4NCL 1998/9: Bristol 2 are the Dragon Slayers

Rounds 3-4, 21-22 November 1998

Another great weekend for Bristol 2nds as they won both matches to maintain their 100% record and second place in the table. The highlight was the win on Sunday against promotion favourites, South Wales Dragons.

The first team had an expected loss to the extremely strong Slough side on Saturday - but Simon Ansell had a very good draw with Black against Tony Miles. On Sunday, Bristol 1 played Wessex, and had to be content with a 4-4 draw to leave the team mid-table.

Division 1, Round 3

This wasn't even Slough's strongest side, but they were still far too strong for Bristol. Apart from Simon's excellent draw there will be a few people kicking themselves: Karl Mah had a good position against Hebden, and Charles Cobb may have had winning chances against Summerscale. On the other hand, David Moskovic was rather fortunate to escape with a draw with Susan Lalic. David Collier took his opponent well into the last hour (and missed the team curry).

                Slough 1                        Bristol 1 

1       w       Miles, A J      2590    ½-½     Ansell, S       2380
2       b       Hebden, M       2590    1-0     Mah, K          2330
3       w       McNab, C        2455    1-0     Buckley, G      2295
4       b       Turner, M       2475    1-0     Beaumont, C     2330
5       w       Summerscale, A  2455    1-0     Cobb, C         2275
6       b       Lawton, G       2370    1-0     Collier, D      2245
7       w       Lalic, S (F)    2350    ½-½     Moskovic, D     2235
8       b       Smith, A P      2290    1-0     Buckley, M (F)  2005

                                        7-1

Division 2, Round 3

Sophie Tidman got us off to a flying start, taking only ten minutes on her clock to sweep aside Heather Gale. Alex Easton conducted another lesson on how to play the White side of a KID, and Simon Buckley snuffled his way to a slightly fortunate victory, while brother David found a combination that went disastrously wrong. Still, that was the first set of Dragons dealt with.

                Gwent Dragons                   Bristol 2 

1       w       Jones, I C      2255    ½-½     McFarland, R    2240
2       b       Varley, P       2290    ½-½     Jakubovics, N   2210
3       w       Borg, A         2150    0-1     Buckley, S      2120
4       b       Powell, L       194     0-1     Easton, A       2104
5       w       Saunders, N     2155    ½-½     Dilleigh, S     2072
6       b       Miles, R        2084    ½-½     Player, E       2110
7       w       Walden-Jones, A 1965    1-0     Buckley, D      2110
8       b       Gale, H (F)     1445    0-1     Tidman, S (F)   146

                                        3-5

Division 1, Round 4

There are some matches you just really want to win. Unfortunately, this was one of them. Wessex are a bit weaker than Bristol on the middle boards, but it turned out that that was where we nearly lost the match. By the time Melanie Buckley had reluctantly agreed a draw with an opponent who never wanted anything else, there were just two games left and the score was 3-3. Chris Beaumont was a pawn up - but would it be enough? - and Charles Cobb was defending a theoretically drawn rook v rook and two pawns ending. Chris's game was looking drawn when his opponent blundered a piece, so it all came down to the last game in the building. Charles defended well, but then lost the very difficult ending somewhere along the line. As Chris Beaumont said: "Even GMs lose this ending." Still, the first team now have four points, have only lost one match, and are in the middle of the table. This time last year, they were in the relegation zone with just two points. The next weekend could be crucial - Bristol play the bottom two teams.

                Bristol 1                       Wessex 

1       w       Ansell, S       2380    ½-½     Webb, R M       2340
2       b       Mah, K          2330    0-1     Rossiter, P     2365
3       w       Buckley, G      2295    1-0     Yeo, M          2180
4       b       Beaumont, C     2330    1-0     Neil, D R       2260
5       w       Cobb, C         2275    0-1     Simons, M       2170
6       b       Collier, D      2245    0-1     Noyce, R C      2155
7       w       Moskovic, D     2235    1-0     Pleasants,AJ *  193
8       b       Buckley, M (F)  2005    ½-½     Howard, E (F)   2050

                                        4-4

Division 2, Round 4

Come Sunday morning, the second team is on three wins from three matches and confidence is sky high. As Team Manager, I must confess that this is where I thought we were going to come back down to earth with a bump. The South Wales Dragons are a different kettle of fish to their Gwent namesakes; they are almost the same side as played in the first division last season, have a lot of experience, and we were giving away about 100 FIDE points a board. Perhaps John Saunders regrets dropping himself though, because Bristol 2 slew their second lot of Dragons! Though not without some luck - but we were due for some.

