Author: kieran

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Weekend 5

[games, pgn]

Tim writes:

All, the final three rounds of 4NCL for 2016-17 have completed. Oxford’s teams scored these results:

  • Oxford 1 lost 3-5 & 2-6 to Kings’ Head & Blackthorne Russia, then bashed Celtic Tigers 6½-1½;
  • Oxford 2 drew 3-3 with both Brown Jack 2 & Wood Green Midland Monarchs 2, then beat Milton Keynes Phoenix 2 4-2;
  • Oxford 3 had only one match v Sussex Martlets 3 and lost that ½-5½.

Oxford 1 flirted dangerously with relegation as we lost the Saturday match to Kings’ Head on a day when all four teams in the bottom half of the relegation pool beat the four teams in the top half to blow the pool open. Happily we were able to win today’s match v Celtic Tigers. One of the players was confident enough to assert pre-match “we’re not going to lose, let alone by 6-2” (which might have seen us go down). Thankfully, he was right!

Oxford 2 were not as strong as previously this season but the players we put out did very well indeed to maintain our unbeaten record (+8 =3 -0 in the end) – particular mentions for Ian & Ross who scored bottom-board wins on their second-team debuts. Unfortunately that left the door ajar for Barnet Knights 1 to overtake us and they took the title by the narrow whisker of 1 game-point. Still, Oxford 2 are promoted [“for the first time in 14 years” – Kieran] and we take a cash prize of £200. Well done to everyone who who contributed this season. One of you suggests we spend the prize on a team kit of “yellow & blue onesies” … hmm. Perhaps not?

Our player of the weekend was undoubtedly Zoe: after requiring arbiter intervention to salvage a 3-fold repetition on Saturday, she scored back-to-back wins on Sunday & Monday for 2½/3. Yes, yes, skip scored 2½ as well but his best game was his 14-move draw on Sunday: his Lopez wins were streaky. Oddly, skip’s last three 1. e4 games have all been Ruys after many years of not having a single one of the things.

So ends another season – my thanks to all 43 players who played for us during the course of it, particularly to Phil N, Aidan, Zoe & David Z who played all 11 matches, and to Pavel, Graham C & David M for their ten appearances. Nick & Zoe were our highest-scoring players with 7½/9 & 7/11 respectively. Zoe splits as 6/9 in Div 1 and 1/2 in Div 4s; if we add in Francesca’s Div1 1½/2 , board 8 contributed 7½/11 to Ox1, so kudos to both Zoe & Francesca. Mike T had the highest percentage of players playing more than one game with 4½/5 – spoiling his 100% record today!

Oxford 1

Saturday

Kings Head 2137 Oxford 1 2216
w Kwiatkowski, Feliks J c 2223 0 – 1 Martins, David Pires Tavares f 2386
b Tukpetov, Evgeny 2199 ½ – ½ Zakarian, David f 2365
w Sun, Xinyue 2129 1 – 0 Asenov, Pavel 2335
b Guthrie, David 2163 1 – 0 Aguiar, Henrique Rui Neves 2186
w Foord, Dominic 2081 1 – 0 Rawlinson, Aidan M 2188
b Davey, Mark 2095 0 – 1 Dickinson, Tim R 2072
w Gilfillan, Andrew 2072 1 – 0 Hayward, Philip 1982
b Disu, Kayode 2087 ½ – ½ Varney, Zoe 1976
5 – 3

Sunday

Oxford 1 2269 Blackthorne Russia 2310
w Martins, David Pires Tavares f 2386 0 – 1 Gormally, Daniel W g 2465
b Zakarian, David f 2365 0 – 1 Ledger, Andrew J i 2371
w Asenov, Pavel 2335 0 – 1 Bates, Richard A i 2369
b Foo, Zhi Rong Benjamin c 2271 ½ – ½ Ansell, Simon T i 2355
w Hansen, Hans-Peter 2270 0 – 1 Webb, Laurence E f 2271
b Rawlinson, Aidan M 2188 0 – 1 Ledger, Dave J f 2207
w Dickinson, Tim R 2072 ½ – ½ Ledger, Stephen C 2132
b Varney, Zoe 1976 1 – 0 Atkins, Rita wi 2101
2 – 6

