapped their first pawns. The two top board games were next to finish. Two interesting games but two losses. Comparing impressions afterwards over a consoling cup of tea, Trefor and I tested our predicting skills on the remaining games. I guessed one win (Chris was a clear pawn up) and three draws (yes, Shany was a pawn up too, but the position looked blocked) which if correct would have given a drawn match, while Trefor went for two wins and two draws. Luckily Trefor proved the better prognosticator: Chris and Shany both skilfully converted their extra pawn into wins and Gary (a late substitute on board 7) settled for a draw after pressing hard throughout the game. That left Arnaud on board 4, deep in a blocked up knight and bishop ending. Arnaud won a pawn but then agreed a draw as time ran down to bring home the win for the team. A splendid result. Many thanks to all the Broadstairs players, and especially to Trefor for driving. And many thanks to Bridge. As usual, they made us feel very welcome and even provided tea, coffee and biscuits.

Editor’s note: This was a great night for Broadstairs Chess Club, especially for the three ‘rebels’ as Graeme Boxall described them! There is no doubt that all three wanted to win and the tension as all the Broadstairs players gathered around the final game at the end with just a draw required for victory but Arnaud desperate to beat Alan was palpable. Well played, everyone.

Millar Cup v Margate (h)

                                            Broadstairs  5½         Margate 1½ 

1 David Faldon (175) 1-0    Peter McGill (149)
2 Trefor Owens (167) 1-0    John Thorley (140)
3 Shany Rezvany (163) 1-0    Colin Gregory (119)
4 Bob Page (144) ½-½    Clive Le Baigue (111)
5 Paul Carfrae (141) 1-0    Leon Garfield (101)
6 Richard Clement (128) 1-0    John Clarke (98)
7 Michael Doyle (90) 0-1    Roy McAloney (86)

David Faldon writes:

What seems a comfortable win actually wasn’t. We were 1-0 down for a long time, with several of the other games looking either dodgy or drawish. It was a relief when Shany converted his extra exchange into a win on board 3 and Bob secured a draw on board 4. All four of the remaining games went into the last half-hour when the time left on a player’s clock starts to be important. Richard was a couple of pawns up for not much compensation on board 6 and in the other three games the Margate players had much less time, so at last the situation began to look favourable. In the end we won all four games. Trefor’s game on board 2 looked the most interesting, a delicate knight versus bishop ending that is possibly a bit too long for a game of the week, with Shany’s tactical mess a close second. We’ll have to see what the webmaster decides. Well done to the team on our first Millar Cup win of the season, and congratulations to Margate on putting up such a tough fight despite the wide gap in ratings on most of the boards.