CHESS RESULT (14): Tiverton 3½ Met. Office (Exeter) ½

By Fred_Mandrake | Thursday, March 04, 2010, 11:10

On Wednesday evening 3rd March, the Tiverton Club entertained the Met Office in a four board match in the Exeter & District League Division 2. The time limit in this competition is the quick 30 moves in an hour and all remaining moves in 15 minutes.

Jon Duckham (foreground) & Derek Allen intent on their endgames against their Met Office opponents.
(left to right) John Knowles, Ivor Annetts, Brian Connor, Simon Bartlett, Ken Alexander, Stephen Thorpe-Tracey, Alison Barclay, Jon Duckham, Brian Aldwin, Keith Atkins (invisible)
Chairman Alan Maynard (left) with East Devon Congress Officials.

First to finish was Tiverton's quick thinking John Morrison on board two who was Black in a closed Sicilian against Neville Lane. John counter-attacked and obtained a strong position with potential threats against the enemy king. The game ended when Neville temporarily overlooked a discovered attack on his queen brought about by a check.

Ivor Annetts (White) on board one played the Advance Variation against Lee Gillard's Caro-Kann Defence. After a series of exchanges, Ivor won a pawn and Lee resigned after blundering the exchange.

Derek Allen (Black) on board four played the Philidor Defence against David Thomson. Derek looked as though he might lose the ending with a lone bishop against his opponent's rook. But he did have a protected passed b-pawn on the sixth rank so David's rook activity was severely limited. The added complication was that David was way behind on the clock and so a draw was agreed.

Board three went right to the wire. John Duckham (White) against Graham Bramley opened with the unusual 1 Nc3 - sometimes called the Dunst Opening. In the endgame he won a piece and superficially it looked like an easy win for him. But Graham had two central connected passed pawns protected by his king and Jon had to play with some accuracy. With only about five minutes left on each clock, Graham prematurely advanced one of the pawns allowing Jon to blockade with his king and bishop. The threat of John's own passed a-pawn was then decisive. (The first photograph shows Jon (in the foreground right) and Derek playing their endgames.)

On the previous Saturday the Tiverton Club was represented by ten of its members at the annual East Devon Congress held at Exeter's Corn Exchange. (See photograph 2.)

Photograph 3 shows Tiverton Chess Club member Alan Maynard, Chairman of the Congress Committee, opening the event on the Friday night.

For further information on the Tiverton Club, click on CHESS DEVON.