Monday

Celtic Tigers 2098 Oxford 1 2265
w Hoffmann, Hendrik f 2317 ½ – ½ Asenov, Pavel 2335
b Maciol, Ryszard 2139 0 – 1 Zakarian, David f 2365
w Pedersen, Carsten 2153 ½ – ½ Hansen, Hans-Peter 2270
b Haussernot, Cecile wf 2107 0 – 1 Rose, Matthew 2248
w Mitra, Roman C 2099 0 – 1 Gerlagh, Joris 2255
b Stevenson, James 2057 ½ – ½ Truran, Michael C 2194
w Larter, Nick J. 1815 0 – 1 Rawlinson, Aidan M 2188
b Buttell, David 1758 0 – 1 Varney, Zoe 1976
1½ – 6½

Oxford 2

Saturday

Brown Jack 2 1888 Oxford 2 1887
w Girdlestone, Paul C 2100 1 – 0 Matta, Francesca 1963
b Shaw, Meyrick 1944 ½ – ½ Terry, Sean 1917
w Tomboline, David 1943 1 – 0 Neatherway, A Philip 1858
b O'Byrne, Daniel 1742 0 – 1 Burrows, Nick 1889
w Headlong, Benjamin 1787 ½ – ½ Cole, Graham 1842
b Tombolis, Christopher 1817 0 – 1 Bush, Ian 1855
3 – 3

Sunday

Oxford 2 1881 Wood Green MM 2 1844
w Matta, Francesca 1963 0 – 1 Grigoryan, Meri wf 2057
b Cole, James 1982 0 – 1 Guha, Chirag 1922
w Cole, Graham 1842 ½ – ½ Metcalfe, Charlie P 1750
b Burrows, Nick 1889 ½ – ½ Lovell, William Pm 1817
w Neatherway, A Philip 1858 1 – 0 Gogna, Aman 1727
b Tselos, Aristotelis 1757 1 – 0 Gogna, Avi 1795
3 – 3

Monday

MK Phoenix 2 1909 Oxford 2 1937
w Lambourne, Dan M 1989 0 – 1 Healey, Michael W 2163
b Valentine, Brian J 1943 0 – 1 Dickinson, Tim R 2072
w Adebajo, Olufemi 1918 1 – 0 Neatherway, A Philip 1858
b Meichel, Eric B 1922 0 – 1 Terry, Sean 1917
w Matthews, Adrian M S 1858 0 – 1 Staples, Neil 1855
b Whiteside, Robert 1824 1 – 0 Tselos, Aristotelis 1757
2 – 4

Oxford 3

Monday

Oxford 3 1713 Sussex Martlets 3 1590
w Hameed, Asif 1802 0 – 1 Neale, George 1671
b Panicker, Raj 1795 0 – 1 Samworth-Calvier, Juju 1633
w Rowan, Daniel 1828 0 – 1 Woods, Timothy J 1645
b Gentry, Alan E 1750 0 – 1 Bennet-Stevens, Lucy 1643
w Langham, Rod E 1709 ½ – ½ Hedger, Alec 1517
b Matilal, Tamal 1397 0 – 1 Kaya, Batuhan 1432
½ – 5½

