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The 36th Cotswold Chess Congress The Open Round by round... by Woody Woodpusher |
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OPEN 1 J. Pigott (220) 5.5/6
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PREMIER
1= R. Kneebone (146) 4.5/6 |
MAJOR
1 E. Varley (121) 5.5/6 |
MINOR
1= K.A. Parker (83) 5/6 |
COMMENTARY ROOM - SPECIAL AWARDS N. Moyse (OPEN) - For
educating the commentary room!! Great finish in round 4 |
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Cotswold congress,
round 1 |
Round 1 in the Open, as usual saw several mismatches and included easy wins for Chaplin against Richards, Li against Neat and Beaumont against Ponter who blundered horribly from a level position after 13 moves. Elsewhere top seed Pigott played a solid positional game, declining risky tactical lines and eventually outplayed former German international Wagner. Crouch won a wild game against Gilmour in which he showed his class to find his way through a tactical melee. Some of the other top seeds had a tougher time as Moyse took 44 moves to see off Beveridge and A A Smith beat Taylor after a 78 move marathon. It was a mixed round for other local players as Hosken beat Tipper and Martin was slowly outplayed by A P Smith. But performance of the round was probably from Black who battled well playing as White to hold the draw against White playing black! Curnow also did well to hold the classy Berry. Wademark beat Furnevall, but the most exciting game of the round was undoubtedly veteran Sherwin against up and coming junior Bareham. Sherwin was clearly worse entering the time scrabble, but claimed the game after Bareham made an illegal move who immediately resigned. |
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Cotswold congress, round 2 See all the games from round 2 C Crouch ½ - ½ N Moyse |
Round 2 saw some fine tussles and a few notable game turning blunders as Beaumont gave away a winning position to lose to Wademark and Hosken missed out on drawing chances when he fell into White's neat tactical trap in the endgame. Beveridge, Gilmour and Ponter enjoyed fairly comfortable wins against Neat, Tipper and Furnevall respectively. Meanwhile Black achieved his second successive draw against higher rated opposition after a quick cessation of hostilities with Curnow. Martin battled well from a passive position to deprive Wagner of a win. A A Smith joined Wademark on 2/2 after a hard-fought win against Li. They were also joined by Pigott who was the beneficiary of a glaring blunder of a rook by A P Smith. Sherwin failed to breakdown Chaplin's thorough preperation of an unusual line in the Budapest. Richards unexpectedly held the draw against Taylor. Game of the round was the board two tussle between Crouch and Moyse. Crouch was much better for most of the game but Moyse kept finding attacking resources. And in the end, Moyse settled for the draw by repetition when he could have played a far superior alternative line which won instantly. |
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Cotswold
congress, round 3 See all the games from round 3 J Pigott 1 - 0 A A Smith |
Round 3 saw some quality chess from Beaumont who comprehensively outplayed Beveridge and the less expected source of Neat who belied his relatively low grade to beat Tipper in some style. Black's fine run of results was ended by the ever dangerous A P Smith and in a local derby, Hosken was two pawns to Ponter before forcing an exchange of queens which left him with an unstoppable past pawn which soon won him the game. In another game between local players, Richards managed to hold out in a worse ending against Martin. Wagner was the victim of his own ambitious tactics and went down to Taylor, while Bareham recovered from his disappointment in round 1 to dispatch Furnevall. At the top of the table, Pigott produced another solid if unspectacular performance to beat A A Smith relatively comfortably. He was joined on 3 out of 3 by Wademark who proved too strong for the previously dangerous Moyse. Of the chasing pack Crouch was once again unable to do better than a draw against lower graded opposition in the form of Chaplin, who missed some strong chances. However, Berry found some good form with a win against White and Sherwin missed a mate in 1 in time trouble, while his opponent Li missed out on a perpetual before Sherwin finally ran out the winner. Gilmour and Curnow completed the round by battling out a long and closely fought draw. |
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Cotswold congress, round 4 See all the games from round 4 D Curnow 0 - 1 N Moyse |
