Wiltshire v Norfolk - Jun 04

Wiltshire narrowly failed to deprive Norfolk of their fifth

consecutive appearance in the National Minor County

Championship final on June 13th. Late wins on boards one

and four raised hopes as they meant that Wiltshire would

have qualified on board count in the event of a tied match.

But Norfolk hung on to draw the final two games. On the top

12 boards both teams had average grades of just under 180.

Norfolk though had a significant advantage on the bottom

four boards averaging 144 to Wiltshire's 115.

It was no surprise therefore that only one of the Wiltshire

bottom four avoided defeat. David Bareham also lost his

game - his opening offered no prospects for counter-play,

and even his famed defensive skills were not enough to cope

with the attack. By contrast Wiltshire's three wins all had an

element of fortune about them. Richard Carver's opponent

sacrificed a bishop and rook to expose his king. Richard

refuted this by marching his king from g1 to a4. Charles

Cobb's opponent thought he had two ways of forcing a draw.

He was correct about one but played the other which allowed

Charles a mating attack. Peter Richmond, in a level position,

was simply given a pawn which he eventually converted.

The other games were all drawn without the balance

appearing to be seriously disturbed, except in Pablo Padilla's

and David Tomboline's games. Pablo and David might have

been able to make more of promising positions, but it was

not to be Wiltshire's day.

Thanks to Peter Richmond for the report.