Games

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Final Tables – 2016-17

Division 1

Demotion Pool

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GP Pts
1 Blackthorne Russia 4½-3½ 6-2 4½-3½ 3-5 4½-3½ 5½-2½ 5-3 33 12
2 Barbican 4NCL 2 3½-4½ 6-2 2-5 6-2 5½-2½ 5½-2½ 5½-2½ 34 10
3 Oxford 1 2-6 2-6 6-2 5½-2½ 6½-1½ 3-5 6½-1½ 31½ 8
4 South Wales Dragons 3½-4½ 5-2 2-6 5½-2½ 4-4 5½-1½ 3½-4½ 29 7
5 North East England 5-3 2-6 2½-5½ 2½-5½ 5½-2½ 4½-3½ 3½-4½ 25½ 6
6 Anglian Avengers 1 3½-4½ 2½-5½ 1½-6½ 4-4 2½-5½ 5½-2½ 6½-1½ 26 5
7 Kings Head 2½-5½ 2½-5½ 5-3 1½-5½ 3½-4½ 2½-5½ 5½-2½ 23 4
8 Celtic Tigers 3-5 2½-5½ 1½-6½ 4½-3½ 4½-3½ 1½-6½ 2½-5½ 20 4

Pool B

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GP Pts
1 Guildford 1 5-3 7-1 7½-½ 7½-½ 7-1 7½-½ 6-2 47½ 14
2 White Rose 1 3-5 5-3 4-4 7½-½ 7-1 7-1 5½-2½ 39 11
3 Wood Green HK 1-7 3-5 5-3 6-2 5½-2½ 6-2 7-1 33½ 10
4 Grantham Sharks 1 ½-7½ 4-4 3-5 5-3 4½-3½ 5½-2½ 5-3 27½ 9
5 Barbican 4NCL 2 ½-7½ ½-7½ 2-6 3-5 6-2 6-2 5½-2½ 23½ 6
6 Oxford 1 1-7 1-7 2½-5½ 3½-4½ 2-6 5½-2½ 6½-1½ 22 4
7 North East England ½-7½ 1-7 2-6 2½-5½ 2-6 2½-5½ 5½-2½ 16 2
8 Anglian Avengers 1 2-6 2½-5½ 1-7 3-5 2½-5½ 1½-6½ 2½-5½ 15 0

Division 4 South

P W D L GP Pts
Barnet Knights 1 11 9 1 1 46½ 19
Oxford 2 11 8 3 0 45½ 19
West is Best 2 11 8 0 3 38½ 16
The Full Ponty 11 6 3 2 40 15
Brown Jack 2 11 6 3 2 39½ 15
Wood Green MM 2 11 4 5 2 35 13
Anglian Avengers 3 11 5 2 4 35½ 12
Poisoned Pawns 2 11 5 2 4 33½ 12
Shropshire 2 11 5 1 5 36½ 11
CSC Rhinos (2) 11 5 1 5 34½ 11
MK Phoenix 2 11 5 1 5 34 11
Throw in the Tal 1 11 4 3 4 31½ 11
Barnet Knights 2 11 4 3 4 28½ 11
The Pitstop 9 5 0 4 30½ 10
Cambridge University 3 11 4½ 1 5½ 28½ 10
Sussex Martlets 3 11 4 1 6 34 9
Kent Kestrels 11 4 0 7 32½ 8
Iceni 2 11 3½ 1 6½ 27 8
D&D Utd 8 3 1 4 21½ 7
Throw in the Tal 2 8 3½ 0 4½ 20 7
Oxford 3 9 2 2 5 25½ 6
Sandhurst Cadets 10 2 2 6 25½ 6
CSC Hippos (3) 5 1 2 2 14 4
Wood Green MM 3 7 2 0 5 13½ 4
Barnet Knights 3 11 1 0 10 11½ 2
Barnet Knights 4 3 0 0 3 1 0
Posted on

Weekend 4 – Oxford 2&3

[games, pgn]

Tim writes:

All, the second half of the split weekend 4 completed yesterday. Our teams recorded these results:

  • Oxford 2 beat CSC Rhinos 4½-1½ and Barnet Knights 1 3½-2½;
  • Oxford 3 lost to Milton Keynes Phoenix 2 1½-4½ and Anglian Avengers 3 2½-3½.