Round 4 saw Pigott move into a clear lead with 4 out of 4 after he found an improved on the round 2 game Wademark - Beaumont and proceeded to finish off Wademark in style. Sherwin and Berry agreed a draw after 29 moves of subtle manoeuvring, while Bareham and Gilmour only took 18 moves to reach a draw. Chaplin continued his fine tournament by drawing with another strong player, A A Smith. Furnevall was relieved to pick up his first point against Tipper and Li impressed with his disposal of Richards in 17 moves. Local players White and Black had contrasting fortunes - White beating Beveridge and Black's Dutch was no match for Wagner. Meanwhile Beaumont got the better of A P Smith in a closely fought Rook ending and Ponter saw of Martin. In the round's featured game, Crouch, who's games have entertained the crowds threw the kitchen sink at local star Hosken, however Hosken's resilient defence left Crouch with nothing better than a perpetual. The highlight of the round was unquestionably the finale of the game between Moyse and Curnow. Moyse had been better for the most of the game, but was then set the challenge of mating with Bishop and Knight by his opponent. He proceeded to show impeccable technique and impressed the large crowd by mating in 30 moves from the last capture - only 1 move longer than Fritz!! |
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Cotswold congress, round 5
S Berry 1 - 0 H Wademark |
Round 5 was full of tales of the unexpected as several games finished in a bizarre fashion. Crouch in his usual aggressive style sacrificed a Knight against Beaumont who immediately resigned having realised that he couldn't accept the sacrifice. However, it later emerged in the commentary room that he could have maintained equality by declining the sacrifice. Neat had a clear advantage after 10 moves against Ponter and had his hands snapped off when he offered the draw. The impressive Moyse found a nice way to win from a much worse position against White and Li missed a couple of clear winning opportunities before drawing with team mate Taylor. There were more conventional wins for A P Smith against Gilmour, Curnow against Wagner and the ever impressive Chaplin against Bareham. Richards played well to win against Furnevall and Beveridge gifted Black a piece before resigning. Martin and Tipper fought hard to gain an advantage but eventually were forced to settle for half a point each. Hosken and A A Smith drew when both players thought that they had been worse for most of the game. At the top end Pigott continued his serene cruise to competition victory with a win against Sherwin, though this time it did take a time trouble blunder by his opponent to settle the game. The game of the round was the featured game with Berry's fine win in an unusual variation of the advance French against the talented Wademark, who was magnanimous in defeat and was happy to talk through the resultant miniature.
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Cotswold congress,
round 6 A P Smith ½ - ½ M K Li |
Round 6 saw Pigott seal a fine tournament victory with a draw, though he probably could have won if he needed to. Crouch returned to form with a win after A A Smith blundered in a poor position. This took him to a share of second place with Berry and Moyse who once again played quality chess to beat the previously undefeated Chaplin. After his resounding defeat in the previous round, Wademark bounced back with a superb attacking game against Hosken. Beveridge also finished with a convincing win against Martin. Gilmour and Ponter beat Taylor and Curnow respectively, taking Ponter to the under 175 grading prize and Gilmour to the share of the first round losers prize with Neat, who comfortable beat Richards. Black and Bareham went home early after a brief uneventful 17 move draw. While Wagner and Furnevall took a little longer to agree to the draw. Li and A P Smith both missed winning chances in time trouble resulting in an eventual draw by repetition. The final burst of excitement in the Open section was provided by Sherwin and Beaumont. Beaumont's time trouble prevented him from fully exploiting a better position and eventually resulted in him swapping off into an endgame with Pawn against Bishop. When Beaumont finally ran out of time, Sherwin looked for a win in jest on the grounds that he could set up a mating net, if the pawn was promoted to a Bishop - which the players did not find but the commentary team did over the board without Fritz!! In the end a draw was rightfully agreed with good humour all round. |
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