It was a night of mixed results for Wessex Some Stars yesterday, with three match wins, two draws and three match losses.

Most teams look like they will end up mid-table, with one already relegated and two still fighting for promotion.

Results

The A team were strong favourites and won in style. Mark Cleary finished his game with a simple but pretty zugzwang which is given at the end of the report.

They are third in their group but with just one round to go cannot catch the leaders, Guildford Young Guns, who were always hot favourites to win the group and indeed will be one of the favourites for the overall title.

The B team were in a must win match against Trelawny’s Army and on paper stood a fair chance. However, they lost, and the result could have been worse were it not for Allan’s tenacious defence two pawns down.  The B team will be relegated regardless of what happens in its final match.

The C team won again and moved up to second place in their tight Division 2 group (see table below).  They face second from bottom Hull & Easting Ridings in the last round, so with two teams going up they stand an excellent chance of gaining promotion.  Without wishing to count chickens prematurely, there is a real chance that as the B team is relegated from Div 1, the C team will replace them. Always an interesting dilemma for a captain!

The D team having played a strong Guildford Castles team in the previous round, faced the even stronger Barnet Knights in this round and once again lost 1-3.  However, they were not without their chances in the match: James Chilton nicely outplayed his opponent; John Weatherlake was doing fine for a long stretch of his game; and Bill Adaway could not quite finish off a winning attack against his 2300+ opponent.  The D team are firmly mid-table, with no chance of promotion or relegation.

In Division 5 the E team drew a match which on paper they were firm favourites to win. They remain on 50% and in 25th pace in the big Swiss pool.

The F team were also favourites to win and they duly did so. They are on 8/12 match points, placed 13th, and are only one match point outside the top 8.  With 8 promotion places up for grab, they still have a chance.

Chris Leeson played a Stonewall Attack which was a favourite of multi-time Dorset Champion, Miles Cowling.  His opponent responded too passively and soon found his position indefensible.  You can see the game at the end of the report.

The G team match went to form, with them losing the top two boards and winning the bottom two.  They are on 7 match points and 22nd in the Swiss pool.

In a Swiss pool winning always come with a price, and the H team paid for their big win in the previous round with much tougher opposition in this round.  They went down 0-4 and are placed 45th.

Games

Peter Anderson, 3/11/21