Saturday, August 6, 2011
Wiltshire Yeoman (Broadmead)
A friendly couple of chaps (Yeomen?) visited Trowbridge Chess Club this Thursday and I hope we made them feel welcome. Apparently they can be found at the Wiltshire Yeoman and are partial to a beer and a game of chess.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
2011-12 grades
Congratulations to Tim, Dave Marshall, Roy, Adrian, and Louis who each achieved a grade increase of 6 points or greater. Tim becomes the highest graded of the currently active Trowbridge players; albeit by a very small margin.
Now for the opposition teams: Swindon's Mark Jones is still their board 1 despite dropping some grading points. Infrequent squad player Anthony Lake pips Richard Carver for the number 2 spot and Steve Reynolds overtakes Gordon Chapman and could easily feature on board 4 or higher (perhaps as an alternative to Mike Walters). P.S. I smell another Carver vs Marshall match!
For Brown Jack, Adam Burroughs overtakes Jon Coats but their standard team is otherwise unchanged. Nationwide's team is also unaltered.
Brown Jack have Jon Coats available and Wayne should play ahead of Luke Burroughs. Otherwise their squad is not affected. The Westinghouse team is also unchanged, as is Swindon's except Anthony Lake could feasibly play ahead of Richard Carver.
| Player | ECF (new) | 2010 ECF | League Results (2010-11) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodward, Tim | 155 | 148 | +13 =3 -4 |
| Leonard, Mark | 153 | 152 | +21 =14 -12 |
| Rothwell, Derek | 152 | 154 | +8 =3 -6 |
| Weston, David | 149 | 150 | +9 =5 -7 |
| Marshall, Dave | 141 | 131 | +11 =9 -3 |
| Ludlow, Roy | 131 | 125 | +17 =10 -8 |
| Williams, R Gareth | 131 | 134 | +9 =5 -9 |
| Davis, Adrian | 122 | 116 | +4 =3 -3 |
| Burton, Louis | 82 | 69 | +10 =9 -20 |
| Ransom, Tony | 73 | 79 | +0 =3 -13 |
| Crucefix, Nigel | 71 | 84 | +2 =3 -17 |
Wiltshire 4-a-side
These grading changes do not greatly affect Trowbridge's strongest Wiltshire team as Tim (who leapfrogs from 4th to 1st) is not a regular player. It is likely that Derek and Mark will continue to alternate playing boards 1 and 2. Dave Marshall is a welcome addition as the club's 5th strongest player and will hopefully feature on board 4 next season.Now for the opposition teams: Swindon's Mark Jones is still their board 1 despite dropping some grading points. Infrequent squad player Anthony Lake pips Richard Carver for the number 2 spot and Steve Reynolds overtakes Gordon Chapman and could easily feature on board 4 or higher (perhaps as an alternative to Mike Walters). P.S. I smell another Carver vs Marshall match!
For Brown Jack, Adam Burroughs overtakes Jon Coats but their standard team is otherwise unchanged. Nationwide's team is also unaltered.
Wiltshire Minor
Dave Marshall should continue to feature in the Minor team. This year he will take board 1 ahead of Gareth. Trowbridge's strongest team would appear to (additionally) comprise Roy, Gareth and Louis. A formidable arrangement!Brown Jack have Jon Coats available and Wayne should play ahead of Luke Burroughs. Otherwise their squad is not affected. The Westinghouse team is also unchanged, as is Swindon's except Anthony Lake could feasibly play ahead of Richard Carver.
Friday, July 22, 2011
2010-11 Review : Somerset Divison 3 East
Bath are this year's Division 3 East champions albeit on a tie-break with Trowbridge.
Somerset Division 3 East 2010-11
Cross-Table
Trowbridge won all 3 of their home matches and also beat Frome away. However Bath did not lose any of their remaining fixtures and showed good Away form. A key result was Bath's home match against Trowbridge where they managed a win even without the unbeaten Dave Allen on top board.
Player Results
For more details you can view Roger Fenton's Somerset team results.
Frome
Frome did not fare well on boards 1 and 4:
Club Secretary Gerry Udell was unbeaten with a 142 ECF performance (exactly the same as his performance in Division 2). Captain Mike White also played well: his two losses were to Trowbridge's Roy Ludlow.
This was very much a team effort from Trowbridge, but arguably their top player was Dave Marshall who was undefeated in 4 matches.
Bath's star player was Dave Allen with a 152 performance including a draw against Tim Woodward.