Well done to everyone involved in the second team, particularly on Sunday as we beat our main title/promotion rivals. Oxford 2 are two points ahead at the top of Division 4s with a healthy 4-point “goal-difference” plus, almost assured of promotion. One win in R9-11 should be enough for that, two wins will secure the Div 4s title.

Francesca had a terrific weekend. Her spectacular game on Saturday drew the crowds and she held a tricky pawn-down endgame with some ease on Sunday. Robin and Nick were our other best players, both winning on Saturday to assure the win there and holding rather dodgy endgames on Sunday. The Barnet skip agreed: he grumbled to me post-match “Barnet should have won all three of boards 4, 5 and 6”. As it was, a well-controlled victory by Hans on top board was enough to bring home the bacon with the other five games all drawn.

Oxford 2

Saturday

CSC Rhinos (2) 1873 Oxford 2 2058
w Head, Louise 2018 ½ – ½ Rawlinson, Aidan M 2196
b Foley, John P 1946 1 – 0 Healey, Michael W 2179
w Fowler, David 1898 0 – 1 Truran, Michael C 2183
b Lees, Fraser A 1865 0 – 1 Matta, Francesca 1950
w Homolka, Vincent 1779 0 – 1 De Vogelaere, Robin 1962
b Grey, Nicholas D 1734 0 – 1 Burrows, Nick 1881
1½ – 4½

Sunday

Oxford 2 2071 Barnet Knights 1 2158
w Hansen, Hans-Peter 2263 1 – 0 Villiers, Thomas 2245
b Healey, Michael W 2179 ½ – ½ Willmoth, Robert F c 2282
w Rawlinson, Aidan M 2196 ½ – ½ Brozel, Sacha 2132
b Matta, Francesca 1950 ½ – ½ Ethelontis, Alexandros N 2140
w De Vogelaere, Robin 1962 ½ – ½ Orgler, Philipp 2110
b Burrows, Nick 1881 ½ – ½ Pollack, Oscar 2042
3½ – 2½

Oxford 3

Saturday

MK Phoenix 2 1937 Oxford 3 1819
w Smith, Graham 2004 ½ – ½ Neatherway, A Philip 1860
b Elwin, Adrian G 2001 1 – 0 Foster, Timothy 1872
w Lambourne, Dan M 1985 1 – 0 Rowan, Daniel 1834
b Brown, Alan M 1964 ½ – ½ Cole, Graham 1850
w Matthews, Adrian M S 1863 ½ – ½ Gentry, Alan E 1744
b Whiteside, Robert 1807 1 – 0 Lim, Wei Xinq Sean 1757
4½ – 1½

Sunday

Oxford 3 1810 Anglian Avengers 3 1911
w Terry, Sean 1905 1 – 0 Gregory, Stephen J 2095
b Cole, Graham 1850 0 – 1 Cocks, Elliot 1990
w Neatherway, A Philip 1860 0 – 1 Lunn, Timothy 1937
b Bush, Ian 1855 ½ – ½ Hall, Antony C 1900
w Langham, Rod E 1713 ½ – ½ Sheerin, Alex 1855
b Willis, Graham 1682 ½ – ½ Woodcock, Keith D 1690
2½ – 3½

Games

Posted on

Weekend 4 – Oxford 1

[games, pgn]

Tim writes:

All, the first half of the SPLIT weekend for rounds 7 & 8 has just completed for Divisions 1 & 2. Oxfiord 1 lost to Barbican 2 2-6, bouncing back on Sunday by beating South Wales Dragons by the same score.

Barbican 2 agreed with me that the 2-6 scoreline flattered them somewhat: there were full-point swings on a couple of boards, skip’s being one of them. Sitting in his glass house, skip isn’t going to criticise the other one! [but will say in his defence that he had ONE clear winning chance, at move 51. You might like to work out what skip missed. My opp David Coleman saw half of it but not the other half; skip missed all of it and his choice 51. … Qc6 was the losing move – I’d missed 54. Rc7 which was a killer, 54. Rd6 was a draw.]

