Brown Jack Chess Club

 4NCL  03/04

 Captain's report   (Peter Richmond)

In our matches with the top four seeds, in the first half of

the season, no less than five fatal blunders were made

against us. I believe that a significant factor in this was

that we are a close knit team and were highly motivated

for team as well as individual success. Our opponents

had to develop into teams and were slower to start.

Already by rounds 7 and 8

mental fatigue began to set in. We fielded our top six in

these rounds, but our impetus was maintained mainly due

to two sparkling wins from Jane who was fresh. In round

10 my knowledge of the Notts. team ensured that we got

the board order right which helped us to record our third

best result of the season. In rounds 9 and 11 all five of

our misfortunes can be attributed to tiredness. Dan had

no experience of or the physique for playing for five

hours. Johnathan has scarcely sacrificed all season, a

clear indication that he has been working too hard to

bring out his best at the board. How often do you see

Richard change plans or David make one move

oversights?

A perusal of Tim's end of season statistics reveals that

with black he played 3 games at 229, while with white

he played 5 at 183, which suggests that he

would probably have done better in these matches if I

had given Tim black. It took me some time to realise that

Tim's statistics were biased by the fact that two of his

black wins were against opponents specifically chosen

for him. I could of course blame myself for getting the

board order wrong in these matches. This however is just

as pointless as for individuals blaming themselves for their

mishaps at the board. It required at least four mishaps for

us not to be promoted so it is demonstrably true no one, or

even three, individuals bore responsibility for our

disappointing end to the season.

Objectively, I believe that the final table is a fair reflection

of the strengths of the teams in the division. The three

teams that finished above us scored substantially

more game points than we did while our misfortunes at the

end were balanced by our luck at the start. Statistically

the team performed almost identically to what the BCF

grading system indicated. While only five matches finished

as it would predict, overall it did suggest that we should

win 7, draw 2 and lose 2 matches. Our game point score

of 38.5 was 0.68 of a point greater than our expected

score of 37.82. I attribute this to Fenella's 2/2 and her

fine win against Oxford 1 in particular.

In terms of FIDE ratings the season was a definite success.

All five of our top rated players gained points while

Johnathan as expected acquired a partial rating of 6 games

at 2075. The bonus came in round 10 where David

Tomboline's win earned him a 3 game part rating at 2173.

Unfortunately Gary missed out on a part rating because

he only played two rated opponents which means that he

loses the benefit of his win over a 2063 rated player from

Cambridge. Tim undoubtedly played the best chess in the

team as his 2376 performance rating indicates. I cannot

recall him ever having a bad position unlike myself who

had at least seven, possibly eight. I should like to thank

Johnathan for doing all the admin work and for his

assistance in selection. I would also like to record a

tribute to the entire squad for their co-operation with

the willing acceptance of selectorial decisions. It has

been a real pleasure to be the captain of such a splendid

team. To finish I would like to mention the game which

epitomised our season. This was not one of Tim's

positional masterpieces or my swindles or one of several

sparkling attacks. It was not even a win at all. To have

a bad position after an hours' play happens. To be still

fighting, two pawns down, over five hours later takes

spirit and commitment. The ability to smile at this point

when told that we needed a win to stay top of the

league, demonstrated the camaraderie within the team.

I am of course writing about David Tomboline's heroic

performance against Slough 3. It is games such as this

which make participation in the event so worthwhile.

Brown Jack 4NCL 03/04