Returning player Peter Horne did very well this season after a break of over 10 years!
| Year | Division 3E | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-5 | Trowbridge | ||
| 2005-6 | Frome | Trowbridge did not enter a team | |
| 2006-7 | Trowbridge | ||
| 2007-8 | Yeovil B | Trowbridge =2nd-4th | |
| 2008-9 | Trowbridge | ||
| 2009-10 | Bath | ||
| 2010-11 | Bath | Trowbridge =1st |
Somerset Division 3 East 2010-11
| Team | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Trowbridge | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12½ | 11½ | 8 |
| Norton Radstock | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11½ | 12½ | 5 |
| Frome | 1 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 3 |
Cross-Table
| Team | Bath | Trowbridge | N / Radstock | Frome | Home Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | 3 - 1 | 2 - 2 | 2 - 2 | 4 | |
| Trowbridge | 2½ - 1½ | 2½ - 1½ | 2½ - 1½ | 6 | |
| Radstock | 1 - 3 | 3 - 1 | 2½ - 1½ | 4 | |
| Frome | 1½ - 2½ | 1 - 3 | 2½ - 1½ | 2 | |
| Away Pts | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Trowbridge won all 3 of their home matches and also beat Frome away. However Bath did not lose any of their remaining fixtures and showed good Away form. A key result was Bath's home match against Trowbridge where they managed a win even without the unbeaten Dave Allen on top board.
| Bath | 3-1 | Trowbridge |
|---|---|---|
| Dimond, Peter | 1-0 | Williams, R Gareth |
| Norton, Hugh | 0-1 | Marshall, Dave |
| Brown, Christian | 1-0 | Ludlow, Roy |
| Burrows, John | 1-0 | Ransom, Anthony |
Player Results
For more details you can view Roger Fenton's Somerset team results.Frome
Frome did not fare well on boards 1 and 4:| Board | W–D–L | Points | Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-2-3 | 2 | Gerry Udell (1½/2), Geoff B (½/1), John Fisher (0/2), Mike White (0/1) |
| 2 | 1-4-1 | 3 | Nick Jones (½/2), Gerry Udell (1½/2), Mike White (1/2) |
| 3 | 3-2-1 | 4 | Christy Blance (½/1), Mike White (2/3), John Nicholls (1½/2) |
| 4 | 1-0-5 | 1 | Christy Blance (1/3), Nick Jones (0/1), Rhys White (0/2) |
Club Secretary Gerry Udell was unbeaten with a 142 ECF performance (exactly the same as his performance in Division 2). Captain Mike White also played well: his two losses were to Trowbridge's Roy Ludlow.
Trowbridge
| Board | W–D–L | Points | Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2-3-1 | 3½ | Gareth (1½/3), Dave Marshall (½/1), Tim Woodward (½/1), Roy Ludlow (1/1) |
| 2 | 3-3-0 | 4½ | Dave Marshall (2½/3), Roy Ludlow (½/1), Adrian Davis (1½/2) |
| 3 | 1-1-4 | 1½ | Roy Ludlow (1/2), Nigel Crucefix (½/4) |
| 4 | 3-0-3 | 3 | Louis Burton (2/4), Anthony Ransom (1/2) |
This was very much a team effort from Trowbridge, but arguably their top player was Dave Marshall who was undefeated in 4 matches.
Bath
| Board | W–D–L | Points | Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3-3-0 | 4½ | Hugh Norton (½/1), Peter Dimond (1/1), Dave Allen (3/4) |
| 2 | 2-0-4 | 2 | Angus Plumbly (1/1), Hugh Norton (0/2), Christian Brown (1/3) |
| 3 | 3-1-2 | 3½ | John Burrows (0/1), Christian (1/2), John Leon (1/1), Angus Plumbly (1½/2) |
| 4 | 4-0-2 | 4 | William Wilshere (1/1), John Burrows (2/2), Max Cox (0/1), Hugh Norton (1/1) |
Bath's star player was Dave Allen with a 152 performance including a draw against Tim Woodward.
Norton Radstock
Returning player Peter Horne did very well this season after a break of over 10 years!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
2010-11 Review : Somerset Divison 2 East
The first in a short series of posts looking back at the recently completed season.
The Somerset County Chess Association website now lists Frome as Division 2 East champions for 2010-11. Therefore Frome win the Charles Marsh trophy back from Trowbridge. In recent years these two teams have dominated the division and their 6 board matches are hotly contested.
A full list of the trophy holders can be found here.
Somerset Division 2 East 2010-11
Note that although the SCCA site incorrectly shows Frome scoring 10 points, the true results (with individual player records) can be found here.
A key match this season was Trowbridge's home fixture against Frome. This turned out to be the only drawn result in the division.
The outcome on board 1 was unexpected... Derek had started the season brightly;drawing the occasional game but only losing to Sven Zeidler (204). However his last five games of 2011 were all losses. Conversely, Frome's strongest player Chris Purry had an uncharacteristically poor start taking only 2 draws from his first 10 games. This was his only win in Division 2 all year.