Marcus Harvey leads the “mentions in dispatches” with his 2/2 weekend; Joris played a la Marcus in pressing for victory in probably-drawn endings but ended with only two draws to show for his extended effort. Well done also to Mike T on his debut for Ox1, last to finish today and winning quite convincingly.

Div 1 safety requirements: one more match win against anyone. Next up are Kings’ Head in round 9, Blackthorne Russia in round 10 and Celtic Tigers in round 11.

Saturday

Barbican 4NCL 2 2237 Oxford 1 2310
w Rogers, Jonathan W f 2308 1 – 0 Martins, David Pires Tavares f 2393
b Sowray, Peter J f 2312 ½ – ½ Tan, Justin i 2453
w Franklin, Samuel G A f 2308 1 – 0 Zakarian, David f 2378
b Navarro Cia, Miguel f 2261 1 – 0 Asenov, Pavel 2335
w Chapman, Terry P D f 2251 0 – 1 Harvey, Marcus R f 2275
b Moss, Guy 2082 ½ – ½ Gerlagh, Joris 2266
w Coleman, David J c 2143 1 – 0 Dickinson, Tim R 2072
b Regan, Natasha K wi 1995 1 – 0 Varney, Zoe w 1988
6 – 2

Sunday

Oxford 1 2326 South Wales Dragons 2190
w Martins, David Pires Tavares f 2393 1 – 0 Toma, Katarzyna wg 2242
b Tan, Justin i 2453 ½ – ½ Cooper, John G i 2263
w Zakarian, David f 2378 0 – 1 Kett, Tim 2193
b Asenov, Pavel 2335 1 – 0 Redmond, John P. 2209
w Harvey, Marcus R f 2275 1 – 0 Zeidler, Sven P. f 2190
b Gerlagh, Joris 2266 ½ – ½ James, David J f 2123
w Truran, Michael C 2188 1 – 0 Jameson, David 2116
b Varney, Zoe w 1988 1 – 0 Wilson, Julie w 1870
6 – 2

Games

Posted on

Weekend 3

[games, pgn]

Tim writes:

All, two more rounds of 4NCL were played at the weekend and Oxford recorded these results:

  • Oxford 1 unfortunately lost both matches 3½-4½ v Grantham & 2½-5½ v WGHK;
  • Oxford 2 beat West Is Best 2 4-2 and drew with Full Ponty 3-3;
  • Oxford 3 scored a tremendous 5½-½ win over Iceni 2, then lost 2-4 to Brown Jack 2.

I’ll start with the best bit, Oxford 3’s fantastic Saturday performance. Iceni 2 put out a similar team to the one that lost 5-1 in round two to Oxford 2, so hats off to Phil N, Seans T & L, Tim F, Graham C and especially Andrew who I thought produced the game of the weekend, sacrificing both rooks for three pieces and a big passed pawn. That win put the thirds into seventh place overnight and inevitably a tough pairing followed which they lost, but without disgrace.

Oxford 2 maintained their top-of-the-table status (despite skip’s best efforts) and end the weekend joint-top with Full Ponty and the dangerous Barnet Knights 1. As a Caro-Kann man himself, skip enjoyed Nick’s win in the “Capablanca” variation: the moment he forked his own B&N on a3 & c3 to the White pawn on b2 is worth looking out for.

Oxford 1’s results could have been much better with more luck: from a cursory glance over the PGN files, skip reckons we might have reversed the Saturday result and might have drawn with WGHK. “Might” isn’t the same as “in reality”, though, and we enter the relegation pool which starts in round 7 with our last Pool B match against Barbican 2. We do take 4 points into it; past history suggests 2 further match wins will be enough for Div 1 safety.

