Midland
Counties Chess
Union

Minor County Team Championship

2009-10
MCCU Home News About MCCU Junior Chess Correspondence Chess County Matches Grand Prix Congresses Links Links Site Guide

 

Historic Results
2009-2010 Season

Match News Open Championship Minor Championship u180 Competition u160 Competition u140 Competition u120 Competition u100 Competition National Stages


Other Seasons

Other Seasons


Current Season's
News & Results
2010-11

Current Season

 

 

Leicestershire - Worcestershire

Played at St Michael's Old School & Community Centre, Thurmaston, Leics on 30 January 2010. Leics had white on odd-numbered boards

Board     Leicestershire     ECF Code     Grade     Score     Score Worcestershire     ECF Code     Grade    
1 Martin Burrows 125697L 196 1 0 Jeremy Fallowfield 242226J 185
2 John Denton 109613J 187 0 1 Brian Turner 120670K 184
3 Phil Horspool 113015J 187 1 0 Kevin Hurney 129898H 180
4 Sean Sheahan 118836H 181 ½ ½ Steve Mellor 230883G 174
5 Ray Burgess 107674 H 178 ½ ½ John Edge 110076C 173
6 Andy Morley 115787F 176 0 1 Nick Fallowfield 128865K 171
7 Paul Colburn 108577D 170 ½ ½ Peter Kitson 127645B 169
8 John Robinson 118096E 167 ½ ½ Eric Horwill 113026C 162
9 John Mitchell 115634C 165 1 0 Alex Holowczak 263651H 158
10 Roland Graf 111479H 166 1 0 Mike Hadley 160573C 158
11 Sean Hewitt 1121575J 165 1 0 Nigel Towers 165392B 159
12 John Pattinson 116818G 166 0 1 Lee Davis 109427A 154
13 Jim Miller 115535A 163 ½ ½ Greg Dyett 110004L 153
14 Mike Salisbury 118421A 163 1 0 Ray Collett 108621C 151
15 Jim Bingham 106748F 160 0 1 John Loynes 185413G 148
16 Dave Farral 213110K 159 0 1 Ashley Davis 263868L 138
        8½ 7½      

 

Match report from Ray Collett. Underdogs Worcestershire made Leicestershire fight for their win. Right up to the dying minutes a draw looked more than possible. First game to finish was Worcestershire Junior, Ashley Davis's splendid win. Leicestershire had to wait over 40 minutes to level the score with Roland Graf's win and then went into the lead when Mike Salisbury exploited an error by the Worcestershire Captain shortly after. There followed a series of Leicstershire wins and the formbook semed vindicated. One of these wins included Phill Horspool's complicated temporary queen sacrifice on board 3, which left his opponent tied up in a minor piece ending. After the time control three games were still on: on board 15, Worcester's John Loynes was the exchange up for pawns with plenty of play; on board 6, Worcester's Nick Fallowfield was attaching a backward pawn in an otherwise blockaded position with lots of material in play; and on board 5, Leicester's Ray Burgess was the exchange up for a pawn, but his game looked lost. The first game to go decisively in Worcester's favour was Nick Fallowfield, who saw his opponent was in Zugswang. Nick infiltrated his king and Andy Morely had to open the opposing side by sacrificing the backward pawn, but Nick soon cleaned up. Ray Burgess doggedly defended and John Edge began to run short of time, while Worcester's John Loynes was gaining material in a position where it was easy for either side to make a catastrophic mistake. John eventually won with the match hanging on the result of the board 5. Worcester's chances of saving the match were finally buried when John Edge, quite correctly, accepted a draw offered by Ray Burgess. John had less than two minutes left against his opponent's 8, and there were still four pawns and the pieces on the board with no clear cut win in sight.