On board 2 Arthur faced the combative Gerry Jepps who essayed a From's Gambit. Unforunately for Gerry he played the same sub-standard move that I had erroneously used against Arthur exactly one week previously! Gerry held out longer than I had managed, but the loss seemed almost inevitable.
On board 3 I found a nice tactic winning a piece and eventually swapped off enough material to force a win in the endgame. This gave me a 7th straight win against Dave Weston. The remaining boards were true to form, with team captain Kevin unable to match a Tim Woodward flushed with victory (and following 4 straight wins) at Blackpool Congress.
Cross-Table
The table above illustrates how much of an advantage the home team enjoys, with 9 out of 12 fixtures lost by the visiting side. For example, Trowbridge were able to defeat Norton Radstock by 5 points at home. However what was arguably a stronger team away to a weakened Radstock side subsequently lost 4-2 in a remarkable reversal.
Player Results
Glastonbury player Roger Fenton has compiled a list of Somerset team results, with player breakdowns. I will highlight the top performers in Division 2 East below.
Frome
Frome performed very well on the lower boards as shown in the following table:
Arguably the best showing came from boards 5 and 6 player and Club Secretary Gerry Udell with a 100% record and a 142 ECF performance. I expect to see a significant increase in Gerry's grade this year. Also impressive was the undefeated John Fisher who was not out of his depth even when promoted to board 4. I believe that these two players made the difference to the Frome squad. Match results can easily turn on the outcome of the bottom board. Yours truly was unbeaten with a 160 performance. Gerry Jepps was surprisingly defeated by Trowbridge members in both the Home and Away fixtures.
Trowbridge
Backbone of the Trowbridge team was undoubtedly Tim Woodward. Tim appeared in every match, covering boards 2 to 4 (playing behind the higher graded Derek and/or David Weston and also Arthur in the second half of the season). Tim produced 5 wins, including one against the formidable Gerry Jepps in a lost Away match.
Another notable player was Nigel Crucefix on board 5 or 6 who performed 30 points above his current ECF grade. His one loss was to the in-form John Fisher of Frome. Roy Ludlow also scored well on boards 4 and 5, doing the double on Bath's John Leon.
Bath
Bath's star player had to be Ron Gregory on board 1, with 3 wins and a 199 performance. Ron beat both Derek and Chris Purry.
Norton Radstock
Board 1 player Paul Humphreys put in a very solid 166 performance. Last year he scored W1-D2-L3 drawing with Chris Purry. This year he won 3 and lost 2, beating Chris and Derek in the process.
The Somerset County Chess Association website now lists Frome as Division 2 East champions for 2010-11. Therefore Frome win the Charles Marsh trophy back from Trowbridge. In recent years these two teams have dominated the division and their 6 board matches are hotly contested.
| 2001-2 | Frome | |
| 2002-3 | Trowbridge B | |
| 2003-4 | Norton Radstock | |
| 2004-5 | Trowbridge | |
| 2005-6 | Frome | |
| 2006-7 | Frome | (Unconfirmed) |
| 2007-8 | Frome | |
| 2008-9 | Frome | On tie-break with Trowbridge |
| 2009-10 | Trowbridge | |
| 2010-11 | Frome |
A full list of the trophy holders can be found here.
Somerset Division 2 East 2010-11
| Team | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frome | 4 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 14 | 9 |
| Trowbridge | 3 | 1 | 2 | 20½ | 15½ | 7 |
| Bath | 2 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 4 |
| Norton Radstock | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13½ | 22½ | 4 |
Note that although the SCCA site incorrectly shows Frome scoring 10 points, the true results (with individual player records) can be found here.
A key match this season was Trowbridge's home fixture against Frome. This turned out to be the only drawn result in the division.
| Trowbridge | 3-3 | Frome |
|---|---|---|
| Rothwell, Derek | 0-1 | Purry, Chris |
| Hibbitt, Arthur | 1-0 | Jepps, Gerry |
| Weston, David | 0-1 | Leonard, Mark |
| Woodward, Tim | 1-0 | Paine, Kevin |
| Davis, Adrian | 1-0 | Berryman, Geoff |
| Ransom, Anthony | 0-1 | Fisher, John |
The outcome on board 1 was unexpected... Derek had started the season brightly;drawing the occasional game but only losing to Sven Zeidler (204). However his last five games of 2011 were all losses. Conversely, Frome's strongest player Chris Purry had an uncharacteristically poor start taking only 2 draws from his first 10 games. This was his only win in Division 2 all year.
On board 2 Arthur faced the combative Gerry Jepps who essayed a From's Gambit. Unforunately for Gerry he played the same sub-standard move that I had erroneously used against Arthur exactly one week previously! Gerry held out longer than I had managed, but the loss seemed almost inevitable.
