County Championship Round 1 Draw

County Championship 2006-2007

Rounds 5 and 6 of the Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes Individual Championships Open University 12 May 2007

We started the weekend missing quite a few players. Branko and Jeremy I knew about from many weeks ago but the others came in the last week. Due to work commitments Gerry Nolan and Steve Pike also had to miss both games. I took the view that players would have been preparing for opponents and left the draw unchanged.

Others [Les and Peter H] solved the Saturday morning issue by playing in the week.

The venue was the Sports Pavilion at the Open University which was ideal for our numbers. Play started fairly promptly with only Olu, Mark and David late. The impact of these tardy arrivals had mixed consequences.

Olu plays so speedily that his time was not a problem. Indeed by around move 15 he was already ahead on the clock. Overall Paul had the better of their game but fell to a counter attack in time trouble.

Mark came very well prepared for his game with Steve Ledger and, again, was soon ahead on the clock. Of course Steve knows his way around his openings as well and a really interesting tactical game ensued. The end was a serious time scramble in a rook and pawn ending.

The other late starter, Dave, ran short of time and missed a victory. By now he has probably found 31.Rh6+ with a forced win.

Elsewhere Brian got a miserable position against Peter Clarke’s modern/hippopotamus hybrid and slid to an early defeat. Peter was therefore well in the final round fray for the title.

Staddon – Williamson: A steady Kevin grind.

Tattersall – Elwin: Josh played well enough but fell away in the quick play finish.

Botteley – Joseph: Michael B had an edge through out most of the game but his namesake defended carefully to reach a drawn ending.

Byes: Constantinou P [3], Heath A [1], Matthew A MS [2], Hunt P [3],

The start of the sixth round was marked by a very pleasant event. At the last County AGM it had been noted that Nigel Staddon had been playing chess in Bedfordshire for 50 years. A commemorative plaque celebrating this remarkable achievement had been commissioned [without any knowledge by Nigel] and was presented to him by the County chairman, Adrian Elwin.

Olu attacked hard but in his usual imperturbable manner Peter took it all in his stride to emerge with a clearly won ending upon which Olu promptly resigned. On the adjacent board Paul and Peter Clarke were having a more sedate struggle. Peter likes his endings but on this occasion an injudicious queen exchange gave Paul the edge. He forced a win in a minor piece ending in the last few minutes of play.

This left Paul Habershon and Peter Constantinou sharing the County individual title. Olu took the third place.

Brian continued a miserable personal day. Misjudging a tactic cost a pawn and ultimately gave Steve the ending.

It proved impossible to break some ‘club mate’ games in this round and Elwin – Weighell was an 11 move bore. Williamson – Matthews was a different kettle of fish. Kevin’s usual somnambulant opening was followed by him sacrificing a piece for 3 [ultimately 4] pawns. Adrian’s immediate follow up [30….Re8 as opposed to, say, Qf4] passed the initiative to Kevin who duly eventually queened one of his pawns.

I’m afraid that I saw little of the remaining games.

I’ve collected the game scores, either in full or part, of the majority of the 5th and 6th round games. I’ll try and get the rest in the next few days and will send them out as a Chessbase file.

This was my first year controlling the event and it has been a pleasure. I usually say that anyway at Congresses but I really mean it this time. Everybody has shown the very best of chess etiquette and courtesy. Give yourselves a collective pat on the back.

Results

5 Peter Constantinou, Paul Habershon.
4.5 Olu Olulode.
4 Peter Clarke, Patrick Goldsworthy, Peter Hunt, Steve Ledger. Kevin Williamson
3.5 Adrian Elwin, Mark Weighell.
3 Michael Botteley, Dave Faulkner, Alan Heath, Adrian Matthews, Brian Valentine.
2 Michael Joseph, Peter Housden, Nigel Staddon, Josh Tattersall.
1.5 Les Mabb

Players completing four rounds:

Branko Pribanich
Steve Pike 1.5
Gerry Nolan 1.0
Jeremy Wright

John Shaw, Tournament Controller

Final Crosstable

	Name	Grade		Round 1			Round 2			Round 3			Round 4			Round 5			Round 6
1	Peter Constantinou	193		W	14	+	B	12	+	W	6	=	B	7	=	w/o		+	B	3	+	5
2	Paul Habershon	169		W	13	+	B	10	+	W	8	+	B	6	+	W	3	-	B	7	+	5
3	Olu Olulode	174		Bye		=	B	4	+	W	11	+	W	9	+	B	2	+	W	1	-	4.5
4	Steve Ledger	187		B	16	=	W	3	-	B	21	+	W	20	+	B	9	=	W	12	+	4
5	Kevin Williamson	168		B	21	+	W	7	=	B	9	-	W	11	=	B	17	+	W	13	+	4
6	Patrick Goldsworthy	167		W	23	+	B	17	+	B	1	=	W	2	-	B	11	+	B	10	=	4
7	Peter Clarke	154		w/o		+	B	5	=	W	13	+	W	1	=	B	12	+	W	2	-	4
8	Adrian Elwin	162		B	15	+	W	16	+	B	2	-	W	10	-	B	18	+	W	9	=	3.5
9	Mark Weighell	148		W	22	+	B	11	=	W	5	+	B	3	-	W	4	=	B	8	=	3.5
10	Peter Hunt	147		B	25	+	W	2	-	B	17	+	B	8	+	def		-	W	6	=	3.5
11	Dave Faulkner	158		B	18	+	W	9	=	B	3	-	B	5	=	W	6	-	W	17	+	3
12	Brian Valentine	153		B	19	+	W	1	-	B	23	+	W	16	+	W	7	-	B	4	-	3
13	Adrian Matthews	143		B	2	-	W	19	+	B	7	-	W	23	+	w/o		+	B	5	-	3
14	Alan Heath	143		B	1	-	W	18	+	B	20	-	W	17	-	w/o		+	W	22	+	3
15	Michael Botteley	117		W	8	-	W	20	=	B	19	-	B	22	+	W	16	=	B	18	+	3
16	Michael Joseph	143		W	4	=	B	8	-	W	22	+	B	12	-	B	15	=	W	19	-	2
17	Nigel Staddon	104		B	20	+	W	6	-	W	10	-	B	14	+	W	5	-	B	11	-	2
18	Josh Tattersall	104		W	11	-	B	14	-	W	25	+	B	19	+	W	8	-	W	15	-	2
19	Peter Housden	90		W	12	-	B	13	-	W	15	+	W	18	-	B	22	-	B	16	+	2
20	Branko Pribanich	162		W	17	-	B	15	=	W	14	+	B	4	-							1.5
21	Steve Pike	143		W	5	-	B	22	=	W	4	-	B	25	+							1.5
22	Les Mabb	90		B	9	-	W	21	=	B	16	-	W	15	-	W	19	+	B	14	-	1.5
23	Gerry Nolan	120		B	6	-	W	25	+	W	12	-	B	13	-							1
24	R Weber	100	e	def		-	def		-	def		-	def		-							0
25	Jeremy Wright	37		W	10	-	B	23	-	B	18	-	W	21	-							0