Oxford 1

Saturday

Oxford 1 2325 Grantham Sharks 1 2359
w Zakarian, David f 2378 0 – 1 Pardo Simon, David i 2474
b Martins, David Pires Tavares f 2393 ½ – ½ Ghasi, Ameet K i 2459
w Tan, Justin i 2453 ½ – ½ Roberson, Peter T i 2398
b Eckersley-Waites, Tom f 2321 ½ – ½ Batchelor, Peter J f 2327
w Claridge-Hansen, William f 2284 0 – 1 Rendle, Thomas E i 2359
b Healey, Michael W 2185 0 – 1 Daskalov, Dimitar 2329
w Foo, Zhi Rong Benjamin c 2264 1 – 0 Cumbers, Paul 2170
b Matta, Francesca 1945 1 – 0 Ercsei, Estera-Alexandra 1287
3½ – 4½

Sunday

Wood Green HK 2392 Oxford 1 2347
w Speelman, Jon S g 2522 ½ – ½ Tan, Justin i 2453
b Haria, Ravi f 2413 1 – 0 Eckersley-Waites, Tom f 2321
w Weaving, Richard 2342 0 – 1 Zakarian, David f 2378
b Fitzsimons, David f 2382 1 – 0 Martins, David Pires Tavares f 2393
w McDonald, Neil g 2412 1 – 0 Asenov, Pavel 2335
b Cooper, Lawrence H i 2355 ½ – ½ Gerlagh, Joris 2266
w Arvola, Benjamin f 2320 1 – 0 Claridge-Hansen, William f 2284
b Longson, Sarah N wf 2177 ½ – ½ Matta, Francesca 1945
5½ – 2½

Oxford 2

Saturday

Oxford 2 2005 West is Best 2 1862
w Rawlinson, Aidan M 2199 ½ – ½ Spencer, Douglas 1962
b Dickinson, Tim R 2072 ½ – ½ Davies, Matthew 1949
w De Vogelaere, Robin 1963 ½ – ½ Gregory, Andrew M 1937
b Varney, Zoe 1988 1 – 0 Staniforth, Matthew 1892
w Sheremetyeva, Elizaveta 1937 ½ – ½ Melsom, Jonathan T 1710
b Burrows, Nick 1875 1 – 0 Jukes, Sam 1723
4 – 2

Sunday

The Full Ponty 1959 Oxford 2 2008
w Davis, Lee 2030 0 – 1 Rawlinson, Aidan M 2199
b Adams, Mark 1965 0 – 1 Truran, Michael C 2188
w Fletcher, John 1995 1 – 0 Terry, Sean 1917
b Davies, Peter 2021 1 – 0 Varney, Zoe 1988
w Thomas, Gary 1945 1 – 0 Sheremetyeva, Elizaveta 1937
b Dixon, Chris 1800 0 – 1 Rowan, Daniel 1824
3 – 3

Oxford 3

Saturday

Oxford 3 1812 Iceni 2 1715
w Neatherway, A Philip 1846 1 – 0 Donaghay, Richard H 1874
b Terry, Sean 1917 ½ – ½ Collins, Jonathan 1798
w Foster, Timothy 1864 1 – 0 Pott, Laurie 1798
b Lim, Wei Xinq Sean 1757 1 – 0 Goldsmith, Rory 1712
w Cole, Graham 1829 1 – 0 Balakrishnan, Kathirvel 1571
b Varney, Andrew 1664 1 – 0 Rowles, Sarah 1540
5½ – ½

Sunday

Brown Jack 2 1943 Oxford 3 1729
w Headlong, Timothy c 2072 ½ – ½ Cole, Graham 1829
b Duncan, Patrick C M 2014 1 – 0 Staples, Neil 1867
w Bourne, Johnathan D 1948 ½ – ½ Neatherway, A Philip 1846
b Parker, Francis 1912 1 – 0 Gentry, Alan E 1756
w Shaw, Meyrick 1929 1 – 0 Willis, Graham 1682
b Headlong, Benjamin 1787 0 – 1 Matilal, Tamal 1397
4 – 2

Games