Malcolm Clarke’s weekly look at the League, including the Robertson Plate.

Chandlers Ford B team were involved in two matches this week and lost them both.  In the Robertson Plate they lost 4.5-0.5 to Hamble A, but with Hamble’s two teams in divisions 1 and 2 and their own players mostly playing in divisions 4 and 5 they were always likely to be up against it and on all boards they were outgraded by 50 or more points and on the top three boards this discrepancy averaged 78 points.  Don Creasey on board 4 obtained the only half point against an opponent 50 points higher.

In the match against University C who had already beaten them once this season Peter Przybycin and Dick Meredith obtained draws against players who had represented the University A team earlier in the week, but in the remaining games Sam Murphy was a rook down and Simon Kay was two pawns down and both games were eventually lost leaving University 3-1 winners,

For the second successive week draws featured prominently in a match involving Winchester A with four of the games being drawn in a 3-2 victory over Andover A with Jose Alfonso Jimenez Capilla their sole winner beating the experienced Stuart Knox in a match that was almost also drawn.

On Thursday Chandlers Ford A and D teams travel to Ringwood and Salisbury respectively, while on Tuesday the C team are at home to Winchester C.

Malcolm Clarke reports on the completely drawn Chandler’s Ford ‘A’ vs Winchester ‘A’ Robertson Plate match on 19th February, plus the unusual pairing in the Winchester ‘A’ vs Fareham ‘A’ match…

Chandlers Ford A and Winchester A drew their Robertson Plate match played over four boards 2-2 and with all four games drawn will have to replay at Winchester.  If any of the four games had produced a definite result then board count and failing that bottom board elimination would have come into the equation.  However with all four boards being drawn then this method would have not separated the teams.

With both teams finding it difficult to find a fifth player although Chandlers Ford certainly if pushed would have been able to it was agreed to restrict the number of boards to four.

Graham Stuart and Rob Sims both playing with the black pieces against Alan Dyos and Robin Atkins respectively were the first Chandlers Ford players to agree draws, while Winchester’s Bob Cleave was a pawn up against Chandlers Ford’s Dick Meredith, but Meredith had sufficient compensation for the pawn which left the game between Chandlers Ford’s Rob Bird and Winchester’s Mike White which although it went the full distance was even throughout.

Winchester A lost 3-2 to Fareham A despite Graham Payne obtaining an excellent win against a higher graded player.  A feature of this match was Fareham’s Ted Black beating Winchester’s Mike White although Black played with the white pieces and White with the black pieces.

Winchester B lost 3.5-1.5 to University B in Division 3 with Robin Atkins, Mike White and Graham Payne obtaining draws.

Chandlers Ford B were due to play their cup match at Hamble on Wednesday 20th February and are at home to University C on the following Tuesday.

Malcolm Clarke reports on the Chandler’s Ford ‘A’ v Andover ‘B’ Division 3 match Tuesday 12th February 2019.

Chandlers Ford A team obtained only their second win in six league matches with both of these victories being achieved against Andover.

Both of Chandlers Ford’s top two boards David Holmes and Phil Overton were unavailable, so Peter Przybycin was bought in for his first A team match of the season and it was Przybycin playing on board 3 who gave his team an early lead after his opponent blundered a piece.  Graham Stuart on board 1 then agreed a draw, while Sam Murphy’s opponent was making his league debut and gave a reasonable account of himself until having thought he had forked Murphy’s queen and rook with his knight overlooked the fact that Murphy could move the queen with check and then pick up the knight.

David Culliford on board 2 agreed a draw, although he admitted that if he had his opponent’s position he would have carried on playing to try and force a win.  That left Dick Meredith’s game outstanding and he skewered his opponent’s queen and rook to win the exchange and give himself a decisive advantage and to complete the 4-1 win.

Next week both the Chandlers Ford A and B team are in cup action with the A team at home to Winchester on the Tuesday and the B team away to Hamble on the Wednesday.

Malcolm Clarke reports on the Southampton D vs Chandler’s Ford C match on 5th February 2019.

For the second time this season Chandlers Ford C drew with draw specialists Southampton D who have now drawn five of their seven league games, but whereas the previous draw was a bit fortuitous on this occasion they deserved a spare of the spoils.  They went into a two lead with Rob Bird relegated to board 3 and Don Creasey playing on bottom board winning.

However they lost on the top two boards on which they were clearly outgraded and the match was drawn.  Rob Strachan also played a game counting for grading purposes only and he won with his game being the most interesting.  Having pinned the opposition’s queen with his rook the opponent tried a series of checks, but after several king moves he was able to get it to safety and once the threat of a draw by perpetual check had been eroded it was inevitable he would win.  Unfortunately Rob Sims was unable to complete a hat-trick of wins for players forenamed Rob as he lost on top board.  

On Tuesday Chandlers Ford A are at home to Andover B.