It was an excellent set of results for Wessex last night as they turned in 6 match wins, 1 draw and only 1 loss.

The A team won comfortably with straightforward victories from Mark Cleary and Rolandas Lukosius, and draws from Roland Bezuidenhout and Jamie Wilson, the latter being unlucky not to convert a tricky rook ending where he was a couple of pawns to the good.

The B team was again outrated (this is likely to be a pattern) and was Wessex’s only losing team going down 2.5-1.5, a slight improvement on round 1.

The C team drew thanks to a win by John Weatherlake whose opponent went on an optimistic queen sortie, only to find it neatly trapped in the corner by John a few moves later.

The D team won for a second time courtesy of wins my Reenen du Toit and Adam Ursell.

All four teams in Division 5 won, in some cases with some help from defaults.

The E team benefited from a default but didn’t need it as they notched up a 4-0 score.

The F team scored two wins and two loss, but as one of their wins by default they were awarded the match under 4NCL rules (which are harsh but good as they really do discourage defaulting).

The G team ‘s match stood at 1.5 – 1.5 with Christopher Peacock’s game the last of the night to finish. He was two pawns down in a queen and pawn ending and looking for perpetuals which his opponent was carefully avoiding.  Just as his opponent could capture a third pawn and make the win very straightforward, he lost on time, handing Christopher and the G team the points.  Another victory for tenacity!  Douglas Blythe played an interesting game in this match which is at the end of this report with light notes.

The H team won their match 4-0 by default, seemingly by no fault of the opposing team who had apparently long since withdrawn from the competition and should not have been paired.

The defaults are a bit frustrating when we all want to play chess but hopefully will become less common as the season settles down.

Peter Anderson
8/9/21