Steve Dilleigh got a good win, but then the draws started to flood in. Sophie Tidman stood better, but both Robert McFarland and Ed Player were struggling to hold on. The drama (and the luck) came at the first time control. McFarland made his fortieth, but his flag fell at some point before Cooper made his own fortieth (whether before or after McFarland pressed the clock, I don't know). Neither player noticed, the arbiter was in a different room, and the spectators (to their credit) kept their mouths shut. Still, it should not have mattered as Cooper had a very likely win ... if his own fortieth move had not blundered away a whole rook! This made it 4-2, and Sophie offered the draw to secure the two points.

               Bristol 2                       South Wales Dragons 

1       w       McFarland, R    2240    1-0     Cooper, J       2350
2       b       Jakubovics, N   2210    ½-½     Cobb, J         2305
3       w       Buckley, S      2120    ½-½     Rayner, F       2235
4       b       Player, E       2110    0-1     Zeidler, S      2225
5       w       Easton, A       2104    ½-½     Richmond, P     2190
6       b       Buckley, D      2110    ½-½     Roberts, D      2165
7       w       Dilleigh, S     2072    1-0     Richmond, J (F) 2175
8       b       Tidman, S (F)   146     ½-½     Blackburn, J    155

                                        4½-3½
 
 
Division 1 
 
P
W
D
L
GPts
MPts
1
 Slough
4
4
0
0
27.0
8
2
 Wood Green
4
3
1
0
19.5
7
3
 Barbican 1sts
4
3
0
1
17.0
6
4
 Invicta Kts
4
2
1
1
17.0
5
5
 Bigwood
4
2
0
2
19.5
4
6
 Barbican 2nds
4
2
0
2
15.5
4
7
 Bristol
4
1
2
1
15.0
4
8
 Richmond
4
2
0
2
14.5
4
9
 Wessex
4
1
1
2
13.0
3
10
 NW Eagles
4
1
0
3
10.5
2
11
 Home House
4
0
1
3
12.5
1
12
 BCM
4
0
0
4
11.0
0
 		 Division 2
 
P
W
D
L
GPts
MPts
1
 White Rose
4
4
0
0
23.5
8
2
 Bristol 2nds
4
4
0
0
19.0
8
3
 Guildford
4
3
1
0
22.5
7
4
 Coulsdon & P
4
3
1
0
18.5
7
5
 S Wales Dragons
4
2
1
1
20.0
5
6
 Kings Head
4
2
1
1
17.0
5
7
 Witney
4
2
0
2
19.0
4
8
 Wood Green 2
4
2
0
2
15.0
4
9
 Bigwood 2nds
4
1
1
2
15.5
3
10
 Nidum Knights
4
1
0
3
12.5
2
11
 Gwent Dragons
4
1
0
3
11.5
2
12
 Slough 2nds
4
0
1
3
11.0
1
13
 Invicta Kts 2nds
4
0
0
4
10.5
0
14
 BCCA
4
0
0
4
8.5
0
 

Fixtures and Results

1 Oct 24 Bristol 1  4-4 Invicta Knights 1  Invicta Knights 2  3½-4½ Bristol 2
2 Oct 25 Barbican 2  2-6 Bristol 1 Bristol 2 5-3 Slough 2 
3 Nov 21 Slough 1  7-1 Bristol 1 Gwent Dragons 3-5 Bristol 2 
4 Nov 22 Bristol 1  4-4 Wessex Bristol 2  4½-3½ SWDragons
5 Jan 23 Bristol 1  v B.C.M. Wood Green 2  v Bristol 2
6 Jan 24 Home House  v Bristol 1 Bristol 2 v Witney & Swindon 
7 Mar 20 Bigwood 1  v Bristol 1 Bigwood 2 v Bristol 2 
8 Mar 21 Bristol 1  v Richmond Bristol 2 v B.C.C.A 
9 May 1 Wood Green 1  v Bristol 1
10 May 2 Barbican 1  v Bristol 1
11 May 3 Bristol 1  v NW Eagles
The last three rounds in Division 2 will be decided on a Swiss pairing basis after round 8.

Rounds 1 and 2
4NCL Web Site
Return to index