On board 3 I found a nice tactic winning a piece and eventually swapped off enough material to force a win in the endgame. This gave me a 7th straight win against Dave Weston. The remaining boards were true to form, with team captain Kevin unable to match a Tim Woodward flushed with victory (and following 4 straight wins) at Blackpool Congress.
Cross-Table
| Team | Bath | N / Radstock | Frome | Trowbridge | Home Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frome | 4 - 2 | 3½ - 2½ | 4 - 2 | 6 | |
| Trowbridge | 3½ - 2½ | 5½ - ½ | 3 - 3 | 5 | |
| Bath | 4½ - 1½ | 3½ -2½ | 1½ - 4½ | 4 | |
| Radstock | 4 - 2 | 1 - 5 | 4 - 2 | 4 | |
| Away Pts | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
The table above illustrates how much of an advantage the home team enjoys, with 9 out of 12 fixtures lost by the visiting side. For example, Trowbridge were able to defeat Norton Radstock by 5 points at home. However what was arguably a stronger team away to a weakened Radstock side subsequently lost 4-2 in a remarkable reversal.
Player Results
Glastonbury player Roger Fenton has compiled a list of Somerset team results, with player breakdowns. I will highlight the top performers in Division 2 East below.Frome
Frome performed very well on the lower boards as shown in the following table:| Board | W-D-L | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2-2-2 | 3 | Chris (+1=2-2) + Gerry Jepps (+1=0-0) |
| 2 | 2-2-2 | 3 | Gerry/Kevin/Mark |
| 3 | 3-3-0 | 4½ | Mark/Geoff/Kevin |
| 4 | 2-1-3 | 2½ | Geoff/Kevin/John F |
| 5 | 3-2-1 | 4 | John F/Geoff/Gerry U/Mike |
| 6 | 5-0-1 | 5 | Gerry U/John F/John N/Mike/Rhys |
Arguably the best showing came from boards 5 and 6 player and Club Secretary Gerry Udell with a 100% record and a 142 ECF performance. I expect to see a significant increase in Gerry's grade this year. Also impressive was the undefeated John Fisher who was not out of his depth even when promoted to board 4. I believe that these two players made the difference to the Frome squad. Match results can easily turn on the outcome of the bottom board. Yours truly was unbeaten with a 160 performance. Gerry Jepps was surprisingly defeated by Trowbridge members in both the Home and Away fixtures.
Trowbridge
| Board | W-D-L | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-2-3 | 2 | Derek + David Weston (with 2 draws) |
| 2 | 3-2-1 | 4 | Tim/Arthur/David W |
| 3 | 4-1-1 | 4½ | |
| 4 | 3-1-2 | 3½ | |
| 5 | 3-2-1 | 4 | |
| 6 | 2-1-3 | 2½ |
Backbone of the Trowbridge team was undoubtedly Tim Woodward. Tim appeared in every match, covering boards 2 to 4 (playing behind the higher graded Derek and/or David Weston and also Arthur in the second half of the season). Tim produced 5 wins, including one against the formidable Gerry Jepps in a lost Away match.
Another notable player was Nigel Crucefix on board 5 or 6 who performed 30 points above his current ECF grade. His one loss was to the in-form John Fisher of Frome. Roy Ludlow also scored well on boards 4 and 5, doing the double on Bath's John Leon.
Bath
Bath's star player had to be Ron Gregory on board 1, with 3 wins and a 199 performance. Ron beat both Derek and Chris Purry.Norton Radstock
Board 1 player Paul Humphreys put in a very solid 166 performance. Last year he scored W1-D2-L3 drawing with Chris Purry. This year he won 3 and lost 2, beating Chris and Derek in the process.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Wiltshire 4-a-side : February update
Trowbridge fielded a somewhat weakened team last week against Nationwide and suffered their first loss of the season. Unfortunately for Trowbridge both their boards 1 and 2 were unavailable on the night. This left the team out-graded by 117 points (in total). Dave Marshall held in-form Adrian Champion to a draw, but the other players couldn't match their opponents.
First place is now in the hands of Nationwide, should they win their remaining fixtures. The full table and results can be found here.
Trowbridge results
First place is now in the hands of Nationwide, should they win their remaining fixtures. The full table and results can be found here.
| Team | Won | Drawn | Lost | Pts | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trowbridge | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 |
| Nationwide | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| Swindon | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Brown Jack | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
Trowbridge results
| Day | Date | Home | Result | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu | 21 October 2010 | Trowbridge | 3-1 | Swindon |
| Thu | 2 December 2010 | Nationwide | 2-2 | Trowbridge |
| Thu | 9 December 2010 | Trowbridge | 2½-1½ | Brown Jack |
| Thu | 6 January 2011 | Swindon | 1-3 | Trowbridge |
| Thu | 10 February 2011 | Trowbridge | ½-3½ | Nationwide |
| Mon | 28 March 2011 | Brown Jack | Trowbridge |
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