Wiltshire v Somerset - Nov 03
A solid team performance eased Wiltshire to 9-7 victory
over local rivals Somerset on November 8. The match
started 20 minutes late due to the late arrival of the
Somerset captain. His team eventually sorted themselves
into order but without leaving a space for the captain's
passenger. Consequently Gary Tanner on board 16 was
faced with an opponent graded 28 points above him who
should have been on board five. Gary was untroubled by
this, and like Tim Woodward the only other out-graded
Wiltshire player, had much the better of a draw. Andrew
Law, an off-colour Tim Headlong, Nick Wingfield and
Dave Ward, in his first competitive game for six months,
produced relatively uneventful draws. Andrew Cooper
castled into an attack while David Tomboline and
Charles Cobb blundered in unclear but probably
favourable positions. Although this put us 3-6 down, it
was no cause for alarm, as we had genuine winning
chances in all seven remaining games. Richard Haydon,
Peter Richmond , David Bareham, Daniel Hall and Gordon
Chapman duly converted while Mark Jones and Fenella
Headlong settled for draws rather than risk time scrambles.
A grading advantage of 20 points per player should in
theory have produced 5½ points from the top half of the
team. To score only 4½ was disappointing, but even
potential Grandmasters suffer the occasional hiccup.
The lower half were evenly matched so did well to score
4½. If the bottom boards continue to produce then
Wiltshire should become West of England County
Champions for only the third time.
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Diagram #2 Tim Headlong (black to play) at the recent
Weymouth Congress. Being three pawns up, anything
sensible should win in the end. Tim produced an incisive
finish which ended the game in three more moves. What
did he play?
Thanks to Peter Richmond for the report.